bubbles and algae

[el-reefo]

All,

Serous problem in my 24 aquapod.

Parameters are fine, 1.025 sg, 82 ph, 0 amonia, nitrates and nitrites.

But during the day, I get LOTS of brown algae and bubbles all over my rocks, corals and clam.

How can I get rid off it?

Thanks for the input.

 

[weaglereefer]

Are you using tap water or RO/DI for top off? What is the lighting cycle? Can you test for phosphates? How often do you do water changes? Are you running a skimmer? Do you still have "bio balls"?

 

[el-reefo]

Have bio balls, no skimmer, using RO/DI water, don't test phosphates yet, but the water is super clean.

Do you think that phosphates could be what's causing this?

 

[el-reefo]

Forgot about the cycle... I am running MH 150w lights from 7:30 am to 5:40pm Night lights the rest of the time.

Corals seem to love the light...

 

[weaglereefer]

First thing, ditch the bio balls, but not all at once. Remove 1-2 a day til they're all gone and replace with live rock rubble in that section. It's been shown that in SW setups bio balls can become nitrate factories. What kind of test kit are you using that shows 0 for nitrates? Since you're not using a skimmer, I'd be weary of that reading. Phosphates generally come from using tap water for top offs, flake food (if overfeeding) or possibly the frozen juices from frozen food. Lighting seems alright.

 

[el-reefo]

I'll give the bio-balls switch for LR a try. I am using the Salifert test for Nitrites and API for Nitrates.
thanks