Walker's 90g - brb nuking algae

[4x5]

I get algae like that when my nitrates are super low (0) and my phosphates go up. Well, that's my theory anyway.

[markalot]

I like the coraline.

 

I am putting 3 drops of PhosphateRx in my tank daily and I switched to feeding mostly pellet foods. Replaced bulbs, nuked the tank with Interceptor, and now everything is doing quite well. Of course Lanthanum will end up killing all the inhabitants eventually according to most, but I'm not to worried about that.

[Walker]

I get algae like that when my nitrates are super low (0) and my phosphates go up. Well, that's my theory anyway.

I hate this algae - it is incredibly hard to remove from rocks. The only thing that kills it is either boiling hot water or a good dousing in vinegar outside the tank. Obviously I can't remove all rocks from my tank (again) for treatment, so it is very slow going. My nitrates are at 0 and phosphorus at 20 ppb (0.06ppm phosphates).

I like the coraline.

 

I am putting 3 drops of PhosphateRx in my tank daily and I switched to feeding mostly pellet foods. Replaced bulbs, nuked the tank with Interceptor, and now everything is doing quite well. Of course Lanthanum will end up killing all the inhabitants eventually according to most, but I'm not to worried about that.

I like growing coralline in the back - the front and sides do need a scrape but I haven't had the time to work on them yet. My biopellet reactor clogged yesterday and I had to spend valuable time taking it apart and taking out the bubble algae that got trapped in there. I'll probably have to wrap the intake pump with nylons or foam to prevent that from happening again.

 

I've heard that lanthanum chloride is especially hard on tangs and clams, which I've had for a very long time, so I am reluctant to use it. I've played around with the idea of a lanthanum reactor but I can't seem to easily locate 10 micron filter socks in Canada.

[markalot]

I don't believe dosing very small amounts of a diluted reef product causes any harm. Every single report of fish suffering is due to someone dosing a pool product used to save a few bucks and then calling it dangerous. I never even see the tank cloud, I think all the precipitate stays in the sump.

[Walker]

Again, inspired by Markalot, I have been dosing 1mL of lanthanum chloride 2x a day into my reef straight into a filter sock. I am counting on the low levels of LC, the sock, and the skimmer to get rid of the exported lanthanum phosphate flocculants. So far so good - my phosphate has been dropping at a rate of 1ppb per day that I am using it (and it has been a week). The hope is to get my phosphates to 5-10ppb.

 

I am using Brightwell's LC product, and I have been doing some interesting math. I know that my reef has a lot of locked up phosphate in the rocks, which is why I was not able to appreciably reduce the phosphate from 20ppb (0.06ppm) even with 1 cup of GFO 2x a week. Because the phosphate has actually been dropping without GFO changes, I am attributing all changes to lanthanum chloride.

 

Brightwell's documentation says that 1 mL can remove 1ppm of phosphate in 4 gallons. I have approx. 100 gallons, so than means 25mL will eliminate 1ppm. Doing some basic math says that 2.5mL removes 0.1ppm, or .25mL to reduce 0.01. 1mL should bring my phosphate to 0.01ppm in one dose. It obviously hasn't.

 

For the 4 days that I've tracked changes, I've added in 6mL of LC, which is a whopping 0.05*6 - 0.3ppm that has been extracted from the rocks. No wonder even multiple weekly changes of GFO don't make a dent. A change of GFO is essentially the same as a 1mL dose of LC - it drains out 0.06ppm and goes into equilibrium as the sequestered phosphate leaches out and it goes back up to 0.06.

[Walker]

So far so good about lanthanum chloride. I actually increased my dosage to 1.5-2mL of LC every day, as the phosphate just was not going down. A week ago I finally hit 10ppb PO4 (0.03ppm), without any ill effects and without changing my GFO. Apparently I had way more phosphate than I expected. Algae is slowly receding and I can see where my rabbitfish (codename Gene Simmons) have nibbled away portions of the tough turf.

 

To compensate for going into LNS, I am starting to re-add Zeovit additives (Sponge Power and Pohl's).

 

Montiporas have exploded in growth, as well as my green slimer, which is positively glowing and bushy. One can only hope that the pink lemonade and blue stag will have a resurgence as well.

 

Note that my pictures are two weeks old - the corals look much better now.

 

And FTS:

[Walker]

It's been a while. The tank still has a bad case of bryopsis (or whatever it is), but everything else is fine except for the clam, who has suffered a slow decline over the past few months. SPS has grown slowly because of the algae as it has to fight it for space, but so far so good. LPS are very happy and are growing massive in size.

