schaferfred Posted October 29, 2004 Author Share Posted October 29, 2004 Test kits are only 5 months old and yes my LFS confirmed my readings like I said in the post before yours. Thank you for the suggestions. 1.) Sticking with the Tropic Marin for now since Catalina may have contributed to the problem. 2.) I will do this 3.) LOL If I feed any less they will starve. I am now feeding everyother day a pinch that they consume in about a minute 4.) Definitely will do this. 5.) I will turn off the moonlight for now. As well I am tearing apart tonite, blowing off the live rock in a bucket, removing the top layer of sand, and going to try this guys suggestions in the following link. http://www.homereef.com/reference/diatoms.html Seems pretty informative. Thanks Cameron, I appreciate it Link to comment
fungia Posted October 29, 2004 Share Posted October 29, 2004 "Fungia- why would public aquariums use it if their tanks would end up looking as nasty as mine" Public aquariums usually put ozone directly on the system- through the protein skimmer, or a special contact chamber. This results in very high water quality- and the water is a beautiful, clear blue color. It's used, as I said before, as a way to remove organics and bacteria from NASTY animals like birds and mammals. Some reef aquarists will use ozone in their protein skimmers to remove yellowing compounds and toxins- similar to activated carbon. Your situation is different, because your tank is not treated with ozone, your makeup water is. Link to comment
fungia Posted October 29, 2004 Share Posted October 29, 2004 One more thing- we're all speculating that these are diatoms, but in looking at your pic, they might be dinoflaggelates. Diatoms show up as a fine dusting of golden brown on everything, including the windows. Dinoflaggelates show up as brown stringy masses with oxygen bubbles trapped within them. They spread faster than diatoms, are not caused by silica, and are a notorious PITA to get rid of. Which do you think you have? Diatoms or Dinoflaggelates. Link to comment
schaferfred Posted October 29, 2004 Author Share Posted October 29, 2004 There are no air bubbles and it's the same type of algae I first had when the tank was establishing so I would tend to say diatom. I am going to do a major overhaul tonite to try and get a hold on this. No more Mr. nice guy. I am going to try and remove as much as I can without much of it being released back into the tank water. I think it is slowly killing my xenia and hitchiker polyps that I have. Thanks Fungia Link to comment
Withers Posted October 29, 2004 Share Posted October 29, 2004 Dinoflaggelates show up as brown stringy masses with oxygen bubbles trapped within them. They spread faster than diatoms, are not caused by silica, and are a notorious PITA to get rid of. damn i think i might be having a dinoflaggelate outbreak instead of a diatom outbreak. oh well. Link to comment
spectre Posted October 29, 2004 Share Posted October 29, 2004 that pic is definitely diatoms. nutrients or water.. one or both is the problem. I would check your source water for silicates and phosphates.. Link to comment
Cameron Posted October 29, 2004 Share Posted October 29, 2004 Its unfortunate that you got a bad bag of Catalina, I won't use anything else anymore. I haven't had any algae problems since I started using it, and my critters seem to be healthier now. ( I don't work for them, I just LOVE the stuff ) Link to comment
schaferfred Posted October 30, 2004 Author Share Posted October 30, 2004 Okay I just took all the live rock out and blew the diatoms off, scraped the walls rinsing the sponge after every pass, took the top layer of sand off and discarded, changed about 4.5 gallons of water, and added some new CellPharm Phosphate and Silicate Out to the media container of my skimmer. Started at 6:30 and just got done at 9:15. I will post pics tomorrow after everything settles down. Found an empty cerith snail shell under a rock. I guess my hitchhiker crab got him before I rid the tank of the crab about 1 month ago. Seems all my dwarf blue legs have come to life again as I haven't seen them moving around for 1 1/2 monthsor so. I hope and pray I will get a handle on this. Link to comment
aggiereefer Posted October 30, 2004 Share Posted October 30, 2004 its cheap easy and works quick freshwater maracyn it owns cyano just follow the dosage rules Link to comment
yoshiod9 Posted October 30, 2004 Share Posted October 30, 2004 flat out...YOU NEED TO TEST FOR PHOSPHATE/SILICATES. wasting money on stuff you're not sure if you need is ridiculous in my book. if you do end up having phosphate in the water(which i am sure you will since you feed your tank wayyyy too often.....i had the same problem awhile back) go buy a product called rowaphos. it is the best phosphate remover on the market because it takes out huge amounts of phosphate within a day and it will not leach phosphate back into the water, so you can leave the rowaphos in indefinetly. i'm not too sure that you would have silica problems though.....if you did it would be introduced though your top off water. honestly, this sounds like nothing more than a phosphate problem. removing the top layer of sand isn't gonna do anything for you. if you have the high nutrient load in your water, the diatoms will come back. so go buy a test kit for phosphate and make sure that you get a high quality phosphate remover or that you remember to take out the used product asap(if you choose to use a cheaper remover). go buy a test kit! =) good luck Link to comment
