Algae issue?

[drfu]

My reef tank has been cycled for 5 months now and all of a sudden i have an algae problem. The only thing i have changed in my system in the last couple of weeks is the addition of an InTank fuge backet, 10watt grow light & some chaeto. The issue i am having is this, it appears to be an algae/diatoms forming on my substrate, it only happens when the lights are one, once the lights go off, it goes away that evening and the comes back in the morning once the lights come on, is this normal for a tank that has been up and going?

Hardware: Innovative Marine Nuvo 8, 2 8 watt Skkye Light LED's. 5lbs of live rock, 10lbs of live sand, filter floss, cpe & purigen,

Livestock: 2 o clowns, lots of coral frags, trochus, nassarius, nerite & dwarf cereth cuc, rock flower & bta.

Chemestry: weekly 25% water changes using ro/di and ocean reef salt, sg 1.025, temp 81f, ph 7.7-8.0, no detectable ammonia, nitrites, copper, nitrates 2-5 ppm, phosphorous between 25-40 ppb (works out to .06-.1ppm of phosephate), alk 164, Ca 450-500, Mg 1280-1350.

My feeding of my two clowns is half a pipette of brine shrimp in the am, a pinch of marine flakes in the pm. No supplemental dosing of anything except a pinch of reef formula every second day for the two anemonies.

I also run my moonlights from 7am to 11:30pm, daytime from 8-8.

Is this a normal thing to happen to a tank after its been running this long? If yes how long will this continue? Is their something else i should be doing, checking since it does go away each night?

[Reefer54]

I am led to believe that the intank fuge had a small cycle, or restricting flow....It should go away on its own, but if it gets worse, you may want to see what is causing it with a bit more diligence.

the feeding schedule is a lot of nutrient load for an 8 gallon tank. Also, the 2 clownfish....in an 8, not really recomended, at all. you could probably do more water changes to help those nutrients come down a bit, they are on the high side, and i imagine going to get higher before lowering on their own....though the fuge may help, but not enough.

its just a lot in a small volume of water...a real uphill battle.

[bertoni]

That sounds like a dinoflagellate bloom. The microbes move into the water column at night.

The phosphate level is high enough for a lot of microbes to grow. I might try some GFO, because it's easy to do and sometimes helps. What is the refugium like? I agree that it might be reducing flow in some way.

[drfu]

I am led to believe that the intank fuge had a small cycle, or restricting flow....It should go away on its own, but if it gets worse, you may want to see what is causing it with a bit more diligence.

the feeding schedule is a lot of nutrient load for an 8 gallon tank. Also, the 2 clownfish....in an 8, not really recomended, at all. you could probably do more water changes to help those nutrients come down a bit, they are on the high side, and i imagine going to get higher before lowering on their own....though the fuge may help, but not enough.

its just a lot in a small volume of water...a real uphill battle.

Not sure i understand the fuge creating a small cycle from a piece of plastic, or are you refering to the cheato in it causing a cycle?

My feeding schedule was based on what liveaquaria, how often should i be feeding the clowns? They are juvi's right now, they will be moving to my 15 gallon soon once its rock solid, its only been going for 3 months so.

In the mean time i will continue with the 25% wc, maybe do a couple of them a week if need be, thx for the input, im sure this will help.

[drfu]

That sounds like a dinoflagellate bloom. The microbes move into the water column at night.

The phosphate level is high enough for a lot of microbes to grow. I might try some GFO, because it's easy to do and sometimes helps. What is the refugium like? I agree that it might be reducing flow in some way.

If the microbes move in at night would that not cause the bloom to be at night not when the lights are on?

I have always had a bit of a phosphate issue, could be from over feeding, I'm gonna start to cut it down gradually so they don't get shocked from the feeding change.

I changed out my purigen & cpe tonight as they were about 3 months old, though the purigen was not black at all so i will see if that makes a difference. Is cpe not more or less gfo?

The fuge basket is from InTank, it goes in the water heater coulmn and has a small ball of cheato in it. I guess it could be restricting flow though i do also have a Hydor 240 in there on top of the upgraded pump & spinstream nozzle. Thx for the input.

[bertoni]

I'm not sure why dinoflagellates often move into the water column at night, but I assume they're looking for nutrients when they can't perform photosynthesis. You might be able to remove some of them via mechanical filtration.

CPE is Chemi-Pure Elite? It has carbon and some GFO in it. I would add more GFO, slowly.

[drfu]

I'm not sure why dinoflagellates often move into the water column at night, but I assume they're looking for nutrients when they can't perform photosynthesis. You might be able to remove some of them via mechanical filtration.

CPE is Chemi-Pure Elite? It has carbon and some GFO in it. I would add more GFO, slowly.

Yes cpe is Chemi Pure Elite. I did some research on what you mentioned, i don't think its dinoflagates, its not stringy, is not slimy like snot. Im hoping the new cpe & purigen along with the water changes help, I'm also considering killing the lights for a day or two but concerned about the corals.

[bertoni]

The corals will be fine without lighting for a couple of days. The decaying microbes might be an issue, but the approach seems reasonably safe. I might do some water changes after the pest starts dying, and run some fresh carbon.

[drfu]

The corals will be fine without lighting for a couple of days. The decaying microbes might be an issue, but the approach seems reasonably safe. I might do some water changes after the pest starts dying, and run some fresh carbon.

So after two days of only having the daytime lights on for two hours a day has almost knocked it out when i left the lights on all day. Have also been doing a bit of sand vac & daily 25% wc.

Will do one more 25% wc tomorrow along with a good cleaning of the back water column. Will also do a nitrate & phosphorus test tomorrow.

Still not sure why this happened or if i have kicked it yet but lets hope!