 

I'm posting because I've heard of a new treatment for algae - 20mg/gal of fluconazole (an antifungal). Today is day one of my trial with it, so hopefully the algae will finally start to decline and the tank will have a renaissance.

 

I've also tested out a new XF250 Maxspect Gyre to replace my faulty left MP40QD. It's been good to me, but I've only had it for a month. Meanwhile my tried and tested MP40wES is still trucking on.

[Walker]

Unfortunately my algae seems tougher than the fluconazole. 14 days with a double dose and no effects. Surprisingly enough, I've seen no ill effects so I think this is a godsend for people with bryopsis and less robust algae.

 

This means, though, that I will have to keep slogging along and figure out another way to get rid of the algae. I've decided to do a two-prong approach:

 

1. Kill as much of the algae as possible by taking out the rocks that I can, and burning them with vinegar. It's worked before, but the algae is tenacious and will come back in time.

2. Try another zeovit-style ULNS. This time, I am going to try Aquaforest as the last time I experimented with full Zeovit left my tank a mess.

 

I'm keeping my biopellet reactor until everything is stabilized. I've cracked out my old zeolite reactor and am running 500mL of zeolites now, and starting to dose the full strength of Aquaforest NP Pro and Pro Bio-S (carbon dose and bacteria, respectively). Once I can see that the NP Pro can keep my nitrates low, I'm going to take the biopellets offline. I'm not too keen on biopellets now that I've run them for a while as it doesn't seem to be as effective as my vinegar dosing. Let's see if Aquaforest is more effective. 

 

 

[Walker]

So far the Aquaforest regimen is doing really well. It's the first time in a very long time that I'm actually seeing algae receding from places. Gene Simmons the rabbitfish is actually making headway now!

 

The bad part, of course, is that all this algae recession is boosting phosphates as the algae dies off or is eaten. I've always found that my green slimer is very sensitive to PO4 above 0.05, and it is starting to STN again after months of happy growth. I'll probably have to boost both lanthanum chloride dosing and GFO usage until the algae is all gone.

[markalot]

Good luck!

 

Interesting observation about the slimer.  I think mine recedes at the base if po4 gets too high but I've never confirmed it.  

[Walker]

1 hour ago, markalot said:

Good luck!

 

Interesting observation about the slimer.  I think mine recedes at the base if po4 gets too high but I've never confirmed it.  

Yup, it's exactly the same thing. It starts STN from the base and halts whenever the PO4 gets below .05. It's almost like clockwork.

[Walker]

Just about a week and a half of Aquaforest and that nasty brillo-type algea is receding. I'm honestly very impressed - this  is the first time I've made progress against it, and that includes nuking my rocks with vinegar (twice). I'll keep the biopellets running for another week and then start taking out half of it.

 

For future reference and in case people are wondering what I'm using at the moment:

- 4 drops NP Pro (carbon source)

- 4 drops Pro Bio S (bacterial culture)

- 500mL zeolites in a reactor

 

I believe this is the basic Aquaforest regimen for nutrient control. In addition to this, I maintain my current regimen of:

- 4 drops Zeovit Sponge Power every other day

- 5mL acro power every other day

- 8mL lanthanum chloride (Brightwell Phosphat-E)

 

I am also running reef octopus biopellets and 1 cup of GFO. I've massively increased the phosphate export mechanisms as the algae dies off and phosphate spikes. 

 

My future plans will be to eventually take the biopellets offline (in 3 more weeks, if everything goes well). If Aquaforest follows through on the promise and eliminates the algae, I'll be a believer and start using their other stuff (probiotic salt, component ABC+, and the supplements). On the plus side, AF is cheaper than zeovit which I've tried before.

[Walker]

For my reference as well, here's my read on the Aquaforest supplements compared to Zeovit:

AF Aminos - equivalent to many amino acids on the market. Probably most equivalent to Zeovit Amino Acid Concentrate.

AF Build - has iodides, so probably a mix of Zeovit Iodide Complex + Coral Snow (maybe?)

AF Energy - analogous to Pohl's Xtra

AF Vitality - vitamin mix. No real analogues to Zeo, as Coral Vitalizer is probably different (oyster?)

 

There's a bunch of zeo additives that I think are covered by the Component 123+, which is AF's 3-part Balling system.

 

My feel is that they sell everything cheaper because they have a complete system including the Calcium/Alk supplementation, which increases their profit margin on return customers. But, if it works, I'm sold. I'll probably switch to their probiotic salt anyway as it is part of their nutrient export system, but I'll hold off on the Balling mixture until I get more results.