schaferfred Posted October 30, 2004 Author Share Posted October 30, 2004 Wait a minute yoshiod9 everywhere I go I am being told that silicate is the cause of diatoms. Check this link that I posted earlier. http://www.homereef.com/reference/diatoms.html I live in a crap hole town and there is not one place here that sells phosphate or silicate test kits (I get the "We can order it"), so I have to order online. Our local water company doesn't even test our water for silicates or phosphates so they could not help me as well. Like I said I added CellPharm Phosphate and Silicate Out to my media basket. I know this will not go away in a day but may take weeks. I removed the "top layer of sand" as to remove any excess algae instead of it rotting the tank even more. Link to comment
yoshiod9 Posted October 31, 2004 Share Posted October 31, 2004 oh balls....that really sucks about the test kit man! lol. you know what i just realized when i looked at the link you posted?? i, for the oddest reason, thought that diatoms were the red slime algae(bacteria), cyano, and not the BROWN diatoms. lol. sooooooo sorry, but look online for a specific mechanical filtration(either phos or sili....since i would bet they work faster if you had just one, rather than a mix of the two.) keep us posted on what happens..... oh yeah, i would bet that going to distilled water from a grocery store or walmart would help out a bunch! just make sure to use a buffer to get the water ph up the the correct levels! that's what i use(purple label distilled from walmart) and haven't had a problem since i had the phosphate problem with my tapwater tank! =) good luck again! Link to comment
schaferfred Posted October 31, 2004 Author Share Posted October 31, 2004 Thanks yoshiod9. I found a place in Toledo that can test it for me (1 hour away though). Link to comment
schaferfred Posted November 1, 2004 Author Share Posted November 1, 2004 Have only left lights on for 9 hours a day for last two days and this morning there are no diatoms on the sand but the water is a little cloudy and has a brownish tint. Is this the diatoms dying and becoming suspended in the water? Will my skimmer clear this up? Waiting for my test kits still!! Link to comment
schaferfred Posted November 2, 2004 Author Share Posted November 2, 2004 Well the water cleared up and some of the diatoms settled, but substantially less than what there was. I am going to do another water change tonight and see if that helps even more. I will also do before and after photos. Since it is clearing and if I do a water change and it gets even better than my topoff and water change water should be okay. I am still waiting for the kits to test phosphate and silicate. Link to comment
yoshiod9 Posted November 2, 2004 Share Posted November 2, 2004 good news man!!! hopefully it clears up soon! Link to comment
schaferfred Posted November 2, 2004 Author Share Posted November 2, 2004 Thanks.....keep your fingers crossed for me. Like I said I will snap a couple photos this evening (before and after clean up). Also it seems that my xenia is perking back up. Link to comment
spllbnd2 Posted November 13, 2004 Share Posted November 13, 2004 What brand of test kits are you using? IMO Salifert is the best of the best. That is all I use and both my LFS use to test water. Also what are you using for phosphate removal ? Personally I would start with using a quality test kit and premium media (activated carbon and p04 removal media). Salifert test kits, ROWAphos media and Premium activated carbon Try LFS if not then www.reefgeek.com excellent pricing and customer service. Link to comment
pyrotech Posted November 25, 2004 Share Posted November 25, 2004 We have been talking alot about your top off water which could be the problem with out a doubt, but at the same time I have often used straight well water in florida and never had much of any problem with algae blooms except when upgrading my lights. One question I would like to ask is What are you feeding your fish, since that can be a very big problem, if you are feeding improperly. Another thing you have to remeber is your tank is only cycled to the bioload that you have in it at any one time, most the time you can add one or two small fish with out much of a problem but if you did not have a bio load during your cycling process then it would not fully start until you actualy put fish in it. That is why some people will event tell you to put a small peice of shrimp in your tank to help add to the bioload. Their are all kinds of ideas out their, and some may work some may not, but the best way to do things is the way mother nature does. I found when I upgraded to my pc to MH lighting the algae went out of control, bought a sand sifting starfish and the problem went away, dont expect a instant change no matter what you do, that is not natural, just relax and let nature take its course. The more you mess with things the worse things will get. I have kept tanks with nothing more then a airstone and had good luck with ricordea, and several sps. Good Luck Link to comment
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