About to Quit

[BostonReefer300]

Looking good. My opinion: if that green stuff looks like film instead of hairy/fuzz, don't do anything different. If you had live rock or even painted dry rock, you probably would have barely noticed any film algae on the rocks. If it is hairy/fuzzy, reduce your peak photo period by 25% since you have no corals and perhaps consider feeding a bit less. Otherwise, don't do anything else different--and prepare for the tank to start looking uglier (not that I think it looks anywhere near ugly right now---so you're going to have a shock if you think it's ugly now!).

 

[Apollo7235]

In my personal experience, photoperiods help with organism health. No regular photoperiods can cause stress and health issues. That being said, you also don't need a green bog to grow in your tank. Is there a window in the tank room that can remain uncovered? Or a lamp you could put on a timer? Just something to give them a steady visible light cycle even though the overhead lights are off. Just my $.02.

And I'm wishing you much good luck. It's been a frustrating journey. Glad to see you've stuck with it. I am new to saltwater but have done freshwater tanks since childhood. (I'm 61) And I've had my share of f$$k this moments as well. My last one came when my daughter was in college and my son in high school. It was close! But I have this spotted raphael catfish that refuses to die. Bless him, he's 16 years old now. And I'm glad he forced me to stick with it.

On another note for your consideration! Trochus snails! I adore them and they're lawn mowers. They're smaller than the turbos and hardly knock anything over.

Hang in there!

Thank you!

I think I am going to go ahead and leave the lights on and maybe add an urchin temporarily to mow back the algae once the water is safe (assuming I can get it safe in the next couple of weeks).
Once the bulk of the algae is under control, I’ll get a good cleanup crew from Reef Cleaners to keep everything maintained.

I was thinking about it over the past day or two and I’ve been busting my tail trying to get (anything) algae to grow and now I have it, so why the heck would I want to get rid of it by turning off the lights? I’m pretty sure this is just one of the ugly stages to come, so I’m just going to embrace the swamp until I can embrace the coralline!

16 years! Good Lord. What a sign of excellent care! Good for you!! Thank you for the kind words and for following along! Support from member like you is the reason I’m still plugging away! Well that, and my own ridiculous bull headedness, hahahaha

 

[Apollo7235]

Looking good. My opinion: if that green stuff looks like film instead of hairy/fuzz, don't do anything different. If you had live rock or even painted dry rock, you probably would have barely noticed any film algae on the rocks. If it is hairy/fuzzy, reduce your peak photo period by 25% since you have no corals and perhaps consider feeding a bit less. Otherwise, don't do anything else different--and prepare for the tank to start looking uglier (not that I think it looks anywhere near ugly right now---so you're going to have a shock if you think it's ugly now!).

Oh no, it’s definitely some kind of dense green algae. It looks like there are two types in there, maybe some kind of turf algae and some kind of very thick stranded hair? I’m not sure.

I am doing all of my maintenance on the tank later today, so I’ll see if I can get some good photos of it for you guys.

So, this is just an ugly stage, then?

I’ve read through some build threads with dry rock and it looks like they all go through this, but I haven’t been able to find how they get rid of this stuff once the tank has stabilized.. I can’t imagine that it goes away on its own?

 

[ClownSchool]

I was told by an experienced reefer that alkaline should be no less than 7.5, though the range to shoot for is 8 to 12. His target was 9.6 to 10.
Don’t feel bad. My tank is 3.5 months on and my anemone wants to shrivel and die every third day. Water changes galore. And, I just got my first bubble algae outbreak to teach me the importance of dipping new frags.
We’ll get there!

 

[IslandLifeReef]

Thank you!

I think I am going to go ahead and leave the lights on and maybe add an urchin temporarily to mow back the algae once the water is safe (assuming I can get it safe in the next couple of weeks).
Once the bulk of the algae is under control, I’ll get a good cleanup crew from Reef Cleaners to keep everything maintained.

