Walker's 90g - brb nuking algae

[Walker]

No changes yet three days into Tech M treatment. It's almost absurd to me that I'm dumping in 500mL of TechM per day, but we'll see (I have it slated to put in 500mLx6 to get my Mg to 1800+).

 

In other news, I've got a new fishy - a Midas blenny! This one takes the place of my old beloved tailspot blenny. So far he's a bit skittish, but he's acclimating well and has already eaten with the group, so I have high hopes he'll be a good permanent part of the troop. Pictures when he's more settled in.

[Walker]

With the TechM treatment, I lost all but one of my big snails, algae was unfazed, and the tank was honestly looking more like crap every day. I had a day off that was coming up, so I decided to bite the bullet and do a semi-reset of the tank. The plan: nuke every single rock and algae patch with vinegar. I knew it was risky, and I knew that it might kill enough bacteria to reset the cycle, but at this point I was tired of seeing a massive algae patch for a tank. With all my corals on plugs or unattached and with the AEFW treatment winding down, it was the best time to do it. I sold off my large hammer colony, and went to work.

 

It was dicey, yes. Lots of work, yes (probably 4 hours, plus water changes). I took out every single rock, ripped off as much hair algae as possible, then liberally poured vinegar over the exposed patches. The smell was horrific, stuff fell off the rocks, etc, etc. I would only recommend this to someone who was desperate. I replaced all the rocks, sorta rescaping as I go (and feeling bad for the pistol shrimp and goby as they scrambled to rehome), and did a 15 gallon water change.

 

As expected, a massive bacterial bloom dominated the tank. The snail clean-up crew, already messed up from the elevated magnesium, had a collective aneurysm and most of the remainder died off. I sorta expected that and augmented their number with more turbos, trochus, and 3 emerald crabs. I also added a one-spot foxface (a wee tiny baby one) to help out in eating whatever algae was left.

 

I continued doing 15 gallon changes every day for six days to reduce the bacterial bloom, while wet skimming. There was so much DOCs in the water that I had to elevate the skimmer, stop down the air to a trickle, and it would still need dumping out 4x a day. I refilled the GFO with 2 cups of brand new media.

 

Slowly, the bloom abated. The kole tang started following the foxface around, and learned that there's an enormous amount of dead and dying algae just waiting to be eaten. The remaining CUCs woke up and joined their new brethren and started cleaning. As the CUC did their work, I remounted all the frags and added a few fast growing acros, hoping that AEFW was beaten. With the amount of vinegar I used (well over a gallon), I'd be very surprised if any surviving remnants survived the bath.

 

So far so good. It's been two weeks and everything cleaned up and have started growing again. The foxface was a little thin, but it fattened up considerably after the smorgasbord. The kole was already thick, but I think it added even more weight after that too.

 

Not something I'd recommend for the faint-hearted, but I think we're in the clear now.

 

The midas blenny:

 

The new foxface:

 

 

FTS:

[Walker]

Sad day today... one of my original clownfish was found on the screen top . She usually sleeps near where the return pipe goes into the water, and there's a 1/2 inch gap between the pipe and the screen. I guess something startled her last night and she just jumped straight up. I didn't think she'd fit, but she did. RIP Ms. Bluntnose clown, 3 years old.

 

I'll have to fashion a small acrylic insert to prevent that from happening again.

[RollaJase]

So sorry about the clown .

[Walker]

I've fashioned a gutter guard cutout and superglued it to the gap. That should prevent anything larger than a neon goby from making it through.

 

On the other side, I've paired Ms. Orange clown with a black-and-white ORA clown:

 

He's still quite small, but I wanted to make sure they'd pair up well. So far, they've been together a few days and very minimal aggression.

 

The tank "reset" has done wonders for my aquarium. SPS are finally growing well, and LPS are much much happier. The additional algae munchers have made sure any resurgent algae are trimmed, and I'm careful to kill any new patches of bubble algae. I've resolved to return to my 35g maintenance schedule - ~15% water changes every week. I've gotten 20g Brute containers with the dollies to facilitate this. I haven't quite figured out exactly which pumps to use, because my Maxijet 400s seem quite anemic to mix 15 gallons at a time.

 

With the new growth in corals, my tank is now sucking down 2-part like crazy again. I've stabilized the parameters, but they leveled out at 6.6 dKH, which I think is a little low. To slowly bring it back up to what I think is an acceptable 8-9dKH, I'm using a slow drip of kalkwasser:

 

 

Not the most high-tech, but I figure a siphon slow drip will do the job and do it very slowly. I'm adding 1.5 liters of half-strength kalk at a time over several hours, which should raise my alkalinity by .25dKH a pop. I've also adjusted my 2-part to raise the alk by another .5 over a week or so. It should get me to 7.5 by the next water change.

So sorry about the clown .

Thanks RollaJase. It's hard to lose an old friend, especially one that has been with me for the entire saltwater aquarium journey. Now only one original fish is left - the larger clownfish.

[markalot]

Sorry about the clown, I hate when they find an escape route.

