How come ???

tinman

tinman

Well-known member
Here are my params as of Monday

My nitrate is 0.25
Phos is 0.02
Mag is 1440

Cal 420
Alk -8.5 around

There is a thin layer of hair algae forming on the rocks and glass. Very thin layer, may be a millimeter thick

And the flow is very good, my whites are on for 4 hours plus one hour of ramping up and down, blues stay on for 11 hours with one hour of roing up and down.
I got in some frags last nite and the film is on those plugs also in less than 24 hours.

What can be wrong ?? Is my photo period too long ? Can blue light also cause algae ??

What could be wrong and how do I get rid of that algae
 
tinman said:
Here are my params as of Monday

My nitrate is 0.25
Phos is 0.02
Mag is 1440

Cal 420
Alk -8.5 around

There is a thin layer of hair algae forming on the rocks and glass. Very thin layer, may be a millimeter thick

And the flow is very good, my whites are on for 4 hours plus one hour of ramping up and down, blues stay on for 11 hours with one hour of roing up and down.
I got in some frags last nite and the film is on those plugs also in less than 24 hours.

What can be wrong ?? Is my photo period too long ? Can blue light also cause algae ??

What could be wrong and how do I get rid of that algae
Click to expand...

Because they have what they need to grow! :) If you didn't have algae, your phosphate and nitrate numbers would be higher. (Very slightly, but higher) They consumed a certain amount of Po4 and No3, to grow as much as they have grown. and if you clean the glass, the algae is just getting dispersed back into the tank. Do you have a fuge? Macro like chaeto will help a lot by outcompeting the algae and using up the nutrients faster. Kinda impossible to bypass algae, if you're feeding the tank anything. Nutrients are constantly being released.
 
Hmmm makes sense

I forgot the fact that I don't have that much snail and crab population I have to get some


No I don't have a fugue and feed tank like every other day. Rely pretty much on filter floss and water changes


Joe Lydon said:
Because they have what they need to grow! :) If you didn't have algae, your phosphate and nitrate numbers would be higher. (Very slightly, but higher) They consumed a certain amount of Po4 and No3, to grow as much as they have grown. and if you clean the glass, the algae is just getting dispersed back into the tank. Do you have a fuge? Macro like chaeto will help a lot by outcompeting the algae and using up the nutrients faster. Kinda impossible to bypass algae, if you're feeding the tank anything. Nutrients are constantly being released.
Click to expand...
 
Do you have an ulr phosphorus. meter? If not you can borrow mine. It will give you a more accurate reading of phosphate. I bet your phosphates are much higher then you think. Also do you feed frozen?
 
Agree with Lydon, but I'm curious if your tank ever gets exposed to "outside sun"?

I've noticed that different times of the year ambient light in my room has an impact on this. Guessing its the addition of more red and green spectrum light...
 
Rich130981 said:
Do you have an ulr phosphorus. meter? If not you can borrow mine. It will give you a more accurate reading of phosphate. I bet your phosphates are much higher then you think. Also do you feed frozen?
Click to expand...

yes i feed frozen,

i have the red sea low range kit so i doubt that colorimeter would show any different
 
ultimatemj said:
Agree with Lydon, but I'm curious if your tank ever gets exposed to "outside sun"?

I've noticed that different times of the year ambient light in my room has an impact on this. Guessing its the addition of more red and green spectrum light...
Click to expand...

a little sunlight too yes .. i pull the shades down and wifey pulls them up :(
 
Doesn't that kit test phosphate? If you have an algae problem most likely the test will be skewed. The algae will feed on phosphate showing lower levels when testing. Phosphate is a bi-product of phosphorus. Algae won't feed on phosphorus. So if your phosphorus is high but your test of phosphate is low you know that the algae is consuming phosphate. You can also figure out the phosphate level through phosphorus reading.

I asked about frozen because I read an article that said most frozen foods are high in phosphates. What was recommended was to thaw frozen, drain all water, rinse in to, and then food.
 
Rich130981 said:
Doesn't that kit test phosphate? If you have an algae problem most likely the test will be skewed. The algae will feed on phosphate showing lower levels when testing. Phosphate is a bi-product of phosphorus. Algae won't feed on phosphorus. So if your phosphorus is high but your test of phosphate is low you know that the algae is consuming phosphate. You can also figure out the phosphate level through phosphorus reading.

I asked about frozen because I read an article that said most frozen foods are high in phosphates. What was recommended was to thaw frozen, drain all water, rinse in to, and then food.
Click to expand...

i see .. kinda makes sense ..
 
Adding to what rich said I've also read an article that said rinsing frozen has almost zero affect on phos

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I read an article, http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2012/3/chemistry , that basically says that rinsing food is unnecessary. The amount of phosphate in the food itself is where almost all of the phosphates come from... which might mean overfeeding? I don't know if you mentioned how much you feed. like the others said. Nitrates can lead to algae or cyano problems too.

Sent from my myTouch_4G_Slide using Tapatalk 2
 
yea i have a feeding problem ..

it kinda came from the habbit of keeping chalices and polyps only in my previous tank. so i used to spot feed each and every coral and i enjoy watching them eat. i stopped doing it last monday. so should be seeing better results.


mikenh77 said:
I read an article, http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2012/3/chemistry , that basically says that rinsing food is unnecessary. The amount of phosphate in the food itself is where almost all of the phosphates come from... which might mean overfeeding? I don't know if you mentioned how much you feed. like the others said. Nitrates can lead to algae or cyano problems too.

Sent from my myTouch_4G_Slide using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
 
Oops sorry Joe, didn't mean to step on your toes. I typed it before you posted but didn't send till 20 minutes later because I was busy in class.

My bad, but you know what they say...Great minds think alike.
 
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