tigastt Posted July 22, 2016 Share Posted July 22, 2016 Guys, I'm stuck. Last week my algae growth has been crazy, my tank is now 10 weeks old, it started with brown and now green.. My water is also getting cloudy I'm already doing water changes every 2 days 20% using RO and Red Sea Salt since last week but phosphates are still reading between 2-5.. No ammonia nitrates 5.0-10ppm Ph 8.4 Salinity 1.023 Calcium 480 My tank is 20 hex with Aquaclear with the gadgets below HOB for 70 G (Biomax, Purigen, Carbon, Sponge) Macro M-50 Skimmer Jebao WB-40 165W LED (12 hours) Livestock 2 clowns, 1 firefish, 1 diamond goby, a few zoas, hammer coral, ricordia mushroom, 2 Feather Dusters, RBTA CUC Hermit, Emerald, 5 Naus Snails, 3 Huge Turbo Snails I feed LRS Fish Frenzy every night at 6p Checking my corals they are doing great, even the anemone is very happy.. Please advise Do I need to run a refugium ? add a soapdish with chaeto or caulerpa ? or do a 50 % water change Link to comment
Mariaface Posted July 22, 2016 Share Posted July 22, 2016 You could run a phosphate remover, like GFO or phosguard? Or make sure the biomax doesn't have build-up on it, then dose bacterial supplement to be skimmed out after bacteria use nitrate and phosphate. Have you tested for nitrates? Bacteria will use both, but need nitrates as well. Bring down the light period to 6-8 hours until you have the algae under control, too. Sponge: Do you make sure all water runs through mechanical filtration before it hits the carbon/purigen/biomax? You can use filter floss and remove it as detritus builds up on it; this'll remove organics before they have a change to break down into phosphates and other inorganic nutrients. Link to comment
tigastt Posted July 22, 2016 Author Share Posted July 22, 2016 You could run a phosphate remover, like GFO or phosguard? Or make sure the biomax doesn't have build-up on it, then dose bacterial supplement to be skimmed out after bacteria use nitrate and phosphate. Have you tested for nitrates? Bacteria will use both, but need nitrates as well. Bring down the light period to 6-8 hours until you have the algae under control, too. Sponge: Do you make sure all water runs through mechanical filtration before it hits the carbon/purigen/biomax? You can use filter floss and remove it as detritus builds up on it; this'll remove organics before they have a change to break down into phosphates and other inorganic nutrients. I might get phosguard and add it to my hob then.. Nitrates are 5-10ppm on my test last night I will change my light setting as well. Yes I just changed the sponge as well. Regarding the Biomax, I did change it as well as the activated carbon.. Link to comment
Mariaface Posted July 22, 2016 Share Posted July 22, 2016 I might get phosguard and add it to my hob then.. Nitrates are 5-10ppm on my test last night I will change my light setting as well. Yes I just changed the sponge as well. Regarding the Biomax, I did change it as well as the activated carbon.. If you get phosguard, add very small amounts. I'm talking, 10-15 pellets first, then test daily until phosphates stop going down. Then replace it with another 10-15, etc. That stuff is strong, and can easily shock your corals. What test kit are you using for phosphate? Nitrate? Biological media isn't something that gets changed, since that's where your biological filter would sit. In saltwater, we generally have rock and sand to act as biological media - the additional biomax may not be necessary, and can do more harm than good if it isn't kept free of debris. Link to comment
metrokat Posted July 22, 2016 Share Posted July 22, 2016 Where did your live rock come from? Link to comment
Cencalfishguy56 Posted July 22, 2016 Share Posted July 22, 2016 I might get phosguard and add it to my hob then.. Nitrates are 5-10ppm on my test last night I will change my light setting as well. Yes I just changed the sponge as well. Regarding the Biomax, I did change it as well as the activated carbon.. first question at hand, did you use dry rock and if yes where did you get it from? Link to comment
tigastt Posted July 22, 2016 Author Share Posted July 22, 2016 first question at hand, did you use dry rock and if yes where did you get it from? I used live rocks and live sand during the cycle Link to comment
Tamberav Posted July 22, 2016 Share Posted July 22, 2016 Did you test the RO water? I would rule out the source water first. Link to comment
tigastt Posted July 22, 2016 Author Share Posted July 22, 2016 Did you test the RO water? I would rule out the source water first. If I only had a TDS tester Link to comment
Mariaface Posted July 22, 2016 Share Posted July 22, 2016 Or just a phosphate test kit on the source water? Link to comment
