Low Nutrients after NOPOX dilemma

[jhatfield]

Five months ago I dosed NO-PO4X to my Red Sea 170 to get nitrates down to within the 5ppm range to help with some algae issues. Followed dosing instructions and in no time, much faster than expected, my nitrates were down below 1. Phosphate have always been unreadable on the hanna low range but I figured there was some there anyway.

Naturally corals didn't look happy so I stopped nopox thinking that it would rise to around 5ppm where I could maintain it at that level. Nitrates have stayed at 1ppm for a couple months now with no carbon dosing at all even after feeding a bit more than usual.

The good news is that corals seem really happy, especially the sps which are beginning to color up and putting on some good growth. Bad news is that algae is also really happy. I'm assuming the green hair algae is consuming a lot of nutrients so my dilemma is how to get rid of the hair algae since lowering the nutrients even further isn't an option without making my corals angry.

Ideas?

 

[CC13]

Following

 

[DFR]

I’ve always found manual removal to be the best method. Just grab a toothbrush and brush it from all the rock, substrate, pumps, etc. This should be followed by a small water change where you siphon out as much of the GHA that will be flowing throughout the aquarium. If you can do both simultaneously, that would be even better. This is done because you don’t want the GHA to decay as this will increase your nutrient levels, and you don’t want them to recolonize other places in the tank either. You may have to do this a couple times, but your aquarium should be back to its glory days in no time. Good luck!

 

[jhatfield]

I’ve always found manual removal to be the best method. Just grab a toothbrush and brush it from all the rock, substrate, pumps, etc. This should be followed by a small water change where you siphon out as much of the GHA that will be flowing throughout the aquarium. If you can do both simultaneously, that would be even better. This is done because you don’t want the GHA to decay as this will increase your nutrient levels, and you don’t want them to recolonize other places in the tank either. You may have to do this a couple times, but your aquarium should be back to its glory days in no time. Good luck!

Good idea. I'll be doing this tomorrow.

 

[CC13]

I’ve always found manual removal to be the best method. Just grab a toothbrush and brush it from all the rock, substrate, pumps, etc. This should be followed by a small water change where you siphon out as much of the GHA that will be flowing throughout the aquarium. If you can do both simultaneously, that would be even better. This is done because you don’t want the GHA to decay as this will increase your nutrient levels, and you don’t want them to recolonize other places in the tank either. You may have to do this a couple times, but your aquarium should be back to its glory days in no time. Good luck!

Any suggestions for larger tanks? lol Manual removal is not possible sometimes haha

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Scrub the algae and get more cuc.

Def ID the algae to make sure it’s not a nasty that thrives in low Po4 systems and circumvents the bio filter (like dinos do)

 

[DFR]

Any suggestions for larger tanks? lol Manual removal is not possible sometimes haha

LOL
I’ve used a similar concept with slightly larger tanks (6’x2’ footprint). There are these metal wires with bristles on the end that kind of resemble baby bottle cleaners that work well, just make sure to get the ones with a stiffer bristle.
A little side note, I’ve only really had these issues early on. As my tanks mature and stabilize, it usually sort of goes on auto-pilot. I am pretty good at catching issues as they begin and never really had to deal with massive outbreaks of any kind.
If manual removal is possible/doable, I would say to try that first. After a couple days it will start to grow back but it will be lighter than the first time so it should be easier and quicker.
If not, you can start manipulating the light (shorten duration, or change to a solely blue spectrum), dosing peroxide, using chemicals, etc. Just note that all these things will have side effects

 

[DFR]

Scrub the algae and get more cuc.

Def ID the algae to make sure it’s not a nasty that thrives in low Po4 systems and circumvents the bio filter (like dinos do)

For some reason the natural remediation completely slipped my mind. Tangs and urchins are probably the best I’ve found at combatting these problems.

 

[jhatfield]

For some reason the natural remediation completely slipped my mind. Tangs and urchins are probably the best I’ve found at combatting these problems.

I have a pincushion urchin which is a BEAST and will scrub the rock clean where it can get to. Unfortunately he can't get into the tight spots. The mexican turbos have been the next best but they all die within a few weeks which I'm betting is due to temperature... ~78deg. Trochus are hardy but don't do much of anything to gha.

 

[Dabcrusher]

I found this beast last night at least the size of a dime for 4$

 

[Terry Brown]

I had the same issue. Had hair algae so I started dosing NOPOX, Nitrates went down to 0.25, but the hair algae kept growing. For the last two months I have been pulling rocks out of the tank and scrubbing it off rocks with a toothbrush and putting peroxide on the algae near the corals. I think the key was getting as much of the algae out of the tank to keep it from putting nutrients back in the tank. Then I added to my CUC. Finally this week the algae is almost gone and whats left is dying back!!!!!

 

[CC13]

I had the same issue. Had hair algae so I started dosing NOPOX, Nitrates went down to 0.25, but the hair algae kept growing. For the last two months I have been pulling rocks out of the tank and scrubbing it off rocks with a toothbrush and putting peroxide on the algae near the corals. I think the key was getting as much of the algae out of the tank to keep it from putting nutrients back in the tank. Then I added to my CUC. Finally this week the algae is almost gone and whats left is dying back!!!!!

What CUC did you add?

 

[mta_morrow]

foxface and urchins in my case.

 

[Terry Brown]

Chestnut Turbo Snails, Mexican Turbo Snails, and a bunch of the miniature hermit crabs. I don't really care to have hermit crabs in a reef tank (They knock over my coral frags), but they will eat lots of Hair Algae.

 

[DFR]

@CC13 How long has your tank been up, and what are you running in terms of filtration? Also what are your parameters and stocking?

If you have reoccurring problems with GHA, something else may be off. It could even be as simple as a larger bacterial load or altered filtration or lighting needed.

 

[Auto-pilot]

I agree with DFR. I feel like a refugium is really helpful with this problem as well. I like peroxide and use it by using a pipet and injecting it onto problem areas. My refugium keeps my water clean enough. If you dunk rocks in it it could create alot of die off that would nutrient spike. I keep alge in my tank at a minimum with peroxide, it's cheap and doesn't require scrubbing that can damage coral

 

[roberthu526]

Any suggestions for larger tanks? lol Manual removal is not possible sometimes haha

Still try to pull as much out as you can and increase your clean up crew. Tuxedo urchin works the best. You can also dose fluconazle to wipe it out but since you said big tank I assume you will need to dose a lot which can get pricy.

 

[CC13]

Still try to pull as much out as you can and increase your clean up crew. Tuxedo urchin works the best. You can also dose fluconazle to wipe it out but since you said big tank I assume you will need to dose a lot which can get pricy.

Dosed fluconazle 2 weeks ago. It killed some and did improve, but not nearly all.

 

[roberthu526]

Dosed fluconazle 2 weeks ago. It killed some and did improve, but not nearly all.

Give it a little more time. Usually takes a month to show full effect for me.

 

[CC13]

Give it a little more time. Usually takes a month to show full effect for me.

Thanks for the reply.

Should I dose a little more fluconazle? I went 3-4 days with my skimmer on but dialed all the way down as to not skim anything out of the water and turned it back on to skim as people were saying that I would have excess nutrients buildup from the die-off.

Also, I assume no water changes during this time also?