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Walker's 90g - brb nuking algae


Walker

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Hey Walker, I had a similarly random SPS STN/RTN event happen a couple of months back and though it did not work every time (worked maybe 25% of the time) I found that super gluing a half inch or so above the line where the tissue is receding stopped it dead in its tracks. In fact, I have a couple of colonies that began STN'ing from the base upwards and they are beginning to encrust back over the super glued areas. If you give it a shot, I would recommend moving them to a little bit lower light area, seems to aid in regenerating tissue, at least in my limited experience. I would certainly think you could give it a shot on the Cali Tort since its progressing down the branches unless its progressed so far there's little left. Other alternative is fragging off the areas that are receding.

Hi Nic, thanks for the kind words. Unfortunately every large colony except for the slimer has perished (STN going into RTN). The slimer colony is a bit... bulky to superglue. I was planning on fragmenting all but a couple of branches of it and then epoxying the base - this is how I rescued it the last time it STN'd a year ago.

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  • 3 weeks later...

The long slow process of rebuilding starts. I've been battling valonia and GHA outbreaks due to me taking the GFO reactor offline for Zeovit. I'm finally back to a stable phosphate and alkalinity level, and I've been manually removing valonia. It's a long uphill climb, but at least I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

 

I've started restocking SPS. I have an idea of stocking mostly milleporas, so I'm going to be thinking about how best to lay them out. So far, I've gotten three frags of blue millis (electric blue and superman blue), a montipora setosa, tricolor bonsai, and pink lemonade, and I'm hoping that they take off. Once they do, I'll start adding other types. I'm still hankering to re-establish a cali tort, but that will have to wait until I can confirm that the new frags are doing well.

 

The fish are all happy and fat, so that's a positive. I'm a little annoyed at how little algae the kole tang eats, but I guess that's what I get for feeding them twice a day.

 

My euphyllias are thriving, with both hammer colonies around the size of large cabbages o.O. The torch coral is growing well, and the frogspawn that sulked for years has finally started growing new heards.

 

FTS. Apologies for the dead coral skeletons, I haven't had the heart to remove them yet.

i-7GHGTw6-L.jpg

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Sorry to hear of all the troubles. I'm recovering from an Alk spike and learning still learning lessons about stability. Everything I do to the tank I have to force myself to ask: How will this effect the important parameters? My last mistake was to up my timed topoff amount without thinking that since I dose Kalk this would certainly increase the Kalk dosage and Alk/Calcium. This is why I I was never any good at nanos, too small a water volume for the number of silly mistakes I make. :)

 

Can't wait to see the turn around with all the new corals!

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  • 3 weeks later...

First signs of recovery spotted. My red firetruck monti cap has started getting new growth, and a new montipora setosa has started encrusting. There may be a hint of encrustation with the pink lemonade as well. I'm hopeful the other frags are just taking their time.

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In retrospect, there were multiple things that went wrong - too high phosphate, too fast of an alk drop. I'm realizing now that in my efforts to get better colouration form SPS, I overfed (a lot) and didn't really combat it with export mechanisms, which boosted PO4 levels very very high, enough that there was a bloom of GHA and valonia. The algae kept absorbing the phosphate so I didn't really pick up on it until I started the recovery process.

 

I am amazed that I am using 1 cup of GFO a week to maintain 0.04-0.09 phosphate. By the end of the week, it would have climbed up to .14. I suspect that the rocks have absorbed quite a bit of phosphate and it will take some time before it all leaches out. I do want to get a better handle on my phosphate level so I've ordered a Hanna checker to double-check my Elos test.

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Gaah, ooops moment. I was starting to use the Zeo supplements again as I'm approaching ULNS to control algae. Well, this weekend I was looking at some of my new frags and I saw some burnt tips, which I haven't really seen after the recovery. I've been racking my brain trying to figure out why.

 

Well, I reached into my shelf of supplements and grabbed a Pohl's Xtra bottle that I've used last week... or I thought it was an Xtra bottle. Apparently I've dosed 5mL of ZeoStart instead (DOH!). I was WONDERING why I had a bacterial bloom over the weekend. I should have read the big fat letters that said ZeoStart :P.

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Gaah, ooops moment. I was starting to use the Zeo supplements again as I'm approaching ULNS to control algae. Well, this weekend I was looking at some of my new frags and I saw some burnt tips, which I haven't really seen after the recovery. I've been racking my brain trying to figure out why.

 

Well, I reached into my shelf of supplements and grabbed a Pohl's Xtra bottle that I've used last week... or I thought it was an Xtra bottle. Apparently I've dosed 5mL of ZeoStart instead (DOH!). I was WONDERING why I had a bacterial bloom over the weekend. I should have read the big fat letters that said ZeoStart :P.

The two bottles I put tape over the lid are Start3 and ZEOspur, this way I don't accidentally mistake them for other bottles. I would keep an eye on your corals, the extra ZS3 may cause your nutrients to dip and cause STN on Acro's, I would give an extra dose of AA and/or Pohl's Xtra to boost nutrients.

