Drastic Measures

OK with this being said I'm almost 100% sure you are not fighting any form of Bryopsis , Your Calcium may be up heck I'm sure it is proberely over 500 maybe ? But the Carbonates are low I can see it from your rock's . I seriouly don't think you have anything neat to bryopsis you are fighting a garden viraty hair algae. By cutting lights off for few days with not kill bryopsis .. I know I fought bryopsis and it took every idea trick and a lot of trying them all to get mine under control. And it took 3 weeks with no light at all to see ours here evening to start look weak. What is the DKH level of your water ? what is the magnesim level of your water what is the nitrate levels of your water ? what is the average day tempture of the tank ? And its bulb time.. those bulbs where junk when the where made Far far to cool of a K value .. I have seen that bulb new out of the box up close and personel and itsa K of like 6500 maybe 75K ? Not near to a solid 10 or 14 K and thats what most algea like hair do not like High K value bulbs High DKH level High Calcium an d Magnesium levels Its love High Phosphate levels ad Hih Nitrate and High DOC's and thats another area to look into what you doing for a skimmer ? any mechanicial filtration ? and Snail how many and what type do you have in there ? You can dance around it and try to put a bandaid on the wound and all But you have to find the root cause and guessing wount do it.. You have to have severa Types of test kits and you have to manitian certian minamul water prameters 24/7/365 . You I don't think have any type of bryopsis but a common nussiance PITA old green algae , Do you have any pictures of this algae thats about the only way I can even guess at what you have ?

 

Nice fish bro. My two favorite damsels. Watch that Velvet though.....he is going to get meeeeaaaaaan.

 

That's the algae when it was bad. At the moment, I don't have any at all. As for the tests, I'm going to go do those right now and get back to you. I'll also let you know what media I am running in my phosphate reactor.

Furthermore, RSM claims that the lights are 10,000k, so maybe they upped for anti, or you're thinking of a different all-in-one? (refer to Red Sea MAX | Specs – complete reef filtration, circulation and lighting). For the time being, my skimmer is the stock RSM skimmer, but I plan on getting the tunze doc 9002 skimmer that is commonly used for the RSM as an upgrade. Additionally, I haven't gotten any snails yet - what sort would you recommend and how many? I'll get back with the test results in a bit.

 

Alright, here are my parameters:

SG: 1.026
pH: 8.4
Nitrate: 20
Ammonia: 0.25
dKH: 5.6
Magnesium: 1280
Calcium: 450

Also, the phosphate media I am using is PhosBan, which uses a synthetic ferris oxide. For the mechanical filtration, I am using What came with the RSM, though I cut the black sponge in half for a bit more flow.

 

That blue devil damsel is going to be one mean mother. I had one when I first started and it absolutely terrorized anything I put in the tank. And good luck getting it out!

 

I agree with Tangster. Also are you using ro/di water, your mag is low need to get it up around 1500, alk is also a little low. You are still showing signs of ammonia in your tank how long has it been up, you might still be cycling as well. Get yourself a po4 test kit as well. You did say you have po4 reactor right. Get rid of the white filter pad it sucks. Get something like the pura filters. Also the RSM does not have enough flow in it. I would suggest investing in a koralia 2 or two koralia nanos.

 

OK I somehow knew the DKH was nonexistent , That picture is not bryopsis its looks to be simple old hair algae To many little things have you up against the wall more then any one larger problem.

By the numbers
SG: 1.026 to high get this down to 1.023
pH: 8.4 Means nothing really but it is a good level for those who feel it does.
Nitrate: 20 Way to high anything above detectable is bad and feeds algae.
Ammonia: 0.25 Damn its never cycled yet how long has then been running ?
DH: 5.6 this has to be at 12
Magnesium: 1280 Lpw should be kept between 14 and 15 PPM
Calcium: 450 Is good but that the expense of the DKH once you bang the carbonates up thus will fall like a box of bricks so watch that as you adjust the magnesium upward FIRST get the Mag stable then bring the DKH up using a reef buffer do you have any buffer around there ? any Magnesium around ? or Epsom salts that will do for the magnesium. You did not list the PO4 test results ?very important to know especially when battling any algae issues .

I take from your reply that you have no snails at all in the tank ? and you need to do some up grading of the light Bulbs in there also.. But all of your algae problems are normal and will happen to anyone if their water parameters where ever allowed to fall to these numbers also what type of salt and make up water do you use ? You make your own R/O D.I or do you buy it from a store ? Ever test that for quality or TDS levels ?

I'm not trying to make you feel bad here but what you have for parameters is junk to be polite you seriousley need to get on top of the water and get it corrected fix the lights test the PO4 get a skimmer and about 75 snails of different types to perform different jobs . Not sure where you have been getting your aquarium info from or who but I'd find another source.. I have other questions also but I can't recall them now . But you get the snails skimmer and the water parameters up to snuff you will see a huge difference for the better even with the cool bulbs .Do you have separate actins on this set up ? If so just run them until you get the water corrected and a better grip on the algae . Have any questions holler But your algae problem is all part of the new tank game .
Thanks

 

I have not tested TDS on my RO water, and I get it from my LFS.

Regarding snails, JUST now I discovered that I had a hitch-hiking snail that is quite small, so I do have one, but that's it.

Nitrites I'll have to test tomorrow - just got off of work so it's pretty late, and I just want to relax for the time being.

Assuming actinics are the blue lights that don't emit much light, then that's what I've been using since I turned my normal lights off.

This is what I have from my starter kit, and nothing else for buffers: Red Sea MAX | Starter Kit – turns your MAX into a fully functional reef aquarium

Let me know if there is anything in addition to those that I need (I tossed out the hydrometer and bought myself a refractomer, and I don't regret it at all).

I'm thinking that my ammonia is still up because of the fact that I had to kill off all of that algae - my tank was set up on 7/4/08, so it's been a month. Similar story with the nitrates, perhaps.

In summation, I know my water quality is pretty much crap right now, and that's why I am here, asking these questions :. I'm always doing what I can to get my tank in check, and so far, I believe that I am headed in the right direction.

One more thing - and specific recommendations on snails? I guess I can just go to my LFS, ask them what they have, and just get a few of each. But 75 snails? Really? That seems like a huge amount for a 34 gallon tank (well, 29 gallons, as the built in "sump" is 5 gallons). I'm short on money that I can put into my tank right now, so I can't upgrade my skimmer at the moment. Though, my birthday is coming up, so I think I'll ask for a few supplys for my tank (I'm looking at the aforementioned skimmer, a Hydor Koralia Nano (Mini) Pump/Powerhead 240gph and a Hydor FLO Rotating Water Deflector, so we'll see ;D.

 

Go to ReefCleaners.org - Home, do the custom clean-up crew option. Let him know the specifics of your tank and he'll recommend the snails you need. I spent the same amount on a whole clean-up crew as I did on 5 hermits and 6 snails. All of them arrived alive and all are still alive. They made a huge difference in my tank, I now have white sand again.

I have a crap ton of them in my 25G w/ 2.5G refug.

Gin

 

Awesome thanks, just added an inquiry.