pufferboy Posted October 26, 2011 Author Share Posted October 26, 2011 Thanks guys. Really appreciate the encouragement. I will post some more pics soon. I have a few more cleaners coming. Also, I have another Zoa coming in as well. Ric, Mushrooms and Xenia are doing well....but both of my zoa have not done some great. Is there something that I am missing? Link to comment
brandon429 Posted October 26, 2011 Share Posted October 26, 2011 zos are not a good indicator of tank health they can be finicky. still need to wait some more to see how it re balances after the big scrub. Link to comment
pufferboy Posted October 27, 2011 Author Share Posted October 27, 2011 Well, I have been advised to be patient. So, I am going to try. Have some new friends coming in tomorrow, will place pics. Here are some of the recent pics. Algae is coming back...but so far no sign of bryopsis. Right now the biggest frustration is the RIC. They have a little flecks of rocks that are attached to the foot. This is preventing them from attaching to a bigger piece. Any suggestions? Currently they are folding in on themselves. Here are the RICS My current setup Mushrooms are split now and in a new location. Nice orange sponge, this is the biggest place of three growing areas. My Halloween Crab and the cool plant that is acting like a palm tree. And the algae growth. Feel free to leave comments or suggestions. And, if you have a solution to the RICS let me know. Have netted them to a rock, places them under a netted PVC cut, and rubber banded them to a frag rock.....so far they only will keep attached to the fleck of rock on their foot....i hope i don't lose them. Link to comment
brandon429 Posted October 27, 2011 Share Posted October 27, 2011 they look already bleached a little bit, only the tips look colored so that might indicate a stressed coral but there's a chance they could recover. your problem is that you are fighting a eutrophic (algae dominant) direction for the tank and trying to rehab corals at the same time. how is this tank fed, and with what? having nice feeding material in suspension and a matured tank is a boost for regenerating rics. that appears to be a challenge in this tank but it can be remedied pretty well if its not already on track. keep up the manual removal and big water changes to ramp down the nutrient level in the tank. I recommend you manually clean all of it today, then spot treat any new areas that pop up. its a ramp up process getting an algae outbreak and its a ramp down process getting your tank free of it, dont give up it w balance soon with several refreshing water changes going through it. Id like to see the tank cleaned up free of this generation of algae, stronger water changes imparted and nice feeding for your corals you have inside, that will be a breath of fresh air for your nano reef. Link to comment
pufferboy Posted October 28, 2011 Author Share Posted October 28, 2011 By the end of this I will either be an expert in algae eradication or I will be in a mental institution. Did another rock spray and sand sifting today. Also, got some more CUC's in. Did a 15% water change. We will see where it goes. Link to comment
brandon429 Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 I think I see one small issue in rereading the thread. It seems you aren't doing huge rip water changes, just partial amounts. its possible wastes that are being liberated by the cleaning work that has been done maybe still in the system feeding the new algae generation, I was kind of shocked when you said 15% change, thats so little its ineffective, like not changing it at all. looked for any other mention of how much water was changed and didnt see it, it sounds like maybe you cleaned your rock manually really well, but put it back in water that was wholly at fault for the initial problem. what are your nitrate and phosphate measures as of today? need that, and we need to know what you feed the tank and how often/% the water changes have been in the last 3 weeks. be specific it will help. its cool you are persisting on the tank and not giving up. the key is to manually get all the green out, clean the water totally so its not a nutrient sink, and continue removing pockets of detritus and waste at each change interval. these water changes are CPR for this tank, they are not harmful. not doing enough of them is the problem. something will have to export waste continually from this tank for a while if you want it clean and purple. as long as you have a go-----------> mentality and are doing anything other than letting it exist in your tank, you have a chance to beat it. the growth is still controllable at this point, your sandbed looks to be relatively free of waste pocketing this is a nice sign. I see a lot of algae problems in tanks that don't control their alkalinity and pH very well... how do you dose your tank with calcium and alk? not changing the water frequently enough impacts alkalinity and pH massively, Im searching for some ties here that may be at work to make your tank challenging. can you take a pic standing back to show the lighting on the tank \ Link to comment
pufferboy Posted October 28, 2011 Author Share Posted October 28, 2011 I have been doing a 15 to 20 percent water change weekly. I place floss in my canister and remove it weekly. Link to comment
brandon429 Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 what were the phosphate and nitrate measures today? Link to comment
brandon429 Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 Thats good you mentioned a canister filter. All the media can be switched out for granular ferric oxide media and that will strip your water bare of phosphate, huge in preventing the problem going forward. it needs to be an immediate acquisition for your tank. it can be had online cheaply how do you handle calcium and alk dosing for this tank? Try to think of how many things you can do oppositely going forward based on the results you've had so far. opposites: change more water weekly, consistently. perform back to back 50% changes today and tomorrow to flush it out. wipe off sides of tank during the work when you see algae, remove it, don't wait a single day on any spot. change up the filter. floss and likely the media inside you are using is full of brown gunk and contributing to your dissolved nutrient issue. Its highly likely the filter media itself is not being kept clean enough, I personally would never use one. They are waste traps, benefitting the tank only if the media is kept really free of detritus. If I was forced touse a canister filter it would be only for GFO or nothing at all, never any filter floss. how about stopping using filter floss for the rest of the life of the tank? Its surface area is not helping you, the live rock already has that covered. A skimmer would benefit your tank much better than a canister filter, are you using a skimmer? when the algae is completely removed from every surface in the tank (need to have been done yesterday or asap) you then have a tank completely free of algae. Inspect every surface daily thereafter, the first time you get a single spot of any green, brown or red burn it out with a tank drain (to that level of the target) and do a spot drip of peroxide on the target, wait two mins, refill, kill that spot this activity will preserve your algae free tank while you continue doing opposite things to keep the water cleaner. Only the rock is starting to become algae dominant, the sides of the tank can be wiped clean and the substrate is already pretty clean its really not too bad off. but that close detail of the rock shows the algae is gaining, we could fix that by the weekend Link to comment
