Algae and Fish Food

[Myka]

Alkalinity shouldn't be hard to get higher...? Ah yes, I believe that is right (re more flow) for a pinwheel...

[Hangfire]

I've been having a rough time with algae also. I'm curious Myka about what you said here:

Originally Posted by Myka

The only way to fix that issue is to cure the rock better before adding in the first place

Just how should one go about curing live rock? I want to get it right the next time I set up a tank. The rock in my tank now was in there for about a month and a half before any fish went in. I bought the rock from OA and it was not new, but had been there for a while so I assumed it was somewhat cured already.

Sorry about jumping in here Oscar, hope you don't mind.

[Oscar]

Originally Posted by Hangfire

.

Sorry about jumping in here Oscar, hope you don't mind.

No problem.

[Myka]

This question gets asked a lot, maybe I should go make a thread on it. I'll be back with a link.

EDIT: 2 hours 15 mins later I have a new guide: http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=44851

[Oscar]

An update on my algae issues:

Water volume: ~25 gallons
Temp: 79-81
ph: 8.1
alk: 7 (still trying to get to 9 using Seachem Reef Buffer)
Mg: 1275 after lots of Seachem Mg

Flow: I have recently installed a Vortech20. Much better flow which you can really see when you get in to disturb the detritus.

Waterchanges: 4G weekly Seachem salt, making sure Mg = 1300 and alk = 8

Algae pruning: with weekly water changes. I pull out ~1/4 cup weekly

Detritus disturbance: every 2 days with turkey baster

Phosban reactor: Installed 2 little fishes about 4 weeks ago. Running Phosban in the main chamber with carbon in the miniscule upper chamber.

Chaeto: In refugium for the past 2 months?

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The algae is definitely less but still quite prevalent. I just reread Myka's sysnopsis on algae contraol. I forgot about her suggestion of raising Mg to 1600. I will head in that direction this week.

I also noticed that on sunny days like this morning between 7:00am and 10:00 one side of the tank gets direct sunlight. Guess what, the worst of my algae problem seems to be in this zone.

Is it the blue or red spectrum that is filtered out when sunlight passes through the atmosphere on an extreme angle? If early morning sunlight is more red and yellow then that would partially explain the algae issue.

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Any more thoughts or tricks on algae reduction?

[Oscar]

I have had a serious hair algae problem since adding my first fish in July, 2008.
Since then I have:

-added chaeto
-installed a phosban reactor
-installed RO/DI
-weekly water changes
-weekly haircuts
-installed Geisman 420nm actinics
- watched my daily feeding
-numerous turkey baster blasts per week
-raised Mg to 1600
-added more snails and an emerald crab

This has only marginally improved the situation

Today I removed the CadLights hallide, which was only 9 months old, and installed a Phoenix 150W 14,000K DE.

Holy crap! Is my tank ever blue. This will probably do the trick. A colour shift in the original hallide was my final concern.

I will give the tank a serious pruning tomorrow and follow my most recent water change and hair cutting schedule. Hopefull this is it!!!

[fishytime]

[quote=Oscar Any more thoughts or tricks on algae reduction?[/QUOTE]

Ya stop feeding flakes and pellets as your main food source. Most "claim" to be phosphate free. Left-over flakes and pellets will quickly dissolve into the water column, becoming nutrients for algae. I do feed flakes and pellets, but only when time restricts me from thawing something out.

[Oscar]

Originally Posted by fishytime

Ya stop feeding flakes and pellets as your main food source. Most "claim" to be phosphate free. Left-over flakes and pellets will quickly dissolve into the water column, becoming nutrients for algae. I do feed flakes and pellets, but only when time restricts me from thawing something out.

Good point, I do get lazy and feed pellets too often.

[Oscar]

Originally Posted by Oscar

Today I removed the CadLights hallide, which was only 9 months old, and installed a Phoenix 150W 14,000K DE.

Holy crap! Is my tank ever blue. This will probably do the trick. A colour shift in the original hallide was my final concern.

Well 2 weeks after changing the hallide and some additional prunings I think the algae is under control. I still have some algae in the tank but this is the first time it has not continued to grow after its weekly pruning. So the hallide was the deciding factor.

Once I am close to eradicating the algae I will feel comfortable in adding some frags.