Corals loosing color and huge algae issue.
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Mhart032
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I have seen this before, saw it blamed on wild colonies and lighting, but id bet 99% your corals are starving to death causing the bleaching , id recommend you read Rohwers book Coral reefs in the microbial seas. it really does a great job explaining the relationship b/t corals and Phosphates and other elements, and how it effects the corals themselves regardless of how adaptive they are.. it will make you a better reefer i promise you that. I have a close related issue with my current build where TBH i guess i built to big or possibly to efficient fuge and dealing with zero p04. Im dosing phosphates at the moment to combat this issue after trying everything else, But TBH that is not a regiment i want to continue unless i have to.
Mhart032
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its most likely causing your issues with dinos most likely they are amphidinum dinos from the tank being to clean.. UV will help cripple them for a short time, but if you dont raise both they will come back.
amazongb
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I have that too lol. I'm dosing nitrates an
Yeah, I don't want to hijack Op's thread, but yes, dosing nitrates and phosphates currently and things are improving..
Dana Riddle
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Not all phosphate is available to algae - it is only the reactive or ortho- form. Conversion of the organic form (fish poop) to ortho- requires an anaerobic condition. Once it is converted to ortho-P your algae will consume it. So you are correct, it's present but consumed quickly. Your best bet, I think, is to positively ID the algae and buy a natural predator (Tang, snail, etc.) Re: Your fluorescent lamps - at 1 year old, they are probably at the end of their useful life.
Ksmmike
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I'm far from an expert in such matters but can offer my experiences. I have a 120 gallon that I was running at close to 0 nitrates and phosphates since the beginning of the tank about 18 months ago. (began with dry rock) I had occasional dino and green hair issues but with extra water changes (went from about every 8 days to every 4 days for a few weeks) the dinos would go away. I once used dino-x and that cured the problem for a month or more, but they always returned eventually along with the GHA.
I went to Reef a Palooza in Orlando in April and one of the speakers talked about how running tanks that clean would only enhance algae issues and stunt the growth of corals. His advice was to just shut off the skimmer at night for a few hours each day. I did that but also added some of the stump remover that others have talked about here to bump up my nitrates. Since doing that in early April, I've not had any algae issues, (what I did have cleared up in days) my corals have grown and the tank has never looked better. I also cut back water changes to every two weeks instead of close to weekly. My nitrates are about 15ppm, though I'd like to lower them to under 10 and my phosphates barely register.
In essence all I did was take his advice and turn off the skimmer for a few hours a day and added some nitrates. All my corals became more colorful, other than one, which is still blah, but I'm hopeful. I still have frags, but at least they are encrusting now and showing some signs of growth in branching out. Some have grown more in 6-7 weeks since making those small changes than they grew in close to a year. Now, granted my tank is more mature than a year ago too, but simply turning off the skimmer and adding some nitrates seems to have made major improvements in my tank. I also went from two filter socks to one, but I still clean the skimmer cup every few days. I do have a refugium in the sump.
Again, I don't claim to be an expert, only sharing my experience. I try to keep my alk around 8.5, temp 78, salinity 1.026. Calcium stays around 480 on its own, I've never dosed it, but I do dose alk daily. I rarely check magnesium, but when I do its always well within the accepted range. Phosphates are either .001 or 000 depending on the day I check.
I also have a biocube that I never touch other than water changes every 2 weeks and the corals are bright and grow like weeds, but are mostly mushrooms and zoas. I have a couple of chalices in there that are beginning to grow. I have an hammer and a frogspawn that grow well too. I haven't tested that water in several months. I can just look and tell all is well, though I have no doubt the nutrients are pretty high in that tank. However, it only has 3 fish but some bristleworms and starfish that made their way in with the live rock. Like I said, I barely touch that tank and it just grows and grows. I don't do it as a test to compare the two tanks, I just don't like to fix what ain't broken. I tried to do everything by the book with the larger tank and found out, maybe its better to dirty it up some. I know the biocube tells me that having some nutrients doesn't hurt that tank.
Mike
I went to Reef a Palooza in Orlando in April and one of the speakers talked about how running tanks that clean would only enhance algae issues and stunt the growth of corals. His advice was to just shut off the skimmer at night for a few hours each day. I did that but also added some of the stump remover that others have talked about here to bump up my nitrates. Since doing that in early April, I've not had any algae issues, (what I did have cleared up in days) my corals have grown and the tank has never looked better. I also cut back water changes to every two weeks instead of close to weekly. My nitrates are about 15ppm, though I'd like to lower them to under 10 and my phosphates barely register.
In essence all I did was take his advice and turn off the skimmer for a few hours a day and added some nitrates. All my corals became more colorful, other than one, which is still blah, but I'm hopeful. I still have frags, but at least they are encrusting now and showing some signs of growth in branching out. Some have grown more in 6-7 weeks since making those small changes than they grew in close to a year. Now, granted my tank is more mature than a year ago too, but simply turning off the skimmer and adding some nitrates seems to have made major improvements in my tank. I also went from two filter socks to one, but I still clean the skimmer cup every few days. I do have a refugium in the sump.
Again, I don't claim to be an expert, only sharing my experience. I try to keep my alk around 8.5, temp 78, salinity 1.026. Calcium stays around 480 on its own, I've never dosed it, but I do dose alk daily. I rarely check magnesium, but when I do its always well within the accepted range. Phosphates are either .001 or 000 depending on the day I check.
I also have a biocube that I never touch other than water changes every 2 weeks and the corals are bright and grow like weeds, but are mostly mushrooms and zoas. I have a couple of chalices in there that are beginning to grow. I have an hammer and a frogspawn that grow well too. I haven't tested that water in several months. I can just look and tell all is well, though I have no doubt the nutrients are pretty high in that tank. However, it only has 3 fish but some bristleworms and starfish that made their way in with the live rock. Like I said, I barely touch that tank and it just grows and grows. I don't do it as a test to compare the two tanks, I just don't like to fix what ain't broken. I tried to do everything by the book with the larger tank and found out, maybe its better to dirty it up some. I know the biocube tells me that having some nutrients doesn't hurt that tank.
Mike
Rich Klein
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High alkalinity and 0 nutrients is just begging for a Dino outbreak. I agree with the posting above - get your nutrients up, and IMO bring your ALK down to 8.5-9
I had green cyano when my Nutrients were too low. I raised them with dosing and the green cyano went away as other organisms were finally able to grow.
Stop running gfo and all that silly crap....look at your corals...they are starving.
Stop running gfo and all that silly crap....look at your corals...they are starving.
mcarroll
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This will do nothing but encourage the worst kinds of pest algae.
Remove excess filtration like gfo.
Goals:
nitrates >=5ppm
phosphayes >=0.03 ppm
...and green algae growth.
Higher levels are usually fine and temporary.
Manage the green algae with herbivores (mostly snails) and elbow grease.
Dose nitrates and phosphates as needed to maintain those levels.
Do not overfeed to do it. (Don't underfeed either.)
Seachem, Brightwell and others sell the necessaries.
