Is my Brain Coral dying?

[mcarroll]

On 2/7/2019 at 3:11 PM, ZR2 said:

Nitrate is sitting between 5.0 and 10.0 ppm

 

9 hours ago, ZR2 said:

I did the Phosphate test, it looks to be between 0- 0.25 ppm. I would say closer to the .25 ppm range. 

 

If those numbers are right and don't dramatically change, then I wouldn't do much at all right now.   Clean it up as you see fit via elbow grease, but cyano is generally a temporary phase.   It's mostly just the tank starting up all normal biological cycles...cyano is one of the early ones...and you want to avoid slowing or stopping the process to the extent you can.

 

As long as your numbers stay in the positive, eventurally hair algae and coraline algae will show up.   

 

Hair alge....your CUC will eat, so no big deal.  You just clean up what they can't.  Quantity of algae (and thus CUC) will more or less be based on the speed and magnitutde of your fish stocking, so plan accordingly.  (You really don't want to impair your CUC through lack of numbers....that is precisely how many wild reefs get overrun by algae.)

 

Coraline is the best algae to have since it takes potential living spaces away from pest algae....it notably requires the same positive nutrient conditions as corals and hair algae.

[Floundering_Around]

9 hours ago, ZR2 said:

I did a 20 percent water change last week, but the algae have been building slowly for weeks. Not sure the water change is the best route as I already do that and the problem has not improved. 

you have to siphon the algae out; you can use a turkey baster if you don't want to do a full water change. A water change never hurts anything 

 

8 hours ago, ZR2 said:

Anyone try this? https://www.amazon.com/Brightwell-Aquatics-Phosphat-Phosphate-Remover/dp/B00BUFTJII/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=reef+tank+phosphate+remover&qid=1549819908&s=pet-supplies&sr=1-4

 

I do not want a reactor as it is a small tank and I do not really have a place to put a reactor. Also, should I add a CUC to clean up the algae? I just do not want 1000 snails in my tank. 

no point in adding any media to such a new tank. A CUC won't help anything right now as you have cyano (which they won't eat) and nothing else so you'll have to supplement them with food and will just make more of a mess.

 

Wait it out and do water changes to physically remove the cyano

[ZR2]

9 minutes ago, mcarroll said:

 

 

If those numbers are right and don't dramatically change, then I wouldn't do much at all right now.   Clean it up as you see fit via elbow grease, but cyano is generally a temporary phase.   It's mostly just the tank starting up all normal biological cycles...cyano is one of the early ones...and you want to avoid slowing or stopping the process to the extent you can.

 

As long as your numbers stay in the positive, eventurally hair algae and coraline algae will show up.   

 

Hair alge....your CUC will eat, so no big deal.  You just clean up what they can't.  Quantity of algae (and thus CUC) will more or less be based on the speed and magnitutde of your fish stocking, so plan accordingly.  (You really don't want to impair your CUC through lack of numbers....that is precisely how many wild reefs get overrun by algae.)

 

Coraline is the best algae to have since it takes potential living spaces away from pest algae....it notably requires the same positive nutrient conditions as corals and hair algae.

I was going to buy some snails to clean up the sandbed and the rocks. I do see small hairs on the algae, but it also looks like some dark purple colors are showing up on the one rock.  What are the best snails to put in the tank to clean this up? I do not want a lot of snails as I do not want to have to worry about supplying a ton of food when the algae is gone. 

 

Another question I have is about my enchanted green bird's nest tree. It seems sort of a pale to me under the white light but the polyps are very green under the blue light. Could this be because of the phosphates? Some of the polyps also look more closed than some of the others on the coral. 

[ZR2]