Quagmire,

My alkalinity is 9-10 dKH consistently. What would a higher level do for me? You mentioned 10-12dKH, so I'm curious. I based my 9-10 levels on readings from Reefkeeping Magazine, and a collection of books, and papers I have read. Am I missing something as to why I should keep it higher?

Redrover,

If I could find a super tiny foxface, I would consider it, but its not really a long term solution in a 24g nano.

Hockeysauce,

My tank actually does hold two tiny tangs at the moment, a kole, and an orange shoulder. They eat the algae, but they can't get ahead of it at all.

Fishface, and Der_Iron_Chef,

I did go back and look at that thread on RC. I am 95% sure that I don't have bryopsis. I did my best to double check my algae with photos of byropsis on algaebase.org, and unfortunately they didn't match. I am however still considering raising my magnesium to see if it it has an effect. I just need more magnesium first.

Andrewsk,

The algae is growing exclusively on my rocks, and its getting into the frag plugs if they are also on the rocks. It has also developed on the shells of some of my larger clams.

The algae grows everywhere, even directly in the path of my powerhead. If there is an excess of nutrients I'm a) unsure how they are getting into the system, and b) seeing growth everywhere, so I can't rule even guess where nutrients may be coming in anymore. Would a photo help?

The sand is new as of May, and I was very careful about washing it well. The liverock is between 3 years, and 6 months old depending on the piece. I never had any problems with these pieces in my 230g or any preceding tanks if that was the case.

Due to the incrediably small nature of my apartment, 400sq ft total, I literally have no room to set the rock up elsewhere. As well I have tons of frags glued down, as well as clams. While I could temporarily dismantle the tank again to scrub the algae off a second time, I fear like the first it will come back worse, or I'll end up loosing frags because of their sheer number.


Can anyone think where I'm getting nutrients in my system? I don't really feed that much, and lately when I do its just a tiny pinch of cyclopses, new life spectrum pellets, and formula one (maybe two) pellets. All of my RO/DI cartriges and resin are good, still almost brand new. None of the equipment I use has ever been used for anything else other then tank related things. I run two three reactors, Calcium, Kalkwasser, and Phosban (with phos-lock).

Battle with Hair Algea
 

FYI, I have been battling it for 6 months or so. I think mine may finally be under control (knock wood). As well I pulled my rock out and scrubbed over running water 3 or 4 times before it was finally under contnrol. - Ted.

Oh here is my guess to the problem.

Since it is growing exclusivly on your rocks, I think that they are the problem. Let me explain a bit.

If you have had those rocks for 3 years, they have had a chance to absorb nutrients over a long period. No matter how clean you water is, the nutrients are inside the rock.

Eventually they will all leach out and disappear if the water has less nutrients than the rocks. If the water has more nutrients it continues to build up.

I have a rock that has a huge crater in it where food used to get stuck. I always had algae growing there even if I cleaned out the food.

Try this. Pick an offending rock, remove the frags. Now either "cook" the rock like when you get new live rock or get another rock from a fellow reefer and put it in the tank with your frags on it. My guess is that the algae will not grow on that new rock.

If this is the case, you have a few choices. New Rock, Cook the existing rock, or follow some of the other suggestions here to get something to eat the algae, then keep your water spotless until the nutrients have all leached out of the rock.

I would bet $ that you will fix the problem if you try this.

Just to clarify again, my rocks are not all 3 years old, only 1 or 2 pieces are, the rest are about 6 months old. The "old" rock is probably only 10% of my total display rock.

The algae is also growing on some of my clams, and its also growing on colonies themselves. Its not limited to the rock itself. It is also only found on the top of the rocks, not on their undersides, nor in any of the caves.

I already have quite a few algae eating creatures, and don't feel that I could add to it without compromising my bioload.

I have actually added new rock to the system, as in it was completely dried, and bone white. I cleaned it, then added it to the tank, it was also covered in algae rather quickly. Do you think that this new rock being covered in algae is a result of my older rocks?

I think first I'm going to try to raise my magnesium levels like in the Reef Central thread. Even though my algae is not briopsis, I still think its worth a try.

After that I would probably consider new rock, but because of my space constraints I can't cook it.

So your thought is that phosphates are getting into the system from my old rocks?

With your space constraints I am not really sure.

If it were me, I would slowly eliminate the potential culprits until the Algae went away.

Something is providing fuel for it to grow.

How deep is your sand bed?

in my tank, i believe the nutrients were coming from the rock. the previous owner did like to feed heavy
thats why in my case it took some months for the phosphate reactors to work.
the nutrients are in your tank, and they are feeding the algae.

The sandbed is maybe 1.5" at its deepest. For the most part its about 0.5".

The logical step is to treat the source of the problem, where the algae is getting its nutrients from. After that it would be to just deal with the algae itself, manual prunings, scrubbing the rock, etc. Although since I can't pinpoint the source I feel like I just endless go in circles.

Why not get a few more urchins to eat/pull the algae off the rock? If you have one that is doing it, but just not keeping up, give a couple more a try. It will save you the grief of doing it all yourself, and personally, I love the look of urchins. Such a cool animal. I know it is doing things backwards, not finding the source of the problem, but it can be satisfying seeing them tear that algae to shreds. :twised: I know it was for me.:lol:

I agree it is very cathartic to watch my urchin clean off my rocks!

I'm pretty maxed out on my bioload right now. I'll consider it though, like a seahare, but I would have to give up any extra urchin(s) I aquire.

1.5" of Gravel is a total nutrient sink. Under 4" willl not really act as a Biological filter at all.

Could you run Barebottom for a while?