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Algae growing on corals


1st reef

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On 2/5/2022 at 9:19 PM, jefferythewind said:

 So you need to keep phosphates up AND have clear water. 

That topic throws me a curve ball too, but still stuck with my HOB filter, so no experience to resolve the quandry.

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jefferythewind
On 2/18/2022 at 9:43 PM, Jakesaw said:

That topic throws me a curve ball too, but still stuck with my HOB filter, so no experience to resolve the quandry.

The skimmer is really a game changer. Keeps the water much cleaner than I've ever had it. Everything in the tank seems to love it.

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On 1/27/2022 at 10:29 PM, 1st reef said:

How does raising phos help? Isn't it the point to have zero phos? 

Check out my Dino thread that someone linked toward the beginning of the thread....ONLY check out the first post where I have all the links and basic info.....read all the basic info and links. 😉   Ask questions if you still have any....will address some here.  (All in a relaxed manner since it looks like you're on the right side of your dino bloom now. 😉

 

On 1/28/2022 at 5:06 PM, DevilDuck said:

Since your tank is a small nano look into a "rip clean". 

Worth knowing about the idea, but in all the posts on that dino mega thread, nobody was ever helped by any form of reboot like this.

 

Thankfully I think the corrections we have figured out through research and real life trials are very simple and easy.

 

On 1/28/2022 at 8:02 PM, Jakesaw said:

How does that thing work??

 

Most of the UV sterilizers I've seen are piped in-line with water circulation

 

On 1/30/2022 at 4:59 AM, W1ll said:

The whole light is submersible, it just slots into a back chamber and sits there much like a glass heater.

Just has to be a high power unit, or one that can be specifically set up for parasites....sometimes all this means is slower water flow through the filter.

 

I'm not sure whether the drop in unit qualifies on these fronts.  Does it mention what it's intended for or differing setups for different target organisms?

 

On 2/1/2022 at 5:43 PM, 1st reef said:

Will nitrates drop after dosing with neophos? 

 

Nitrogen and phosphorous are both essential elements.  If one is missing (eg. 0.00 ppm)

 

On 2/1/2022 at 7:26 PM, 1st reef said:

Will carbon help by removing Dino toxins? 

Yes.

 

On 2/2/2022 at 11:33 AM, 1st reef said:

I can't get anyone to ship me a bottle of neophos cause it's winter and the bottle might freeze if shipped regular mail. 

Overnight shipping is 40$ for a 10 dollar bottle lol.  Unless there's another way. 

If not, I'll just add another fish to increase bioload and hopefully get some phosphates and nitrates over 3ppm

Adding fish or overfeeding are not good solutions.

 

Adding a fish to resolve a tank problem is, in general, a terrible idea.  (If the tank needed another fish you'd already be adding one.  Stick to your plan.)

 

On 2/3/2022 at 6:51 AM, 1st reef said:

Ok.... Will go buy.  Any dosing tips will be appreciated. Thanks. 

No tips needed other than your target concentration – 0.10 ppm is the smallest concentration that was found to help break the dino's "hold" on zero nutrient levels.  (See that thread for more info on why this all happens.)

 

FYI, there is NO REASON to dose po4 slowly, unless you want the dino bloom the disappear as slowly as possible.  PO4 is a nutrient and does not change water chemistry....unlike alkalinity, for example, which DOES have to be added slowly.

 

On 2/3/2022 at 5:20 PM, 1st reef said:

Question... Doi remove carbon before dosing with flourish phosphorus? 

No.

 

On 2/3/2022 at 8:55 PM, 1st reef said:

Isnt 0.2 high? I'm aiming for 0.03ppm.

Once Dinos are gone, do I still need to keep dosing? 

No.  My tank runs at 2.5+ ppm. Not a typo – "two point five pee pee em"....maxes out the meter.  

 

No coral or algae problems.

 

On 2/4/2022 at 8:55 AM, 1st reef said:

Dosed yesterday. Will dose again today. 

Yes!  (I know I'm in retrospect, but still love to see progress!)

