could it be... ANOTHER hair algae post?!?! Yes, it is.

Last week I noticed a small and growing hair algae outbreak.

Wednesday
nitrate: 10
phosphate: .25

1. ordered some Chemipure Elite
2. put some phosban in a ghetto pantyhose filtersock
3. cut lights down to a couple (4)hours a day (I do run the actinic lights 10hrs tho)
4. put some cheato and my two mangrove sprouts in the sump and run the lights at night

Thursday
5. put some carbon (already in filtersock) in sump
6. put ghetto pantyhose filtersock on drain from DT into sump
7. water change 1x weekly
8. lowered water temp to 73-75 F
9. cleaned out sump well, left bioballs alone though
10. cleaned upper part of skimmer so it skims better
11. reduced bubble size of skimmer bubbles for more efficient skimmate
12. changed to pellet fish food instead of flake
13. changed from 2x daily feeding to once every other day
14. haven't been feeding my sun coral
15. haven't been feeding the carnation

Saturday
nitrate: 0
phosphate: .25

Sunday
16. put a turbo snail in
17. ordered a lawnmower blenny from the lfs which I will pick up on thursday

(Someone is going to say they want me to post pics, and I will take them now since I am sure someone will ask...)

Anything else I should try before this gets out of control? [scroll][/scroll]

 

Wow. Fast reaction... The only other thing would be how old your bulbs are?

 

d0h! Forgot that one. They are new - 2 months.

 

Thats a great diagram mission. As for the tank it seems like your doing everything right and just see if it starts to clear up soon. Maybe someone else has another suggestion though.

 

Temperature: 75
PH: 8.2
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0
Salinity: 1.024
dKH/KH/Alkalinity: 10
Magnesium: unknown
Calcium: 640
Phosphate: .25

Tank size? 75gal
Estimated total system? 77gal

Reef, fish only or, freshwater? reef & fish

Current inhabitants? What and how many? (1) Maroon Clown (1) Foxface (1) Royal Gramma Basslet (1) Sixline Wrasse (1) Skunk Shrimp (20) red leg crabs (15 approx) margarita snails (5 approx) astria snails (1) turbo snail

How long has your tank been set-up? 11 months

Substrate.
Type? crushed coral
Depth? 1"

Live rock? yes
How much? 75lbs
Did you recently add some? no, nothing recently added

Filtration.
Type? ProClear 125 wet/dry
Protein skimmer? ProClear 150
Maintenance schedule for filtration? monthly or as needed
Drilled tank/hang on back overflow? hang on back
Sump/refugium. What's in it and how much? bio balls, 2 pumps & a skimmer
Macro? What kind? cheato & 2 mangrove stalks

Lighting.
Lighting type? t5 coralife actinic, t5 coralife magtinic, power compact daylights (don't remeber specifics at the moment)
Age of bulbs? 2 months

Feeding
What? spectrum pellets, baby brine shrimp for sun coral, brine shrimp for anenome, phytoplankton for stupid carnation
How much? not much
How often? every other day for fish, none for sun coral in the last week (I'm killing it probably), once a month or so for anenome & carnation hasn't been fed in a week (it's gonna die, yes)

Water change schedule.
How much? 15 gal
How often? weekly
What salt brand? IO

Additives/supplements used? Iodide

Do you have a ground probe? No
What kind of flow does your tank have? Hydor Koralia 1, 350gph from return, modded maxijet 1200 (approx 1000gph)

 

From the water machine at the grocery store. I should have known to add that.

 

Well I'm broke and there are so many other things I need to spend $ on for my tank(s)! I told my man the other day that I want to consolidate both tanks because both need so much $ invested into them. Ugh! Comes with the hobby!

Any other things I should try that you can think of or is my current list of strategies ok looking?