Can I fix this with money or patience?

ViciousDlishus · Jul 18, 2018

Tank is 10 months old. Never went through different algae blooms. However started dealing with some gross brown gold algae and still am. Thought to be crysophytes. Tested nitrates and found I had 0. This has been the case for quite some time. I started with all dry rock and had a long cycle (likely cause I had little to no nutrients in the tank). Didn't have phosphate test so just assumed high phosphates (not the case).

Research said I need to increase Nitrate (live in Canada so can't get potassium Nitrate or sodium Nitrate easily) so feeding was my only option. Research indicated I would need to manually remove crysophytes and I would start to see different algae out compete the brown stuff.

Saw some cyano. Has died down lately.
Seeing green hair now but brown stuff still going strong. Coral coloration did start improving when I fed heavier but is now getting worse.

I could deal with the algae but the problem is I'm seeing negative results in corals: little to no polyp extension on various sps, no growth, receding heads on some hammers but torches are okay, birdsnest and digi have gotten covered in algae or slime and dying off.

Current parameters
1.024 (did some maintanence and likely too much top off usually 1.025)
Phosphorus ulr 0
Nitrate 3
Alk 8.7
Cal 410
Ph 8.18
Temp 79.1

Flow from return is not substantial. Gyre XF230 for flow (tried in different spots and different %) currently running lunar tide cycle 70-100%. Display is 40 x 20 x 20 approx 70 gal. Alk and cal are dosed with brs dosers so no swings to note. Vertex is set to pull dark Skim. Reefbreeder photon v2

How do I move forward with minimal coral losses and limited frustration.

LuizW13 · Jul 18, 2018

The algae on the rocks don't look bad? The ALK isn't high for Ultra Low Nutrients either; i'm not sure what it could be. But what i would do, and what i am currently doing is to dose NeoNitro and the other Phosphate supplementation by Brightwell. You should be able to find it online since it's a product for the aquarium hobby.

My guess is that the algae is out competing the corals for nutrients.

Hope that helps.

MTBake · Jul 18, 2018

Looks like your corals are starving. I try to keep my phosphorus between 40 and 60 ppb using the Hanna ulr phosphorus checker. I also try to keep my nitrates above 5 ppm. I dose both and can post my recipes and directions if you need them.

SandJ · Jul 18, 2018

Is the algae in clumps, kinda slime like and branches up off the rocks?

ViciousDlishus · Jul 18, 2018

I've found some refine which is a Nitrate supplement by the same guys who make vibrant. I don't have anything for phosphates. Is there a recipe for phosphates?

Algae is clumpy but not slimy.

FLAdaboy · Jul 18, 2018

Your tank is still young. Patience is always key in this hobby. If you are wanting SPS, try starting with more forgiving ones at first. One thing I notice is flow is very important, especially when dealing with any kind of algae outbreak.

AdamNC · Jul 18, 2018

I had this issue before and it lasted about 6 months. Here’s a thread with some solutions and failures.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/cant-kill-this-stuff.269650/

AdamNC · Jul 18, 2018

Forgot to mention, what brought it on was using tap water after a crash. What stopped it was daily blowing it off with a turkey baster and purchasing a 4 stage ro/di unit.

mcarroll · Jul 19, 2018

ViciousDlishus said:

#chrysophytes

Harder to see in other photos, but if it's the same algae, then #chrysophytes too.

Keep it off your corals with a baby toothbrush as well as regular scrubbing and siphoning.

Get your nutrients in order, as suggested.

Here's one place for instructions on nitrates and a calculator:
A Nitrate Dosing Calculator For Better Tank Health (And Better Coral Color!)

If nitrates and phosphates are both zero or near-zero then make sure that you dose phosphates into the system before you raise nitrates. Raising nitrates without phosphates being available seems to cause a lot of stress for things like corals.

(Look around the Coral, Algae and Nutrients sections on the same site as the link above for relevant research on the topics if you're interested.

)

mcarroll · Jul 19, 2018

(That was a clickable hashtag on the word chrysophytes, BTW......if you're not on the website I guess it doesn't work, so just run a R2R search for threads with that word in the title. @reeferfoxx has an excellent thread on the topic.

)

ViciousDlishus · Jul 19, 2018

MTBake said:
Looks like your corals are starving. I try to keep my phosphorus between 40 and 60 ppb using the Hanna ulr phosphorus checker. I also try to keep my nitrates above 5 ppm. I dose both and can post my recipes and directions if you need them.

Can you post the phosphate recipe please.

ViciousDlishus · Jul 19, 2018

mcarroll said:
#chrysophytes

Harder to see in other photos, but if it's the same algae, then #chrysophytes too.

Keep it off your corals with a baby toothbrush as well as regular scrubbing and siphoning.

Get your nutrients in order, as suggested.

Here's one place for instructions on nitrates and a calculator:
A Nitrate Dosing Calculator For Better Tank Health (And Better Coral Color!)

If nitrates and phosphates are both zero or near-zero then make sure that you dose phosphates into the system before you raise nitrates. Raising nitrates without phosphates being available seems to cause a lot of stress for things like corals.

(Look around the Coral, Algae and Nutrients sections on the same site as the link above for relevant research on the topics if you're interested. )

Thanks so much. Yes that's the thread I used to diagnose crysophytes to begin with. Slowly but surly I'm hoping to beat it.

I'm getting my nitrates up with heavy feeding however phosphates aren't rising. I have a Nitrate supplement but I don't want to dose until I get some phosphates.

Any suggestions on how to get the phosphates up? Where can I find potassium phosphate?

I'm practicing safe fish keeping so full qt with prophylactic treatment so I can't just load the system with new fish quickly. Should I be feeding heavy once and let some of the food rot away or should I be doing lots of feeding throughout the day to keep the fish pooping?

AdamNC · Jul 19, 2018

ViciousDlishus said:
Thanks so much. Yes that's the thread I used to diagnose crysophytes to begin with. Slowly but surly I'm hoping to beat it.

I'm getting my nitrates up with heavy feeding however phosphates aren't rising. I have a Nitrate supplement but I don't want to dose until I get some phosphates.

Any suggestions on how to get the phosphates up? Where can I find potassium phosphate?

I'm practicing safe fish keeping so full qt with prophylactic treatment so I can't just load the system with new fish quickly. Should I be feeding heavy once and let some of the food rot away or should I be doing lots of feeding throughout the day to keep the fish pooping?

I just started using this stuff and it works.

https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/neophos-balanced-phosphorus-supplement-brightwell-aquatics.html

MTBake · Jul 19, 2018

ViciousDlishus said:
Can you post the phosphate recipe please.

I mix 2g of food grade trisodium phosphate per 250ml of ro/di water. Shake till dissolved. Dosing 1ml of this solution per 40 US gallons increases my phosphates by .03-.04ppm. I currently dose 1.5ml every 12 hours on my 40 gallon system. I also dose no3 to a detectable level on a test kit.

ViciousDlishus · Jul 19, 2018

MTBake said:
I mix 2g of food grade trisodium phosphate per 250ml of ro/di water. Shake till dissolved. Dosing 1ml of this solution per 40 US gallons increases my phosphates by .03-.04ppm. I currently dose 1.5ml every 12 hours on my 40 gallon system. I also dose no3 to a detectable level on a test kit.

Where do you get trisodium phosphate?