Jason's reef bowl

[Bluelobstor]

As promised it's small. What I could get almost looks more brownish than green and some of it is actually translucent or clear in color. Maybe because of the ammonia for it being clear? 

[natalia_la_loca]

 

 

It does look like GHA.

 

If it’s definitely active growing hair algae, I’d be worried that it’s something really resilient if it survived for a year on dry rocks. you could pull the rocks, scrape it off with a toothbrush or some other rasping tool, hit the scraped surface with peroxide, then return to the bowl. Turn out the light and cover the bowl up so it gets no more light while the cycle completes. Then add a small snail once there’s no detectable ammonia or nitrite.

 

[Bluelobstor]

Yeah, that's kind of what I thought. I did have a question. I don't mind pulling the rock out but I was wondering if I could just dose the tank with peroxide after the cycle is complete and let it sit for a day or two and then do a water change? Does peroxide kill the bacteria?

[geekreef_05]

Peroxide is an extreme solution for a couple tuffs of green hair algae. 

 

Assuming it grew that already and it's not algae that was just stuck on the rock for a year...

 

I recommend a quick toothbrushing of the rock once the tank cycles and a big water change. Then consider adding a few snails to start. 

 

No need to do anything right now. A couple tuffs of GHA isnt a huge deal. It will be back though. Keep that toothbrush handy and your snail population healthy 

[natalia_la_loca]

1 hour ago, Bluelobstor said:

Yeah, that's kind of what I thought. I did have a question. I don't mind pulling the rock out but I was wondering if I could just dose the tank with peroxide after the cycle is complete and let it sit for a day or two and then do a water change? Does peroxide kill the bacteria?

 

You absolutely could. The only negative is that the amount you would need to nuke any GHA could also stall your cycle (i.e., yes it would kill some bacteria). That said, since you’re just starting out, it really wouldn’t be a big deal as long as you’re willing to wait a little longer for the cycle to complete.

 

You don’t need to do a water change to get rid of the peroxide unless there are sensitive organisms that it would kill, which doesn’t apply here because you’ve just started cycling. (I’m not counting the bacteria because they will grow back.) The peroxide will quickly dissipate by itself. If it were me I’d dose some beneficial bacteria a couple days after a systemic peroxide treatment.

 

I would still wait until you’re sure it’s live GHA you’re dealing with, but I wouldn’t take it lightly in a reefbowl, especially if it’s turf algae. (ask me how I know lol)

 

 

[Bluelobstor]

2 hours ago, natalia_la_loca said:

 

You absolutely could. The only negative is that the amount you would need to nuke any GHA could also stall your cycle (i.e., yes it would kill some bacteria). That said, since you’re just starting out, it really wouldn’t be a big deal as long as you’re willing to wait a little longer for the cycle to complete.

 

You don’t need to do a water change to get rid of the peroxide unless there are sensitive organisms that it would kill, which doesn’t apply here because you’ve just started cycling. (I’m not counting the bacteria because they will grow back.) The peroxide will quickly dissipate by itself. If it were me I’d dose some beneficial bacteria a couple days after a systemic peroxide treatment.

 

I would still wait until you’re sure it’s live GHA you’re dealing with, but I wouldn’t take it lightly in a reefbowl, especially if it’s turf algae. (ask me how I know lol)

 

 

How do you know? Sorry I couldn't resist. I've learned to be patient and don't mind if cycle takes longer than normal. I pulled some off in order to get the sample so I'll see if it grows back. 

[Bluelobstor]

4 hours ago, geekreef_05 said:

Peroxide is an extreme solution for a couple tuffs of green hair algae. 

 

Assuming it grew that already and it's not algae that was just stuck on the rock for a year...

 

I recommend a quick toothbrushing of the rock once the tank cycles and a big water change. Then consider adding a few snails to start. 

 

No need to do anything right now. A couple tuffs of GHA isnt a huge deal. It will be back though. Keep that toothbrush handy and your snail population healthy 

Thanks for your input. I agree it's an extreme option but since nothing is in the tank right now this would be the perfect opportunity to try it. I know people use peroxide as a dip for coral with algae attached to frag plug. 

I'm 99.9% positive it is growing as I check the tank everyday and haven't noticed it before a couple days  ago and appears to be larger than the previous day. I'm sure it's from when the rock was in there last. I had to scrape a bunch off before adding to bowl.

 

@geekreef_05 If it is hair algae what snails will eat it? I dint think that there was any. 

[natalia_la_loca]

2 hours ago, Bluelobstor said:

How do you know? Sorry I couldn't resist. I've learned to be patient and don't mind if cycle takes longer than normal. I pulled some off in order to get the sample so I'll see if it grows back. 

