A sad start to a new tank

[MrsPeet15]

Thanks guys, I have a Salifert phosphate kit on hand to keep an eye on my Params 🙂

[MrsPeet15]

Hi guys, thought I would update for those of you who are interested. So I managed to get my phosphates way down. I am testing them alongside my other tests. At the weekend I spent about 2 hours with my hands in the tank stripping and scrubbing the GHA. I have added some more clean up crew as I was down to a Mithrax and 2 cowries (one of these guys died, such a shame I really like them). I have added some pictures, pictures 1, 2 and 4 showing the extent of the infestation from 9th October, and the 3rd pic showing the tank today.

 

I have just one question, what do you find to be the correct reading for phosphate? Research online gives varying opinions.

 

thanks!

[Oldsalt01]

Am I mistaken, or was not excessive GHA  the original issue, way back at the beginning or your tank? Which pleads the question: where are all these nutrients coming from? You obviously have a serious problem. What are your Nitrate numbers?

[MrsPeet15]

On 11/6/2018 at 10:35 PM, Oldsalt01 said:

Am I mistaken, or was not excessive GHA  the original issue, way back at the beginning or your tank? Which pleads the question: where are all these nutrients coming from? You obviously have a serious problem. What are your Nitrate numbers?

Hi Oldsalt, no it wasn’t, the GHA came after the cycle but I didn’t act fast enough and it grew wildly out of control. When I tested on Sunday, my nitrate was at 0. 

[Oldsalt01]

The nitrate “0” can be misleading as the gha can take it up before its discernible to the test chemicals. It can make ya crazy chasing numbers anyway. Regardless, that was quite a lawn ya had there, but its look great after the scrubbing. I pretty much had “rip clean” my rock too and while I was at it i replaced my sand bed. That was 2 years ago and my GHA is just starting to come back.

[Clown79]

That was a lot of gha.

But all the work you did has really worked. It's looking great.

[MrsPeet15]

Thanks guys much appreciated, the stuff was everywhere, on some surfaces it was peeling away in huge layers! I’ve bulked up my clean up crew too to try help me out, they’re all busily working away in there, probably should have got a larger crew in earlier on but there you go, every day’s a learning day! Old salt out of interest what helped you get ride of it completely for a while, manual removal and good water changes? 

[Oldsalt01]

I believe replacing the sand bed helped a lot. I figured out a way to vacuum it without losing too much sand and now do 50% with every other water change. It’s making a comeback but isnt out of hand yet. A PIA, but worth it. I may try a peroxide spot treatment on the problem areas, mostly on the back side of the rocks, but im a little concerned about doing that as my zoas are slowly dissolving and I can’t figure out why. As u said “ every day is a learning experience “. 🤔

[MrsPeet15]

On 11/9/2018 at 4:30 PM, Oldsalt01 said:

I believe replacing the sand bed helped a lot. I figured out a way to vacuum it without losing too much sand and now do 50% with every other water change. It’s making a comeback but isnt out of hand yet. A PIA, but worth it. I may try a peroxide spot treatment on the problem areas, mostly on the back side of the rocks, but im a little concerned about doing that as my zoas are slowly dissolving and I can’t figure out why. As u said “ every day is a learning experience “. 🤔

Well that’s weird, earlier this week mine looked like they’re were shedding a layer of skin.... they looked crap and I couldn’t work out why either, but they’ve come back again, related maybe?

[Tamberav]

My tank got neglected over the summer and I am using manual removal and regular water changes. It seems to be working. I will probably bulk up my cuc a bit next.

 

My zoas also sulking a little...I think they get irritated by the algae and the gha sucks up all the nutrients zoas love. It will probably do a light peroxide dip followed by iodine for them.

[Oldsalt01]

4 hours ago, MrsPeet15 said:

Well that’s weird, earlier this week mine looked like they’re were shedding a layer of skin.... they looked crap and I couldn’t work out why either, but they’ve come back again, related maybe?

Yah, weird. I’ve about given up on zoas. 4 years ago i had visions of a veritable garden of them, but other than some Red People Eater palys doing pretty well and spreading, in the past 3 years ive lost: Pink ‘n Golds, Eagle Eyes, Radioactive Dragon’s Eyes, Candy Apples, Morning Glory’s, Rasta’s, and Scrambled Eggs. They seem to kick ass for a while, start spreading, then recede and slowly melt away. Very frustrating, especially since zoas are purportedly “easy” to keep. Maybe I’ll just go back to a FOWLR and simplify my life. Im too old for this shit.

