Algae question

[njhadfield]

To start off, I have 90 gallon tall reef aquarium with a 30 gallon sump. I have had it now for 3 years and cannot tackle green film algae and hair algae. I run a 5 stage RO system and change out 10 gallons of water every week.

Here is my set up:
Lighting 2x 150 watt mh
2x 96 watt power compact blue actinic. 420 and 460
Running 8 hours with my running 4 hours mid day
Change out bulbs every 8 months

Running gfo and carbon reactors from bulk reef supply now for 3 years

Change out my filter socks every week, same time I do a water change.

I have about 80 reef cleaners...snails and crabs, yellow tang and lawn mower bleny.

Here is my parameters:
Ph 8.2
Ca 400
Ak 8.23
Mg 1320
Po 0.02
Nitrates 0.0 Nitrites 0.0
Temp is 79-81

I have for the last 3 months tried vodka dosing as well. Every other day dosing .3 ml


I am stumped what to do next, the only thing I have not tried was to swap out my 50lbs of rocks and starting over.

I half to scrub the film algae off twice a day if not 3 times so I don't see the snail tracks across the glass.

Any advise would be great

Thanks.

[moe458]

few questions to start off..
1. Are you running a skimmer?
2. what are you feeding and how much are feeding?
3. how often do you change GFO (Personally not a big fan of BRS gfo...never did anything for me, I had to move to TLF 550 with Rowaphos and bammm it worked for GHA)
4. Try removing the GHA manually..hand pick it out..not spreading over the tank so you ensure you get the most of it out.

i battled with it for a while but Rowaphos worked for me BRS i had to sell it out after 6 weeks of struggle and no results...

[moe458]

by the way your phosphates may be higher..how are you checking what kit are you using...sometimes they get consumed before you check them with kits so it's hard to detect phosphates sometimes...you definitely have phosphate issues...cuz that's what GHA lives off of.

[njhadfield]

Thanks, I am replacing GFO and carbon every other month...brs 2 stage reactor and I have the gfo rolling not to break up and turn to dust. I am using ASM G-1X Protein Skimmer. It is rated to 150 gallons and I believe I have around 75 gallons of real water. I know it isn't the best skimmer out on the market, but I am limited to space.

Yes I am using a Hanna PO checker am it's reading 0.02. And I tested 3 times today with the same numbers.

I only have 4 fish and I am only giving a pinch of food once per day. Most food is gone by the time is sinks to the bottom of tank.