Diatom Bloom, and Hair Algae

[zero26]

My tank now is almost two months old and I am dealing with the Diatom Bloom and Hair algae. It seems I am losing the battle my clean crew is 15 Nassarius, 6 turbos, 6 astreas, 11 ceirth, 20 hermits, and 3 peppermint shrimp.
I have a bulk reef RO/DI setup. My nitrates are hovering right at 10, its low but not 0. My phosphates are near zero also. What am I doing wrong, the diatom bloom is going everywhere and the hair algae is spreading.
I bought some Kent nitrate sponge and phosphate sponge. Should I start running them in my tank?
I have been running carbon from wally world for about a week now.
As far as my setup, 90 gal aga tank, 30 gal sump, reef octo 150, some cheato and LS in fuge. 90lbs of live rock, 80 lbs of oolite LS. Thanks guys!!

 

[zero26]

thoughts?

 

[cajonez]

Have you done any water changes? From what I have read on here the diatoms feed on silica from the sand. Eventually it will run out and they will disappear, water changes will speed up this process.

 

[zero26]

Yes 10% every week

 

[bionicarm]

What kind of fish and livestock do you have in the tank? Some fish put a larger strain on the bio-load than others (messier eaters, 'poop' more than others, etc.). You aquarium is still fairly new. Not uncommon to still have some diatom and red algae blooms during that timeframe. You still need to let your system 'acclimate' to its new environment. Do you have any kind of filtration other than chaeto in your sump? My 150 had problems like that, even after it matured. I ended up putting some carbon filitration and bio-balls in my sump, and it cleared everything up.

 

[stanlalee]

well excluding bioload all but the most particular new set ups generally go thru stages of diatoms and nuisance algae especially where you are (2 month mark). If you practice a sound regular maintanence routine much of that stuff wont be around 9 and 10 months from now.
Astrea snails usually make quick work of liverock diatoms. on the glass you'll just have to deal with it by frequent cleaning until your tank has gotten past that point. In that size tank two or three fighting conch will help with the sand until sand diatoms arent really an issue. I wouldn't be worried about diatoms at all.
With the hair algae you just want to keep it from getting out of hand at this stage of tank maturity. weather the storm so to speak. the phophate removal media is a good idea. Nitrate sponge isn't going to work (not going to hurt either. basically just adds a little surface area and removes ammonia like all zeolite media) and if your are only reading 10ppm at 2 months nitrates arent an issue. No creatures are going to make a real dent in hair algae. the ones that will cant sustain when its gone. and it will be right back when they are gone if thats the only thing controlling it. I'd say use the phosphate media (dont skimp on changing it out regularly at this stage), do regular water changes, remove as much as you can manually, allow the macro algae to work and wait out this stage. get a media reactor if you want to make the best use of the phosphate media and DONT skimp on cheap carbon. there are a few brands that work well (bulk reef supply, seachem matrix, TLF hydro carbon for example) and a whole bunch that literally suck (most) and were never developed for aquarium use including the popular respectable brands.

 

[yearofthenick]

Set up a refugium and throw some chaeto in it... that will clear it up. Seriously. My tank has never been so clean and it's because the chaeto is leaching all the same food the diatom and hair algae eat. Your tank will always have algae... You can control and localize macro-algae in a refugium so you never see any micro algae in the tank. Make sense?

 

[nycbob]

r u using ro water? it could just be a new tank thing. if u r still experiencing hair algae in 2-3 months, just get a dolabella sea hare from here. its cheaper then running all these media.

 

[zero26]

Yes, thats all I run is RO/DI water. I also have a sump and cheato. I have read about Marine Algaefix, alot of people love that stuff. Anybody ever used it?

 

[nycbob]

i wouldnt use any chemical. hows ur cheato growing? remember they need lots of flow to do well.

 

[zero26]

Its not setting the world on fire but it looks like its growing. I have as much flow as I can running through there before it starts going airborne. I know it like to be tumbled but all the loose stuff makes its way in my DT. I run a 6500K CFL floodlight bulb for 8 hrs at night over it.

 

[zippgirl]

I am no expert but maybe you should increase you light time on the cheato. I also run on a reverse cycle but I light my cheato for 16 hrs a day. It runs from 8pm to 12 noon the next day. I don't think it could hurt so maybe give it a try, after you get other opinions.

 

[stanlalee]

Originally Posted by zippgirl
http:///forum/post/3088145
I am no expert but maybe you should increase you light time on the cheato.
your dead on. the idea is to give the cheato a photosynthetic advantage and the fuge lights should be on the WHOLE TIME the main display lights arent on. the fuge is usually already at a disadvantage because usually we throw inferior lights on the sump to begin with. some people run their fuge lights 24/7 but I wouldn't recommend that. at least 16 hrs though.
I still think the main problem is just the maturity of the tank. you use the right water, do water changes ect. when your unfortunate enough to get rock that has these algae spores and they finally show their head after the cycle and adjusting you just have to deal with them. early on (like now) there is still going to be alot of organic waste and still organic die off in the liverock since 2 month old live rock is still not at its equalibrium (stuff thats not going to be there long term is still in there). this will feed the nuisance algae and make it difficult to fight even though you are doing all the right things. When the rock becomes more biologically stable the battle becomes easier. Hell mine came with bryposis, be glad its onrily hair algae.