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The two bottles I put tape over the lid are Start3 and ZEOspur, this way I don't accidentally mistake them for other bottles. I would keep an eye on your corals, the extra ZS3 may cause your nutrients to dip and cause STN on Acro's, I would give an extra dose of AA and/or Pohl's Xtra to boost nutrients.

 

That's actually bang on what happened... the new milleporas have either burnt tips or STN, which annoys me. I've added a dose of Xtra to compensate, but I'm crossing my fingers.

 

For some reason, the new acros are not doing well, but the montipora setosa is very happy and the monti caps that survived are now putting out more growth. I'm wondering if I'm missing something (iodine?) because everything else is happy. Proportionally my water changes have gone down from 12% per week to 5% per week, so I'm suspicious it's some sort of trace element problem.

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Gaaah, yet another thing. Seems like I left my ATO off after the last water change, which means I'm short about 3-4 gallons of topoff. Maybe it's not such a big deal for a 90 gallon, but it's still another thing in the "what went wrong" column.

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Well, my Hanna checker arrived today and my first run was a whopping 200ppb phosphorus (0.6ppm PO4)! I nearly had a heart attack until I realized I used the syringe that I use to measure Xtra. After I used a clean syringe, it comes out to 72ppb (0.22 PO4). That is more in-line with what I expected.

 

Although I ordered a bunch of BRS GFO, I think I will set it aside and use a high-cap GFO like Rowaphos for now. It does not seem like plain GFO can keep up with the phosphate that is leaching from the rocks.

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Well, my Hanna checker arrived today and my first run was a whopping 200ppb phosphorus (0.6ppm PO4)! I nearly had a heart attack until I realized I used the syringe that I use to measure Xtra. After I used a clean syringe, it comes out to 72ppb (0.22 PO4). That is more in-line with what I expected.

 

Although I ordered a bunch of BRS GFO, I think I will set it aside and use a high-cap GFO like Rowaphos for now. It does not seem like plain GFO can keep up with the phosphate that is leaching from the rocks.

 

Sorry to hear about the issues man. I was having some issues as well, but it's starting to work out. I would try blasting your rock work and small portions of your sandbbed with a powerhead each time you do a water change. Started doing this and my tank has looked a 100x better

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  • 2 weeks later...

I think that the rocks had absorbed enough phosphate to set the equilibrium to about .1 PO4. Every time I change my GFO, it drops to .03 for a day, then jumps back up to around .12 or so. This is with me changing 1 cup of BRS GFO twice a week. Still too high for my liking, so I think I will go ahead and run a high-cap GFO and see if it can drive down the equilibrium to a more comfortable number.

 

I`ve added in a pincushion urchin to help with my algae problem, and so far I`ve been very impressed at how it can clear tufts of hair algae. I`ll see how it works out over the holidays, but it looks like it can have slow and steady progress. I might add a second one if it can`t keep up.

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  • 2 weeks later...

This phosphate problem is driving me crazy. I've used 3 cups of BRS GFO total this week, and my phosphate still reads .12-.14. I've switched to rowaphos two days ago, and it didn't make a dent in it at all as it still reads .12.

 

Note that I agree with the Hanna reader as I still have tons of GHA floating around. It's not nearly as bad as before, so that's a plus, but everything is telling me I still have a phosphate problem. I've reduced feeding as well as added a filter sock, but still no dice.

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CronicReefer

This phosphate problem is driving me crazy. I've used 3 cups of BRS GFO total this week, and my phosphate still reads .12-.14. I've switched to rowaphos two days ago, and it didn't make a dent in it at all as it still reads .12.

 

Note that I agree with the Hanna reader as I still have tons of GHA floating around. It's not nearly as bad as before, so that's a plus, but everything is telling me I still have a phosphate problem. I've reduced feeding as well as added a filter sock, but still no dice.

I personally use Brightwell Aquatics ExtraxPhos but they sell a product called Xport-PO4 that has some serious phosphate absorbing capabilities (as much as 5x more). I believe you may have better success with Xport-PO4 than you would with your GFO since it seems to be exhausting itself very quickly for you.

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  • 1 month later...

Just a text update for now (FTS forthcoming at some point).

 

Still fighting the good fight with regards to phosphate. I've gone through a literal gallon of GFO (2 cups changing twice a week), and it has gone down from .12 to .06. The green bubble algae, interestingly enough, is receding. For some reason, my pincushion urchin has gotten a taste for the bubbles and is slowly but surely eating all of them. I think because the phosphate has gone lower, it grows much slower (if at all) and I can now see progress.

 

GHA is still prevalent but is slowly going away as well. I've been doing some manual removal and it helps a lot. I find that if I damage the GHA by ripping it out, it attracts the hermits and turbos and they wipe out the remaining patch in days.

 

The fish are all fat and happy, even though I've cut down their mysis to once a day (instead of twice). I feed pellets instead for their night snack.

