Ash1176 Posted July 29, 2020 Share Posted July 29, 2020 So the tank is 2 month old, at first I thought it was just diatoms.... but it seems different, I noticed bubbles in the tank, so I did some research, a few threads popped up, it was 50/50 split between early stage of Cyano or early stage Dino... so I’m at loss here because they have completely opposite ways to deal with them... the bubbles are only during the lights on, so it photosynthetic, the brown has tiny little hairs. No fish in the tank, 2 died last week of brook, only 6 snails and a cleaner shrimp and 3 corals... nitrates are 2ppm and phosphates zero, been trying to feed extra to get phosphates up but I’m thinking I’m just some kind of algae now I running carbon for a about a week, water was dirty and moved some corals. Not running any GFO Ph and kh stable Thinking of doing a black out, and water change after with gravel vac. Unless I’m completely sure what it is I do t want to add chemicals right away, I would rather learn what it is and and try an counteract this the natural way Let me know what you think? the algae next to the frag plug could be different and has come from the plug, but wandering if this is the source... Quote Link to comment
Clown79 Posted July 29, 2020 Share Posted July 29, 2020 The bubbles could be micro bubbles just attaching to algae. Dino is more stringy with bubbles in it. Over feeding never really helped my tank get phosphates. It wasn't until i dosed small amounts of phyto that worked 1 1 Quote Link to comment
Ash1176 Posted July 29, 2020 Author Share Posted July 29, 2020 Just wait and see what happens for now then? i was going to vacuum the sandbed and do a water change this weekend Quote Link to comment
DISQUALIFIED-QQ Posted July 29, 2020 Share Posted July 29, 2020 It looks like microalgae. The photos make it look greenish. Dinos will definitely be long and stringy and generally comes after you hit 0.0 nitrates and 0.0 phosphates generally. 1 1 Quote Link to comment
Ash1176 Posted July 30, 2020 Author Share Posted July 30, 2020 Ok so will do some water changes and gravel vac soon, should I run GFO and cut down feeding the tank? Quote Link to comment
Clown79 Posted July 30, 2020 Share Posted July 30, 2020 2 hours ago, Ash1176 said: Ok so will do some water changes and gravel vac soon, should I run GFO and cut down feeding the tank? I would not use gfo if you have 0 phosphates. You need phos in the tank. Gfo should be used as needed when phos gets very high. Manual removal during regular waterchanges and some cuc will help. If you don't have high nutrients, there is no need for an increase in waterchanges. You will reduce nitrates to eventually 0, you only have 2ppm. 1 1 Quote Link to comment
Ash1176 Posted July 30, 2020 Author Share Posted July 30, 2020 Ok so just wait it out for now? Quote Link to comment
Clown79 Posted July 30, 2020 Share Posted July 30, 2020 1 hour ago, Ash1176 said: Ok so just wait it out for now? Just continue with regular waterchanges, manual removal, cuc, increase phod 1 Quote Link to comment
Tired Posted August 3, 2020 Share Posted August 3, 2020 Also, keep nutrients up. 0.05 phosphate and 5-10 nitrate is good. That will help the less invasive algaes establish themselves, where they can compete with the invasive algae. It also keeps your corals fed. 0 nutrients will starve your corals. How big is the tank? You might just need more snails. . Algae is normal in new tanks. As long as it's not smothering your corals (and you can blow it off with a pipette if it tries), it won't hurt anything. 2 1 Quote Link to comment
Murphs_Reef Posted August 3, 2020 Share Posted August 3, 2020 Your worry levels are low.. in my tank currently that's pretty clean.. 1 Quote Link to comment
Ash1176 Posted August 3, 2020 Author Share Posted August 3, 2020 On 7/30/2020 at 10:06 AM, Clown79 said: Just continue with regular waterchanges, manual removal, cuc, increase phod Did a small water change on Friday, but now nitrates are at zero just like phosphates! trying to keep feeding this tank but I’m getting no readings... 54 minutes ago, Tired said: Also, keep nutrients up. 0.05 phosphate and 5-10 nitrate is good. That will help the less invasive algaes establish themselves, where they can compete with the invasive algae. It also keeps your corals fed. 0 nutrients will starve your corals. How big is the tank? You might just need more snails. . Algae is normal in new tanks. As long as it's not smothering your corals (and you can blow it off with a pipette if it tries), it won't hurt anything. yes I’m less worried about the algae, just putting it down to new tank, just trying to get my nutrients up which is harder without fish... im have 2 bags of seachem matrix, I’ve had Them since I started cycling the tank for extra BB, but seachem matrix removes nitrates, should probably pull a bag out ??? Quote Link to comment
Tired Posted August 3, 2020 Share Posted August 3, 2020 Yes, you should take out the nitrate-removing media when you need to increase your nitrates. 1 Quote Link to comment
Clown79 Posted August 3, 2020 Share Posted August 3, 2020 4 hours ago, Ash1176 said: Did a small water change on Friday, but now nitrates are at zero just like phosphates! trying to keep feeding this tank but I’m getting no readings... yes I’m less worried about the algae, just putting it down to new tank, just trying to get my nutrients up which is harder without fish... im have 2 bags of seachem matrix, I’ve had Them since I started cycling the tank for extra BB, but seachem matrix removes nitrates, should probably pull a bag out ??? Over Feeding isn't always a reliable method. It doesn't work for everyone. I can over feed my tank to high heaven and it never got my levels up. I had to resort to phyto or liquid foods like red sea energy for phos and dosing nitrates because neither increased my nitrates. Maybe you are doing too large of a waterchange or too often. Possibly using too much media? I stopped doing weekly waterchanges to increase my nutrients in conjunction with the other methods. Once i got them up a bit, i started doing smaller weekly waterchanges. Quote Link to comment
