Reef Flux amd Vibrant

[Groot]

Hey guys was hoping if anyone can tell me if they used these product together here. My tank is SPS dominate and have been treating my tank with vibrant because of bubble alga and bryopsis .

I have been paying close attention to my nutrients and dosing nitrates to prevent 0 readings on Nitrates. Been treating the tank for about two weeks with vibrant but it seems like the bryopsis is getting worst, vibrant does seems to be effecting the bubble alga.  I do remember using Fluconazole in my past tank years ago and it worked like a charm with no side effects. Thank You

[Groot]

[Murphs_Reef]

How old is the tank? It looks very clean.  

[Groot]

The tank is 4 mounts old.  This picture was taken the day after cleaning and first dose of Vibrant. This is what it looks like now I’m about to do a water change 

[Groot]

Did my water change and dose vibrant again we will see how it looks tonight might add the reef flux tonight.

 

[mcarroll]

On 12/27/2021 at 3:59 PM, Groot said:

Hey guys was hoping if anyone can tell me if they used these product together here. My tank is SPS dominate and have been treating my tank with vibrant because of bubble alga and bryopsis .

I have been paying close attention to my nutrients and dosing nitrates to prevent 0 readings on Nitrates. Been treating the tank for about two weeks with vibrant but it seems like the bryopsis is getting worst, vibrant does seems to be effecting the bubble alga.  I do remember using Fluconazole in my past tank years ago and it worked like a charm with no side effects. Thank You

What have your PO4 levels been like/what is it currently?  It's very possible to encourage this algae by starving out competing organisms.

 

I'm not 100% sure what you have is Bryopsis either...to me it looks a lot like mature hair algae.  Bryopsis is very, very robust by comparison.

 

Green algae like hair algae, bryopsis and bubble algae can all take phosphates from the aragonite medium you see them growing on.  Other organisms do not have that luxury...so the green algae flourish.

 

So maintaining positive nutrient levels, most importantly PO4, is usually crucial to overcoming a green algae infestation.  Eventually you need the tank to grow a lot of coral and coralline algae to cover those spaces where algae are now.  That will take A LOT of those two major nutrients....not just a little.

 

You also have to be more aggressive against the algae you have...which I didn't really notice any significant bubble algae.  I'd guess that's not going to be a major problem if you can get the nutrients and overall balance of the tank back on track.  Mostly you want to get rid of all those patches of hair algae before they spread.   Right now it's not too bad!

 

I don't think you need to do any chemical treatments, you just need to to some work pulling algae.

 

Use your fingers like tweezers and pull it out right from the base.  Be systematic, and only clean a small area each time you work – small enough that you can clean 100% of the algae from the area.  1"x1" or a little more.  Be prepared to work one area a day or as often as you can...algae won't take a day off.

 

Make sure your cleanup crew can keep up with your cleaning.  If you see algae re-growing on a cleaned area, you probably need 1-2 more snails in the tank.  Something like Turbo, Trochus or Astrea are usually best.

[Groot]

9 hours ago, mcarroll said:

What have your PO4 levels been like/what is it currently?  It's very possible to encourage this algae by starving out competing organisms.

 

I'm not 100% sure what you have is Bryopsis either...to me it looks a lot like mature hair algae.  Bryopsis is very, very robust by comparison.

 

Green algae like hair algae, bryopsis and bubble algae can all take phosphates from the aragonite medium you see them growing on.  Other organisms do not have that luxury...so the green algae flourish.

 

So maintaining positive nutrient levels, most importantly PO4, is usually crucial to overcoming a green algae infestation.  Eventually you need the tank to grow a lot of coral and coralline algae to cover those spaces where algae are now.  That will take A LOT of those two major nutrients....not just a little.

 

You also have to be more aggressive against the algae you have...which I didn't really notice any significant bubble algae.  I'd guess that's not going to be a major problem if you can get the nutrients and overall balance of the tank back on track.  Mostly you want to get rid of all those patches of hair algae before they spread.   Right now it's not too bad!

 

I don't think you need to do any chemical treatments, you just need to to some work pulling algae.

 

Use your fingers like tweezers and pull it out right from the base.  Be systematic, and only clean a small area each time you work – small enough that you can clean 100% of the algae from the area.  1"x1" or a little more.  Be prepared to work one area a day or as often as you can...algae won't take a day off.

 

Make sure your cleanup crew can keep up with your cleaning.  If you see algae re-growing on a cleaned area, you probably need 1-2 more snails in the tank.  Something like Turbo, Trochus or Astrea are usually best.

Thanks mcarroll my PO4 is at 5 with a low range hanna checker. I had some swings where it would go high as 15 but that's it and that would be on the odd side. I only feed my corals when I notice my PO4 is close to 0. my nitrate are very low where I have to dose. I didn't have to dose this morning. I do I have a great CUC with both snails Trochus and Astrea and blue legs. I feel like I'm in there every day pulling out this stuff. I believe it is Bryopsis but I'm not 100% either. It is tuff and its in my frags and has feather like appearance at the top of it. I did pull the trigger and dose the reef flux , we will see what happens.

 

[mcarroll]

27 minutes ago, Groot said:

my PO4 is at 5 with a low range hanna checker. I had some swings where it would go high as 15 but that's it and that would be on the odd side. I only feed my corals when I notice my PO4 is close to 0.

I know the low-range Hanna meter reads in PPB.....are you saying that it reads 0.05 ppb when you test currently?  Also, does that mean the high is 0.15

 

If you're seeing PO4 get down to zero, I'd suggest eliminating anything you can like extra filtration or water changes that might be lowering it

36 minutes ago, Groot said:

I feel like I'm in there every day pulling out this stuff.

That should be true.  Less than every day and you probably will lose whatever progress you make.  Focusing your work into a small space and working on it every day will help you make progress.

 

37 minutes ago, Groot said:

I did pull the trigger and dose the reef flux , we will see what happens.

That's a bummer...it's just about a roll of the dice what effect it will have – good, bad or any.  

 

Good luck with it, but remember that elbow grease is the real answer.

[Groot]

Focusing seems like really good advice that I will try harder on.  I'm running nothing except filter pads and my skimmer I really try to keep things simple in my tank. Yes I'm reading 0.05 to 0.15 I tested two days ago. will test again tonight.

[Groot]

Yeah feel like I got my corals really happy and crusting and growing so it will defiantly be a bummer if I loose some of my acros. Its a expensive hobby I would hate to start over.

[Groot]

So far so good as as this moment corals seem to be doing good. I tested my PHO4 last night it was 0.12 kinda expected it to be a little high because I feed REEF Rods the day before.

[Groot]

Just wanted to let you guys know its been 5 days now and I see a big difference in my tank when I added Reef Flux. I'm really happy with the out come so far. I did skip the Vibrant dose this week. My corals seem to be happy at the moment. Will look forward to doing a water change and adding come carbon to the tank next week.