Teenyreef's Deep Blue 30g - Massive Reorg

[Reefkid88]

Im happy to hear everything is working good so far,now Im learning being patient is always a good thing. I really need to stop waiting and order some quick like. 

[markalot]

On 3/3/2017 at 10:03 AM, Pjanssen said:

I have to disagree on this.   December and January and 1/2 of February are my busiest months and I barely looked at my tank during that time. Maybe 2 water changes in 8 weeks. I did however start using Vibrant at the beginning of December. By February all the only nuisance was some hidden Bryopsis. No Cyano, Diatoms, brown algae on glass...

 

Did you maintain the same feeding schedule?

[Pjanssen]

2 hours ago, markalot said:

 

Did you maintain the same feeding schedule?

pretty much, in as much as I feed on a "schedule". More like, Oh, I haven't fed my corals in a couple of days...Fish get pellets everyday-I can't ignore a begging fish!

[markalot]

2 hours ago, Pjanssen said:

pretty much, in as much as I feed on a "schedule". More like, Oh, I haven't fed my corals in a couple of days...Fish get pellets everyday-I can't ignore a begging fish!

 

If it's not automated I will suggest that feeding along with maintenance declined, and less food = less algae.  I'm also not convinced the little bit of vinegar is not helping to reduce nutrients.  5 drops daily in 150 gallons turns my skimmate dark and stinky. That's a pretty small amount.  Vinegar is cheaper.

[Reefkid88]

4 minutes ago, markalot said:

 

If it's not automated I will suggest that feeding along with maintenance declined, and less food = less algae.  I'm also not convinced the little bit of vinegar is not helping to reduce nutrients.  5 drops daily in 150 gallons turns my skimmate dark and stinky. That's a pretty small amount.  Vinegar is cheaper.

 

 So are you sugessting that vinegar will slowly kill off more common bothersome algae like brown algae,diatoms ? Or to Bryopsis too ? 

[Pjanssen]

10 minutes ago, markalot said:

 

If it's not automated I will suggest that feeding along with maintenance declined, and less food = less algae.  I'm also not convinced the little bit of vinegar is not helping to reduce nutrients.  5 drops daily in 150 gallons turns my skimmate dark and stinky. That's a pretty small amount.  Vinegar is cheaper.

I believe the Vibrant worked for me. It was a gift. I still have quite a bit left and I will not hesitate to use it again if the need arises.

[teenyreef]

In the cases where I've seen Vibrant be effective, it happened overnight. So it wasn't anything to do with improved husbandry in my case. 

 

I don't dose it regularly, only when I see cyano or diatoms in my 40g. It clears it up within 24 to 48 hours usually. 

 

Fluconazole, on the other hand, clearly has a distinct effect on bryopsis and gha in many tanks, like mine, where just about every other possible solution has been tried and failed. High nutrients, low nutrients, lots of water changes, no water changes, high light, low light, carbon dosing, carbon filtering, peroxide dipping, even Vibrant as a last resort Hail Mary, nothing has gotten rid of my gha. Even peroxide only knocks it back for a few days.

 

Here's Day 4 of Round 2, continued progress! 

 

 

[uwharrie]

I am currently trying Fluconazole in my biocube. I have tried everything to beat GHA and nothing has worked so far. I treated yesterday so we shall see. I understand it can take up to 21 days on GHA

[teenyreef]

19 hours ago, uwharrie said:

I am currently trying Fluconazole in my biocube. I have tried everything to beat GHA and nothing has worked so far. I treated yesterday so we shall see. I understand it can take up to 21 days on GHA

Good luck! I didn't see any effect until late in the second week. Now that I'm doing a second round, it's working a lot faster. So I think 21 days for GHA is about right.

 

It's Day 5 of the second round, and I'm really looking forward to these nightly pictures now. It's very satisfying seeing a little less algae every day 

 

 

[jstuver]

Glad to see it's working! Algae can be so frustrating.

[teenyreef]

5 minutes ago, jstuver said:

Glad to see it's working! Algae can be so frustrating.

Thanks, and I agree. This particular algae was the whole reason I shut down the 4g frag tank and set up this tank, because I assumed I just couldn't get the right balance and conditions in a 4g bare bottom tank. Now I know it probably wasn't anything I could have prevented regardless of what kind of tank was set up, I suspect I could have just kept the 4g running and dosed Fluconazole instead. But on the bright side, I have a really nice new tank 

[Weetabix7]

4 hours ago, teenyreef said:

Thanks, and I agree. This particular algae was the whole reason I shut down the 4g frag tank and set up this tank, because I assumed I just couldn't get the right balance and conditions in a 4g bare bottom tank. Now I know it probably wasn't anything I could have prevented regardless of what kind of tank was set up, I suspect I could have just kept the 4g running and dosed Fluconazole instead. But on the bright side, I have a really nice new tank 

 

I think pest algae is the cause of quite a few people giving up on tanks, I've seen it many times.

