gHA take over. With little bryopsis

[Michael Gray]

I know reef flux is for bryopsis. I'm not to worried about it as it's only in a couple patches. But the GHA fast. I scrub rocks. Take will look pretty good and it comes back. I have about 10 acros small frags on rack. Cali tort lost deep purple now just pinkish. Po4 is 0ppb on hanna.ulr phos checker. I dose po4 and it will go to zero again I'm battling this gha and it's sucking all the nutrients from water so sps struggle.
Just started 4th week of vibrant dosing. Once a week. 11ml. Hasn't done anything yet.

Any ideas how long vibrant starts to make a dent or anything visial. I'm going to scrub rock again Monday or Tuesday and siphon sand with a 20g wc. I want to dose no3 and po4 for the coral but it's a lose lose. Just feeds the GHA lol

 

[dankaqua]

Just had a brief look at your build thread. Congrats on a very elegant system!

I think once the bio mass of your corals is sufficient, then your issues with algae will be a thing of the past... but until that time, any available nutrients seem to be going into the algae... is that pretty much in line with what you are seeing?

Getting some nutrient consuming bio mass growing in your tank would be a direction I'd push in... i.e. more soft corals (e.g. zoas). Something you could prune back/remove/frag over time as your SPS come to dominate. Or you could hit the hair algae head on with a refugium growing Chaeto. (...apologies if I missed something in the build thread on this subject...).

You can carbon dose or use Vibrant or any other "additive" measure, but I prefer to look at the problem as a "balancing act" between what goes into the system and what you take out (or what gets incorporated into the bio mass).

 

[Michael Gray]

Just had a brief look at your build thread. Congrats on a very elegant system!

I think once the bio mass of your corals is sufficient, then your issues with algae will be a thing of the past... but until that time, any available nutrients seem to be going into the algae... is that pretty much in line with what you are seeing?

Getting some nutrient consuming bio mass growing in your tank would be a direction I'd push in... i.e. more soft corals (e.g. zoas). Something you could prune back/remove/frag over time as your SPS come to dominate. Or you could hit the hair algae head on with a refugium growing Chaeto. (...apologies if I missed something in the build thread on this subject...).

You can carbon dose or use Vibrant or any other "additive" measure, but I prefer to look at the problem as a "balancing act" between what goes into the system and what you take out (or what gets incorporated into the bio mass).

thanks on the compliment of build threat.. currently looks better than its operating lol.

Currently on vibrant just dosed 4th dose. dosing weekly and havent seen anything.

No refugium yet but I had a box built to slide in the sump skimmer section and i have the chaeto light so it can house LR rubble and chaeto. my concern is, im scared of dinos. its already reading po4 0 because of the GHA taking over. if i add chaeto wont that encourage dinos? also trying to get acros to die because they are starving... since GHA taking over all nutrients..

 

[Michael Gray]

Noticable issue is second one on right cali tort was deep purple. Now it's like pink.

you can see the gha. This isn't to bad as brushed it with a grout brush but it's already coming back. Gonna scrub again Tuesday and siphon sand since now I have some sand grains that's GHA is attached too .

 

[Michael Gray]

I guess I'll continue to be defeated and have absolutely no success if I can't keep po4 in the water column. It just keeps going to zero and gha is growing. My frags look like poop. I think a few are goners. Probably starving to death. My ca and alk are steady at 7.5/415. It has to be the dang nutrients as my issue. But I'm close to giving up.

 

[dankaqua]

Well, I certainly hope you don't give up. Growing pains suck.... there's no doubt about it.

I think your tank will balance out eventually, but to get there could be frustrating... The fastest method I know of would be the "nuclear option"...

First would be to get the fuge set up so the Chaeto can become your nutrient export system. Strong Chaeto growth should also raise the tank's pH and reduce available carbon dioxide which the hair algae needs for photosynthesis. I'd run the fuge light opposite to the main display light.

But to really stomp the hair algae, I'd hit it with a nuke by draining the tank and spraying the algae with a 3% hydrogen peroxide solution (which always feels good).

That should get the tank back to an even starting point. The hair algae can obviously return given the strong lighting in the display, so if it does, I'd re-nuke and cut back on the photo period of the main display (preferably to zero).

...luckily your corals are still small so you could put the frag rack in the fuge. I know that's kinda radical, but without light, the hair algae can't grow.

Once you have the hair algae out of the display tank and begin to return to a normal photo period, I'd put in some soft corals like Zoanthids to help with bio-mass accumulation of nutrients (and to show that your tank is doing well). If the Chaeto and zoas grow well, your hair algae days should be behind you...

 

[DTz]

get a dolabella sea hare slug. will clean ur whole tank in no time

 

[AZMSGT]

The colors changing on frags is just a part of a new tank not being able to provide the same nutrients the coral had. Your system is still very new and lacks what the previous place was providing it. You can try lowering your Frag rack so the corals darken up some. Just being to high can cause them to lighten or bleach.

 

[Michael Gray]

The colors changing on frags is just a part of a new tank not being able to provide the same nutrients the coral had. Your system is still very new and lacks what the previous place was providing it. You can try lowering your Frag rack so the corals darken up some. Just being to high can cause them to lighten or bleach.

I wish that is the case. But looking closely. Doesn't look just bleedhes flesh. I can see some texturing. Like lines.

I did lower rack in tank to maybe help. And raised no3. To about 5 or 6. It was at like 1 or 2 tops. But po4 just tested 0 again I'm assuming GHA will continue to steal it as I dose .01 po4 at a time