Taking back my tank

Nik Mason · May 2, 2018

Taking back my tank.

Hi all,

I hope your indoor ocean is doing well.

I would like to share my experience with trying to keep a part of the ocean in my house.

Frustrating!

I read on line that other people put corals in their tanks and wow they grow right away, everything is so fine, so much colour [ I’m from the UK ], load’s of polp extension etc.

I’m so jealous.

After my tank has been running for 13 months, taking things slow, reading everything on R2R i was having no luck.

Started with LR, tank is 700 lts including sump, I’m testing twice a week, [ test with different test kits show im not perfect but within tolerances ] i have a calcium reactor set at 6.8, bio pellets piped in to 1000ltr skimmer, GFO, carbon changed every week, RIDO with ATO, 4 kesile tune blue lights with spectrum controller , feeding 5 frozen cube a day [ 20 fish ] with broadcast feeding of reef roids 2 times a week.

My fish are doing great but my corals are only surviving not growing, they are barley hanging on.

My water test with different manufacturer test kits all seem to show I’m within the band they are supposed to be in.

I’m not sure what is wrong except i have a massive GHA problem and my corals are just not thriving.

Lost a lot so i have decided not to add any more until i find out what i;m doing wrong. Tried vital and adding nopox, stopped that at this time.

So taking back my tank.

I have consulted my LFS rocks & critters and have found out they can’t get coral growth with the kessli lights, very surprising to me as i have read the kessli is the best light to have, so i have just changes to the Philips coral care lights, bloody expensive but that what you do for your pets, right?

Also to clear the GHA i have stopped everything , that means taking out the GFO, Carbon, canister filter for cleaning water, still have sump, but now i have only socks, skimmer and bio pellet reactor.

I have added a sea hair, an algae blennie, i have 6 emerald crabs and snails that are laying eggs.

So im on the right track right?

You guys in the states seem to have access to fluconazole, over here its £5.99 for one capsule in the retail stores , for my tank i would need 20 capsule so that’s £120.00 for one dose.

By the way over here its the active ingredient in the treatment for THRUSH, so i spoke to my chemist about marine GHA and guess what, he gets it from Bristol labs for 39p and will sell it to me for £1, Barging.

So in goes 20 capsules and 4 days later the GHA is dying,

I have been cleaning all my rock with a tooth brush, changing socks daily, new Philips lights and trying to get my tank back.

I won’t add any corals or live stock until I’m sure they can thrive.

Any advice on how to get my corals thriving would be most welcome,

Regard,

Nik

60CubeReefer · May 2, 2018

What are your water parameters? Are you running a refugium/frequency of water changes?

theMeat · May 2, 2018

How often and how big water change schedule?
Is your biopellet reactor’s water output going directly into skimmer?

WVNed · May 2, 2018

You have new lights, 2 kinds of water tests so I assume you have good water with the right stuff in it. How much flow do you have? Flow suspends the stuff that turns into goo and gets it to your filters and skimmer.

Nik Mason · May 3, 2018

Hi all,
thanks for the reply's, answers below:-
Im not running a refugium.
Water stats are:-
salinity 1.026
Temp 24
Calcium 490
Mag 1490
Alk 9.2
Nitrate 5
Phosphate .6
PH 8.1

I change 1% of water everyday.

Bio pellet outlet is directly piped into the skimmer inlet

I believe I have plenty of flow, much more than any tank at my LFS, corals are not being blasted as my 3 mp40 powerheads and gyre are directed at the surface,
I empty my skimmer cup every two days, its a skimmer for a 1000 lt tank.

i'm also running a CO2 calcium reactor.

Now I have stripped back my systems I am going to monitor it with the new lights, not ready to give up!

Thanks for your replies,
Regards,
Nik

brandon429 · May 3, 2018

another important aspect of your tank turnaround is the direct action on the algae

the ocean grows most invaders in conditions we'd test for as normal. the rest is manually grazed by animals, that's a missing factor here. not that you have no grazers, its that no direct grazing is occurring. a parrotfish wouldn't delay an hour, and your sandbed would be two inches deeper. you can manually make up for that with a certain strategy, and will a clean tank by tomorrow pretty much.

we have amassed quite a collection of similar turnarounds, you'd be amazed what a nice water change + correct substrate cleaning + correct action directly on the algae while the rocks are exposed can do for a tank turnaround. it shaves months of slow possible wait...

the work is a bit more for larger tanks, but, the biological outcome is of no particular risk. we have many many documented, even for large tanks...all we advocate in those threads is removing any cloudy stores of waste up under rocks, in sand, wherever, and this lessens the need for GFO and biopellets

those should be reduced/stopped until corals resume normal non bleached mode, and your lighting needs to have the whites reduced for sure. make sure not to dose anything that drives alkalinity any higher while under bright lighting and low nutrients, winning combo for regeneration right there. if we take a special type of direct action on your algae it will go away really fast, all the rest is focus for regrowth control. separation of those activities, the kill vs the regrowth prevention as separate actions, runs big in our correction threads.

can you post a pic of the rocks/invasion areas for algae

Ocean Lotion · May 3, 2018

HA seems to need one thing to grow - water. It wil grow even if your hus bandy is great and tank parameters are perfect. Be prepared for it to resurrect a few times even after you think you killed it all. Just retreat when you see it coming back. Leave the flukonazole in for like a month each tI'm feeding just enough to keep everybody healthy. After each treatment session do water changes and run carbon. It is evil stuff. But now you have the cure. Good luck.