Seems like I see a thread about it once a day since being back on NR. 

One thing I find interesting is that GHA is part of the natural environment on a Reef, but it is seen as a curse in a Reef Tank.

I think it's partly because we have this mental image of a Pristine Reef Tank that we strive toward and GHA doesn't have a place in that picture, and partly cause it's hard to keep it from taking over in a Tank environment. In the Ocean it usually stays in balance in the Reef environment. 

At any rate, you are far from alone in this struggle, and all of the documenting you are doing here is very helpful to quite a few people, so thanks!!

[Pjanssen]

^. I agree. I wouldn't mind  a small amount of algae in my tank, the fern like feathery branches of bryopsis is actually very pretty. But keeping it under control seems impossible. I think in the ocean there are probably a lot more creatures that would eat the stuff and keep it in check than we can keep in our little POTO's.

[teenyreef]

This particular algae is especially noxious because even before it takes over, it really bothers the corals. Nearly all of them close up and eventually die if I don't apply a peroxide dip. 

 

Which is why I'm happy to report continued improvement on Day 6. 

 

 

[4x5]

That's looking great. 

[StinkyBunny]

Those are some pissed off lookin' zooanthids. Looks like they just came in from Fiji/Indo/Vietnam. They'll get better.

[teenyreef]

16 hours ago, 4x5 said:

That's looking great. 

Yep, I'm really excited, I think this stuff is finally going to go away.

4 hours ago, StinkyBunny said:

Those are some pissed off lookin' zooanthids. Looks like they just came in from Fiji/Indo/Vietnam. They'll get better.

Oh yeah, they're already a LOT better than they were before. They weren't even close to opening up at all, ever.

[StinkyBunny]

Keep an eye on your iodine, strontium and molybdenum. They make softies happy when they're not low.

[teenyreef]

2 hours ago, StinkyBunny said:

Keep an eye on your iodine, strontium and molybdenum. They make softies happy when they're not low.

Iodine is actually pretty good in this tank. I measured it the other day and it was .06. All the zoas, including the test frag, were fully open today and looking pretty good. I'm taking the progress pictures late at night, so the polyps are usually closed no matter what.

 

Here's Day 7 - continued progress. Almost all the remaining algae is discolored, which means it should disappear soon.

 

 

[Reefkid88]

 Ah yes !!! I am definitely ordering some this weekend !!! Maybe I won't have to start a new tank after all,which makes me sad because I love yhe scape I made for the 7g cube lol. Oh well

[teenyreef]

7 hours ago, Reefkid88 said:

 Ah yes !!! I am definitely ordering some this weekend !!! Maybe I won't have to start a new tank after all,which makes me sad because I love yhe scape I made for the 7g cube lol. Oh well

I think you'll be very happy with the results. Just remember no water changes, carbon, or skimming, basically don't do anything that will pull the medication out of the water.

 

I really like the scape you did for the 7g. Whether you stick with this tank or move to the 7g, it should be worth doing the fluco just to make sure the algae doesn't crop back up in the 7g!

[teenyreef]

I've gained so much confidence that the algae's on the run - I think it should be OK now to put in the rocks and egg crate. So I have a few decisions to make...

 

White or black egg crate? I'm thinking black because any future algae won't show up as much, plus I have new black frag plugs that fit on it.

Cut the egg crate to fit around the rocks, or just put the rocks on top of the egg crate? It would be super easy to just put the rocks on top, but I'd have to make sure whatever I use to elevate the frag rack is strong enough to support the rocks. Plus it would be more difficult to remove the egg crate to clean the bottom glass or to clean the egg crate itself. So I think I'm going to cut the egg crate into whatever shapes it needs to be to just fit around the rocks. 

[Weetabix7]

I'm confused, what is the purpose of the eggcrate?

[tanacharison]

I always liked the black egg crate from brs.. you don't need much so it wont be that big of a price difference.  You will want to clean under and around the egg crate I think having it cut around the rocks wound be really cool to see.  I used 2" black PVC to hold up mine.

[natalia_la_loca]

I would go with black egg crate. Does anyone make clear egg crate? That would be cool.