New Person in Aquaforest Support Team!

[Perry]

@Perry @Gary Wilkinson I am running the same products as @samba_dad. My nitrate and phosphates were running very high 10 ppm nitrates, .16 phosphates. I took the Np Pro off line and started running a small amount of bio pellets to bring down the nitrate and phosphate minus to bring down the phosphate to a .04 ppm and my nitrates have come down and most of my green hair algae is gone. I am still having issues with red slim algae.
I was thinking of dosing a small amount of the NP Pro to tackle the red slim, what do you think?
Ca 410
Mg 1320
Alk 7.98
No3 7+ ppm
Po4 .04 ppm

I feed heavy and my fish and coral look great.

IME, consistency in dosing is key. Your levels seem just fine, so not to overthink this situation, over time as bacteria is built within the system, the nutrients will get low and stay low, but it does require a bit of patience. Try and begin use of NP Pro again, and also siphon out as much cyano as you can by dosing some larger water changes, this too will help balance things out. Nothing good happens quickly, I would not be surprised if the use of pellets could have caused some of the problems with cyano, due to it mainly being a carbon source. You should be fine, and if push comes to shove, I have personal use with Boyd's Chemi Clean Cyano Remover, but let's not have to go that route if it can be avoided Cheers!

 

[jsker]

IME, consistency in dosing is key. Your levels seem just fine, so not to overthink this situation, over time as bacteria is built within the system, the nutrients will get low and stay low, but it does require a bit of patience. Try and begin use of NP Pro again, and also siphon out as much cyano as you can by dosing some larger water changes, this too will help balance things out. Nothing good happens quickly, I would not be surprised if the use of pellets could have caused some of the problems with cyano, due to it mainly being a carbon source. You should be fine, and if push comes to shove, I have personal use with Boyd's Chemi Clean Cyano Remover, but let's not have to go that route if it can be avoided Cheers!

Thank you for the quick reply, I will start dosing the NP Pro again starting with a smaller amount since I am running the pellets and adjust as needed. I am staying away for the chem clean and have been looking for a long term solution again thank you and have a good day

 

[Azerione]

The amount that should be dosed should be the amount consumed daily as to not have any swings in parameters. Please make sure you have a stable alkalinity from day to day without any swings. This becomes your set point for all 3 liquids dosed. Cheers

Thanks Perry will monitor my alk...

 

[samba_dad]

Hello,
I would maybe increase flow on the reactor just a bit for starters, but your levels are not really that bad, and according to "Redfield Ratio" the nitrates to phosphates are linear, which is good. They will reduce over time, not sure how long you have had the system going with AF products, but it does take time to get nutrients low, there could have been nutrients bound within the system still processing. Also, the skimmer at this point should be pulling dark stinky skimmate, this is an indicator that the system is working. How does the corals and fish look? Observance is far superior to test results, IMO... Cheers

I'm quite happy with the appearance of my corals. I have very good polyp extension on most of my acropora and all my Montipora is growing rapidly. Appearance wise I don't feel that I really have any problems. Also, my skimmate is dark brown.

 

[Azerione]

Good day guys maybe we could post our tanks dosed with AquaForest I will start...

 

[Azerione]

I also made my doser to dose 25ml every 12 hrs now...

 

[Gary Wilkinson]

@Perry @Gary Wilkinson I am running the same products as @samba_dad. My nitrate and phosphates were running very high 10 ppm nitrates, .16 phosphates. I took the Np Pro off line and started running a small amount of bio pellets to bring down the nitrate and phosphate minus to bring down the phosphate to a .04 ppm and my nitrates have come down and most of my green hair algae is gone. I am still having issues with red slim algae.
I was thinking of dosing a small amount of the NP Pro to tackle the red slim, what do you think?
Ca 410
Mg 1320
Alk 7.98
No3 7+ ppm
Po4 .04 ppm
salinity 33.1

I feed heavy and my fish and coral look great.

The Po4 is now out of balance with the No3, under these conditions the system favours Cyano Bacteria and its quite a common occurrence when tank starts getting into the UNLS zone

the bacteria can fix Nitrogen from the water, The Algea can't, which tips the balance in its favour

I would use Phosphate Minus and Activated Carbon in a reactor, if that fails look at a bacteria culture to out compete the Cyano Bacteria like Cyano Bak, there are also antibiotics as well but since we are running a Pro Biotic system I would stay clear of them ,

 

[Gary Wilkinson]

Here is my system running AF

 

[Azerione]

Awesome tank Gary

 

[Azerione]

My pH has changed now...

 

[Perry]

My system using complete AF Program 6 months

 

[jsker]

The Po4 is now out of balance with the No3, under these conditions the system favours Cyano Bacteria and its quite a common occurrence when tank starts getting into the UNLS zone

the bacteria can fix Nitrogen from the water, The Algea can't, which tips the balance in its favour

I would use Phosphate Minus and Activated Carbon in a reactor, if that fails look at a bacteria culture to out compete the Cyano Bacteria like Cyano Bak, there are also antibiotics as well but since we are running a Pro Biotic system I would stay clear of them ,

Thank you for your reply. I would say after reading this thread and you replay I am on track, it is now just wait and let everything work.

More more question? what is the Po4 and No3 balance?

 

[Gary Wilkinson]

@jsker yes you are on the right track, the ratio is the Redfield Ratio 116:16:1 Carbon:Nitrogenhosphorous this is the ratio living organisms process food, algae bacteria etc
typically our filtration is better at processing the Nitrogen Cycle, most tanks are Carbon limited, without this food source the nutrient rise
which is why we dose carbon (Carbon is the energy needed) if we drive down the Nitrogen content the Po4 becomes out of balance, (too high) the lack of Nitrate slows algae growth, the bacteria Cyano can fix Nitrogen Gas from the water (This is the last stage in the Nitrogen cycle Ammonia >Nitrite>Nitrate>Nitrogen) so the bacteria can exploit this situation

its very common

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Welcome Gary!

 

[Gary Wilkinson]

Welcome Gary!

Thank you revhtree