I battled turf algae for years in the reefbowl. To be fair, you can (and I did) keep it very much at bay with regular spot treatments of peroxide. But it’s nice to get rid of it entirely if you can, and (assuming it’s growing) now is the best time to do it, when you can easily pull rocks, toothbrush them, and hit them from every angle. Way less easy to do once you have corals and inverts in there.

 

FYI the reason most clean-up crew don’t go after GHA or turf algae is that they’re built to eat biofilms and very short-growing algae, not the long filaments that GHA likes to develop. That’s why it’s good to rasp the algae off. Then paint on some peroxide to kill most of the remaining cells. And then the CUC has a smooth surface to eat any stragglers and keep it clean long term. 

[Bluelobstor]

5 hours ago, natalia_la_loca said:

But it’s nice to get rid of it entirely if you can, and (assuming it’s growing) now is the best time to do it, when you can easily pull rocks, toothbrush them, and hit them from every angle. Way less easy to do once you have corals and inverts in there.

You are right, it would be a lot easier to deal with it now rather than later. I think I will get a toothbrush and scrape it off the rock everywhere and then once it cycle is completed I think I'll do a peroxide dip for the rock to maybe kill any remaining algae that I might have missed, rinse it and then go from there. 

[Bluelobstor]

So I have a question about this cycle. If ammonia is getting converted to nitrite and nitrite to nitrates shouldn't ammonia and nitrite be going down?

[geekreef_05]

On 2/21/2024 at 8:33 PM, Bluelobstor said:

Thanks for your input. I agree it's an extreme option but since nothing is in the tank right now this would be the perfect opportunity to try it. I know people use peroxide as a dip for coral with algae attached to frag plug. 

I'm 99.9% positive it is growing as I check the tank everyday and haven't noticed it before a couple days  ago and appears to be larger than the previous day. I'm sure it's from when the rock was in there last. I had to scrape a bunch off before adding to bowl.

 

@geekreef_05 If it is hair algae what snails will eat it? I dint think that there was any. 

Snails will definately eat it. Same with urchins.  BUT as mentioned by others the caveat is that it must be super short. Like a freshly buzzed head on a new army recruit, its gotta be super short. 

 

So the trick is to brush off portions of rock prior to a water change and place a couple snails right on it when the water change is complete. 

[natalia_la_loca]

2 hours ago, Bluelobstor said:

So I have a question about this cycle. If ammonia is getting converted to nitrite and nitrite to nitrates shouldn't ammonia and nitrite be going down?

Theoretically, but it can be a little wonky, especially early in the cycle.

[Bluelobstor]

5 hours ago, geekreef_05 said:

Snails will definately eat it. Same with urchins.  BUT as mentioned by others the caveat is that it must be super short. Like a freshly buzzed head on a new army recruit, its gotta be super short. 

 

So the trick is to brush off portions of rock prior to a water change and place a couple snails right on it when the water change is complete. 

Thanks, that's good to know. I love urchins but there isn't a lot of room for one so I'll stick to snails.

[Bluelobstor]

4 hours ago, natalia_la_loca said:

Theoretically, but it can be a little wonky, especially early in the cycle.

Okie dokie. The test kits don't make it any easier either. I'm sure the API tests are accurate, but they're not very precise. Nitrates are climbing so I know it is cycling. I need to get some more bacteria. 

I haven't added any ammonia in a couple days but the nitrite looks high and was suggested not to let it go over 5ppm as it can kill bacteria. API kit goes from 2ppm to 5ppm with nothing in between and there isn't a lot of color difference. See photo below.

[Bluelobstor]

I did a water test today and ammonia was 0 but nitrite was still pretty high and nitrates were really high at 80-160ppm, test kit doesn't read in between. The cycle should, hopefully, be getting close to the end. I added a little extra ammonia today to see if the ammonia would stay 0 and I added some more bacteria.

[Bluelobstor]

I am hoping I can get some people's input on what to put in this bowl. I am having a hard time deciding if I want to make it a themed bowl or a mixed bowl. 

By a themed tank it could be a Zoa garden, gonipora garden, only polyps, a soft coral bowl, LPS only, SPS only, acropora only, or something else.

A concern that I have has to do with the aggressiveness of corals, mainly sweeper tentacles. 

 

[Bluelobstor]

Has anyone ever tried a maxi mini anemone or a RFA in these bowls? I'm wondering if they would do well with the large water changes and being out of the water. They don't get very big so I'm thinking of trying one or the other. 

 

Bowl still hasn't cycled yet. The ammonia drops to 0 but the nitrites haven't gone down much if any yet. I'm on vacation right now and hoping they will be down to 0 when I get back.

 

TIA Jason