 

Have you tested PO4 recently, or do you even care to test PO4? Very good to hear SPS doing well.

[Walker]

Let me try this - inspired by Markalot, I'm putting up my phosphate records with notations. Note that all of 2014, I was using an Elos kit which I realized later was reading .10ppm lower than it should.

 

 

A. Back from vacation, corals bright but starting to brown

B. AEFW invasion, but mistook for low phosphate

C. Botched Zeovit implementation

D. Frantic use of GFO, coupled with a big GHA invasion lowered the phosphate

E. Started reducing use of GFO as levels stabilized.

F. Algae manually removed via vinegar bath. AEFW detected and eliminated.

 

You can really see the trend if you look at my FTS. It's a pretty clear indication that my phosphate was out of control for a long while.

[Walker]

Sorry about the clown, I hate when they find an escape route.

 

Have you tested PO4 recently, or do you even care to test PO4? Very good to hear SPS doing well.

 

I've been testing PO4 religiously every week before feedings ever since I got my Hanna checker. I know it's not 100% accurate but it's much better than the Elos kit I used previously. I've never had a nitrate issue, it's always been phosphate.

[Walker]

Late update this time. I've had some reasonable stability and growth now, which is more than I can say for the past year. Algae is being kept down by the grazers but I think I'll have to spot treat with vinegar and kalk paste at some point. A good growth comparison point would be the kushberry (?):

 

2015-07-01:

 

2015-08-05:

 

All other SPS are exhibiting similar growth.

 

It looks like my midas blenny (affectionally referred to by my brother's gf as "longfish") had a run-in with the rabbitfish. The hole in his abdomen was very swollen before, but the infected flesh fell off and he now has a hole:

 

This looked pretty bad a few days ago, but it has since mostly healed over.

 

FTS:

[markalot]

Looking much better, good acro growth!

[RollaJase]

I'm sure 'longfish' learned its lesson haha. Everything has cleared up really well, looking good.

[Walker]

One thing I should mention is that my black-and-white clown didn't make it past 3 weeks. He was eating very minimally and seemed to be stressed all the time. I put in a regular orange-and-white clown now, and he seems to be working much better, even eating the large 1mm sinking pellets like a shark.

[Walker]

I'm impressed that the foxface, turbos, and tang have been able to keep the algae population down, because the overflow has crazy overgrowth of masses of algae.

 

On that note, I'm experimenting with nitrate dosing now. I've never ever had nitrates, but have always had a phosphate problem, enough that I use 1.5 cups of GFO every two weeks. I just dosed 5ppm nitrates, with phosphates at 0.05ppm. Ideally that would bring down the phosphate to 0.025 (approx redfield ratio). I will check nitrates and phosphates again in two days and see if it made a difference.

[Walker]

The nitrate elimination capacity of my carbon dosing is absurd... I've dosed 5ppm nitrates twice now and have had it go down to 1ppm in two days. It seems that with my feeding schedule, my phosphates go up 3ppb per day or thereabouts WITH the nitrate dosing. I may have to bump up my nitrate dosing to 10ppm nitrates and see how the phosphates behave.

 

Right now I am at 13ppb (from a low of 9) phosphates. I wonder if I'll be able to drive it down to 5ppb with 10ppm nitrates (6 grams KNO3 every two days).

[Walker]

Gotta thank Markalot for the idea of nitrate dosing, and showing how it works in his tank. Before, I was changing a lot of GFO. My GFO is now going on three weeks old, and phosphates are holding at 3ppb. I've reduced my nitrate dosing to once every 3-4 days, and that seems to be the sweet spot. All acros are very happy and have bigger growth tips.

[Walker]

I've disappeared! Yep, my wife and I found out we are going to have a set of twins last year, so posting and documenting time has gone by the wayside in lieu of doctor's appointments, and later adapting to taking care of three wee ones. The tank has seen better days, as the nitrate dosing has had very interesting side effects when coupled with a temperamental skimmer. The fish are happy but algae has made a resurgence, and I've lost most of my SPS. The only remaining ones are the green slimer, purple valida, pink lemonade, blue stag, setosa, and firetruck montipora. All LPS are still thriving, as is the clam.

 

Now that the twins are a couple of months old and are starting to sleep longer, I'm now able to squeeze in some time to hopefully document the changes I've made (hopefully for the better) and explore my experiments as I transition the tank from vinegar onto biopellets.

 

And yes, I threw out my Tunze 9410 skimmer.

[markalot]

Welcome back, and congrats on the new duo!

[Walker]

So, first things first. The damage:

 

Lots of green algae around. Not as bad as when I nuked the entire tank, but getting there. The reason? Nitrate dosing. Yes, that wonder technique that I tried before. Not that there's anything bad about it, but you have to consider that it absolutely requires a good skimmer. My 9410 was very touchy and not tunable (no outlet gate valve). I don't know what genius thought that air intake was the only control necessary, but that's what the problem was. When I dosed nitrate and phosphate dropped, it was because the algae was taking it up, not because the skimmer was exporting it.

 

So, step one to recovering the tank - toss the skimmer.