 

On 2/4/2022 at 10:13 AM, 1st reef said:

So even when I get the other algae, I don't do water changes and keep the phosphates up?  Or can I stop dosing as soon as dinos go away? 

I tell folks to stop dosing when they forget they had dino's....or when po4 will stay in good range on its own, without the dosing support.  Under healthy tank circumstances, po4 can be much lower....even undetectable.  But new tanks, and other tanks where nutrients are forced low (eg GFO, carbon dosing...over filtering) don't respond well.

 

On 2/6/2022 at 1:59 PM, 1st reef said:

So, tested phosphates at 0.1-0.2 and nitrates still around 5ppm. Maybe I increased phosphates too quick? 

Do I test phosphates weekly and dose accordingly? 

Nope those levels were perfect!

 

I would have recommended testing 2-3 times the first day and dosing as-needed to maintain that 0.10 ppm you have.  Sometimes on the first day, bacterial consumption can be amazingly intense.  A few folks have had to dose 2-4 times that first day....so it's worth checking about an hour after the first dose just to see if you're in that boat or not.

 

On 2/6/2022 at 4:38 PM, 1st reef said:

Do I bother with water changes yet? 

Only if you can dose nitrates and phosphates up to your target levels in the water change water.   The water changes' effect on N and P should be nothing.

 

On 2/18/2022 at 7:40 PM, 1st reef said:

So, maintaining phosphates at 0.2 +/- moving forward is my goal?  If they ever drop to zero again, will dinos come back? 

In the near term yes.  The longer you go without a bloom, the less likely a repeat is.

 

On 3/2/2022 at 8:32 PM, 1st reef said:

Is there a skimmer for 5 gallons? 

Tunze's 9001 is the smallest I know of....they rate it down to 8 gallons, but I don't see why 5 would be much different, assuming the skimmer fits somewhere.  Someone else might know some other options.

 

Water changes and skimmers are not interchangeable, BTW.  They do vastly different things with only a little bit of overlap.  They way they "clean" the tank is hardly similar at all.

 

Importantly, a skimmer removes no dissolved nutrients and adds aeration to the tank.  It targets a pretty specific range of molecules that are affected by bubbles.  (e.g. hydropphobic/-phyllic molecules find bubbles's air/water interface to be "sticky".)

 

In contrast, as mentioned above, you'll have to take dosing precautions to do a water change without boogering up your progress.  Water changes can hurt.   This is probably the most important difference to your scenario.

 

All that said, I'm not sure I'd go too far out of my way to run one on such a small tank.  There shouldn't be any significant bio-load (eg fish) so not much reason for one.....and little reason for water changes for the same reason.

 

Keep it simple.  Keep it light.  Keep it easy.   (At least while you're getting things going over the first 1-3 years.)

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On 3/7/2022 at 12:35 AM, mcarroll said:

 

Check out my Dino thread that someone linked toward the beginning of the thread....ONLY check out the first post where I have all the links and basic info.....read all the basic info and links. 😉   Ask questions if you still have any....will address some here.  (All in a relaxed manner since it looks like you're on the right side of your dino bloom now. 😉

 

Worth knowing about the idea, but in all the posts on that dino mega thread, nobody was ever helped by any form of reboot like this.

 

Thankfully I think the corrections we have figured out through research and real life trials are very simple and easy.

 

 

Just has to be a high power unit, or one that can be specifically set up for parasites....sometimes all this means is slower water flow through the filter.

 

I'm not sure whether the drop in unit qualifies on these fronts.  Does it mention what it's intended for or differing setups for different target organisms?

 

Nitrogen and phosphorous are both essential elements.  If one is missing (eg. 0.00 ppm)

 

Yes.

 

Adding fish or overfeeding are not good solutions.

 

Adding a fish to resolve a tank problem is, in general, a terrible idea.  (If the tank needed another fish you'd already be adding one.  Stick to your plan.)

 

No tips needed other than your target concentration – 0.10 ppm is the smallest concentration that was found to help break the dino's "hold" on zero nutrient levels.  (See that thread for more info on why this all happens.)

