Tropical Fish Forums

[Liveinabox419]

So I've been doing battle with algae.

It takes over my live rock in about a week and a half, in which I scrub it all back off again. Phosphate levels are .5ppm and I know they need to be zero but I'm trying. I put 125 ml of PhosGuard in my Rena XP2 and have stepped up to weekly water changes as of late.

Anything else I can do?
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28 gallon freshwater

29 Gallon Reef Tank: 1 Black Percula, 1 TR Percula, 1 Yellow Watchmen & Pistol Shrimp, 1 Six-line Wrasse, 1 Cleaner Shrimp

[diademhill]

Are you using RO water or tapwater to mix?
If the latter have you tested for phosphates?

[Liveinabox419]

I use R/O Saltwater that I buy pre-mixed from the LFS, but for top offs I just use tap for conveniance, which tested zero phosphates.

I don't have a skimmer so I'm assuming that plays a role in that? But I'm most likely going to purchase the Taam Rio Nano Skimmer.
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28 gallon freshwater

29 Gallon Reef Tank: 1 Black Percula, 1 TR Percula, 1 Yellow Watchmen & Pistol Shrimp, 1 Six-line Wrasse, 1 Cleaner Shrimp

[FloridaBoy]

Just a few Q's...
Is that "algae" brown or green?
How long has the tank been set up?
Have you tested for nitrates as well?

A good skimmer will help reduce a lot of those dissolved organics people often encounter in this hobby.

Just for reference;
you might want to take a look at the recent discussions on adding organic carbon sources like Bio-Calcium, I have not done this myself but I think Dusko has and his tank looks great, see the two links below:
http://www.aquahobby.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=55702
http://www.aquahobby.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=54132&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=20
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Keepin' marines happy for 25 years

[MarkLehr]

Another very simple tip to help control phosphates is to eliminate all forms of mechanical filtration. If you have filter pads anywhere, take them out!

[Liveinabox419]

To start, the tank has been running for about a year and the algae is green (it might be hair algae). But these are the adjustments I've made to my tank:
-Traded FlameHawkish for goby and pistol shrimp, and 10 blue leg hermits.
-Added a Taam Rio Nano Skimmer that has really worked well.
-Started using RO water instead of tap for topoffs.
(I tried PhosGuard by Seachem, but it seemed to damage my
green cup coral, so I removed it).
All this has worked well. I see the hermits constantly munching away and eating all the algae off the rocks, plus the levels have dropped.

I didn't know mechanical filtration caused phosphates? I mean I heard about nitrates but my nitrates are zero.
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28 gallon freshwater

29 Gallon Reef Tank: 1 Black Percula, 1 TR Percula, 1 Yellow Watchmen & Pistol Shrimp, 1 Six-line Wrasse, 1 Cleaner Shrimp

[MarkLehr]