 

Coralline is now growing on the front glass again. Never thought I'd be so happy to need to scrape the glass. I will endeavor to strip phosphate down to 0.03, which will probably take another month or two as I'm going to try to use less GFO now (2 cups once a week). If it goes up again I will have to keep up.

 

As far as the corals, the montiporas are growing like crazy. My forest fire digitata, which has died off to probably five polyps during all of this, has made a resurgence and is now the size of a thumbnail and I'm hopeful that it will eventually grow out and up again. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for my milleporas, as they have all died off ;_;. The only remaining acropora in the tank are green slimers, a tricolor bonsai frag, and this indestructible wild acropora (green with green/blue growth tips) that is recovering from being reduced to three (!) polyps.

 

After I'm sure my battle with phosphate is done, I'll probably try to add a few more frags to test it out. So far on my wishlist is cali tort, oregon blue monti, and red planet (again).

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I just realized that this mushroom-looking red disc that I've been seeing growing over the past few months is a remnant of my orange chalice! I broke it in half and sold one half. The other half died with the alk drop and I thought I'd never see it again. The fascinating thing is that it probably regenerated itself from maybe half a mouth (!), maybe less than a couple of millimeters. It is now about half an inch wide and I can clearly see the mouths now - enough to make a positive ID.

 

The resiliency of our corals never cease to fascinate me.

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  • 1 month later...

Still fighting the good fight against algae. I think as algae recedes, it dies (or is eaten) and increases my phosphates. I've been hovering around 0.06ppm for the month now, even with reduced GFO changes. I think once the GHA completely recedes, I can reduce my GFO consumption, which is a combination of 1 cup GFO and 1 cup rowaphos per week. I think that's an insane amount, but that's what keeps my phosphate around 0.06ppm.

 

I've noted that the montipora setosa and tricolor bonsai have grown well, so I have felt confident enough to add four more frags - a mummy eye chalice, another pink lemonade, a light blue tenuis, and a cali tort. I hope these will survive and thrive in the post-crash aquarium :).

 

Pink Lemonade:

DSC_6082-M.jpg

 

Tenuis:

DSC_6084-M.jpg

 

The new cali tort being photobombed by my tailspot blenny:

DSC_6079-M.jpg

 

And the mummy eyes chalice:

DSC_6085-M.jpg

 

I am rapidly getting to the point that I will need to scrape coralline again. I never thought I'd be so happy to see the aquarium half-covered in coralline.

 

FTS:

DSC_6122-L.jpg

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And finally, after 4 months of trying, I am back to 0.03ppm PO4 (10 ppb phosphorous). Now I just have to figure out how often I need to change GFO to keep it there.

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  • 2 weeks later...

First fragging event in a long while in the tank. The hammer euphyllias have gotten really big, so I took a couple of heads from each and tucked it away in a corner.

 

DSC_6160-M.jpg

 

The intent is to sell off the large colonies and start over. The hammers are taking up entirely too much space and are shredding some SPS. However, I do like them so I'm starting small again.

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My new frags are ok, but at least one of them is slowly withering away. Since my phosphates are under control for a month now, I suspect that maybe I`m blasting my corals with too much light. It would explain why newer frags would wither and die, while older acclimated corals live.

 

I`ve reduced my max photoperiod by 2 hours (4 hours instead of 6) and adjusted the ramp-up and down appropriately. I am hoping that this will have a positive effect on growth as well.

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I've noticed that the areas I've scraped GHA clear off stay clear, but it's a pain to pull this type of algae off the rocks (derbesia?). I'm thinking I may have to try to use a sharp razor to trim and scrape them off. I'll definitely have to use my bone cutters to crack off GHA-infested dead coral.

 

As part of a planned upgrade, I am adding a MP40wQD in place of the MP10wES, and putting the MP10 on the back wall. The tank is still quite empty of SPS coral, but I'm hoping that with the newer frags growing (except the tenuis), it will start to become more SPS-centric again.

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  • 2 weeks later...

The flow has definitely made the SPS happier, but it's doing a number on the duncan coral. I've moved it into what I think is a lower flow area, but I realize now that the alk drop did a number on it too - it had a lot of algae growing in receded skeletonized areas underneath. I may have to frag a few heads and let it grow from those again.

 

The pink lemonade is encrusting well, and the chalice is doing well as well. However, the two new fresh cut frags (as opposed to encrusted) have not done well. The tenuis is dead, and the cali tort is receding from the top. I am hoping that it will eventually recover, but I'm not holding my breath.

 

I was wondering why my montipora were getting pale, so I tried to experiment and started dosing Pohl's Xtra again two weeks ago. Surprise, surprise, in two weeks the montis got their colour back. I guess as I'm driving PO4 and NO2 to low levels, I need to do my regular AA dosing again. My PO4 is still at .036, so I think I'm doing well as far as controlling nutrients.

 

GHA is still receding, but there's still lots of areas that need manual removal.

 

FTS:

DSC_6572-L.jpg

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