[MrsPeet15]

8 hours ago, Tamberav said:

My tank got neglected over the summer and I am using manual removal and regular water changes. It seems to be working. I will probably bulk up my cuc a bit next.

 

My zoas also sulking a little...I think they get irritated by the algae and the gha sucks up all the nutrients zoas love. It will probably do a light peroxide dip followed by iodine for them.

There is a small amount of algae left on the frag plug so maybe they’re pissed about that

[MrsPeet15]

7 hours ago, Oldsalt01 said:

Yah, weird. I’ve about given up on zoas. 4 years ago i had visions of a veritable garden of them, but other than some Red People Eater palys doing pretty well and spreading, in the past 3 years ive lost: Pink ‘n Golds, Eagle Eyes, Radioactive Dragon’s Eyes, Candy Apples, Morning Glory’s, Rasta’s, and Scrambled Eggs. They seem to kick ass for a while, start spreading, then recede and slowly melt away. Very frustrating, especially since zoas are purportedly “easy” to keep. Maybe I’ll just go back to a FOWLR and simplify my life. Im too old for this shit.

Funny I haven’t had too much luck with them either. Or Xenia. When my tank is doing what it’s supposed to lol i run quite a low nutrient system, i don’t think they like it one bit. My LPS always seems to do well but the softer stuff just sort of....exists without doing much else. Xenia always melts in my tanks.

[Clown79]

24 minutes ago, MrsPeet15 said:

Funny I haven’t had too much luck with them either. Or Xenia. When my tank is doing what it’s supposed to lol i run quite a low nutrient system, i don’t think they like it one bit. My LPS always seems to do well but the softer stuff just sort of....exists without doing much else. Xenia always melts in my tanks.

I've had a few run ins with gha too. I think at one point or another we all do.

 

In my 25g it was just small areas so I use peroxide on it, which kills it.

 

In my 10g the stuff was growing all over my sandbed as well as cyano. I manually removed it in between waterchanges, tried siphoning as much as I could, removed half the sand, reduced light period, reduced feeding, additional waterchanges. Etc etc

I tried it all.

 

Removing and replacing my sand was the trick. I've not had gha or cyano return. 

[MrsPeet15]

On 11/13/2018 at 8:14 AM, Clown79 said:

I've had a few run ins with gha too. I think at one point or another we all do.

 

In my 25g it was just small areas so I use peroxide on it, which kills it.

 

In my 10g the stuff was growing all over my sandbed as well as cyano. I manually removed it in between waterchanges, tried siphoning as much as I could, removed half the sand, reduced light period, reduced feeding, additional waterchanges. Etc etc

I tried it all.

 

Removing and replacing my sand was the trick. I've not had gha or cyano return. 

That’s good to know thanks for sharing Clown, I do sometimes suspect I didn’t do a particularly good job of rinsing my sand when I set up. Might look at replacing that after Christmas if I’m still battling away. Just out of interest, we’re you just basting it with peroxide in the 25g?

[ReefGoat]

That's very strange...I wonder what about that particular sand you had @Clown79 made it so susceptible to the nuisance algae that the new sand wasn't? Was it the rinsing of it perhaps? If so what does the rinsing actually getting rid of that is so problematic with certain sands? Makes me very glad that I spent about 3 hours on the rinsing of the dry sand I just used in my 45 Shallow.

[jdmcbuilt]

Since you have tried other methods already and it's out of control. Try medicating it with fluconazole safe on corals, fish and inverts. Dose for about 15 days you should see it kill bryopsis and GHA. No water changes during that time. Once it's under control and gone, you can pick up and start over.  

 

It worked for me in the past.

[Clown79]

2 hours ago, ReefGoat said:

That's very strange...I wonder what about that particular sand you had @Clown79 made it so susceptible to the nuisance algae that the new sand wasn't? Was it the rinsing of it perhaps? If so what does the rinsing actually getting rid of that is so problematic with certain sands? Makes me very glad that I spent about 3 hours on the rinsing of the dry sand I just used in my 45 Shallow.

The sand with major issues in the 10g was the caribsea black Hawaiian aragonite. It's a much larger grain compared to most sand. Closer to the freshwater grain size.

Nassaurius could barely dig into the sand.

 

Even with aggressive vacuuming, it trapped detritus badly and I had a ton of flow in the tank. Since changing to a smaller grain I have had no issues.

