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Algae or Cyano help


Dstrickland

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Struggling getting this in control but wanted to I’d what I’m facing.  I found issue was rodi filter producing tds of 115.  I don’t see air bubbles but blows off easy the cones right back.  Definitely worse after lights on for awhile, both on sand and rock.  Even in high flow areas.

 

thanks for the help

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Sorry, id and comes right back

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It looks stringy, kinda like dino's.

 

You need to test phosphate with a good tester like salifert or hanna.

 

Low to no nutrients and lack of biodiversity are main causes of dino.

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Phosphate is 1 of the most important things to test. Corals need it and nitrates.

 

A lack of phos and nitrates leads to dino's. Same with a lack of diversity like pods.

 

Black outs are just band aids, if its dino's, it doesn't work.  

 

The only way to confirm 100% dino's and the strain is under microscope, otherwise there is a jar test that can confirm dino's but not strain.

  • Try siphoning about 1-2 cups of tank water/algae into a jar/plastic bottle(just water)
  • Shake the water as hard as you can for about 30 seconds then strain the water through a paper towel into a large cup.(not one you use to drink out of)  Make sure all of the water passes through the paper towel and none bypasses the paper towel.
  • Let the water sit in the cup for an hour in ambient light. 

 

If you see clumps or stringy substances appear, its dino.

 

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Good call on the distilled water. I'll be honest. I don't trust RODI units that much. And for a 10g tank its pretty cost effective to just use distilled water.

 

If it were my tank I would:

blow the rock off with a turkey baster, then immediately do a 50% water change. monitor and see how things go.

 

I guess you can get a phosphate tester but honestly not sure I would change course of action based on it. You could add some GFO but think a large water change would accomplish the same result.

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It’s frustrating I’ve been on top of water changes etc.. I can’t figure if it’s phosphate levels being high with bad filter or low nutrient levels. Going to get better nitrate and phosphate test. Even consider getting a 9w Uv that fits the nuvo

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1 hour ago, Joboo said:

 

Good call on the distilled water. I'll be honest. I don't trust RODI units that much. And for a 10g tank its pretty cost effective to just use distilled water.

 

If it were my tank I would:

blow the rock off with a turkey baster, then immediately do a 50% water change. monitor and see how things go.

 

I guess you can get a phosphate tester but honestly not sure I would change course of action based on it. You could add some GFO but think a large water change would accomplish the same result.

If its dino's, the last thing you wanna do is use gfo and blow the algae off the rocks.

3 hours ago, Dstrickland said:

For phosphate testing, Hanna ultra low range correct(is the one I want)?

Ya, that's a good one, it reads the lowest levels of phos and honestly its worth the money. No colour chart guessing.

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On 2/14/2020 at 1:58 PM, Dstrickland said:

For phosphate testing, Hanna ultra low range correct(is the one I want)?

Doesn't matter actually....the ultra low range model is "special" for those folks trying to run an "ULNS" tank....which should just about be totally out of fashion by now.  (Don't do it.)

 

For our purposes - avoiding zero phosphates - any of their meters except the ultra high range will be fine. 

 

The standard model has a range of 0.00 to 2.50 and a very acceptable accuracy rate. 

 

The ultra low range model reduces the useful range, but increases the accuracy....fun, but not that useful vs the standard model given our stated goal.   

 

I think Milwaukee has a set of handheld meters now too, although I haven't used one yet.

 

23 hours ago, Dstrickland said:

Tank is 6 months old, 10 gallon nuvo, yes using distilled water (checking with handheld TDS meter) and pH is 8.0

This is the main problem...newness and immaturity of the tank.  But this problem is being aggravated....

 

21 hours ago, Dstrickland said:

It’s frustrating I’ve been on top of water changes etc.. I can’t figure if it’s phosphate levels being high with bad filter or low nutrient levels. Going to get better nitrate and phosphate test. Even consider getting a 9w Uv that fits the nuvo

This is the second part of the problem that is aggrivating the first aspect....you're doing too much and making the tank too clean. 

 

No more water changes unless there's a need -- only if alkalinity is too low (<7dKH) or if there's a mess you need to siphon out.  (You could siphon the water through a filter sock and return the old (but clean) water to the tank in the last case.) 

 

You should also take steps to eliminate excessive filtration.  No need for things like GFO, growing macroalgae, organic carbon dosing, etc., so remove them.  At most, run a protein skimmer.

 

👍

 

The problem was never your RODI water -- so relax, do less  (overall) and enjoy your tank!  😃

 

With any luck dino's will subside as soon as you stop aggravating them....it does end like that in some cases.

 

Running some activated carbon (eg. Seachem Matrix Carbon) to reduce any dino toxins in the water would be a good precaution....but only use 1/4 of the recommended dose and change it weekly (instead of monthly) until the dino bloom subsides.

 

What To Do Next

If you don't see a positive difference in the tank within a day or so of "righting the filtration" then you and the tank would be well-served by manually correcting your tank's nutrient levels.  Dose some phosphates so that levels in the tank reach at least 0.10 ppm on a test kit.  (Higher is fine....lower is not and will be more likely to leave the dino's in their current state.) 

 

If you dose PO4, use something like Seachem Flourish Phosphate and follow dosing directions on the bottle -- or use one of their online or app-based dosing calculators.  (Flourish is considered a freshwater/planted tank product, so look for it and the calculators to be categorized like that.)

 

Adding a UV filter isn't a bad idea, but I'd leave that for a Phase II in case the filter-corrections and nutrient-corrections don't have an effect.  (Still won't take long for you to know if you want to add it.)

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Thanks for taking the time and detailed ideas.  Before I saw this I ordered a Red Sea nitrate and  phosphate kit, regular carbon with gfo, and uv that’s goes with this tank.  I agree I was doing too much and will monitor levels close to adjust as needed.  Thanks again for all the advice 

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Quick update-

all clear after 3 day black out and remained clear 24 hours later

then installed uv sterilizer and still clear

tested today nitrate 5 and phosphate 0.02

I have increased feeding compared to weeks prior
so far big turn around 

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