Everyone,
I’m hoping for some feedback on how to get rid of brown algae in my sand bed. First a little bit of background on what’s been going on with my tank.
My phosphates spiked at 0.08 due to some neglect (I had not done a water change in almost 2 months) on my part. I had been using Reef Crystals salt for a long time and I was dealing with a Pulsing Xenia outbreak to the point where I had to remove some rock in hopes of stopping (it didn’t work) the spread. Also I was using Chemipure Elite and Blue, first in a reactor and then between the baffles in my sump, which did not seem to work out very well for me.
I switched salts to Red Sea Coral Pro (mainly because I was hoping to bring up my parameters without having to dose) and began doing weekly water changes while slowly introducing the new salt. At the beginning of February I experienced a red slime outbreak, mostly on my sand bed but it started to spread onto the rocks. I switched my filter media and started using Phosban reactors, 1 for BRS Carbon and the other for Rowaphos. I also dosed Ultra Life Red Slime Remover and in 3 days the red slime was gone.
I have been slowly increasing my Rowaphos usage. I started at 75ML and I am now using 250ML. The brown algae on my sand receded in the beginning but it now seems to have come back.
I’m using a Maxspect Gyre 150 for flow, which is set up vertically along the back right corner of my tank. Most of the brown algae is at the front of the tank but I had been previously using Jebao WP 40s and I still had the brown algae.
As of 3/7/15, my tank parameters are as follows:
Phosphate: 0.00 (using Milwaukee M1412 Low Range)
Phosphate reading out of phosban reactor: 0.07
Phosphate out of RODI: 0.13
TDS: 249 In & 0 Out
Nitrate: 0-2PPM using Red Sea Test kit
PH: 8.2 – 8.4 Using Red Sea Test kit
Calcium: 500 using Red Sea Test Kit
Mag: 1440 Using Red Sea Test Kit
Alk: 6.2 Using Redsea Test Kit (not even Red Sea Coral Pro can seem to raise my Alk)
Salanity: 1.025 (using Milwaukee digital refractometer)
I was surprised at the phosphate reading coming out of my RODI but the Rowaphos seems to be doing its job until I can figure out how to lower the phosphate coming out of my RODI.
My tank is 150 gallons total volume stocked with the following:
1 Yellow Tang
1 Blue/green chromis
2 Chalk Basslets
1 Sixline Wrasse
1 Flame Angel
1 Lawnmower Blenny
2 Yellow Watchman Gobies
2 Clown Fish
3 Bartlett Anthias
2 Cleaner Shrimp
2 Peppermint Shrimp
1 Coral Banded Shrimp
1 Red Linkia Starfish
2 RBTA’s
Assorted snails and hermits
LPS: Hammers, Torches, Lobos, Acans, Candy Canes, Brains, Favias, Duncans
SPS: Green Birdnest, Orange Digitata, Acros, Green Monti Cap
I usually feed 1 New Era Marine Grazer during the day and frozen in the evening.
All of the corals are doing very well. Not exactly explosive growth but the SPS seem to be doing fine.
I forgot to mention that I started dosing Special Blend 3 weeks ago.
I apologize for the lengthy post but I wanted to provide as much information as possible in hopes of finding a solution.
Thanks very much to whoever takes the time to read it!
I’m hoping for some feedback on how to get rid of brown algae in my sand bed. First a little bit of background on what’s been going on with my tank.
My phosphates spiked at 0.08 due to some neglect (I had not done a water change in almost 2 months) on my part. I had been using Reef Crystals salt for a long time and I was dealing with a Pulsing Xenia outbreak to the point where I had to remove some rock in hopes of stopping (it didn’t work) the spread. Also I was using Chemipure Elite and Blue, first in a reactor and then between the baffles in my sump, which did not seem to work out very well for me.
I switched salts to Red Sea Coral Pro (mainly because I was hoping to bring up my parameters without having to dose) and began doing weekly water changes while slowly introducing the new salt. At the beginning of February I experienced a red slime outbreak, mostly on my sand bed but it started to spread onto the rocks. I switched my filter media and started using Phosban reactors, 1 for BRS Carbon and the other for Rowaphos. I also dosed Ultra Life Red Slime Remover and in 3 days the red slime was gone.
I have been slowly increasing my Rowaphos usage. I started at 75ML and I am now using 250ML. The brown algae on my sand receded in the beginning but it now seems to have come back.
I’m using a Maxspect Gyre 150 for flow, which is set up vertically along the back right corner of my tank. Most of the brown algae is at the front of the tank but I had been previously using Jebao WP 40s and I still had the brown algae.
As of 3/7/15, my tank parameters are as follows:
Phosphate: 0.00 (using Milwaukee M1412 Low Range)
Phosphate reading out of phosban reactor: 0.07
Phosphate out of RODI: 0.13
TDS: 249 In & 0 Out
Nitrate: 0-2PPM using Red Sea Test kit
PH: 8.2 – 8.4 Using Red Sea Test kit
Calcium: 500 using Red Sea Test Kit
Mag: 1440 Using Red Sea Test Kit
Alk: 6.2 Using Redsea Test Kit (not even Red Sea Coral Pro can seem to raise my Alk)
Salanity: 1.025 (using Milwaukee digital refractometer)
I was surprised at the phosphate reading coming out of my RODI but the Rowaphos seems to be doing its job until I can figure out how to lower the phosphate coming out of my RODI.
My tank is 150 gallons total volume stocked with the following:
1 Yellow Tang
1 Blue/green chromis
2 Chalk Basslets
1 Sixline Wrasse
1 Flame Angel
1 Lawnmower Blenny
2 Yellow Watchman Gobies
2 Clown Fish
3 Bartlett Anthias
2 Cleaner Shrimp
2 Peppermint Shrimp
1 Coral Banded Shrimp
1 Red Linkia Starfish
2 RBTA’s
Assorted snails and hermits
LPS: Hammers, Torches, Lobos, Acans, Candy Canes, Brains, Favias, Duncans
SPS: Green Birdnest, Orange Digitata, Acros, Green Monti Cap
I usually feed 1 New Era Marine Grazer during the day and frozen in the evening.
All of the corals are doing very well. Not exactly explosive growth but the SPS seem to be doing fine.
I forgot to mention that I started dosing Special Blend 3 weeks ago.
I apologize for the lengthy post but I wanted to provide as much information as possible in hopes of finding a solution.
Thanks very much to whoever takes the time to read it!
