GHA causing a chain reaction of problems (i.e.stress!)

Hi everyone, I'm struggling through a GHA outbreak for the last month or so, and am steadily losing the battle. My tank is 90g, medium sized sump, thick type filter sock, ASM 3 skimmer, 7 fish and assorted crabs and snails, one cleaner shrimp.

SG 1.025, Temp 78.5*, Ammonia 0 (API), Nitrate 0, Nitrite displays as 2 on my new Hanna Checker, Phosphate 0.34 on new Hanna Checker, then after 25g water change Phosphate was 0.27. My Calcium has always been around 550 (API).

I'm not really sure what started the algae outbreak because there were several things that changed in my system in a short time period.

They were:
-the addition of di to my ro system, although I'm confident my RO wasn't working properly for the first 8 months of the tank.

-I've been significantly increasing the intensity of led lighting (16K maxspect razors)

LFS sold me a sea hare the other day, and he seemed very content the first week munching away, then my cleaner shrimp discovered him and loves to pick at him constantly (especially his rear end!). He does not like this one bit!!! He stiffens up and will fall to the bottom of the tank immediately. He has been hiding in the rock work for the last 2.5 days, finally to come out this morning but he's moving very slow and not eating. We're worried he dying? In an effort to keep shrimp away from him, a couple hours ago I put the bottom half of a peanut butter jar, full of holes over top him on a nice 'grassy' piece of the sand bed...hoping to give him a chance to relax and start eating. He just seems to be sitting in there, not sure if I'm stressing him out more or not...can't be worse than Pekay (shrimp) going at him I think.

2 days ago I also installed a 2 Little Fishes 150 reactor, with a Seachem Phosguard in it. There isn't much Phosguard in it because the maxi jet 400 pump they sold me doesn't have enough jam to move the media around. I'm planning to remedy this in the next few days hopefully by plumbing it off my oversized return pump.

Could the Phosguard be affecting the Sea Hare?

I've been reading about algae scrubbers... seems drastic but maybe that's my next step?

Do the lights fuel algae growth? Seems to me they do, but LFS said he didn't think it was related....

I typically feed 1 cube of mysis per day, or 3-4 pinches of food, or a few pinches of pellets.

My questions are endless at this point, feeling very overwhelmed...but hopefully this post will get some reassurance and help flowing.

Cheers,
Kelly

 

so sorry you're battling algae...but one quick question, how old is your tank? You don't need to tumble phosguard, it just needs water movement through it.....do you run carbon? If you're able, and can DIY with things, an algae scrubber would probably be the least expensive and effective method to get rid of algae in your DT....lights definitely fuel algae growth if you have the nutrients in your tank - reducing your lighting or shortening of your photoperiod will also help bring down the algae along with reduced feedings but it doesn't sound like you're feeding a whole lot.

I don't know about the sea hare though......hopefully, others can chime in.

HTH - don't get discouraged, you'll get it figured out and then appreciate a clean tank that much more

 

Be careful with the sea hare...that kind of stress is generally when they "blow" and ink your tank. In fact, I'm a bit surprised it didn't do it when the shrimp was picking at it.

I suspect your PO4 levels and the additional light may be a big part of your HA problem. Did you go with a longer photoperiod, or just brighten up the intensity?

 

Nutrients feed algae.Nutrients buildup because of bioload on the system.The answer to most of your problems is simple really.A lower bioload is much easier to sustain then a high one.Makes sense right?7 fish in a 90 is a large bioload especially if you add the inverts. There are many ways to export nutrients.Water changes with good quality water,carbon,gfo,biopellets,etc.....
Purchasing animals for algae problems usually leads to that animals eventual death from starvation.You have to attack the source of the problem.Waste.
Your calcium should not be that high.It is necessary to test for Magnesium and Alk. as well.Be wary of lfs info. and remember they are in business to sell things.

Heres some other good reads to help you.Good luck!!8)

http://www.3reef.com/forums/new-hob...general-rules-successful-aquarium-126326.html

http://www.3reef.com/forums/general-reef-topics/minimum-tank-sizes-selection-animals-137158.html

 

Another thing you might do is rinse the mysis once it's thawed...the "juice" has a lot of organics and even bacteria in it. Thaw the mysis, then put it into a net and gently rinse it under the tap.

 

Thanks for the insight everyone!

The tank is 10 months old... I am not running carbon, the phosguard is my first additive. I think I see an algae scrubber in my future, not sure how I feel about that.

I have increased both the intensity and the length over the last month. Up to about 75-85% intensity, the peak lighting period is 5 hours, lights ramp up and down otherwise.

Thanks for the links, I'll check them out.

Not sure why the calcium is so high, always has been. I've always used Reef Crystals...

7 fish is a lot for 90g? 2 b&w clowns, 3 molly's, yellow watchman goby, 1 squareback anthias, and 1 cleaner shrimp.

I did start rinsing the mysis almost 2 weeks ago.

 

After talking with a friend/fellow reefer today it came up that part of my problem may be that my water changes are too big +/or too often??? It did start right around the time I completed my water changing station, I've been doing approx 30% changes every two weeks.

His thoughts were...algae can only grow so much, dependant on how much nitrate and phosphate are in the water...when doing a water change I'm removing depleted water (can't feed any more) and essentially putting more potential food in with the fresh water??????

This seems like a weird train of thought... thoughts??

 

Yeah, weird train of thought, lol. Listen to Vinny, his answer is the correct one. You're not exporting enough nutrients and/or creating too many. Extra nutrients=algae growth.

 

Using the correct water is important.Depending on your water supply and the efficiency of your water purification you could very well be replacing nutrients with nutrients.Also consider this in a typical 90 gallon reef aquarium you generally have about 70 gallons of actual water in the tank. Yes 7 fish is a fairly high bioload but not terrible considering most of them are small.Don't forget all the crabs, snails,worms,etc. living in the system that are also contributing. If long term success is your goal then clean water is where you start.
This can be easily achieved by keeping the stock low. It also allows more time to enjoy the darn thing which is the whole point right??8)

 

FWIW,when testing Ca with API my readings were always high(500ish)but same water sample tested at 370-380 with salifert.