Hair Algae and Diatom Bloom

[rad1687]

Hey guys, I've had my 20 gallon reef running for two months now and I am having a problem with diatoms and hair algae. Nitrates and Phosphates are reading zero, and I have a HOB fuge with chaeto. I am not currently skimming, but am getting a skimmer in the next few weeks. My question is that if my numbers are at 0, why am I experiencing this? I have no fish in the tank yet, only some corals, so I am not feeding. I also have 35lbs of live rock and 30lbs of live sand.

I am running a 250 MH for 8 hours a days. Today I raised the light higher off the water and reduced my photoperiod to 6 hours. Any other thoughts? Thanks in advance.

rad:dance:

[pnavarro170]

yeah way to much lighting especially on a new tank and small tank. i would cut back even more and gradually raise it to 6-7 hours a day tops on halides.

[fasteddie68]

If you have live rock and sand plus corals in your tank under strong light they're respiring and giving off wastes. The diatoms and hair algae are using these wastes to grow. They quickly fix it into their tissue and as a result your tests show nothing wrong. I'd do a water change with ro/di water to make sure you're not adding to the issue and get the skimmer in place asap as it will pull the protein out before the diatoms can "eat" it.

[fasteddie68]

One more thing. It's not that unusual to have a diatom bloom in a newly established tank, so this may be nothing but the solution is the same. Also, I'd siphon off as much undersireable material off the rock as I could when doing the water change.

[am3gross]

do you have a clean up crew yet? if not i would invest in one of those as well.

[rad1687]

Thanks guys, I have a small clean up crew and replace 5 gallons a week alternatng between salt mix with rodi and natural sea water. Skimmer is going in Friday! Thanks for your help!

[Serdiss]

I would personally downgrade my lights to 150watts with a tank that size. as pnavarro stated, with lighting that strong on a tank that small, gradually raise the photoperiod to about 6 hours.

[chathomas]

get 2 or 3 turbo snails as they will help with the hair algae. the rest of your cuc should be cerith and hermit and nasarius

[Lamball1]

downgrade your lights plus is your tank "bathed" in sunlight several hours a day??
its normal for a newly set up tank to experience this- oh god, when i set up my tank it looked like a jungle.