immafishguy
Active Member
- Joined
- Sep 24, 2016
- Messages
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Hows it going everyone, been dealing with a little water clarity problem lately. So this tank is relatively new about 3 months(post cycle) and I actually set it up as an experiment tank to see if I could maintain prestine water quality with an over stocked fish load. Recently, in the past week for whatever the reason, I have been getting what seems to an algae bloom in the water and I cant figure out why or how to fix it.
Here are the current specs of the system:
System water volume approx. 120 gallons
Skimmer ASM G4+ (rated for 400 gallons)
running Dr. Tim's NP-Active Pearls(bio-pellets)-(the out take is plumbed directly into the skimmer intake. They have also been on the system since the cycle finished)
Also have Dr. Tim's Waste away on a doser @ 10mls a day.
CA: 440(Salifert)(fluctuations of about 10ppm when new coral is added)
ALK:8.3(Hanna Checker)(fluctions of about .5 DKH when new coral is added)
MAG:1350 (Salifert)(hardly ever fluctuates +- 10ppm)
Nitrate: undetectable (salifert)(constant)
Phosphate:0.01 (Hanna Checker)(will fluctuate from 0.00-0.02)(dose about 1ml of NeoPhos every 2 days)
Salinity: 1.025 (Milwaukee Digital Refractometer)
Temp: 78 (has a 1 degree fluctuation 77-78)
Just to explain the experiment a little bit, basically I was looking to see how accurately I could control my nitrates by the supply of phosphates. For reduction of Nitrate and Phosphate you need 3 things. Nitrate, Phosphate, and a carbon source(ie. bio pellets). Now the key here is that the bacteria need all 3 at the same time in order to work. If one runs out, the reduction stops. For example, if I have a bunch of nitrate, carbon, and no phosphate, neither the nitrate or the carbon would be consumed. But by the same token, if you have nitrate, carbon and phosphate, the bacteria will work until any of those resources are depleted. So, basically what I've been doing is keeping nitrate and carbon supply constant then dosing phosphate in limited amounts to keep the nitrates low/undetectable.
So for about the past 3 months, the experiment was running perfectly. Every day, I have been feeding 5 large sheets of nori to my tangs along with a 3x3in flat of PE mysis(not rinsed) and also about 20-50 mls of various brightwell coral food. Water quality is on point, fish are all happy, healthy and disease free, no heavy breathing at all, corals have ridiculous polyp extension and have been growing very fast.
Last thing I'll say is that the water will clear up with in 30 minutes or so if I turn the lights off for an hour. Also it is crystal clear at night; not even remotely cloudy.
Thanks for any advise!
Also, in case anyone is worried that I have those types of tangs in such a small tank, I have a 850 that I will be moving them to.
Here are the current specs of the system:
System water volume approx. 120 gallons
Skimmer ASM G4+ (rated for 400 gallons)
running Dr. Tim's NP-Active Pearls(bio-pellets)-(the out take is plumbed directly into the skimmer intake. They have also been on the system since the cycle finished)
Also have Dr. Tim's Waste away on a doser @ 10mls a day.
CA: 440(Salifert)(fluctuations of about 10ppm when new coral is added)
ALK:8.3(Hanna Checker)(fluctions of about .5 DKH when new coral is added)
MAG:1350 (Salifert)(hardly ever fluctuates +- 10ppm)
Nitrate: undetectable (salifert)(constant)
Phosphate:0.01 (Hanna Checker)(will fluctuate from 0.00-0.02)(dose about 1ml of NeoPhos every 2 days)
Salinity: 1.025 (Milwaukee Digital Refractometer)
Temp: 78 (has a 1 degree fluctuation 77-78)
Just to explain the experiment a little bit, basically I was looking to see how accurately I could control my nitrates by the supply of phosphates. For reduction of Nitrate and Phosphate you need 3 things. Nitrate, Phosphate, and a carbon source(ie. bio pellets). Now the key here is that the bacteria need all 3 at the same time in order to work. If one runs out, the reduction stops. For example, if I have a bunch of nitrate, carbon, and no phosphate, neither the nitrate or the carbon would be consumed. But by the same token, if you have nitrate, carbon and phosphate, the bacteria will work until any of those resources are depleted. So, basically what I've been doing is keeping nitrate and carbon supply constant then dosing phosphate in limited amounts to keep the nitrates low/undetectable.
So for about the past 3 months, the experiment was running perfectly. Every day, I have been feeding 5 large sheets of nori to my tangs along with a 3x3in flat of PE mysis(not rinsed) and also about 20-50 mls of various brightwell coral food. Water quality is on point, fish are all happy, healthy and disease free, no heavy breathing at all, corals have ridiculous polyp extension and have been growing very fast.
Last thing I'll say is that the water will clear up with in 30 minutes or so if I turn the lights off for an hour. Also it is crystal clear at night; not even remotely cloudy.
Thanks for any advise!
Also, in case anyone is worried that I have those types of tangs in such a small tank, I have a 850 that I will be moving them to.