 

FYI, there is NO REASON to dose po4 slowly, unless you want the dino bloom the disappear as slowly as possible.  PO4 is a nutrient and does not change water chemistry....unlike alkalinity, for example, which DOES have to be added slowly.

 

No.

 

No.  My tank runs at 2.5+ ppm. Not a typo – "two point five pee pee em"....maxes out the meter.  

 

No coral or algae problems.

 

Yes!  (I know I'm in retrospect, but still love to see progress!)

 

I tell folks to stop dosing when they forget they had dino's....or when po4 will stay in good range on its own, without the dosing support.  Under healthy tank circumstances, po4 can be much lower....even undetectable.  But new tanks, and other tanks where nutrients are forced low (eg GFO, carbon dosing...over filtering) don't respond well.

 

Nope those levels were perfect!

 

I would have recommended testing 2-3 times the first day and dosing as-needed to maintain that 0.10 ppm you have.  Sometimes on the first day, bacterial consumption can be amazingly intense.  A few folks have had to dose 2-4 times that first day....so it's worth checking about an hour after the first dose just to see if you're in that boat or not.

 

Only if you can dose nitrates and phosphates up to your target levels in the water change water.   The water changes' effect on N and P should be nothing.

 

In the near term yes.  The longer you go without a bloom, the less likely a repeat is.

 

Tunze's 9001 is the smallest I know of....they rate it down to 8 gallons, but I don't see why 5 would be much different, assuming the skimmer fits somewhere.  Someone else might know some other options.

 

Water changes and skimmers are not interchangeable, BTW.  They do vastly different things with only a little bit of overlap.  They way they "clean" the tank is hardly similar at all.

 

Importantly, a skimmer removes no dissolved nutrients and adds aeration to the tank.  It targets a pretty specific range of molecules that are affected by bubbles.  (e.g. hydropphobic/-phyllic molecules find bubbles's air/water interface to be "sticky".)

 

In contrast, as mentioned above, you'll have to take dosing precautions to do a water change without boogering up your progress.  Water changes can hurt.   This is probably the most important difference to your scenario.

 

All that said, I'm not sure I'd go too far out of my way to run one on such a small tank.  There shouldn't be any significant bio-load (eg fish) so not much reason for one.....and little reason for water changes for the same reason.

 

Keep it simple.  Keep it light.  Keep it easy.   (At least while you're getting things going over the first 1-3 years.)

Thanks for the tips. Appreciate it. 

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jcrisman2009
On 1/13/2022 at 4:56 PM, 1st reef said:

Noticed a brown layer on the green cabbage. Glass turns brown within 5 days of cleaning. Nitrates are below 5ppm. Alk is at 8 more or less. I only top off with distilled since nitrates are very low. I haven't done a water change in 3 weeks. Live stock is Clow, ywg, pistol shrimp, turbo snail, 3 hermit crabs. 

What should I do? 

Continue what I'm doing?  Filtration is only filter floss. 

IMG_20220113_160600.jpg

IMG_20220113_160553.jpg

IMG_20220113_160523.jpg

IMG_20220113_160505.jpg

Pics were taken without blue light. 

Get a turkey baster and blast it with water and if it poofs off like powder then it’s diatoms but if it is snot like then it’s either a type of Cyanobacteria or dinoflagellates which are bad.

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jcrisman2009
On 1/19/2022 at 3:12 PM, 1st reef said:

Keep getting this in the filter basket. 

It's been 1 week and it looks like this. 

IMG_20220119_161052.jpg

Ewwww! THAT is a whole lotta icky! I sadly have no answer to what that is besides it looking icky! Possibly a bacteria metropolis?

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On 3/17/2022 at 6:53 PM, jcrisman2009 said:

Ewwww! THAT is a whole lotta icky! I sadly have no answer to what that is besides it looking icky! Possibly a bacteria metropolis?

Dinos are gone so no more of that hairy stuff. 

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On 3/22/2022 at 2:19 AM, 1st reef said:

Dinos are gone so no more of that hairy stuff. 

Do you have some recent pics of the tank?, would love to see how it looks now everything has cleared up

 

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