Phosphate .04 big algae problems

[kevantheman35]

I am having huge hair algae issues. I bought a nice hanna colorimeter today (not the egg looking one) and my phosphates read .04. I know you want to be .03 or lower traditionally but aren't I low enough that I shouldn't be seeing such problems? I am running GFO and just started bio pellets as well as dosing a little mb7 this week slowly to see if that helps. Last I checked my nitrates were also 0. I barely feed, any ideas?

Tank info.
34g solana aio
2 clowns, 1 pseudochromis
bubble magnus nac5e hob skimmer
mp10 for circulation
tlf150 with 1cup gfo, 1 cup carbon
tlf150 with 50mL of biopellets so far, just started.

[blanden.adam]

What can happen in situations like this is the algae consume phosphate at a relatively rapid rate, moving the phosphate from the water column into their cells to grow, so when you test for soluble phosphate it tests low, but the actual mass of phosphate present in the tank is a lot higher.

Aside form watching your husbandry, GFO, perhaps some macro in the fuge if you like, combined with some manual removal and time should do the trick. The biopellets will eventually help, but it takes a while for them to get going.

What's your photocycle like? When having algae blooms it also helps to limit the photoperiod, or at least make sure it's not excessive.

[Skynyrd Fish]

Old light bulbs? To long of a photo period? vac all the hair algae you can.

[reefgeezer]

Here's some ideas...

If you harvest the algae you will be removing some phosphate. If you don't have corals on the rock, take them out and scrub them is a bucket of tank water. You could even pour a little peroxide on the rocks and then scrub them. I've done this to a few rocks in my tank, but never more than a couple at a time. I would not however put peroxide in the tank.

A cup of GFO is a lot in a 30 gallon. I'd use like a 1/4 cup but change it anytime the effluent tested above 0 ppm. That might be every few days until you get the phosphates under control.

Reducing feeding, blowing off rocks and stirring/vacuuming sand beds, removing mechanical filtration or changing it often will help remove detritus that is the source of much of the phosphate.

[bertoni]

In addition to the other points made, the meter is only good within 0.04 ppm, according to the manufacturer, so your reading could mean anything from 0.08 ppm to zero. In addition, algae can flourish at levels well below hobbyist kits' detection ranges.

[kevantheman35]

Old light bulbs? To long of a photo period? vac all the hair algae you can.
I changed my bulb 3 weeks ago thinking it could be the problem.
I run 250w mh pheonix 14k for 8 hours
blue cree leds for 10 hours daily.

[SPotter]

I changed my bulb 3 weeks ago thinking it could be the problem.
I run 250w mh pheonix 14k for 8 hours
blue cree leds for 10 hours daily.

I had a diy led setup over an old frag tank and was heavy in blue cree leds and had a lot of gha. i would remove it and it would come back. cut back on the blue lighting and gha went away. I think I remember reading somewhere that too much blue lighting can cause ha issues.

[kevantheman35]

I manually remove whatever I can weekly when water changing. I have lots of coral and a few large acro colonies so its hard to get too drastic, but recently I removed about half of my liverock, dipped it in a 1:1 water/3% peroxide mix, and scrubbed it like crazy. It did not seem to affect any coral, or anemones on the rocks, and helped a little but a few weeks later I am back to the same old. about 2 days after scraping the back wall I have a thick scummy layer of algae.

Hopfully the biopellets/mb7 come to the rescue once they kick in, although I am nervous about using them at all.

[kevantheman35]

I had a diy led setup over an old frag tank and was heavy in blue cree leds and had a lot of gha. i would remove it and it would come back. cut back on the blue lighting and gha went away. I think I remember reading somewhere that too much blue lighting can cause ha issues.
Interesting, I've never read that. Thanks for the info I will try to research further. I know chlorophyll B is absorbed in that range

[SPotter]

I am looking for it now too.

[biecacka]

I will say this regarding Steve's comments. I switched to LEDs(Chinese version) I love them but I went 50/50 blue white and have had a few outbreaks of Dino's and my tank has never been this blue..... I like the color but am changing it up,a little bit to get rid of some of the blue tint. Mostly to add more spectrum but to also see if it helps
Corey

[kevantheman35]

I am running 7, 3w royal blue cree's. Maybe I will cut them off all together for a few weeks and see if it helps. Although with the biopellets running now ect, it will be hard to determine what exactly it is that ends up helping.

[SPotter]

I would hold off on making any ither changes for that reason. Im guilty of making too many changes at once then if i got the result I was looking for i dont know what did it and on the flip side if i did something wrong.....i dont know what caused things to go wrong. I now keep a journal/log where i document daily tank observations, water quality, changes i make and anything else thats relative to the tank.

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