I was thinking about it over the past day or two and I’ve been busting my tail trying to get (anything) algae to grow and now I have it, so why the heck would I want to get rid of it by turning off the lights? I’m pretty sure this is just one of the ugly stages to come, so I’m just going to embrace the swamp until I can embrace the coralline!

16 years! Good Lord. What a sign of excellent care! Good for you!! Thank you for the kind words and for following along! Support from member like you is the reason I’m still plugging away! Well that, and my own ridiculous bull headedness, hahahaha

Attempting to fix a problem is much more difficult than attempting to prevent it in the first place. Since you have a fish in the tank with some snails and shrimp, I would recommend you turn down the light intensity. I would consider reducing them by 50-70%. Hair and turf algae can be a bear to get rid of, and those animals that eat it seem to only work in other reefers tanks. IMO, get rid of it now and enjoy your tank when it is ready for coral again.

 

[Critteraholic]

I’ve read through some build threads with dry rock and it looks like they all go through this, but I haven’t been able to find how they get rid of this stuff once the tank has stabilized.. I can’t imagine that it goes away on its own?

I have dry rock! I have a 9 month old 2 1/2 gal. pico.

Clean-up crew keeps it in check (hopefully). You said you can remove your rocks, so make a toothbrush and hydrogen peroxide your best friend. If there is something you want to get rid of take the rock out, scrub it off and rinse the rock. Then paint the spot with peroxide. Give it a minute or two to work and then rinse again. Ta-da!

Re algae: You need to keep enough algae in the tank to feed your algae eating clean-up crew. If the algae gets too long (1/2 inch+), the snails won't eat it. The dwarf blue hermies will still eat it at that length but not much more. So just knocking it down to munching height is good for them. But if it's growing somewhere it shouldn't be (subjective to you); don't scrub it, just peroxide it. The peroxide kills it and makes it mush and the snails and such will be all over it. Snack time!

I read read read for over a year before I started my tank. Coralline algae will eventually cover most of your rock giving it that ocean look. But it takes time. You can help it along by scraping coralline algae off frag plugs into your tank. Or if you're me, you can clean the plug and just toss it in the tank. I think mine started being visible around month 5 and still is only in patches. BUT, I have also had some issues along the way which would not have been kind to the coralline algae.

Oh! And algae is good for pods! They love the stuff. (Notice how I have been working hard to find all the good things about algae....);Wacky

 

[Apollo7235]

Update today:

Did about a 50% water change yesterday after taking a toothbrush to my rocks. Got most of the thick stuff scrubbed away; it came off like powder. Weird. Also turned up my power heads a notch, so hopefully that takes care of the little bit of cyano as well.

I also took the opportunity to take the toothbrush to my skimmer cup, so that’s nice and sparkly.

I basically taco’d the first of my 3 poly-filters around the overflow hose so there shouldn’t be any water that passes through without making its way through the poly-filter. Need to check that it stayed in place when I get home.

I filled one of ‘The Bag’s with about 20tsp of CupriSorb and placed it right next to my return pump, so hopefully the pump will create enough current to suck the water through the CupriSorb without causing any issues.

Fingers crossed that this takes care of the metals and my problems!!

l’ll order the second ICP test next week and send that sucker out! Gosh, I sure hope all of this isn’t for nothing… again.

Thank you all for your help and for following along!

 

[Apollo7235]

Update today:

The poly-filter has turned blue indicating copper removal. I am going to give it another couple of days before I replace it.

I am probably going to have too be the CupriSorb inside the poly-filter to make sure the water is flowing through it, but I think I am going to be happy with my ICP results! I really hope the filter continues to darken and the CupriSorb does its job as well!

 

[Cell]

Check directions on poly filter. Once it changes color, it may be spent.

 

[Apollo7235]

Check directions on poly filter. Once it changes color, it may be spent.

I checked the manufacturer’s website and they say that the filter should be changed when it turns a dark brown color, so I think we’re good for now!! Thank you!!

 

[diver22]

how deep is your tank ?

