few questions while new tank is cycling

[motortrendz]

first, I'm not new, just moved into my new house and started a new tank... heres my specs

I reused dried rock from my old system with new sand, tank is about 90 gallons twv corner bow..
I have a diablo 200 skimmer, dual 4inch filter socks, a carbon reactor from mrc and a vertec 1.5l zeo reactor

this is my first time using hydra 26 led lights (3 units over the tank)

I use the spectra pure max cap 180 ro di system(all new filters and reading zero tds) and red sea pro reef salt

so I did the zeo 14 day cycle, and on the 10th day it says to add a fish and a few inverts which I did, all the while testing the water as I go.. fish seems very healthy and happy and most of my parameters are looking great meaning zero ammonia, <5 nitrates.. but my po4 is between .35 and .45 (fluctuates on the hanna egg)

yesterday I started getting a brown diatom coating on everything which I know is normal for a cycling tank, but everything was covered in bubbles which ive never seen in a cycle before..

1. normal? or is there something else going on?
2. I apparently have p04 getting through my ro di system into my tank, what can I do to reduce this ..


thanks
mike

 

[120reefkeeper]

first, I'm not new, just moved into my new house and started a new tank... heres my specs

I reused dried rock from my old system with new sand, tank is about 90 gallons twv corner bow..
I have a diablo 200 skimmer, dual 4inch filter socks, a carbon reactor from mrc and a vertec 1.5l zeo reactor

this is my first time using hydra 26 led lights (3 units over the tank)

I use the spectra pure max cap 180 ro di system(all new filters and reading zero tds) and red sea pro reef salt

so I did the zeo 14 day cycle, and on the 10th day it says to add a fish and a few inverts which I did, all the while testing the water as I go.. fish seems very healthy and happy and most of my parameters are looking great meaning zero ammonia, <5 nitrates.. but my po4 is between .35 and .45 (fluctuates on the hanna egg)

yesterday I started getting a brown diatom coating on everything which I know is normal for a cycling tank, but everything was covered in bubbles which ive never seen in a cycle before..

1. normal? or is there something else going on?
2. I apparently have p04 getting through my ro di system into my tank, what can I do to reduce this ..


thanks
mike

1. Normal .... yes and no sounds like dinoflagellates to me and they are not uncommon.

2. I doubt very much PO4 is getting through your RODI. More than likely it's leaching from your rock that you reused. You can run GFO "granular ferric oxide " through a reactor to decrease the level of po4 in your system. [emoji4]

As far as the "bubbles " are concerned a picture is worth a thousand words. [emoji4]

Are you getting long stringy snot like strands with bubbles in them during the day?? Like
this??

Or does your tank look more like this??

 

[reeferbuddy215]

My tank has both

 

[120reefkeeper]

My tank has both

How old is the tank?

 

[reeferbuddy215]

Oh 6 or more years first it was a LR only predator tank and then was converted to the reef tank it is today but I was away for 2 years and my father didn't do much other then feed the fish and maybe 2 water changes in 2 years and no cleaning the sand bed so it's my project to get it growing sick sps colonies but my phophates were 2.50 ppm two weeks ago now their .72 ppm thanks to my refugium and gfo reactor.

 

[motortrendz]

The po4 is definitly getting through the rodi, bc I tested a brand new batch of salt water ant it was at .28, so I'm sure the balance is coming from the old rock.
The brown bloom is not a along stringy shots but some spots do look slimy.

The tank has only.been running about 18 days. Thanks.

 

[motortrendz]

just ran a gambit of testing here's the results

salinity 36 ppt on a refractometer
ph: 8.4 (api)
ammonia: 0.25ppm (api)
nitrite: 0 (api)
nitrate: .25 (red sea pro)
po4 .35 (hanna, 5 years old) .08 (red sea pro, brand new)
alk: 9.0 (red sea pro)
mag: 1300 ppm (red sea pro)
cal: 440ppm (red sea pro)
potassium: 362ppm (red sea pro)

 

[motortrendz]

Here is another pic after the lights have been on for a few hours.

 

[brandon429]

I would hand remove all the growth via siphon, all of it via hard work every bit, then black out the tank for the rest of the cycle and do it in the dark only. that's an easy guide option for a tank w no light reqmnts I can see from pics. this stage is about the bac

 

[motortrendz]

ok, ill do that.. do you think a little h2o2 would help as well?

 

[brandon429]

It wouldn't hurt to try, but best used as rebound preventer not as killer of whats there. Hand removal making that mass disappear is most important, then robbing it of light is another big insult to the mass. a little bubbly in the water at that time wont harm your cycle. we cannot get a measurable impact to filtration bacteria using light peroxide at all, in any post for approaching ten yrs now. it may or may not help on target growback, but bac impacts not a one. even the gross overdose threads had no bac impact on 3%, some of the 35% ones did but they dumped two quarts straight in lol.

 

[motortrendz]

great, ill make some water and syphon out this mess, and darken the tank for a few days

any idea what could have caused the break out to begin with? never had an issue like this upon initial cycle..

 

[brandon429]

Cyano are everywhere, they can arise just by setting a cup of water on a windowsill + keeping it opened and topped off, in strong sunlight. Faster if you'll dose some fertilizer. We expect ongoing battles with them at times in most tanks

If those are invasive dinos, they're requisite hitchhikers and online threads show fish carrying them across tanks as a possible vector stuck to their slime coats

Other than fish, any hydrated item that came from another fish tank can bring in dinos

Perhaps conditions became correct for a population boon for them though they were suppressed in the prior fish only tank.

 

[motortrendz]

thank you

 

[motortrendz]

So my rocks are all clear now. I just have brown that keeps growing on my sand only now.... I keep siphoning it out but Ithe cones back in a about 2 days. Not as stringy slimy but still getting air bubbles within it.