Think i have more then gha

darksideofthereef · Apr 7, 2020

My nuvo 40 has a some algea issues for the last few months. I have been running gfo in a innovative marine reactor (very finicky) and doing weekly water changes of 5 to 10 gallons a week. During water changes I've been manual removing it. And changing gfo and carbon out weekly. I've also been dosing vibrant 4ml once a week.

I have a algea blenny, a mix of hermits, green emerald crab, two pincushion urchins, a few streaked, turbos and ninja star snails.

Also have two clowns, firefish, and pintail wrasse.

All parameters are in check (proberbly bc of the algea taking up all the nutrients.

Over the past week it has changed from just gha to this mess.

Any suggestions are welcome

darksideofthereef · Apr 7, 2020

Do I have anything else beside gha?

35ppt · Apr 7, 2020

Looks like dinos also.

/I would get a cheapo microscope and see for sure.

darksideofthereef · Apr 7, 2020

I was thinking that I will have to try to get a microscope.

Thanks @35ppt

darksideofthereef · Apr 8, 2020

Ok so just thinking from what I have changed besides downsizing the tank and I stopped running biopellets......

35ppt · Apr 8, 2020

darksideofthereef said:
Ok so just thinking from what I have changed besides downsizing the tank and I stopped running biopellets......

What are your No3 and Po4 levels?

darksideofthereef · Apr 8, 2020

I tested yesterday and po4 was .1
And no3 was 0
I will test again today when I get the little one down. They have been super low since the algea

35ppt · Apr 8, 2020

darksideofthereef said:
I tested yesterday and po4 was .1
And no3 was 0
I will test again today when I get the little one down. They have been super low since the algea

You don't want to reduce these levels to zero, you want to have some detectable levels of No3 and Po4 to avoid dino blooms. I aim for ~10 No3 and ~0.08 Po4. I would deal with the dinos first, get a scope and ID them, that will dictate how I deal with them. After dealing with dinos I would do a water change, and fill a bucket half way with old water. Then take each rock out of the tank one at a time. Scrubbing the rock down, removing as much algae as I can then give a spray of hydrogen peroxide to prevent regrowth and kill off anything I didn't get.

Servopkg · Apr 8, 2020

35ppt said:
You don't want to reduce these levels to zero, you want to have some detectable levels of No3 and Po4 to avoid dino blooms. I aim for ~10 No3 and ~0.08 Po4. I would deal with the dinos first, get a scope and ID them, that will dictate how I deal with them. After dealing with dinos I would do a water change, and fill a bucket half way with old water. Then take each rock out of the tank one at a time. Scrubbing the rock down, removing as much algae as I can then give a spray of hydrogen peroxide to prevent regrowth and kill off anything I didn't get.

Just curious if the scrubbing the live rock and then spraying with Hydrogen peroxide will kill all the bacteria colonies that change ammonia to nitrite? I'm hesitant to touch my rock as I don't want to disturb those organisms..

darksideofthereef · Apr 8, 2020

I actually need to rescape my tank so pulling them out to scrub them is no problem. What do i do with the rocks with corals on them. Mushrooms and zoas? If I spray with peroxide do I need to dose bacteria? Also should I keep dosing vibrant? I'm still working on getting a microscope but i removed some of the dinos in question from the frag plugs and it was very wirery.... also thanks

darksideofthereef · Apr 9, 2020

So I was using a api test kit..... just went and got red sea test kits from my lfs.
No3 3.0
Po4 1.36
Alk 11.2
Call 390
Mag 1500

vetteguy53081 · Apr 9, 2020

Looks like start of bryopsis and fluconasal or Liquid vibrant will attack this. Sounds like you are pulling rock for rescape and now would be the time to scrub off.
Are you using RO water? If so, I would look at color/life of filters and consider a filter change.

darksideofthereef · Apr 9, 2020

So I am using rodi water. The filters were replaced 6 months ago almost 7 and I just checked them and ordered a new set. The sediment filter is orange, carbon block looks fine. Color change resin is about half discolored. I needed to do the membranes in a few months I think I'm going to just change them out now. Any recommendation on the replacements?

Besides the rodi system replacements what should I do next? Pull out the rock and scrub it? Work in getting rid of the dinos? Lower phosphate?

darksideofthereef · Apr 13, 2020

So I siphoned everything loose up and have done a little manual removal. I've also replaced my ro filters. And changed out my top off containers water.
I am still dosing vibrant
I have been testing 1-3 times a day.
Call alk and mag are all stable
Po4 is reading 0 (stopped gfo and have not done a water change and only fed frozen with out rinsing)
No3 looks like it is some where around 12 but the red sea test kit doesn't look like its disolving and leaving particles in test. Is that normal do I just go with it. The test is brand new and not expired.

Also most corals are looking awsome except for my leather coral and one no name acro that got bumped into a digi over might by a snail or crab and has bleached