moores38 Posted May 13, 2015 Author Share Posted May 13, 2015 I went through the same type of deflating experience in my 12g tank a little over a year ago. Wanted to be done with it as I was battling dinos, lost a few corals, a couple fish, but I'm so glad I didn't call it quits because I beat them and it was a great feeling. Now that tank is thriving and I can grow anything in there. "Brown hair algae" if you have a picture lets see... usually the sign of dinos is little bubbles on the ends of the algae. My strongest opinion as far as stuff like this goes is to let the tank catch up to itself. Adding in corals and fish and crabs and snails is always changing the bioload in a new tank. I say new because to me a new tank needs a solid year to break in at least IMO. I'm no expert by any means and I'm just speaking off my experience, but if you're up for just give it time and it will heal. I did do a blackout period with peroxide dosing to defeat the dinos. Best of luck in whatever you decide! Hey thanks for the input, I'm not sure what I did, but I've had a significant decrease in whatever was plaguing my tank. I still don't know what it is. It's brown in color, looks exactly like wet hair when submerged, loses form when not submerged, and does not come off easily. I'm trying to figure out how to install a pump, but I'd like to add an external GFO/Carbon reactor, but I don't know if I'll have room for a pump in the third chamber with my heater, apex probes/holder, ATO sensor, and return all already jammed in there. Link to comment
moores38 Posted May 16, 2015 Author Share Posted May 16, 2015 5/16/15 Update Well, after giving myself an aneurysm with my plagued tank I finally decided to do something about it. Over the past few days the mysterious "brown hair algae" has been starting to thin, I think it's ate up all the excess nutrients and is now starving out. Regardless, I took a toothbrush the rockwork, thinking it was dinos, and would easily scrub off. Although this might of helped a little, it did not work as well as I thought, making me think it's not dinos. I stirred the sand and basted the rocks over and over, while changing filter floss pads out until I was satisfied. There was a ton of junk in sand and on the rocks, even with the MP10. I scrubbed the back wall and glass down and the tank actually looked presentable. I took a MJ1200 I had laying around to see if I could jam it in the third chamber to run a reactor off of and that was not a success. Obviously the nuisance algae is coming from my fail to adequately transport nutrients, and this is mainly my fault for lack of husbandry of any kind. So I decided to add some chemical media for filtration. I dialed back the return so it didn't flood my inTank basket, and added some media bags that hang from the bottom of the first shelf. In one bag is some SeaChem Carbon and Phosguard, and in the other is Purigen. I beefed up the doses a little bit and within hours the tank already looked better, over night it was like a different tank. I went out of the town for the weekend, so I'm excited to get back and hopefully see progress. I wasn't happy with the inTank basket. I wish it had a little more height to it. So I used a chip clip, inverted, using the side you squeeze, inserted between the basket and back wall of the tank, to hold the basket higher. Virtually all of my overfill water is directed into and processed through the basket now, and when it starts to overflow I know it's time to change the floss. Photography. Anyone have any input on a begin/intro to photography DSLR camera for tank photography, including marcos? Frags. I was considering picking up some frags, and this kind of sparked my interest again. But I'm going to wait until my tank is actually presentable again. Hanna Checker. I was considering picking up the Alk and Calc testers, any input is welcome. Surprise Growth. I've located 6+ acan heads of different colors than what I purchased peeking out from underneath the frags I bought, pretty excited to see what else I find. And how about that CadLights Artisan II 50G cube deal right now?! $899.99 TYD, has me wanting to upgrade! Hope everyone has a great weekend! -SM Link to comment
