Need help / advice or something!

[Dj City]

I've had this tank up and running for over 3 years now.
I've had nitrate issues in the past but they seem to have just about gone away since I started using ro/di water.

The problem I'm having is this yellowish film that develops on the glass. It's thick, it's constant and no matter how much I mag float it, it keeps returning the next day. I can't go two days without having a thick film on my tank walls.

I am not over stocked, I do not over feed. I have more than enough flow. I have a good sump and skimmer. I run gfo and rox carbon. I change out my filter sock every 2 to 3 days. I have good lighting with two led steps and four t5 lights (about 2 months old).

I just don't get it. How do I defeat this stuff? Is not on the rocks that I can see, just on the glass.

My levels are pretty good at....

Ph..............8.4
Nitrate......5.0
Phos...........0
Calcium....520 (I know it's high)
Kh..............7dkh / 125.3
Mag...........1480 (approximately)

What could my problem be and how do I fix it?

Lights are
Orbit marine led
Fluval sea reef led
4 t5 at I bulbs (3 blue 1 purple)

 

[Dj City]

Here are some pics of what I'm dealing with.
Flow is 1 maxspect gyre x150 on one end, 1 jebao crossflow wave on the other end. 2 jebao 8 wavemakers and a mp10 in the middle of tank.
Skimmer is sca 302

 

[Dj City]

I cleaned a small part of the glass for contrast to show the yellowish film on the glass

 

[Brew12]

Here are some pics of what I'm dealing with.
Flow is 1 maxspect gyre x150 on one end, 1 jebao crossflow wave on the other end. 2 jebao 8 wavemakers and a mp10 in the middle of tank.
Skimmer is sca 302

Nice looking system!

I feel like your problem is high nitrates. They just aren't showing up because they are being consumed fairly rapidly by the algae that is growing on your sand and glass.

How many snails do you estimate you have in your CuC? My first thought is that you don't have nearly enough or you would at least see trails through the algae.

If you prefer a chemical/bacterial option, you could look at Vibrant. This wouldn't be my first choice but it could work for you. I have used it and was amazed at how much less often I had to clean my glass. https://www.uwcmn.com/vibrant-liquid-aquarium-cleaner

 

[Dj City]

I've decided to build an algae reactor. I have a large aquatop media reactor that's not being used so I'm going to repurpose it.

I'm adding red and blue led's to the outside to shine in. I will wrap the reactor with the led strip.

I'm thinking this should help with any nitrate/ phosphate issues I may have.

I may also switch to the triton method as well.

Anyone using an algae reactor?

 

[Dj City]

I built the algae reactor. It's installed on my tank.
I have a maxijet 1200 on it running wide open.
DAY 1
I will document this post as I progress.

I'm hoping this works out well. I'm looking into the Triton method as well. I like the idea of no water changes!

 

[DSC reef]

It looks like typical film algae. Every tank gets it and cleaning it is just part of the hobby. A normal healthy system will develop film algae so don't strip your tank to much trying to avoid it. Nice tank BTW

 

[Dj City]

It looks like typical film algae. Every tank gets it and cleaning it is just part of the hobby. A normal healthy system will develop film algae so don't strip your tank to much trying to avoid it. Nice tank BTW

Thank you.

If it's film algae, it's aggressive and invasive!
A little film algae should not present a problem but mine is covering the tank super thick every two days.

I'm hoping the algae reactor will beat it back. As long as the reactor grows the algae, it can be nothing but beneficial.

I have the reactor light on a timer to come on and go off opposite the display.

This should be interesting!

 

[Grey Guy]

Keep us posted. I'm building one also.

 

[Dj City]

These are my water parameters as of today.

Calcium......................420 (I want it higher)
Kh/Dkh.......................6 / 107.4 (Too Low)
Mag.............................1485 (kinda high)
PH................................8.0 (kinda low)
Nitrate........................just over 0
Phosphate.................0

I want calcium at about 460 to 480
I want Dkh at about 11
I want ph at 8.4

I don't dose anything right now butt may invest in soda ash to raise dkh and ph.

After I get levels where I want them, use either kalk or 2 part.

 

[Brew12]

These are my water parameters as of today.

Calcium......................420 (I want it higher)
Kh/Dkh.......................6 / 107.4 (Too Low)
Mag.............................1485 (kinda high)
PH................................8.0 (kinda low)
Nitrate........................just over 0
Phosphate.................0

I want calcium at about 460 to 480
I want Dkh at about 11
I want ph at 8.4

I don't dose anything right now butt may invest in soda ash to raise dkh and ph.

After I get levels where I want them, use either kalk or 2 part.

I would recommend keeping your Alk between 8 and 9 for awhile. Higher Alk can increase coral growth but combined with low nutrients and it can cause serious problems. Just something to think about.

 

[Dj City]

I would recommend keeping your Alk between 8 and 9 for awhile. Higher Alk can increase coral growth but combined with low nutrients and it can cause serious problems. Just something to think about.

What do you mean? I've never heard that before.
I will be raising alk and ph sloooooowly over the course of a few days to a week.

What should I be looking out for?

 

[Brew12]

What do you mean? I've never heard that before.
I will be raising alk and ph sloooooowly over the course of a few days to a week.

What should I be looking out for?

If you have high Alk you need to maintain nutrients or corals can RTN. I'm not much of a coral guy yet (I'm great at getting corals to RTN) but what I have seen is that Alk's in the 8 to 9 range are much more forgiving than at the 11-12 range. I'm patiently lowering my alk to try and get it in that range to see if I have better luck with corals.
Maybe a more experienced member of #reefsquad can offer better advice.