Ocean Lotion · May 3, 2018

Ha needs one thing to grow - water. Be prepared to treat your tank a few times. Let the flu be in there for at least a month before water changes or adding carbon. I have gone 6 weeks. Just don't over feed. The stuff is evil but you have the cure. Good luck.

DeniseAndy · May 3, 2018

I have been there with the algae issues. My 210g got over run with briopsis when I went on vacation for 2.5wks once. Took about 6 months to get the tank back on track. I did not loose any corals or animals, but still frustrating. Takes time, but persistence will get it done. Good luck!

TripleDogDareYah · May 3, 2018

Why not go with an army of algae eaters? Algae growth is not a bad thing. Free food for some very pretty fishies.

Ocean Lotion · May 3, 2018

I have tried hermit crabs, lawnmower blennies, sea hairs, tangs. Nothing even looks at ha if that indeed is what you have. Use the KISS meathod. KILL IT! I hate ha.

warren sweeney · May 3, 2018

Nik Mason said:
Taking back my tank.

keep the faith!
Hi all,

I hope your indoor ocean is doing well.

I would like to share my experience with trying to keep a part of the ocean in my house.

Frustrating!

I read on line that other people put corals in their tanks and wow they grow right away, everything is so fine, so much colour [ I’m from the UK ],

Nik Mason said:

Hi all,
thanks for the reply's, answers below:-
Im not running a refugium.
Water stats are:-
salinity 1.026
Temp 24
Calcium 490
Mag 1490
Alk 9.2
Nitrate 5
Phosphate .6
PH 8.1

I change 1% of water everyday.

Bio pellet outlet is directly piped into the skimmer inlet

I believe I have plenty of flow, much more than any tank at my LFS, corals are not being blasted as my 3 mp40 powerheads and gyre are directed at the surface,
I empty my skimmer cup every two days, its a skimmer for a 1000 lt tank.

i'm also running a CO2 calcium reactor.

Now I have stripped back my systems I am going to monitor it with the new lights, not ready to give up!

Thanks for your replies,
Regards,
Nik

Click to expand...

load’s of polp extension etc.

I’m so jealous.

After my tank has been running for 13 months, taking things slow, reading everything on R2R i was having no luck.

Started with LR, tank is 700 lts including sump, I’m testing twice a week, [ test with different test kits show im not perfect but within tolerances ] i have a calcium reactor set at 6.8, bio pellets piped in to 1000ltr skimmer, GFO, carbon changed every week, RIDO with ATO, 4 kesile tune blue lights with spectrum controller , feeding 5 frozen cube a day [ 20 fish ] with broadcast feeding of reef roids 2 times a week.

My fish are doing great but my corals are only surviving not growing, they are barley hanging on.

My water test with different manufacturer test kits all seem to show I’m within the band they are supposed to be in.

I’m not sure what is wrong except i have a massive GHA problem and my corals are just not thriving.

Lost a lot so i have decided not to add any more until i find out what i;m doing wrong. Tried vital and adding nopox, stopped that at this time.

So taking back my tank.

I have consulted my LFS rocks & critters and have found out they can’t get coral growth with the kessli lights, very surprising to me as i have read the kessli is the best light to have, so i have just changes to the Philips coral care lights, bloody expensive but that what you do for your pets, right?

Also to clear the GHA i have stopped everything , that means taking out the GFO, Carbon, canister filter for cleaning water, still have sump, but now i have only socks, skimmer and bio pellet reactor.

I have added a sea hair, an algae blennie, i have 6 emerald crabs and snails that are laying eggs.

So im on the right track right?

You guys in the states seem to have access to fluconazole, over here its £5.99 for one capsule in the retail stores , for my tank i would need 20 capsule so that’s £120.00 for one dose.

By the way over here its the active ingredient in the treatment for THRUSH, so i spoke to my chemist about marine GHA and guess what, he gets it from Bristol labs for 39p and will sell it to me for £1, Barging.

So in goes 20 capsules and 4 days later the GHA is dying,

I have been cleaning all my rock with a tooth brush, changing socks daily, new Philips lights and trying to get my tank back.

I won’t add any corals or live stock until I’m sure they can thrive.

Any advice on how to get my corals thriving would be most welcome,

Regard,

Nik

warren sweeney · May 3, 2018

more photos to come. just got a few great pieces

warren sweeney · May 3, 2018

Ocean Lotion said:
I have tried hermit crabs, lawnmower blennies, sea hairs, tangs. Nothing even looks at ha if that indeed is what you have. Use the KISS meathod. KILL IT! I hate ha.

keep the faith!

Ocean Lotion said:
HA seems to need one thing to grow - water. It wil grow even if your hus bandy is great and tank parameters are perfect. Be prepared for it to resurrect a few times even after you think you killed it all. Just retreat when you see it coming back. Leave the flukonazole in for like a month each tI'm feeding just enough to keep everybody healthy. After each treatment session do water changes and run carbon. It is evil stuff. But now you have the cure. Good luck.

Nik Mason · May 8, 2018

Hi All,
my apologies for the delay in replying, I had a long weekend.
Many thanks for everything,
Flucolazole is awesome, the HA is so dying i'm changing socks everyday as it comes out.
New Philips lights are on low for a bit, I have only just found one of the most helpful videos out there by Dana.

Hope he does not mind the link.

I too found that hermit crabs, lawnmower blennies, sea hairs, and tangs, all of which I have in my tank just wont touch the HA,

I can see results and my enthusiasm is back up so thanks for all the advice and words of support.
Regards,
Nik