I am so sick of algae

[Swicicki]

I tried vodka and my snails all died

My crappy API test kit says no nitrates and no phosphates

I was using kent phos sponge and it seems to have an effect I switched to rowa gfo in a media bag with good flow and I don't see much change

 

[Sniperhank]

With large algae blooms, you won't be able to test for the nitrates/phosphates they are feeding off of them because they are using all of it up. Using phosphate media is just one step. There are 2 guides to algae in my signature that will help. It might also be necessary to manually remove the algae, either by hand during water changes or by just taking the rock out and scrubbing it down.

 

[lstimpy]

I don't know your tank and don't mean to be obvious but are you using RODI water?

 

[Swicicki]

Yes I use ro
It all started when I went away and my nephew was looking after my tank

I came back and 6 months of frozen food was gone and the siphon on my overflow box was broken

Thick brown algae everywhere

It's better now but I seem to have stalled in the recovery process

 

[lstimpy]

Oh, I'm so sorry. That's the curse of this hobby, it's your baby that nobody else can really love like you do. Like anyone would say, a good water change and cleanup will do wonders. Best luck to you, your tank, and your nephew.

 

[Mebbid]

Did your nephew survive the return?

Do you have any macro algae growing anywhere?

 

[dmolavi]

Dare I ask how long you were gone that he dropped in 6 months worth of food?

Do massive water changes, back to back...50% or more if you are able to. While you are siphoning out the water, suck up the algae off the sand, and use a clean toothbrush to clean it from the rock and suck it up, as well.

If you don't have corals (or even if you do), lights out for 3-4 days. I would suggest minimal feeding (2-3 days a week)...the fish can live off their fat stores for a couple of days.

 

[Swicicki]

Nephew is fine...fired from his job as fish watcher

I have some calerpa taxifolia that I was using as nutrient export when I harvested it. It would wither away when I would add the kent phosphate sponge.
Now it is green again since I switched to gfo

I have a small sump just big enough for my skimmer and sock so I don't see a regugium in the future.

I have a HOB filter that I have my GFO in. Should I ditch it? Does the cheap carbon in the HOB cartridge release phosphates?

 

[dmolavi]

Ditch the carbon in your HOB. Use Purigen and Phosguard along with your GFO.

 

[Swicicki]

Odd thing is I had white coralline all over the glass and pink coralline on the bottoms of rocks and in shadows I'm thinking there was some nutrient deficiency in my water that made the algae bleach in the light?

 

[Swicicki]

Dmolavi I was gone for a week

I had 2 trays 1 frozen brine one mysis

I would feed 1 half a cube every 3 days

Nephew averaged 8 cubes a day

This was 4 months ago


I've been thinking about remove in the HOB entirely in starting to picture the bio wheels as little spinning nitrate machines

 

[dmolavi]

I would do the multiple back to back mega water changes, and lights out for a few days, with minimal feeidng, as suggested earlier. Run phosguard and purigen (and GFO if you have it), and make sure those params stay in check.

It worked for me.

 

[Iceman72]

Take out all the rock, put them in a big tub of salt water. Add a bottle or two of hydrogen peroxide and a power head. Cover and let sit for 2-3 weeks. Siphon sand and get all algae and nasty stuff out. Keep up with 15-20% water changes. Cut lights out 2-3 hours more per day. I guarantee in a month it will look spankin new clear of algae. Oh yeah and scrape all the glass clean and keep your skimmer on all day. Run GFO, carbon and you will be happy.

 

[Animal-Chin]

considering it looks like you have no coral, I'd take all that rock out and brush the algea off using a new stiff bristle brush for the dollar store. If you think about what feeds algea it's nitrates and phosphates. Well, if you kill off that much algea in your tank what is the dead algea going to become? When you have that much start with manual removal, big water change and then reduce light and feeding. With no coral you could black out that tank for a week...