 

[RyanCSGO]

you said you don't dose anything? how are you maintaining your cal and alk levels currently?
honestly the 8.5-9 range for alk is the "sweet" spot for most reefers

also what is your light schedule like? how many hours are you running them?

 

[Dj City]

you said you don't dose anything? how are you maintaining your cal and alk levels currently?
honestly the 8.5-9 range for alk is the "sweet" spot for most reefers

also what is your light schedule like? how many hours are you running them?

I have lights ramp up starting at 8.30am. By 9.45am, all lights are on.
Lights start to ramp down at 5.30pm and are done by 9pm.
Algae reactor lights come on at 6.45pm and shut down at 8.45am.

I simply have not had a cal or alk issue till now.
I have used seachem fusion 1 and 2 in the past but it raised my cal really high like well over 500.

My issue as far a dosing right now is working on alk and ph without increasing mag.
Going up slightly on cal would be nice but it's important to raise the other two WITHOUT raising mag any higher than it is right now.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I have lights ramp up starting at 8.30am. By 9.45am, all lights are on.
Lights start to ramp down at 5.30pm and are done by 9pm.
Algae reactor lights come on at 6.45pm and shut down at 8.45am.

I simply have not had a cal or alk issue till now.
I have used seachem fusion 1 and 2 in the past but it raised my cal really high like well over 500.

My issue as far a dosing right now is working on alk and ph without increasing mag.
Going up slightly on cal would be nice but it's important to raise the other two WITHOUT raising mag any higher than it is right now.

If I'm not mistaken, exess magnesium is not an issue really. Two part alk and cal won't increase mag.

I'm assuming the dosing increases and excess cal were due to dosing amount error.

A ph of 8 is not bad. Keeping in mind time of day you test is important. I don't use a controller so if I'm ever interested in my ph or the swing I test four times over a 24hr period.

The simple way to bring up alk and cal is naturally a couple water changes. Then test and test 24 hrs later to determine usage and dose that back in.

Take a look at this article. In the first graph itll give you the range for a balanced alk an calcium.
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2002/11/chemistry

Also play with the calculator to see a more defined balanced alk cal ratio and also the dosages of the product your using.

http://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chemcalc.html

Its only the alk you need to worry about dosing in large quantity as it effects ph.


Personally I find 8 and nsw levels to be just fine. I have amazing growth etc etc and That way I dose less product. Plus if your manually dosing I'll be hard to keep up.

 

[Dj City]

I'm assuming the dosing increases and excess cal were due to dosing amount error.

A ph of 8 is not bad.

The simple way to bring up alk and cal is naturally a couple water changes. Then test and test 24 hrs later to determine usage and dose that back in.

Its only the alk you need to worry about dosing in large quantity as it effects ph.


Personally I find 8 and nsw levels to be just fine. I have amazing growth etc etc and That way I dose less product. Plus if your manually dosing I'll be hard to keep up.

No dosing error.
I usually don't dose. I've never really needed to and when I did, I used Seachem reef fusion 1 and 2. I've had the same bottles for over a year.
I use I.O. Reef crystals which is high in cal. The uptake of cal had been slow in my tank. That trend has started to change as my sps started to grow more rapidly.

I'm trying to get away from water changes. It's the least effective, most expensive way of replenishing the aquarium.
Theoretically, all you should need to do is keep parameters in check and add elements that get depleted.
Effective nutrient export should take care of the rest. That's why I built the algae reactor. I run my skimmer, gfo, carbon and filter sock to filter the nasties out.

Ph of 8 is not bad but I would like between 9 to 11 as long as I can keep ph, alk and cal in balance.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

No dosing error.
I usually don't dose. I've never really needed to and when I did, I used Seachem reef fusion 1 and 2. I've had the same bottles for over a year.
I use I.O. Reef crystals which is high in cal. The uptake of cal had been slow in my tank. That trend has started to change as my sps started to grow more rapidly.

I'm trying to get away from water changes. It's the least effective, moist expensive way of replenishing the aquarium.
Theoretically, all you should need to do is keep parameters in check and add elements that get depleted.
Effective nutrient export should take care of the rest. That's why I built the algae reactor. I run my skimmer, gfo, carbon and filter sock to filter the nasties out.

Ph of 8 is not bad but I would like between 9 to 11 as long as I can keep ph, alk and cal in balance.

Let's agree to disagree.
Salt is 15 for 50 gallons worth plus water.
I use about $ 40 worth of two part a month.

If you want to keep stable cal alk mag parameters and grow stony corals you should dose and consider automatic dosing in some form or another.
If your avoiding water changes you'll have to test all the other elements that get depleted. Plus plus deal with the fact that your ph will be what it is because your not dosing.

 

[Dj City]

If you want to keep stable cal alk mag parameters and grow stony corals you should dose and consider automatic dosing in some form or another.
If your avoiding water changes you'll have to test all the other elements that get depleted. Plus plus deal with the fact that your ph will be what it is because your not dosing.

I agree. I'm getting to the point where dosing a 2 part will be helpful.
As far as the no water change thigh goes, I'm going to try the Triton method. (Or a variation of it).
I will be sending water samples to Triton for analysis and dose whats needed accordingly.

 

[Dj City]

Day 3...

Algae in the reactor is growing.
I counted how many rows of lights the algae was up to when I first put it in. It was up to the 7th row. Three days into this and it is now up to the 8th row. It has also filled in the bottom of the reactor.

So far, so good.

I will test levels this week and report.
I dosed the seachem 2 part to raise my cal and alk.
I slooooowly added baking soda to slooooooooly raise my ph.
Those parameters are looking good today. I'm not posting them for a few days because I want to see if they hold and what the consumption will be but again, so far, so good.