HELP: 45 days and still taking over my tank.

[johnbr]

@johnbr you are doing good my man. I wouldn't stress too much.

@mcarroll had some great points.. You are part of the CUC so daily scrubbing of trouble spots isn't extreme by any means (although one you see it improve, give it some rest.. hands in the tank are never a great thing) and secondly getting some GAC (granulated activated carbon) running in case of dinos.

Other than the above, I would focus on getting your PO4 and Nitrate in balance. You can choose to dose PO4 if you like and in your case I might recommend it due to your nitrates already being high. Seachem Flourish is an inexpensive option.

Just don't do what (almost) every newer reefer does... Dose without testing. Test your nitrates and your phosphates religiously while running your GAC and dosing Phosphates. Once things are balanced, you can back off testing to weekly once you feel you have a handle on it.

Shoot for:
NO3: 2-10ppm
PO4: 0.02 - 0.08 (0.08 is typically higher than most want to go with, but since you have mostly LPS and Softies, they prefer a little dirtier water.. SPS, closer to 0.02-0.04)

Also, are you using the Hanna Phosphate or Phosphorus test kit?

thanks a lot,

I'm using the phosphate kit

 

[johnbr]

Guys,

I checked the hole tank and when I pulled the heater from on of the chambers I saw those things. Could this be the reason why my tank is that bad? Are these reef pests? Should I scrub it out?



Thanks a lot

 

[Tautog]

High nitrates aren’t all bad, but your tank is very new. Keep the faith! Things get better with maturity. A CUC will take care of the algae, but some algae is good. A Tang or Algae Blennie will keep algae under control.

 

[Tautog]

Guys,

I checked the hole tank and when I pulled the heater from on of the chambers I saw those things. Could this be the reason why my tank is that bad? Are these reef pests? Should I scrub it out?



Thanks a lot

No, don’t touch any of those, there a good sign of a healthy tank. Google “reef cleaners “, check the descriptions, select a few different snails. Don’t go overboard. 5 hermits is a lot, 2 would be plenty. 2 doz snails.

 

[johnbr]

No, don’t touch any of those, there a good sign of a healthy tank.

ufff thank gosh

I thought they were pests. they look like tube worms I guess? So those white crusting dots and those hairy things are signs that the tank is getting matured?

Much appreciated guys

 

[Tautog]

Yes, and tube worms are ok, most stuff is ok, but don’t let anything take over. Just like a garden, when in doubt, rip it out. But do some research. In a closed system, reef system, all of the living things work together to help stabilize your tank. All the white stuff is hard, and not the best thing for any equipment, but the back wall of your tank should get them, then Coraline algae, the purple stuff.

 

[johnbr]

Yes, and tube worms are ok, most stuff is ok, but don’t let anything take over. Just like a garden, when in doubt, rip it out. But do some research. In a closed system, reef system, all of the living things work together to help stabilize your tank. All the white stuff is hard, and not the best thing for any equipment, but the back wall of your tank should get them, then Coraline algae, the purple stuff.

Ok thanks a lot for pointing that out.

I don't but yesterday cleaning everything, helped my CUC and scrubbed all the algae and this morning BAM same thing algae on the SAME freaking spots.

How's that possible? Why is it so hard to win this battle?

 

[Tautog]

Let your CUC work, it doesn’t happen over night. Stop cleaning. Clean each week during or before the WC. Is the Skimmer working? The algae growth helps controlling the nitrates. I’ve had high nitrates, but have never had algae get invasive. Fish and snails for eating algae, Skimmer for pulling extra nutrients from the water. Remember everything works together, and it’s never very clean.

 

[johnbr]

Let your CUC work, it doesn’t happen over night. Stop cleaning. Clean each week during or before the WC. Is the Skimmer working? The algae growth helps controlling the nitrates. I’ve had high nitrates, but have never had algae get invasive. Fish and snails for eating algae, Skimmer for pulling extra nutrients from the water. Remember everything works together, and it’s never very clean.

Well skimmer seems to be fine. Remember that this isn't a full sized skimmer but the ghost ones made for the NUVO 30 GALLON. The fact that this is such a small tank makes it even harder to control water parameter and therefore algae?

thanks

 

[brandon429]

Take a rock displaying your target easy to get to and lift out rock

Simply put a couple drops peroxide 3% common medical use not hydro use on the target let it sit for a min

it may or may not bubble, doesn't matter.

