I'm loosing the war with GHA, help?!

[andrewsk]

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.

Originally Posted by michika

Quagmire,

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).

[michika]

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?

[andrewsk]

Originally Posted by michika

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?

[robzilla]

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.

[michika]

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.

[ponokareefer]

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. I know it was for me.

[michika]

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.

[andrewsk]

Originally Posted by michika

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.

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?

[michika]

I respectfully disagree about your comment regarding my sandbed. All my reading has informed me otherwise. I'm actually quite happy with my sandbed, and am not really interested at looking at removing it at the moment. First I want to look into higher magnesium levels, and possibly switching out rock.