Can DT phytoplankton also feed hair algae?

[runway1]

My PO4 is 0. My NO3 is 15/20 ppm. I feed the fish every other day, sparingly. My lights have been cut down to 5.5 hrs of MH and 2.5 hrs before and after with 64 watts of actininc. And STILL - hair algae :x

The only thing I can think of is maybe I'm feeding DT phytoplankton a bit too much - about 3x/week. Could that be a nutrient source for the algae?

I have a zoo branch, frogspawn, montipora, some tall polyps of some sort, several mushrooms. Should I cut back the DT? Thanks all.

 

[Phyl]

I would cut out the DT all together. Get your GHA under control and then start feeding it again but maybe just once a week. I wouldn't feed it at all though for a while. I would also reduce the amount of food that you're feeding.

What types/forms of food are you feeding? How long has your tank been setup? Where did you get your rock from? Was it cycled when you put it in? What kind of Sand? Salt?

 

[runway1]

I feed mysis, brine shimp and cyclop-eeze. I alternate between the mysis and brine every other day and occasionally throw in a piece of the cyclop-eeze. Then, on off days, I usually add the DT.

Rock is 50# walt smith - dead and cured in the tank at start up in January. Added about 20# cured from lfs as months progressed.

Tank is 9/10 mos old.

Sand is mixture of fine cc and aragonite.

I use tropic marin pre mixed at lfs.

 

[runway1]

Phyl, what's "GHA"?

 

[Phyl]

Toss the brine in the trash, make sure that you're draining the water from the mysis. Cyclopeeze should be shavings, not "pieces" or your putting in too much. Your yellow tang wants veggies. I would add formula 1 & 2 frozen to their diet rotation. That will be much better food for the fish you have. I'll assume your feeding nori or your tang is going to be very unhappy.

Flake/pellet foods tend to carry PO4/NO3 so go with the frozen v. Tropic Marin is an excellent salt, you're lucky that your LFS mixes that. I think mine uses IO!

Hopefully a few changes to your feeding routine will straighten things out. In the mean time you may want to up your water changes to help get the DOC down as low as possible.

GHA=Green Hair Algae

 

[runway1]

Well, I dissolve all my food into a shot glass of tank water before feeding. the cyclop-eeze is just a fog of red micro dots. As for my tang, I stopped feeding nori because he has a ton of algae to feed on and noticably grazes all day. He seems very healthy and friendly too. And yeah, I don't use flakes or pellets.

So, I'll dump the cookies (brine). My water changes are very regular, weekly 10 gal in my 55 gal. And, I'll switch to some formula food. Should I dissolve the mysis by itself and then drain it? Is that what you mean? Thanks for the help!

 

[Phyl]

Yes, best to drain the mysis before using it. Great on dumping the cookies Keep up with the water changes (silly LFS).

Didn't think about the tang grazing on the GHA. If he's fat and happy that's great. Once your GHA is under control dose some selcon in the formula frozen foods while you're defrosting (once a week/every 2) so that he gets his vitamins.

 

[steve-s]

the cyclop-eeze is just a fog of red micro dots.

Great product but lousy with phosphates. If you can pick up a brine net fairly cheaply at the LFS it should allow you to pre soak the cyclop eeze and drain it before feeding.

FWIW, there is nothing in your tank that will benefit from the use of DT's. It's mainly for dusters, bivalves and pods.

Cheers
Steve

 

[IndyReefMan]

I have a problem with excess algae and cyano growth. Since I feed my fish sparingly, I suspected that my feedings of DT's might be contributing to the problem so I conducted a little experiment. I placed several drops of fresh DT's in a half gallon of RO/DI water and let it set for 30 minutes and then tested Nitrate and PO4. Nitrate was 0 and PO4 was .04. I had tested this batch of plain RO/DI water beforehand as a control and both nitrate and PO4 were 0. I purchased some Phyto Feast (another live phytoplankton additive that I had purchase from another LFS) and it tested about the same at .03 PO4 and nitrate was 0. I bought some liquid life phyto and tested it as well and PO4 and nitrate were both 0. So, even though the live Phyto additives advertise as no nitrates or PO4, my tests showed that they did have a trace of PO4. It would seem that everytime I was dosing live phyto, I was also dosing PO4. I now use liquid life. Even though it is not live phyto, I feel more comfortable with the 0 PO4 reading I got in my test. It's still too early to tell but I'll look forward to seeing if this helps with my algae and cyano problems.

 

[runway1]

Wow, sure learning a lot here. Thank you all, very much. I have confidence in my plan now.

I'm going to lose the DT and ease up on the cyclop-eeze while looking for a brine net for all my foods. Thanks again