 

 

The 25g, when I upgraded I used caribsea dry sand, I washed it so much it took over 3hrs and it still never came out clear water. I've never seen so much dust.

 

The other 2 sands I have used by caribsea were great.

[Clown79]

4 hours ago, MrsPeet15 said:

That’s good to know thanks for sharing Clown, I do sometimes suspect I didn’t do a particularly good job of rinsing my sand when I set up. Might look at replacing that after Christmas if I’m still battling away. Just out of interest, we’re you just basting it with peroxide in the 25g?

No. The gha and cyano on my sand was in my 10g.

I manually removed chunks of it in between water changes and during water changes.

 

I aggressively vacuumed it every waterchange.

Then removed half the layer of sand.

 

When that, phosguard, additional waterchanges, increased flow didn't work, I changed the sand. 

 

In my 25g the algae on my sand I never really 100% determined what it was. I did extra waterchanges, reduced coral feeding, vacuumed aggressively, removed a portion of sand.

It still returned. During waterchanges I removed a small section each time. I washed it thoroughly under tap water until it ran clear. I added a tiny amount of 3% peroxide to the second last rinse, final rinse in rodi/distilled.

Then returned sand to tank. I also added new purigen.

 

I have dosed directly in my tank 3% peroxide as well as spot treatments. I use no more than 2ml in my 25g at a time.

 

But you have to find the cause of the problem or it will constantly return.

[Tamberav]

My gha is officially gone now... Manual removal and larger water changes and added two Mexican turbos which was the final nail in it's coffin.

[Tamberav]

6 hours ago, ReefGoat said:

That's very strange...I wonder what about that particular sand you had @Clown79 made it so susceptible to the nuisance algae that the new sand wasn't? Was it the rinsing of it perhaps? If so what does the rinsing actually getting rid of that is so problematic with certain sands? Makes me very glad that I spent about 3 hours on the rinsing of the dry sand I just used in my 45 Shallow.

 

2 hours ago, Clown79 said:

No. The gha and cyano on my sand was in my 10g.

I manually removed chunks of it in between water changes and during water changes.

 

I aggressively vacuumed it every waterchange.

Then removed half the layer of sand.

 

When that, phosguard, additional waterchanges, increased flow didn't work, I changed the sand. 

 

In my 25g the algae on my sand I never really 100% determined what it was. I did extra waterchanges, reduced coral feeding, vacuumed aggressively, removed a portion of sand.

It still returned. During waterchanges I removed a small section each time. I washed it thoroughly under tap water until it ran clear. I added a tiny amount of 3% peroxide to the second last rinse, final rinse in rodi/distilled.

Then returned sand to tank. I also added new purigen.

 

I have dosed directly in my tank 3% peroxide as well as spot treatments. I use no more than 2ml in my 25g at a time.

 

But you have to find the cause of the problem or it will constantly return.

 

I never had luck with reeflakes that people love. It comes in clean with almost no dust but seems to always get dirty like no other. I feel like the peices are almost too uniform and almost catch stuff like crushed coral would no matter how much flow I throw at it.

 

I tossed it out and went back to caribsea special grade mixed with caribsea sugar sand. I had this mix in my dirty dragonette tank and it worked wonderful. So far I am loving it again, seems to stay very clean. I washed the special grade which was very cloudy and didn't bother washing the sugar sand since its such small particles. Had a initial diatom bloom but that cleared up. 

 

It seems like the smaller particles help trap less stuff since stuff can't just 'fall' in between the larger pieces and the finer sand holds a lot more life like worms/pods. It doesn't get all nasty and cloud during weekly cleaning like flakes used to. 

 

[MrsPeet15]

I seem to be on top of mine for now. I’m using the antiphos fe in the sump and my phosphate has come down and stabilised. I’m still getting a wee bit of GHA but it’s a few small strands now as opposed to the enourmous, sun blotting mat of the stuff that would grow in 2-3 days and cover my entire tank before. I think it’s my rock, I think my rock is just leaching phosphate into the system, I have barely any growing on the substrate, and what has made it’s way down there seems to have just spread naturally from the substrate. It’s the only think I can out my finger on really, especially now that it’s improved with phosphate media in there. I just keep scrubbing and pulling the stuff with every water change now and *seem* to be slowly but surely winning the battle......

[Oldsalt01]

As one of my personal hero’s and a countryman of yours, Winston Churchill, once said (paraphrased): “Never, ever, give up!!”. Good on ya. Glad to hear it’s finally coming around for you.