Clown79 Posted July 22, 2016 Share Posted July 22, 2016 Ditch the sponge. Even when they are washed weekly and replaced- they are nutrient factories. Use filter floss and change it 1- 2 x's a week. What carbon are you using? Some are known to add phos issued. Some good products to use: Matrix carbon Chemi pure Blue Chemipure Elite Phosguard Phosban Some of these products should not be used together, so research each. Link to comment
Tamberav Posted July 22, 2016 Share Posted July 22, 2016 If I only had a TDS tester Test it for nitrates and PO4 Link to comment
Cencalfishguy56 Posted July 22, 2016 Share Posted July 22, 2016 I used live rocks and live sand during the cycle how fresh was the live rock? Had it been cured? Reason being, I used dry rock with live rock theoretically my dry rock became live rock but the once dry rock was leeching phosphates for months Link to comment
Clown79 Posted July 22, 2016 Share Posted July 22, 2016 Some dry rock does leach phos. I did a "bath" on mine prior to adding it to be on the safe side. Link to comment
metrokat Posted July 23, 2016 Share Posted July 23, 2016 I used live rocks and live sand during the cycle To test if your rock is leaching, make fresh salt water. Test phosphates, add the rock there and test maybe 24-48 hours later. Keep the water circulating. Link to comment
MysticReef Posted July 24, 2016 Share Posted July 24, 2016 I agree with metrokat about checking your live rock if it's leaching phosphates. My live rock was leaching phosphates (bought from a LFS) and unfortunately I wasn't able to combat my dino problem and had to break down my tank. I would check my nitrates daily to see if I had any problems with those and they always read 0 which I believe they were being used up too quickly. I even went as far as changing out the entire sandbed, it helped for about a week then the dinos began to come back. Link to comment
tigastt Posted July 25, 2016 Author Share Posted July 25, 2016 Okay so update. Here are the changes. Additions: Chemipure Elite Filter Floss Removed: Activated Carbon Sponge After 1 day with these changes the phosphate level went down, and algae growth stop.. All test are perfect. The only problem now is my tank is really really cloudy... Is this due to bacterial growth or my diamond goby is mixing too much sand ? No ammonia detected. Again all testing are good Link to comment
Mariaface Posted July 25, 2016 Share Posted July 25, 2016 Possibly both. I say let the cloudiness (bacterial bloom, now that algae isn't competing as much) pass. Make sure the surface of the water has agitation for oxygen, and that all water passes through filter floss first in the filtration. The bacteria will settle onto surfaces soon enough. Link to comment
tigastt Posted July 25, 2016 Author Share Posted July 25, 2016 Possibly both. I say let the cloudiness (bacterial bloom, now that algae isn't competing as much) pass. Make sure the surface of the water has agitation for oxygen, and that all water passes through filter floss first in the filtration. The bacteria will settle onto surfaces soon enough. Okay thank you, I actually replaced the filter floss already. So How I have it setup (Bottom to top) Filter Floss Chemipure Elite Purigen Filter Floss I have the Chemipure and Purigen sandwhiched by the filter floss. Link to comment
Mariaface Posted July 25, 2016 Share Posted July 25, 2016 Sounds good! Try to replace the first layer of filter floss every 2-4 days (it'll trap detritus that you want to get rid of), and the second layer every week or two. You can replace that one more often, if you'd like, but you're just avoiding clogging and/or nitrate buildup like with the sponge. Link to comment
tigastt Posted July 25, 2016 Author Share Posted July 25, 2016 Sounds good! Try to replace the first layer of filter floss every 2-4 days (it'll trap detritus that you want to get rid of), and the second layer every week or two. You can replace that one more often, if you'd like, but you're just avoiding clogging and/or nitrate buildup like with the sponge. Second layer is the one at the bottom correct ? Yes, I took your advice regarding the sponge and made a lot of research that's why I switched with filter floss Link to comment
tigastt Posted July 25, 2016 Author Share Posted July 25, 2016 Yehp, that's the one! Yay! Thanks a lot! Link to comment
tigastt Posted July 26, 2016 Author Share Posted July 26, 2016 OMG.. Water is too cloudy.. Bacterial bloom.. And it's taking its time...... All water parameters are perfect Link to comment
Mariaface Posted July 26, 2016 Share Posted July 26, 2016 Cloudy-white, right? And nothing looks like dust precipitating onto your rocks/equipment? Link to comment
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