 

Replace with a Reef Octopus 152s:

 

This is a beast of a skimmer - biggest I can fit under my tank. I put it in and what a difference. It has been exporting smelly dark tea gunk since the first day. I let both the 152s and the 9410 run together for a week while it broke in, and then cleaned and shelved the Tunze altogether.

[Walker]

Step 2, increase nutrient export.

 

In conjunction with the bigger skimmer, I increased my vinegar dosage to 130mL/day. More skimmate came out and the algae has started browning (a sign of nitrogen deficiency), but it was absurd that I am pouring in almost a liter of vinegar a week and it seemed like I need to put in more. So, I opted for the higher efficiency method: biopellets.

 

 

I've just started this two weeks ago. 100mL of Vertex biopellets to start, and then 100mL more yesterday. The skimmate has just started to change to a smellier darker consistency. The idea is that in a couple more weeks, I'll add in 100mL more (for a total of 300mL) as well as step down the vinegar to 90mL/day, and then eventually to 40mL in a month, and then 0 once I get 400mL total biopellets in the system.

 

Note that I modded the TLF150 by removing the bottom diffuser plate so that the pellets can churn more and to reduce the likelihood of clumping. However, because there is no screen at the bottom, I have to pay attention when I turn off the pump and lift the tubing, as the pellets are liable to siphon out of the stupid thing.

 

I have my own ideas as to how to build a nice biopellet reactor, so when I have some spare time (hah!) I may visit my local acrylic shop to build my own.

Step 3: kill algae

 

It's incredibly difficult to pull this algae off the rocks. So much so, that I've resorted to my old bubble algae technique - I put 20mL of vinegar in a syringe, and squirt it into the algae patches. Time consuming, yes, but I've got loads of patience. I do a patch every couple of days so that I don't overload the system with vinegar (and to allow the skimmer to skim out the organics), but you can see the result:

 

 

That middle patch with white algae used to be all green - now it's mostly gone as the tang, rabbitfish, and hermits have had at it. That was one 20mL application. I'll eventually get the algae out, it's just a matter of time.

I should actually mention that I'm putting in 1 cup of GFO every week in the tank for the past month to get the excess phosphate out.

 

Finally, the proof in the pudding:

 

 

My firetruck monti, which has not had growth in months, has started to put out white edges of growth, FAST. The remaining SPS are starting to respond with more growth as well.

[markalot]

I will be interested to hear how the biopellets work for you. If I did 150ml of vinegar I would have white snot all over the tank.

[Roshan8768]

Hey walker!Been a long time! Tank looks good!

[Walker]

I'm now up to 400mL in biopellets, and have reduced my vinegar to a paltry 70mL/day. Unfortunately, I think the biopellets still need to mature a bit more as the algae greened up quickly after I reduced the vinegar, and are only now starting to yellow again.

 

I had thought I lost my flasher wrasse last week, as he disappeared around the same time the algae started making a resurgence. I figured he had kicked the bucket and that was what was fueling the algae. Little did I know, he figured out a way into the overflow THROUGH two screens intermeshed with each other (still don't know how he did it). I realized it when I was looking at the overflow while tuning the Herbie drain.

 

It took a net, a pokey stick, 20 minutes, and scraped knuckles to get him out, but he is now back in his rightful place as the anthia bully in the aquarium.

[Walker]

Wow, didn't realize I didn't update in May. I've been really busy apparently.

 

I've switched to a nice Reef Octopus biopellet reactor and I've upped my biopellets to 700mL. I'm just about to take my vinegar doser offline (35mL a day for the past few weeks). Right now I feel like biopellets are functionally the same as the vinegar but minus the bacterial slime that I seem to get in my GFO reactor. This is definitely a plus as I feel the GFO is now more effective.

 

Speaking of phosphate, I feel like this is my main problem that needs to be solved so that my algae problem can abate. I have been using 1.25 cups of GFO every 2 weeks, but it seems like my phosphate has been stuck at .05 for a very long time. I know it's supposed to be under .03 to start killing algae, but I can't keep up with this amount of GFO. I've considered trying out the nitrate dosing again, but it seems the algae are more effective consumers of nitrate at the moment. Once I feel the biopellets are fully colonized, I may try it to see if it's better with nitrate dosing than vinegar.

 

Another option may be to throw away the rock and start over. I've been so annoyed at this algae issue as I haven't been able to make good headway. I did figure out that hot boiling water in a syringe is a lot more effective than vinegar though. I've cleared strips of algae to see if it grows back with the biopellets.

 

As far as livestock, everyone is doing fine. I've promised myself not to get new SPS until the system is stable and the current SPS are doing fine. Well, the montipora are growing great, and the pink lemonade and green slimer are slowly but steadily growing. I think the slightly higher phosphate is limiting their growth.

 

My next project will be to clear out a rock with vinegar and break off a frag of pink lemonade for it - see if it does well in a different location.

[Walker]

(Oh, and I promise to take nicer pictures from my SLR - the S6 phone camera, while nice, makes everything have a nasty pink tinge)

[Walker]

As promised, a nicer FTS: