Sick of Algae

MB_Reef · Mar 4, 2023

I have a 10g nano reed tank about 2 months old. Has 2 clowns and some corals. Brown algae started about 1 week in and then green algae about 1 month in.

Absolutely sick of this algae. Pictures are me going 2 days without scraping and brown algae covers the glass and part of the sand bed.

nitrates are 5-10 and phosphates read 0. Not sure if phosphates are truly 0 or if thats just the algae consuming it so fast.

Any ID on the algae growing on the tube anemone? And any idea how to get rid of it? The length of this algae significantly increased past 2 days. I only see this algae on the tube anemone and nowhere else.

filter is just a marineland 125 HOB. Has one of the factory specific carbon cartridges in it and then some extra filter floss cut to size.

I have some microbacter 7. Would dosing this help with the algae? Im tired of algae growing onto corals and glass. Tank is super frustrating right now. Tired of always having my hands in the tank to scrape algae.

KING KONG · Mar 5, 2023

BHartwig said:
I have a 10g nano reed tank about 2 months old. Has 2 clowns and some corals. Brown algae started about 1 week in and then green algae about 1 month in.

Absolutely sick of this algae. Pictures are me going 2 days without scraping and brown algae covers the glass and part of the sand bed.

nitrates are 5-10 and phosphates read 0. Not sure if phosphates are truly 0 or if thats just the algae consuming it so fast.

Any ID on the algae growing on the tube anemone? And any idea how to get rid of it? The length of this algae significantly increased past 2 days. I only see this algae on the tube anemone and nowhere else.

filter is just a marineland 125 HOB. Has one of the factory specific carbon cartridges in it and then some extra filter floss cut to size.

I have some microbacter 7. Would dosing this help with the algae? Im tired of algae growing onto corals and glass. Tank is super frustrating right now. Tired of always having my hands in the tank to scrape algae.

Just an ugly phase. You don't hv to worry. Your tank is just maturing. U can just add a wave maker to give a good flow to your tank.
Just enjoy this phase!

EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal · Mar 5, 2023

This is totally normal and unavoidable (if you have photosynthetic livestock). Be patient, keep up with water changes and basic maintenance, add some pods and algae eating snails, and you'll be fine.

The conditions that grow coral also grow algae...

I never finish anythi · Mar 5, 2023

Honestly that looks ok , and is normal . Just beef up the cuc and it will pass . Get 2 mexican turbo snails and a few hermit crabs .

MB_Reef · Mar 5, 2023

KING KONG said:
Just an ugly phase. You don't hv to worry. Your tank is just maturing. U can just add a wave maker to give a good flow to your tank.
Just enjoy this phase!

I tried the smallest wavemaker I could find for a 10g and it blew corals all over the place. Can't find one small enough

EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal · Mar 5, 2023

BHartwig said:
I tried the smallest wavemaker I could find for a 10g and it blew corals all over the place. Can't find one small enough

On a 10 gallon, your filter return should be plenty; if anything you could add an internal filter like this, https://www.google.com/aclk?sa=l&ai...lMfg2cX9AhXUk2oFHcGyBm4Qwg8oAHoECAUQLA&adurl=

Lavey29 · Mar 5, 2023

2 months in? You better buckle up because tanks go through various ugly algae phases over the course of the first year. The best thing you can do for a nano tank is regular weekly water changes too.

brandon429 · Mar 5, 2023

remember how oppositely we did your cycle/contrary to public flow

same goes for invasion control.

the truth is, see how the invasion centers on your new rocks not the skip cycle portion from the pet store

that's key, pet store skip cycle rocks have bio rejecting surfaces/coralline and pigmentation on it that white rocks don't have, that's where invaders host first

if you did a skip cycle live rock transfer surgery, in one single day your entire aquascape could be made into all skip cycle rock from the pet store, getting enough to replace all the white rock isn't more costly than how much time, effort and enjoyment you're going to invest turning white rocks into live rocks over the next 24 mos

because you have such a small nano, you should not have any white rock in it if you really want to fix the tank. the specific correction step would be:

do a full rip clean/sand rinse to remove the built up mass, start from zero invasion mass vs invaded

you're at the invaded stage, expected for white rock systems, but you can also opt out

once your entire system is ripped clean, simply exchange all the white rock for the transferred in live rock from the pet store, that swap will make the rip clean sustain, your tank will look fixed, and no cycle will occur. all those animals will just continue on, and your upcoming 2 year headache is cheated gone.

go into a pet store, find it's live rock bin like this and run a skip cycle

if you must keep the rocks, prepare to try all manner of correction over and over, in 2 years the surfaces will have similar bio rejecting pigments and growths. this is the vat of coralline live rock from my nearby store. perfect dinos free skip cycle rock

also factors: you are running lights incorrectly and this is heavily light driven. there's a different way to run them, after the rip clean, to prevent growback. this bright of lights with this much white spectrum is an accelerant in your matter.