banasophia Posted August 3, 2020 Share Posted August 3, 2020 At this age of the tank, and with the green hair algae in the first shot, if it was me I would add turbo snails and dose microbacter 7 for a couple weeks to help the tank develop a balance of beneficial bacteria in its ecosystem. 1 Quote Link to comment
Ash1176 Posted August 3, 2020 Author Share Posted August 3, 2020 3 hours ago, Tired said: Yes, you should take out the nitrate-removing media when you need to increase your nitrates. You got me there! Haha i’ll use my newbie card for this one 😉 what I meant is that I’m not sure how much Nitrate is removed by matrix, and I’m concerned by taking it out I’ll be loosing a lot of my beneficial bacteria that have been on matrix since the beginning... I think I’ll take the half out and see what happens 1 Quote Link to comment
Ash1176 Posted August 3, 2020 Author Share Posted August 3, 2020 1 hour ago, Clown79 said: Maybe you are doing too large of a waterchange or too often. Possibly using too much media? I stopped doing weekly waterchanges to increase my nutrients in conjunction with the other methods. Once i got them up a bit, i started doing smaller weekly waterchanges. My last water change was less than 2 gallon, but yah won’t be doing water changes for a bit until I see something. and I’m gonna remove some matrix i think I actually remember you saying in one of the first posts on my thread to watch out for too much media! Should have listened Quote Link to comment
Tired Posted August 4, 2020 Share Posted August 4, 2020 Basically all of your biological filter is in your rocks, and a bit in your sand. The filter media is only important for biological filtration in freshwater tanks. You're removing a tiny amount of surface area compared to the rest of the tank. Just keep the corals cleaned off, let the water get a bit dirtier, and maybe toss a few snails in. How big is the tank? Might need more snails. I suggest some ceriths to stir your sandbed a bit. Some tanks need really infrequent water changes, especially ones without fish, or they just get stripped of nutrients. I know a few people on here do just a couple water changes a year. Granted, some of those are macroalgae tanks, but still. 1 Quote Link to comment
Ash1176 Posted August 4, 2020 Author Share Posted August 4, 2020 Yah will take the big bag out and see how that goes, thanks!!! the tank is 13.5 gallon (Fluval Evo) I have 3 nassirius, 3 trochus and a cleaner shrimp, I’ve been trying to get some cerith for the last month but no luck at the Lfs’s so far Quote Link to comment
banasophia Posted August 4, 2020 Share Posted August 4, 2020 I keep sacks of matrix media in the back chambers of all my tanks... just chiming in here that I would keep the matrix, add a custom cleanup crew from reefcleaners.com, and add the microbacter 7 that I mentioned previously... 1 Quote Link to comment
Tired Posted August 4, 2020 Share Posted August 4, 2020 Nassarius eat leftover food, not algae. They aren't going to help much, though at least they'll move the sand. I second the ReefCleaners suggestion. You could also grab a hardy macroalgae from them, they have some nice stuff. Or some pods! Never hurts to add pods (of a suitable species) to a new tank, especially when there are no fish yet. Get that population going. 1 Quote Link to comment
Ash1176 Posted August 4, 2020 Author Share Posted August 4, 2020 Yah I’m going to keep one bag of matrix (I have 2) I got some snails working already trying to find some more though, mainly cerith. like I said though I would rather wait to see if I can work this out before adding anything from a bottle. I have vibrant on hand just going to use it as last resort, but it does strip your nutrients... right now I’m not worried about the algae anymore, just wanting to get my nutrients up Quote Link to comment
Ash1176 Posted August 4, 2020 Author Share Posted August 4, 2020 10 minutes ago, Tired said: Nassarius eat leftover food, not algae. They aren't going to help much, though at least they'll move the sand. Yes my Nassarius are for leftovers, my trochus were gonna be my maingrazers, will probably get more various snails! funny you say that my pod population just bloomed, i never knew I had some until there was no fish and then they were everywhere. Also added some live rock from the Lfs hoping to get more biodiversity (did the CaribSea liferock (dry rock) and kinda regret it being to sterile of an environment) 1 Quote Link to comment
Tired Posted August 4, 2020 Share Posted August 4, 2020 Sounds ideal. Pods and biodiversity are your best friends in reefing. Did you add the live rock right before the algae started up? Might be there was some living on it that's capitalizing on the free space. That doesn't change anything, it would just explain the surge. Quote Link to comment
Ash1176 Posted August 4, 2020 Author Share Posted August 4, 2020 No just added added it. Figured there would no fish to bother what’s on it! but yeah it might bring in different algae now haha just trying to find my balance Quote Link to comment
Abzdot Posted August 10, 2020 Share Posted August 10, 2020 On 7/29/2020 at 9:14 PM, Diamonds x Pearls said: It looks like microalgae. The photos make it look greenish. Dinos will definitely be long and stringy and generally comes after you hit 0.0 nitrates and 0.0 phosphates generally. I’m experiencing a similar problem. My phosphate is <0.03 ppm and nitrates are near undetectable. What should I do to get rid of Dino? Quote Link to comment
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