[Walker]

Ok, I'm all in on Aquaforest. I've gotten Component 1+2+3+ (already hooked up to my dosers instead of home-mixed Ca and Alk) and the probiotic salt. I'll start using the salt once I finish my reef crystals bucket in 3 weeks or so. 

 

The reason is that I'm 3 weeks into the basic AF regime and my algae problems have lessened enough that my herbivores and clean up crew have made significant inroads in eliminating the problem. My few remaining SPS are exploding in growth. The difference in one month is so stark that I wish I tried this earlier. I'll try to shoot some "after" shots and put them side by side to demonstrate the difference.

[Weetabix7]

Exciting, keep the updates coming about this!!!

[Walker]

I've gone full on AquaForest except for the salt (working through the last of my Reef Crystals) and I've got nothing but good things to say about the regimen. For the first time in well over a year, I have hope that I'll reclaim my aquarium from algae. Algae continues to recede and my SPS have been recovering/growing like crazy. I dose 150% of the recommended amount of NP Pro and Pro Bio S, coupled with the zeolites and the biopellets have done the trick. My rabbitfish and turbo snails are now making headway into the rocks that I can't move, and the rocks that I can I doused in vinegar to kill the algae.

 

The only weird part is that my coralline has stopped growing. I like coralline, but I'll take that over algae anytime. My green slimer still has STN, which I've fragged as a contingency measure. I think the reduction in nutrients was a bit too much for it. I've seen it recover from STN after fragging, so I'll just wait and see.

 

Comparison shots follow. Note less algae on the overflow wall and on the left rocks. The right rocks do not have algae regrowth, which before would be inevitable.

March 8 FTS:

March 28 FTS (20 days later):

 

 

[markalot]

Great news, hope the improvement continues.

[Walker]

I just finished my Reef Crystals and have switched over to AF probiotic salt last week. No big changes so far, although the system's stabilized a bit. I've gone through two zeolite changes and I can definitely tell when the stones start to lose effectiveness (at the 3-4 week mark). Their recommendation is to change at 6 weeks but I've adjusted it to 4 weeks (once a month). The zeolites are cheap enough that I'm not too worried about it. I do think I'm still exporting mass amounts of phosphates so maybe that's why it needs to be changed more often... maybe. It's been going well so far so why change?

 

My urchin is starting to get mighty hungry as it's feeding faster than coralline can grow. I may have to provide a nori sheet here and there to feed it.

 

After using the additives, I do have to reevaluate what the zeovit analogues are. I was mostly correct, but my read on AF Energy is wrong - it is actually analogous to Zeospur, of all things. I was reluctant to use it after I realized that, but at half strength it helps keep my tricolor valida BE tricolor (instead of a dual green-brown color). I'll keep using it as there doesn't seem to be a downside.

 

Daily dosing regimen:

2mL Phosphat-E (lanthanum chloride)

6 drops Pro Bio S (bacteria) split morning and evening

6 drops NP Pro (carbon dosing) split morning and evening

 

Additives:

4 drops AF Build (coral snow + iodine) MWF

2 drops AF Vitality (vitamins) MWF

5mL Acro Power (aminos) T Th Sa

2 drops AF Energy (copper + aminos?) T Th Sa

 

Chemical filtration:

1 cup carbon in a sock every 2 weeks

1 cup GFO in a reactor every week

 

Yes, I use an insane amount of GFO. The rocks are still leaching phosphate and algae is still dying off, so I think I'll have to keep it up for another few months.

 

I'll post some pics and FTS next week :).

[Walker]

Wow, it's been almost exactly a year since I checked my thread. Having twins will do that to a tank :). The tank is still up and running, although it is now on its second life. My alkalinity doser died and I didn't notice until I saw mass wipeouts on my SPS, and the LPS were not doing well either. I wasn't quitting on the tank, but that was my first near-complete tank crash and I had to reevaluate what I've been doing.

 

With not much attaching me to the tank as it stood, I wiped out the live rock over the course of a month. Each large piece (or a bunch of smaller pieces) got taken out, algae ripped out, soaked in pure vinegar, then scrubbed a bit more. 

 

As this was going on, I decided to quit AquaForest as I decided it wasn't good enough for my "new" tank. I started Zeovit full-bore as I had the reactor already, and also heavily dosed Vibrant to kill whatever demon algae I had. I have to say, Vibrant at 20mL a week did wonders - it actually killed my heavy bubble algae infestation even before I got to it with vinegar, and was doing a fairly good job with the hair algae.

 

I'll attempt to document my tank's revival here - I find it helps me track what I've done and to figure out what to do in the future. I do find that I'm a tinkerer, so the tank gets a LOT more attention if I'm working on it. This time I'll make sure I have little projects here and there to keep my attention and interest.