moores38 Posted October 2, 2015 Author Share Posted October 2, 2015 So it's been awhile. Life got in the way, work got in the way, and so on... If I didn't have an Apex I can assure you my tank would have crashed long ago. I've been battling the same issue for several months now, which I believe to be dinoflagellates, and I can't win. Below I've posted my current parameters, changes that are going to be made, and I'm open for suggestions. More pictures available upon request, I'm sorry my photography skills suck, the LEDs really mess with the iPhone camera. Parameters: Temp - 77.2 pH - 8.5 SG - 1.026 Alk - 8.6 dKH Calc - 477ppm Mag - 1500ppm NH3/NH4 - 0ppm NO2 - 0ppm NO3 - 10ppm Critters: Tailspot x1 Clowns x2 Scarlet Hermit x1 (not observed recently) Unknown White Hermit x1 (not observed recently) Assorted Nassarius, Dwarf Cerith, Florida Cerith snails (the few survivors) Husbandry/Specs: Water changes hardly ever, I'm ashamed, and this is probably the root of all the evil. Filter floss changed 1-2x week Clean glass, daily/as needed Apex fed 1mm New Life Spectrum Marine pellets 8-10 pellets 1x a day Tunze ATO Skimmer cup emptied and cleaned as needed. Kessil A150, on at 0900, off at 1900, maximum power output reaching is 55%. Red Sea Coral Pro salt Changes To Be Implemented: Chemi-Pure Blue, Nano size, media to be placed in media rack. Remove 50%, if not more, of sandbed. Possibly remove some livestock? Link to comment
teenyreef Posted October 2, 2015 Share Posted October 2, 2015 Well, your fish are healthy, so that's good And your zoas look healthy, so that's even better I don't know much about dinos because I've never had them and haven't had to do the research. So all of the following is unsolicited advice that is worth what you're paying for it Your snails may be struggling with your high mag levels. Are you dosing or is that what you get from your salt mix? I've read in Kat's thread that John from Reefcleaners has reported that snails get very sluggish and can die when they are in high-ish mag levels (specifically at about 1500). Maybe shoot for about 1300 instead. NO3 of 10 is not too bad, so definitely do some water changes but don't overdo it. Same for the chemipure blue - a little goes a long way and if you strip your tank of nitrates and phosphates it will be a lot worse. You don't want more than about a tablespoon or two. How deep is your sand bed? If it's not too deep you might want to just stir it up when you siphon out your water. Do one section at a time with each water change so you don't stir up too much crap and trigger a cycle. I don't see any reason to reduce your livestock especially since your nitrates aren't ridiculously high. Mine go higher than that every once in a while in my 10g Fusion and I don't have any trouble with algae or excess nutrients. I'd go the opposite direction and beef up the clean up crew. Get more snails and maybe try a tuxedo urchin? Link to comment
moores38 Posted October 2, 2015 Author Share Posted October 2, 2015 Well, your fish are healthy, so that's good And your zoas look healthy, so that's even better I don't know much about dinos because I've never had them and haven't had to do the research. So all of the following is unsolicited advice that is worth what you're paying for it Your snails may be struggling with your high mag levels. Are you dosing or is that what you get from your salt mix? I've read in Kat's thread that John from Reefcleaners has reported that snails get very sluggish and can die when they are in high-ish mag levels (specifically at about 1500). Maybe shoot for about 1300 instead. NO3 of 10 is not too bad, so definitely do some water changes but don't overdo it. Same for the chemipure blue - a little goes a long way and if you strip your tank of nitrates and phosphates it will be a lot worse. You don't want more than about a tablespoon or two. How deep is your sand bed? If it's not too deep you might want to just stir it up when you siphon out your water. Do one section at a time with each water change so you don't stir up too much crap and trigger a cycle. I don't see any reason to reduce your livestock especially since your nitrates aren't ridiculously high. Mine go higher than that every once in a while in my 10g Fusion and I don't have any trouble with algae or excess nutrients. I'd go the opposite direction and beef up the clean up crew. Get more snails and maybe try a tuxedo urchin? Good to hear from you my friend! Thank you for the quick reply, and free advice is the best advice! The fish and corals all appear to be doing well, minus being tickled by whatever the brown growth is!, but nonetheless I've seen a lot of good growth from them. I don't dose magnesium, so that's only from the salt mix. The Chemi-Pure Blue arrives tomorrow and I'm only going to use one of the little "pucks." It states it will treat 5 gal. of water for a month (the nano 5pk), and with all the sand/rock, my total water volume is probably around 6 or 7 gallons. My sandbed is approximately one inch deep throughout the entire tank, in visual comparison to others I always feel like it appears much deeper. Although I will quickly admit I cannot remember the last time I basted the rockwork or stirred the sand. I do need to restock the clean up crew, so that will be the next purchase...... Guess we shall use the ol' trial and error method here and see if I can get this tank back in order! As always I greatly appreciate the help! Link to comment
teenyreef Posted October 2, 2015 Share Posted October 2, 2015 Good luck! Let us know how things go... Link to comment
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