Dinos

[Paullawr]

I have never used flake. I use Mysis and brine for fish, and raw shrimp for eel. I feed reef roids every three or four days. I have phosguard in the tank.

Elevated phosphate is usually a sign of dinos dying off so could be related to that.
See how things go over next week and good luck.

 

[Chad Sepulvado]

Elevated phosphate is usually a sign of dinos dying off so could be related to that.
See how things go over next week and good luck.

Thank you. I inspect everyday, so i think I caught them pretty early. Also, I noticed a rapid growth of macro algae that looks like ferns. Im sure it’s related to the elevated po4.

 

[Paullawr]

Thank you. I inspect everyday, so i think I caught them pretty early. Also, I noticed a rapid growth of macro algae that looks like ferns. Im sure it’s related to the elevated po4.

That could very well be bryopsis. Get an ID and tackle it quick if its a positive. Fluconazole is reported to work (stuff they treat thrush with).

Bryopsis Cure: My Battle With Bryopsis Using Fluconazole

The Poll In This Thread is For Bryopsis Only not GHA,Turf,Bubble Algae or any other Algae The 2 week treatment is for Bryopsis algae. For GHA,turf algae and bubble algae it may take as long as 4-6 weeks to kill. GHA,turf algae,bubble algae are different than Bryopsis algae. Bryopsis algae will...

www.reef2reef.com

Check out fauna marine red x though. Its rather good at combating nasty algae outbreaks and is very mild on tank.

 

[Paullawr]

Also algae pull out po4 its a food source. Only time they put it back is when its breaking down and dying off. Those levels though i would t worry too much about. Usually what you shoot for when ridding dinos (ironically).

 

[ScottB]

Going back to @Darth.Daddy12 he has a solid point. An imbalance of nitrate to phosphate is going to cascade into (for me) unpredictable problems. I know there are going to be problems; I just cannot guess what they will be.

I don't often recommend GFO, but if Hanna ULR is showing .5 then yeah. SLOWLY work back to .1 with Rowaphos or Phosban. Slowly.

No NO3 also gonna cause trouble. Hopefully someone here knows where that is going (relative to PO4). Keep dosing the stump remover until you can hold 5-10.

 

[Darth.Daddy12]

I have never used flake. I use Mysis and brine for fish, and raw shrimp for eel. I feed reef roids every three or four days. I have phosguard in the tank.

Do you drop the cube into the tanknor do you dissolve it in rodi water and then add just the feed to the tank?

A lot of frozen foods use binders that polite the tank.. your pho’s to nitrate ratio is way off. Frozen foods even dropped in usually don’t even have this issue.

I would start by testing the left over water from dissolving cubes.. somewhere there is essesive phosphates entering your tank.

Thier are two commons in reef tanks.. alk and calc go increase or decrease as one.

Nitrates and phosphates are linked and as one climbs so does the other.. the only time this changes I’d when some outside source changes the ratios.. you’re either inputting one more then another or exporting one more then the other. Hard to say which is which. Normally this is a food selection issue. Yours finest appear to be that means something in your filtration isn’t working right.. in the mean time I’d swap out that phosguard for chemi blue. Give that 2 weeks to balance and retest. If that didn’t solve the issue I’d change food sources. Go to pellet food and cut feeding in 1/2. One pellet per fish should work for most setups. Hand feed if you have to go make sure each gets feed.

 

[Paullawr]

Going back to @Darth.Daddy12 he has a solid point. An imbalance of nitrate to phosphate is going to cascade into (for me) unpredictable problems. I know there are going to be problems; I just cannot guess what they will be.

I don't often recommend GFO, but if Hanna ULR is showing .5 then yeah. SLOWLY work back to .1 with Rowaphos or Phosban. Slowly.

No NO3 also gonna cause trouble. Hopefully someone here knows where that is going (relative to PO4). Keep dosing the stump remover until you can hold 5-10.

Sorry I'm not following. So you have a zero nitrate and 0.5 po4.

Please explain what problems. Neither are linked. Period. If they were we wouldn't have an imbalance.

Fluctuations of nitrogen compounds happen but nothing bad has ever come of it.

 

[ScottB]

Sorry I'm not following. So you have a zero nitrate and 0.5 po4.

Please explain what problems. Neither are linked. Period. If they were we wouldn't have an imbalance.

Fluctuations of nitrogen compounds happen but nothing bad has ever come of it.

If I cannot explain it well generally means I don't understand it well. Apologies.

I will approach the nutrient question from the positive side in this way:

IF I maintain NO3 at 5-15, AND IF I maintain PO4 at .03 to .08 my corals are happy and my tanks look good without too much work.

Otherwise either my corals are unhappy and/or I am having to scrub too much.

 

[Paullawr]

If I cannot explain it well generally means I don't understand it well. Apologies.

I will approach the nutrient question from the positive side in this way:

IF I maintain NO3 at 5-15, AND IF I maintain PO4 at .03 to .08 my corals are happy and my tanks look good without too much work.

Otherwise either my corals are unhappy and/or I am having to scrub too much.

Yes those are good values to shoot for. Towards 15ppm no3 you may get more film algae but nothing too serious.

 

[ScottB]

Yes those are good values to shoot for. Towards 15ppm no3 you may get more film algae but nothing too serious.

Yeah, after my dino episode, seeing film algae at the end of the day is a glorious sight proving that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

 

[Paullawr]

Yeah, after my dino episode, seeing film algae at the end of the day is a glorious sight proving that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Lol. Been there and got the t shirt. So many people say the same. But shows that they can be beaten.

 

[Chad Sepulvado]

Do you drop the cube into the tanknor do you dissolve it in rodi water and then add just the feed to the tank?

A lot of frozen foods use binders that polite the tank.. your pho’s to nitrate ratio is way off. Frozen foods even dropped in usually don’t even have this issue.

I would start by testing the left over water from dissolving cubes.. somewhere there is essesive phosphates entering your tank.

Thier are two commons in reef tanks.. alk and calc go increase or decrease as one.

Nitrates and phosphates are linked and as one climbs so does the other.. the only time this changes I’d when some outside source changes the ratios.. you’re either inputting one more then another or exporting one more then the other. Hard to say which is which. Normally this is a food selection issue. Yours finest appear to be that means something in your filtration isn’t working right.. in the mean time I’d swap out that phosguard for chemi blue. Give that 2 weeks to balance and retest. If that didn’t solve the issue I’d change food sources. Go to pellet food and cut feeding in 1/2. One pellet per fish should work for most setups. Hand feed if you have to go make sure each gets feed.

I don’t drop a cube into the tank, I melt a 1/4 cube about every other day in a glass of tank water and disperse enough for the fish to get a few of each one.