Stopping algae early

[Fragwil]

Hi I'm wil I'm new to this forum and sadly my first post will be about algae.
So I can see some green algae developing in my tank and I'm hoping to stop it early. My tank is an SR 80 and I just finished battling dino algae.

My parameters are:

Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
Ph 8.2
Dkh 8

Phosphate was at 1 last week, I was testing with api and was getting 0 phosphate, but then got my LFS to test it and it was at 1.

I added a BRS Dual Reactor running GFO and carbon about 3 days ago, and I only use RODI water, so is there anything I can do to lower my phosphate In addition to running GFO? And is there anything else I can do to stop this problem before it gets larger?

Thanks!
~Wil





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[mcgyvr]

Why is your phosphate so high? pukani rock?
How old is the tank?

I'd be skeptical of the phosphate test result from the LFS when your API was zero... API isn't the best but its not that bad..

[Fragwil]

Originally Posted by mcgyvr

Why is your phosphate so high? pukani rock?
How old is the tank?

I'd be skeptical of the phosphate test result from the LFS when your API was zero... API isn't the best but its not that bad..

Yeah it's about half pukani and the tank is probably about 2 and a half months old. I got the pukani from a tank that had been broken down and it wasn't too dirty, so I didn't cure it (even though I should have). The LFS test was with a Hanna checker so thought I should probably trust that more than my API.


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[mcgyvr]

Well with phosphate that high you are likely to go through a bunch of GFO pretty darn quick so make sure you stay on top of it.. I'd also be doing some large water changes to remove the phosphate too..

You might find lanthanum chloride more cost effective in the long run vs GFO..

Do you have any corals in the tank? if not turn the lights off while you work on getting those phosphates way down.. That should help keep the algae from becoming an issue..

[Fragwil]

Originally Posted by mcgyvr

Well with phosphate that high you are likely to go through a bunch of GFO pretty darn quick so make sure you stay on top of it.. I'd also be doing some large water changes to remove the phosphate too..

You might find lanthanum chloride more cost effective in the long run vs GFO..

Do you have any corals in the tank? if not turn the lights off while you work on getting those phosphates way down.. That should help keep the algae from becoming an issue..

I do have some corals but I turned down my red and white on my lights way down so hopefully that will help, thank you for the advice!


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[der_wille_zur_macht]

The LFS literally told you it was "one?"

That's kinda weird that it was a nice round number, especially on a digital test. Most people talk about phosphate in tenths or hundreths, not whole numbers.

That honestly doesn't look like much of an algae problem to me. I would try manually removing (scrub or siphon it off) as you do water changes.

And a word of advice - don't go overboard trying to reduce nutrients. Don't over-do the GFO. It is quite possible to drop phosphate too low, which can harm corals and cause other issues in the tank. GFO and LC are great but they are incredibly powerful and incredibly specific. Some people opt for a more natural approach, like using chaeto in a regufium or an algae scrubber. These methods have the advantage that they can't drop phosphate too far, and they will also use up nitrate at a comparable rate to phosphate, so things stay balanced.