 

[diver22]

Question your DT looks pretty deep maybe 24" if not more would the AI Prime 16HD's have enough PAR to get tot eh bottom ? if not mistaken they are only 59W Max Output....

 

[Cpc83]

All 23 pages. I have to say you hit the ground running and ran into a wall. On my first tank years ago I had the same issue with a refrac then I bought a hydrometer and tested and salt was so high it wouldn't read just went red . Get you a lawnmower blenny from a good lfs and put it in there and get a little enjoyment watching him cruise around and churn up stuff also if you are getting hair algea while you have nothing really in tank except a goby and two pistols toss an emerald crab in and let it eat. A small scopes tang will eat algea like crazy too

 

[Apollo7235]

Question your DT looks pretty deep maybe 24" if not more would the AI Prime 16HD's have enough PAR to get tot eh bottom ? if not mistaken they are only 59W Max Output....

My tank is 20” deep, but my ICP results came back showing metals in the water, so I don’t think that is the lighting that’s the problem, thankfully.

 

[Apollo7235]

All 23 pages. I have to say you hit the ground running and ran into a wall. On my first tank years ago I had the same issue with a refrac then I bought a hydrometer and tested and salt was so high it wouldn't read just went red . Get you a lawnmower blenny from a good lfs and put it in there and get a little enjoyment watching him cruise around and churn up stuff also if you are getting hair algea while you have nothing really in tank except a goby and two pistols toss an emerald crab in and let it eat. A small scopes tang will eat algea like crazy too

Once I get things right with my tank, I will definitely starting adding fish again. Unfortunately, none of my LFS loan out or buy back fish, so if I ended up with a tang that was too big for my tank, I would be screwed unless I could find a local buyer.

I would actually like a starry blend at some point, but I’m not sure if they eat algae like the lawnmowers do,

if we end up moving to Georgia, I already told my husband I want to upgrade my tank assuming things start going well with it.

I keep forgetting to buy a calibration fluid, but I am going to now that you reminded me, so thank you!

 

[Apollo7235]

Update today:

The Poly-Filter is continuing to darken which is great news considering that indicates it is continuing to remove metals from the water. The CupriSorb doesn’t seem to have changed color at all, but I am assuming that’s because the poly-filter is removing the copper before it gets to the CupriSorb.



I am having major Cyano issues in both my QT and my DT, still, despite the water changes and poly-filters (I added one to my QT filter as well to see if it would help, but it hasn’t yet.) I also blacked out my WT for 36-hours but no dice.

I am considering running PhosGuard at this point; any advice?

 

[IslandLifeReef]

Update today:

The Poly-Filter is continuing to darken which is great news considering that indicates it is continuing to remove metals from the water. The CupriSorb doesn’t seem to have changed color at all, but I am assuming that’s because the poly-filter is removing the copper before it gets to the CupriSorb.



I am having major Cyano issues in both my QT and my DT, still, despite the water changes and poly-filters (I added one to my QT filter as well to see if it would help, but it hasn’t yet.) I also blacked out my WT for 36-hours but no dice.

I am considering running PhosGuard at this point; any advice?

I wouldn't add anything else to what you are doing right now. Based on your ICP test, your PO4 is fine. Fix this one problem first and then wait a while. The cyano may go away once everything else is sorted out. Don't chase multiple problems at once, you will end up creating more problems than you fix.

 

[Weasel1960]

@Apollo7235, agree let’s see what’s going on after you tackle the metals and you get some more uglies .

You are doing great, much better than a few weeks ago. Keep up the good work.

 

[Ashibashi]

This thread has been great so far. Thank you so much for updating us. Im a newbie a long way from my first tank but I'm trying to learn as much as possible, this is really helpful!

 

[Apollo7235]

This thread has been great so far. Thank you so much for updating us. Im a newbie a long way from my first tank but I'm trying to learn as much as possible, this is really helpful!

I’m so glad it is helping! I just wish we could figure out what the source of the contamination was… but I’m pretty positive it was either the rocks or the sand at this point.

Thank you for following along! Looking forward to seeing your build thread when you get started!