Suggestions on controlling red hair algae

[JacobO]

Hello all, I was wanting to get some insight on my issue here.

First off I'll mention my tank and a little about it's background; The tank is a 10gal nano that has been setup since the beginning of the year. No fish, just LR, hermits, a snail, and some softies/lps. No skimmer/gfo, just carbon in the HOB filter. I do weekly 10 - 20% water changes (depending on how much algae has grown in the past week). I spot feed my corals every 3 days(this could be the issue). It cycled fine and I haven't had too many issues with params.(all normal but nitrates hover from 5 - 20ppm) It's lit by 2x15w T5s. 1 10k bulb and 1 50/50 bulb(planning on replacing with just an actinic soon).

Now what I've tried to do to resolve the issue; I've tried cutting back on lighting, blacking out the tank for long periods, using chemicals, and even purchasing RO water instead of using filtered tap water. The only thing I haven't done because I'm not sure if I should is stop feeding my corals every 3 days.

Any suggestions or questions?

[crvz]

If you've got algae, it's due to nutrient excess. I would expect overfeeding the corals is certainly part (if not all) of the source of nutrients. At it's simplest, algae is a result of too much nutrient import (feeding, improper source water) with not enough nutrient export (water changes, skimming, chemical media, etc.). What you need to be monitoring are phosphate and nitrate, though phosphate is terribly challenging to measure (hobby test kits are inadequate) and I'd simply use algae growth as a tell that you've got elevated po4. What have you done to increase nutrient export?

[JacobO]

That's what I've been thinking also. Would it be safe to stop feeding my tank? Would my corals and hermits be ok?

As of now I haven't done a lot for nutrient export as this is a low budget system. Just weekly water changes and purchasing RO water. I'm currently working on adding a small DIY HOB fuge and putting some macro in there in hopes to beat out the algae.

Thanks

[CeeGee]

That's what I've been thinking also. Would it be safe to stop feeding my tank? Would my corals and hermits be ok?

As of now I haven't done a lot for nutrient export as this is a low budget system. Just weekly water changes and purchasing RO water. I'm currently working on adding a small DIY HOB fuge and putting some macro in there in hopes to beat out the algae.

Thanks

The RO water you are buying probably isn't much better than what is coming out of your tap. I would test it every time with a TDS meter. If you are serious about the hobby you might want to look into buying your own RO/DI unit and if nothing else a TDS meter.