Is this Chyno or Just brown algae ?

[nicola Cristiani]

Hi There .
My wife and I try to figure it out if this is just a case of Brown algae or something more serious .
We have tank for 2 months . Ammonia 0 Nitrate 0 but little bit of phosphates , hanna test show 0.06 today .
I have the Chemiclean ready but i'm not sure if i should use or wait until the GFO in the reactor eliminate the phosphates .
Any input ?

 

[GoVols]

Hi There .
My wife and I try to figure it out if this is just a case of Brown algae or something more serious .
We have tank for 2 months . Ammonia 0 Nitrate 0 but little bit of phosphates , hanna test show 0.06 today .
I have the Chemiclean ready but i'm not sure if i should use or wait until the GFO in the reactor eliminate the phosphates .
Any input ?

Well,
First off:
Welcome to Reef 2 Reef, and hope you feel at home...

You need to bring up your nitrates and hold the phosphates. You don't want those parameter's to be zeroed out.

Could be diatoms, cyano or dino's...

It times out just about right for diatoms, but it may not be.
Are you using an RO/DI unit with a built in TDS meter?

@saltyfilmfolks
You got thoughts?

Thanks, Freddie

 

[nicola Cristiani]

Hi Freddie
We use distillates water that reads 0 with TDS meter . is that ok ?
I'm also getting a new Nitrate and Phosphate kit from Red Sea to have a better reading .
Thanks
Nick

 

[bsn_rn_cen]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

 

[GoVols]

Hi Freddie
We use distillates water that reads 0 with TDS meter . is that ok ?
I'm also getting a new Nitrate and Phosphate kit from Red Sea to have a better reading .
Thanks
Nick

Hello, Nick

Lets see, if Salty or @Diesel can help you out with an ID.

That Hanna checker is hard to beat on phosphates.

Freddie

 

[nicola Cristiani]

How you increase Nitrates ?
Thanks

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Welcome to Reef2reef

It’s cyano. Completely normal.

IMO , don’t sweat your nitrates and phosphates. Your Po4 is pretty good. Fish waste and feeding are the easiest way to increase them. Food =Rots-=makes ammoina =makes nitrates.

Cyano also loves ammonia and nitrates.

What your seeing is the ugly phase.
The good bacteria hasn’t established enough to compete with the cyano yet. So it happens.

I’m not one to jump to a bottle , but some do. Chemi Clean May work for you.
The gfo will do very little for you , and you runnthe risk of striping the Po4 down to zero. And that can cause a slew of other problems.

Things you can do , stir up the sand a bit there. And in places aroind the Tank to cut down on the amount of gunk. It’s such a new tank it shouldn’t cause issues. Then do a water change. I like to add bio spira or DT tims one and only after to help boost the bio filter with good bacteria.

 

[nicola Cristiani]

Welcome to Reef2reef

It’s cyano. Completely normal.

IMO , don’t sweat your nitrates and phosphates. Your Po4 is pretty good. Fish waste and feeding are the easiest way to increase them. Food =Rots-=makes ammoina =makes nitrates.

Cyano also loves ammonia and nitrates.

What your seeing is the ugly phase.
The good bacteria hasn’t established enough to compete with the cyano yet. So it happens.

I’m not one to jump to a bottle , but some do. Chemi Clean May work for you.
The gfo will do very little for you , and you runnthe risk of striping the Po4 down to zero. And that can cause a slew of other problems.

Things you can do , stir up the sand a bit there. And in places aroind the Tank to cut down on the amount of gunk. It’s such a new tank it shouldn’t cause issues. Then do a water change. I like to add bio spira or DT tims one and only after to help boost the bio filter with good bacteria.

I have use the Brightwell Macrobacter7 and now i'm using Stability and Pristine . Should i use more of the Macrobacter7 , i still have half bottle
I will removed the GFO from the reactor and keeping only the Carbon .

Basically i need to increase the feeding to create more nitrate is nitrate are really low right ?

Thanks
Nick

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

You don’t need to do anything at all.
Just feed the fish healthfully really.
The cyano will pass. It’s just a phase we all go through.

Way to many folks get hung up on the test numbers and and let it force what they do by chasing them.
It’s the opposite, the numbers are what is going on in the tank and it’s just what’s going on.
There are many many tanks the have crazy low and crazy high numbers and a perfectly healthy and beautiful. It’ll strike a balance soon.
The bio filter will increase in strength to Match what you feed.

In extreme cases like overstocking and not enough Rock for bacteria, it’s different, but in general....chasing the numbers doesn’t work that well.

I’m honestly not familiar with pristine. I tend to avoid most bottles if I don’t know what they actually do.
MB7 is a Bacteria with a special food for bacteria , that sometimes will also feed cyano bacteria.

Stability would be my choice , but I wouldn’t use any of them regularly, like weekly just after water changes.

 

[GoVols]

MB7 is a Bacteria with a special food for bacteria , that sometimes will also feed cyano bacteria.

Salty,
Does MB7 have a "carbon source" that feeds the bacteria?

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Salty,
Does MB7 have a "carbon source" that feeds the bacteria?

I belive so, yes. I think dr tims waste away does as well, but I haven’t dug into it.

Just like carbon dosing, if the numbers are higher , mb7 is a good choice but agin like carbon dosing isd start well under the reccomded dosage to avoid the Cyano phase.

 

[nicola Cristiani]

You don’t need to do anything at all.
Just feed the fish healthfully really.
The cyano will pass. It’s just a phase we all go through.

Way to many folks get hung up on the test numbers and and let it force what they do by chasing them.
It’s the opposite, the numbers are what is going on in the tank and it’s just what’s going on.
There are many many tanks the have crazy low and crazy high numbers and a perfectly healthy and beautiful. It’ll strike a balance soon.
The bio filter will increase in strength to Match what you feed.

In extreme cases like overstocking and not enough Rock for bacteria, it’s different, but in general....chasing the numbers doesn’t work that well.

I’m honestly not familiar with pristine. I tend to avoid most bottles if I don’t know what they actually do.
MB7 is a Bacteria with a special food for bacteria , that sometimes will also feed cyano bacteria.

Stability would be my choice , but I wouldn’t use any of them regularly, like weekly just after water changes.

Thanks