Still have algae with NO3PO4X

[Hythe1000]

My 500Litre tank had severe green hair algae(GHA) and I started to use NOPOX around six months ago. It is a excellent product and from having GHA covering every rock surface plu rear tank glass, using NOPOX reduced the algae by 90-95%.
My question is HOW do I get the algae to go completely?
After the inital reduction of GHA - which took about three months - I did reduce the dose of NOPOX. But because the GHA was not eradicated I had to increase the dose back up to 10ml morning and 10ml in the evening. That's 4ml per 100L daily. That seems like a lot. What do you think about the dose rate? If I increase the dose what could go wrong? Tank Parameters are: NO3 zero. PO4 0.08. CA 490. MG 1450. KH 8.1dKH(2.9Mql) PH 8.0. SP=1025 (Using Redsea Pro)
My skimate is the colour of assam tea (using Redsea C skim 1800) and it pulls about 500ml out daily.

 

[mojoreef]

NOPOX is basically the dosing of carbon, so with that your going to be looking at the modified redfield ration of 50 parts carbon, 10 parts N and 1 part P. In order for the bacteria to reduce your nutrients they need this formula in ratio to do it, so on your tank it looks like you have completely reduced the N part of the equation, so with one missing part it doesnt matter how much of the others are in place, make sense? So dosing more will not help.

If it were me I would go with simple preditors such as snails to polish it off, also make sure the area, including the algae are free of detritus. SO give the rocks and algae itself a good blowing off with a power head. GHA can get it nutrients from both the water and from the rock that it is sitting on.

hope it helps

Mike

 

[Boomer]

Mojo

modified redfield ration of 50 parts carbon, 10 parts N and 1 part P.

A good exploitation but the numbers are off. The so called RR numbers, as given, often quoted, are for marine phytoplankton and not bacteria or other algae which have a different RR.

make sense?

Yes, there is name for this called Liebigs Law or the Law of Minimum.



Hythe


You have the same issue that many have and often do not understated, which is "why do I have this algae I can not get rid of and my N and P show zero. First, the are not zero, that is a myth, as your kit can not go low enough to cause such a limit in many cases. Second, there are many forms of P and N which a kit can not test for. Third, such nutrients as N and P can be removed from a system as fast as they are created thus test out "zero".

What you are missing here is one of things Mojo pointed out, which revolves around competition in his last statement. Once one gets the N and P within acceptable levels one needs to shift or remove the nutrients via some type of competition, i.e, a fish or sail that eats that algae or you removing it. The system itself can be an issue, such as the wrong kind of lighting. Things like NOPOX are just band-aids and a sign the reefer has let their tank go a-muck. Such products as these can also over load a system and cause massive bacterial explosion if one gets to carried away with dosages. You rarely ever see me post or answer questions on C dozing, as I so not like it and it is not needed in a properly run reef tank. In short, you have allowed your system to accumulate to many nutrients, due to poor husbandry practices.

 

[Darthv247]

best off doing a good cleanout next time u do water changes. get behind the rocks as much as possible. then see how it goes without the dosing while performing the reg water changes.

 

[Hythe1000]

Hi Mike, Boomer and Darth. Thank you for your useful advices. I will do what you all say. Keeping a big tank in an office is hard because the business tasks outcompete the reef tasks. I will have to change our regime.
I've also got the rusty flatworms, probably caused by the same lax housekeeping.
Boomer you mentioned snails, but not crabs, any reason for just snails?

 

[mojoreef]

A good exploitation but the numbers are off. The so called RR numbers, as given, often quoted, are for marine phytoplankton and not bacteria or other algae which have a different RR.

Its explanation not " Exploitation" so their!!!!!!!!! lol :yo:

Hythe1000 crabs in a reef tank are a bit of and issue as they are clumsy and not stuff around including corals, that and the tend to beat up on snails for their shells.

mike

 

[Frankie]

Hey Hythe,

Can you tell us a bit more about the system? What is your freshwater source? Top off and water for mixing salt?

Most reef tanks that I encounter with algae issues are due to lack of husbandry as Boomer was getting at. And most are overly stocked with fish. The nitrifying bacteria cannot keep up with the nutrients being introduced.
Carbon dosing ( Basically feeding the bacteria and causing bacterial growth and reproduction) is a good method to eliminate N (nitrates) & P (phosphates) but there is a catch. You need to remove it also or you risk an overabundance.

From your skimmer type to the way you describe the skimmate, your not exporting enough. On top of that I am not too sure how the system is setup for flow and overflow. Could you provided some pictures of your system for better understanding?

Your calcium is too high also, telling me your other parameters may be off.

My best advise would be to stop dosing everything and anything. Start to do weekly water changes at 50% making sure all the new water parameters are correct and temperature is correct.

The flat worms are more due to not inspecting incoming livestock properly then anything else. I would not worry to much about them. They are a quick fix. First Get going with the weekly water changes and get some control over your system. Once that is done you can start to attack the flat worms. Feel free to suck those things out as you do your water changes btw and be a little aggressive on the HA during water changes also. Take your water changing tube and cut little v's around the end with a razor blade so it is more like a round brush. Use this to help dislodge the HA and suck it out at the same time.

Good luck!
Frank

 

[Boomer]

Ah

Its explanation not " Exploitation" so their!!!!!!!!! lol

No you were exploiting those numbers Use in an unfair or selfish way :lol:

 

[Krish]

Bummer on the GHA :doubt:. I know it sucks because I've been there big time! Tell us a bit more about your tank. Maybe just some guidance in better tank husbandry practices may help some. If you could, let us know stuff like...

-Do you run a sand bed and if so what type?
-If you do run a sandbed, how do you care for it?
-What are you using for filtration? Are you using filter socks, sponges etc in your tank and if so, how often do you change or clean them? Are you running a canister filter and if so, what's in it?
-What does your bio-load look like and how often do you feed? Also, what do you feed?
-Are you using ro/di water if not, have you had the water what you are using tested to see if it was suitable for aquarium use?
- How often do you do a water change and of how much water?

This should a better idea in figuring out what is going on. Algae can't grow if it's requirements aren't met so the fact that it is growing means it is getting its fuel/food source from somewhere. Could even be multiple places. I see husbandry was mentioned a bit in this thread. It is very important to practice good husbandy methods when keeping a tank. Any waste left to sit and rott in the tank for example will degrade water quality. One problem a lot of people fall into is thinking that if a sponge catches waste then the job is done, but if the sponge is allowed to sit in the tank full of waste for days on end, then it is not doing you any good as the waste is still in your system. The idea is to remove the waste which means you'd want to clean your sponge/replace it every 3 days or so if infact you are using something like this. Then there are sandbeds that a lot of waste can get lost and trapped in. If you are running a shallow sand bed for example, you will want to vacuum that weekly to remove any waste settling in it etc. If left, you fall into the same boat as a person using a sponge and not cleaning them. These are just a few thoughts I'm tossing out there. With all tanks, they need to find their balance. Every time a livestock is added to the tank, the tank must ajust to accomodate it. Sometimes it takes quite a while for a tank to find it's balance. It took me about 9 months to go from about 10 ppm of nitrates down to zero and not have any algae grow anymore in my tank and I'm a person who barely stocked my tanks and never over fed. Just takes time. Let us know a bit more about your tank though and if you have any pictures of your setup, post them. Pictures are worth a thousand words and something may stand out that may need addressing.

Good luck and I hope you are able to get this algae under control.