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blackcloudmedia

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Im using RODI, GFO, Skimmer, have 2 clowns and a yellow tang, 75 gal tank with 85 gal sump. 2*250 watt 14K MH with one 95 watt or whatever it is actinic. I am getting hair-like algae like nobodys business and its driving me insane. The bulbs are newish about 2 months old. What could possibly be the source, the algae is far exceeding what little food i put into the system. I have a ton of liverock in the sump and a few large pieces in display for the sps. If I left my tank alone and didnt manually remove the algae weekly, then after a month the tank would be green.
 
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Anonymous

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blackcloudmedia":1uytnvuf said:
Im using RODI, GFO, Skimmer, have 2 clowns and a yellow tang, 75 gal tank with 85 gal sump. 2*250 watt 14K MH with one 95 watt or whatever it is actinic. I am getting hair-like algae like nobodys business and its driving me insane. The bulbs are newish about 2 months old. What could possibly be the source, the algae is far exceeding what little food i put into the system. I have a ton of liverock in the sump and a few large pieces in display for the sps. If I left my tank alone and didnt manually remove the algae weekly, then after a month the tank would be green.

You algae is comming from the fact you have a bioload in there. The algae needs nutrients, carbon dioxide, and light to grow. Eliminating any one of those things will prevent it from growing. Consumers like a lawn mower blenny will help by consuming the algae.
 

Len

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Chances are, it's from die off on the rocks. How old is this tank? It's pretty common to have crazy algae stages that die off on their own after a few weeks. I had a crazy hair algae stage for about a month in my previous 176g incarnation, and it just went away on its own.
 

blackcloudmedia

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Beasle it seriously can be the bioload. Like I said, 2 clown percs, 1 yellow tang (3 inches) and 170 Gallon TSVolume. The tanks been set up for 4 months now. Went through all the usual algae blooms. The live rock is about 1 year and a half old now (was in old system) is it possible that the nitrification bacteria is gone?
 

Len

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It's unlikely nitrifying bacteria died off; this wouldn't effect algae growth anyhow (denitrifying bacteria could though). More likely is some large biomass died off (sponges, snails, worms, etc.) for whatever reason, leading to a nutrient spike.

A possible idea is to try dosing vodka if you think bacterial levels are the problem.
 
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Anonymous

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blackcloudmedia":2msihwrm said:
Beasle it seriously can be the bioload. Like I said, 2 clown percs, 1 yellow tang (3 inches) and 170 Gallon TSVolume. The tanks been set up for 4 months now. Went through all the usual algae blooms. The live rock is about 1 year and a half old now (was in old system) is it possible that the nitrification bacteria is gone?

Len has good points. It is possible part of the bioload is "left overs" coming from the rocks. And you can dose (very carefully) vodka to consume the nutrients. And I do agree that nitrification bacteria is probably not gone. Especially if the fish are showing no signs of distress.

One thing that sometimes comes up at the 4-6 month point is nitrate starvation. Things run fine, you think you got it whipped then all the sudden you get a mat of dark algae all over the rocks and sand. If that is the case you very well could have a cyano bacteria which is usually a reddish mat but can be very dark almost black and confused with algae. What has happened is the tank is nitrate starved and cyano can get it's nitrogen from dissolved nitrogen gas from the sand, rocks, and in the water column. So cyano starts spreading and in the process consuming more and more of the phosphates previously going to other algaes like corraline. IMHO the tank can actually change from an algae dominated system to a cyano dominated system in a very short time.

Fortunately whether plant life algae or cyano bacteria killing the lights allows the fast groiwng stuff to die off very fast. Which also returns nutrients especially nitrates back to the system, giving the corals and algae the nutrients they need. In one case local did not believe that. "it couldn't be that simple" yet it was. He at first thought he would have to do a blackout every month as the cyano came back 3 weeks later. But the second time a strange thing happened. The cyano did not come back in three weeks and a year later he has had no return. His tank is a beautiful sps dominated tank and he has many frags to sell to other members and exchange at frag swaps.

So you might give that a try or look at cleanup crews to consume the algae.


my .02
 

blackcloudmedia

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Thanks for the input. The algae isnt the same hair algae I used to get, its a hair like algae that comes off easier, I can easily remove the large pieces with fingers, and have been removing the rest with a toothbrush, basically brushing the rocks. Im surprised that Ive had very minimal coralline growth, but Im attributing that to lighting. My tank is more white than blue. I used to run VHOs and had nothing but coralline. I only have a slight bit of cyano in the sump and its on the top inch of the waterline.
Im going to try draining the sump to see if theres any detritus buildup at the bottom and try to get more flow in the sump. It may be that theres a layer of crap Im not seeing in the sump.
 
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Anonymous

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Agree.

It also could be a slower growing macro that just started.

With proper calcium, alk, and magnesium it could be your lights are preventing the corraline.

I think you got a plan. Hope it works.


my .02
 

blackcloudmedia

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So I stripped the rock out of my sump to take a look at the bottom...OMG.. Mind you this sump has been setup for a year and a half and I never mess with it. So I found a hermit crab big enough to have taken over a midsized conch shell and a crap ton of detritus. I dont know how this much detritus has accumulated but it did. So I have a bunch of water curing right now for the water change. I also discovered every inch of rock in the sump was covered in fan worms or another kind of worm that makes tubes that point straight out but with no fan structure. Also found some purple sponges and some neon green sponges.
 

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