Rinse the tiny area in saltwater outside the tank, it rinses off in the first pass

Put the rock back and take us a before pic of your area and one tomorrow

Use the peroxide only in this manner as a test rock, if it's the worst results you've ever seen on a test spot by tomorrow, continue course with grazers and whole tank treatments and never consider peroxide again

In this method, no peroxide gets in your tank. Prediction: a wow spot. How far you upscale that method is up to you


But what if you have to do it again someday...the reefing laws that will break. I've been a reefing outlaw for long time with a mighty old tank in tow, for its size of course. Following the law got my first tank invaded, though it didn't start fully invaded. It had a whiskers phase, and I followed the letter of the law there on out and the algae still took over, offers got short in the ending phase I'll never forget.

Round two with my money? Billy the Kid. Algae equals Murphy boys.



Work in tiny spots no rush

You have coralline, aging on those rocks that aren't targets, mind that and keep your color, we only attack the target. Use a pipette and exact application, let sit, rinse, easy...watch how sharp it is after 36 hrs one test spot. All work is external, none gets back into the main tank. Google what we've done with it in nano reefs.

Your algae isn't bad nor does it look bad. I wrote that above in response to you wanting to practice ultimate control of what presents in your aquarium, that human trait is what got those cures in the search threads the p was only one tool among many options. If you are prodded to act for any reason, then I can tell you that test spot is likely going to look like you want, do with that former invaded spot what you will. Plant a coral frag, repeat as needed. The day you don't need the occasional cheat will be a neat day, no problem until then

 

[GoldeneyeRet]

You have a brand new tank and it looks good.

It isn't going to be sterile nor should you want it to be.

I don't see an issue.

 

[mcarroll]

PO4: 0.02 - 0.08 (0.08 is typically higher than most want to go with, but since you have mostly LPS and Softies, they prefer a little dirtier water.. SPS, closer to 0.02-0.04)

well said.....

@johnbr If this does turn out to be dino's then you'll really want to target ≥0.10 ppm for phosphate (PO4). Below 0.10 ppm doesn't seem to have a noticeable effect.

There's also no real downside to high PO4 in this cirucumstance, so don't worry even if you happened to overshoot to .2 or more.....just be careful and don't go crazy with anything.

You can let the tank return to "normal" levels once things are back under control and stable.

("Normal" or good is not zero nutrients or even necessarily low nutrients, so keep reading until you get a feel for this!)

In most tanks and most "ordinary" green algae blooms where nutrients get blamed, it's actually not the PO3 or NO3 level that is the problem....it's how fast the tank got to that level and (therefore) how ready/not ready the tank was for it.

There's always a penalty for breaking the "Nothing good happens fast in a reef tank." rule.

 

[mcarroll]

BAM same thing algae on the SAME freaking spots.

How's that possible? Why is it so hard to win this battle?

Unless your livestock is suffering for it, try not to think of this as a battle at all.

It's just your tank trying to mature into a nice reef.

Much like human development from a baby to adulthood, it's not going to be pretty the whole time.

 

[mcarroll]

At this point I'm lost since I think the parameters aren't really that bad.

Corals are likely to be suffering from unavailable PO4 and maybe from toxins as well.

Some folks with dino's have had to dose considerable amounts of PO4 before any would show up on a test kit, so keep up with at least daily PO4 dosing until you register at least 0.10 ppm PO4 in the next test. (that's zero point one zero parts per million, just to keep it clear.)

(The "why" is explained in the first post on that dino thread I linked earlier. In a nutshell, if this is what's happening in your tank, it's the dino's keeping PO4 low by the action of their blooming and the detritus that's left behind combined with the associated bacterial action.)

 

[mcarroll]

Don't underestimate the potential impact from having zero phosphates available....it's very very bad for all parties considered......so keep up the dosing! It's fine to do an even larger dose than called for if you continue to get zero readings after dosing. It's very important for you to get some residual phosphate in the water.

 

[Zac K]

I went through a similar thing with my tank... maybe at the 2/3 month mark.

Brown furry sheets on the rocks, wave maker, and back glass... just like those in your pictures. It's not dinos, just uglies.

I took a toothbrush to it, siphoned as much out as I could during a water change and eventually beat it. It used to ALWAYS grow on the back wall of my nano, but it doesn't now. (Just coralline).

I think it's just a time thing. Hang in there.