Algae - Driving me nuts

[FB]

Ok. I have a 30 gallon SPS tank and some algae that is driving me nuts.

1. Bubble algae - Lots - some small some large. Two emerald crabs haven't seen them eat any. I pick what I can trying to make sure they don't pop - but some do.
2. Hair algae - very short but in lots of places.
3. Unknown - lots of thick sprouts growing out like a palm tree. Not a lot of this.

Lots of flow. ~60X
- 2 Seio 620's
- 2 Maxi-Jet 1200
- 1 Max-Jet 400
Bare-bottom
Counter-current airstone skimmer
250 Watt XM 10K
60W PC atinic
Fluval 204 - Canister - Carbon and RowaPhos (250 grams) - No sponges.
RO/2DI Water - 1 TDS.

Paramaters
1.026
10.5 dKH
440 Cal.
Mg. 1280
PH 8.2
PO4 - 0 Salifert and Hagen
Nitrate - 0 Salifert and Hagen.

I have been feeding one feed a day every 2 days for a month and it dosen't seem to have an affect. I feed pellet food slowly making sure it all gets consumed. My SPS are growing but seem faded. My coraline is growing a bright pink/purple colour.

2 clowns
1 Regal Tang (I know - no tang police required).
1 Fairy Wrasse (new yesterday)
2 BTA's
1 Banded Coral Shrimp
8 Hermits
5 Turbo
~50 Cerith snails.
2 Emerald Crabs

I started using the RowaPhos a couple of week ago using only a small amount and added more every week. I am now up to 250 ml in my canister filter. All measurments of PO4 are zero.

The only thing I can think of is that my rocks are holding P04 and as it releases it the algae gets to it before my RowaPhos. Does this make sense. The tank had been running for a year before I used any RowaPhos.

If they is anything you can think of please let me know.

Thanks

FB

[minimalist]

That's a huge bioload.

[WingnutSr]

I feel your pain, and so do many others. Best I can offer is to suggest manual removal of all the algae you can. One method I used was to remove each piece of infected rock, one at a time, and scrub it with a tooth brush in a fresh bucket of salt water, and then rinse it in another bucket of fresh salt water. This is not a one time fix, as you will likely have to do it several times. But this did help me to win the battle. Keep using the Rowa.
I believe you are correct in assuming the PO4 is in the rock.

[Spectre2006]

a refugium might be your best bet. The nutrients being used should be scavenged at a faster rate in the refugium, diminishing it in the show tank.

I have a problem with red slime currently and have been using water changes, and fanning the effected areas and using a squirter to spray algae off the rocks, the filter socks is grabbing most of it, and am changing the filter socks once a good cleaning is done. So the nutrients dont decompose and get sent back into the tank.

[mecheng]

more aeration

[brccoins]

wrong place

[hootie51]

I have a problem with bubble algae as well. I started running chemipure about 2 weeks ago and since then some of the bubbles have started dying off. I recommend trying Chemipure.

[FB]

Thank you everyone for your advice.

I am sort of running a refugium. I got a small breeder box and placed some Cheato in it. Unfortunatly the only way to really get any flow through it was to run my skimmer return through it. Which in theory should be somewhat void of any nutrients.

I got a picture of the algae.

http://www.reefs.org/phpBB2/files/dsc01301_edit_652.jpg

And also a FTS.

http://www.reefs.org/phpBB2/files/dsc01306_edit_914.jpg

Thanks

FB

[FB]

I found my source of Phosphates.

It was my Carbon. I put some carbon in some RO water that tested 0 for phosphates as expected. After 3 days sitting in the water my phosphates jumped to around .50 to 1.00 with a salifert test kit.

I have removed the carbon from my system and my algae is slowly diappearing.

This is the stuff I was using.
http://www.hagen.com/usa/aquatic/product.cfm?CAT=1&SUBCAT=114&PROD_ID=01014480020101

So much for their claim that "Fluval Carbon does not raise phosphate levels."

[Frick-n-Frags]

there's some other threads going on about bubble algae. i'm about to cook my LR because of bubble algae. it can't be stopped.
it is clean water algae, so PO4/NO3 isn't the issue

heh, you have two species of Valonia there. the bubbles, and the balloon animals. dubious honor of course. they will grow right under zoos/shrooms/softies killing them or forcing them right off their rock, or to move onto the valonia.
And grow against stonies thus smothering that surface.
they have very tough hides, so the crabs are trying to palm a beach ball. and if you pop them when they get too big, you spread spores, so..

I also recommend do what was suggested with the rinsewater and be very diligent. I just have too much LR to even think about it.
seriously schedule bubble-patrol minimum once a week and stay on it or you have no chance.

[flomojo]

Like an underwater James Bond, the Tuxedo Urchin saved my nano tank from an algae take-over.
I purchased an established 24g nano that had significant filamentous algae problems. It got much worse after the move. It was choking off xenia, colt corals and I could hardly even see live rock anymore. Tried manual pruning, increasing water changes, phosphate removers, blue spotted sea hare, etc. Sea hare didn't seem to like the type of algae I had and just disappeared after a week. Finally, my LFS suggested a tuxedo urchin. Start by picking off as much as you can by hand. Using a bowl of water as a collection receptacle makes it easier. It rinses the hair/filament alge off your fingers. When it gets full, dump and start again. This is a pain, but gives the urchin a fighting chance. The tuxedo urchin will start taking care of whatever you couldn't pick off. After about 2 weeks, all that algae was gone. Not a trace is left, and now the nano gets lot's of oohs and ahhs.
The disadvantage is that the tuxedo urchin can be a bit rambunxious with decorating itself with whatever it feels like wearing...xenia, loose frags, shells, gravel, even a digital thermometer. It also eats coraline algae in the process, so the rock surfaces will have to recover a bit after giving the urchin back to the LFS or a friend. Or, just keep it like I did. I just dose my tank with "Purple Up" to help keep up the coraline. In hind sight, I would've chosen the smallest urchin instead of the largest.