pufferboy Posted October 28, 2011 Author Share Posted October 28, 2011 I only use the canaster as a pump and holds oxypure and purigen. Some live rock and filter floss for particle removal. No bio balls or anything like that. Link to comment
brandon429 Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 what are your phosphate and nitrate measures today Link to comment
brandon429 Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 since you now have all the measures to take your tank should look perfect by the weekend and stay that way now... Link to comment
pufferboy Posted October 28, 2011 Author Share Posted October 28, 2011 Nitrate maybe 10 ppm, phosphates a clear 0 ppm Link to comment
brandon429 Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 there seems to be phosphate in the system, you can tell by looking. we need a second test, can you get a phos test at the local pet store or a friend? 10ppm on nitrate is clean not too bad. Link to comment
brandon429 Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 if measures are really that low then focus on manual removal and clean water changes! Link to comment
pufferboy Posted November 2, 2011 Author Share Posted November 2, 2011 Well, I went crazy.....I said I may become insane on this one. Tooth brushed every rock, did a 75% water change.... syphoned the sand. Wow, that stunk. Well, lost my Halloween crab....and may have killed a fair amount of the purple stuff. We will see if it recovers. Link to comment
pufferboy Posted November 3, 2011 Author Share Posted November 3, 2011 I did not lose my crab!!!! He just shed! Link to comment
brandon429 Posted November 3, 2011 Share Posted November 3, 2011 Be prepared for the algae to come back, toothbrushing is nice for initial removal but it doesn't remove holdfasts from inside the rock and this form of removal often disperses algae fragments back into the tank for reseeding (because only a small partial water change is usually done thereafter). In order to gain control over the tank long term, where your manual removal will be lessened, you w actually have to kill off the algae w peroxide or with a GFO filter replacing the current media you use, and with weekly water changes to really remove that nutrient the imbedded algae uses. when it comes back, remove again! either with a toothbrush or a more thorough method. At least you know now it never has to look like the original pics again, there's ways to force the tank to run clean. on 100 occasions I thought my crab was dead only to find a mold lol, happens every time. one additional concern of not killing off the algae is that it w take longer for the tank to run stable and regenerate those corals when you are having to do these rip cleanings every few weeks. I think replacing your filter media, and losing the filter floss altogether, is the best thing for you. GFO can be had online pretty cheap nowadays. Link to comment
pufferboy Posted November 3, 2011 Author Share Posted November 3, 2011 I forgot to add that I dipped my toothbrush in peroxide as I scrubbed and after letting it sit, rinsed it in water change water. I hate algae!!!!!!!!!!! I went to war, it may come back.....but, I have decided to go mid-evil on it. I am just glad mr. crab made it. Link to comment
brandon429 Posted November 3, 2011 Share Posted November 3, 2011 a ha! then thats a different approach lets watch it turn white again lol. Link to comment
pufferboy Posted November 3, 2011 Author Share Posted November 3, 2011 Oh, that algae is going to pay! Lol......all the floss has been removed. Just running Purigen and Oxypure in the canister filter. Something will give here. Going to do another water change today. So, we will see how it is in a week. Josh Link to comment
FlCandy Posted November 5, 2011 Share Posted November 5, 2011 You'll get it! I just did all this but with GHA and then a green tinted tank. Your doing a great job and working it out of the tank. Biggest thing, I was doing 15 gallons twice a week on a 46 gallon tank. This went on for a month. I am now at a winning point! Clean the Canister filter every time you do a WC, make sure to replace the filter floss each time. I would replace the carbon every 2 weeks for now as it helps get the waste out of the water as well as clear it and etc, carbon is amazing. What kind of lights were the corals under when you bought them? Your tank is young still and going through it's "growing pains". They all say 3-6 months for a tank to become stable and I am at the edge of being 3 months running and I am finally seeing the tank "settle". Keep up the large WC and keep testing. Another more knowledgeable reefer on here said, "take out more then you put in" meaning waste. This way you can cleanse anything out of your sand bed and rock with each WC instead of just keeping it under control. GL keep up the fight. It'll get there if you keep at it. Link to comment
Squared Posted November 5, 2011 Share Posted November 5, 2011 also when you get fish be sure to rinse the food. let it thaw and run tank water through it. raisin magnesium may work, i think it works for GHA. up to 1600ppm, keep a close eye on coral and inverts because sometimes the animals may be affected by such high magnesium. i'm sure someone asked but,...were do you get your freshwater from? how long are your lights on? Link to comment
pufferboy Posted November 5, 2011 Author Share Posted November 5, 2011 I have the 14k on for 11 hours and the 10k on for 6 hrs. Freshwater is from the city, but I have an RO filter. Link to comment
Squared Posted November 5, 2011 Share Posted November 5, 2011 try cutting back a little at a time. i only run my lights for 7 hours. Link to comment
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