help this always happens :(

[KritikaL]

This is the second time this has happened..

Lemme start with what happened last time

i run full zeovit system i had great success with this on my old tank so i planned on using on new tank.

My new tank arrives, i filled it up with ro water added salt, and added my live rock.

The live rock was from old tank and was ok in old tank so thought it would be ok in new tank!

4 weeks into the tank being running, i started seeing some brown hair, the best way i can describe this is 3-4mm long brown string, that grow around .5cm away from each other.

The brown stuff just disintegrates when u touch it. I didn't notice any snail deaths and my snails actually do eat it. HOWEVER they could not eat it quick enough and it just grew back instantly.

it got so bad that i had to completely strip the tank down otherwise it risked killing everything in the tank. One thing i noticed in this tank is that my PH was constantly around 8.4

So anyways i stripped the tank and cleaned it massively as best as i could possibly do.

I then started again

New live rock i bought. And this time i used sand, and this time it ran a lot smoother and all was looking good until a couple of days ago, when i started seeing it again.

again my ph has gone up from 8.2 to 8.4 and again i'm starting to see this brown string on the sand, on the rocks, on my back wall.....

I may be paranoid, and this is just new tank syndrome... however I HATE THIS STUFF?! :/

Its cost me so much money already stripping the tank once.

This first picture is the brown stuff on my first attempt.

 

[KritikaL]

this is the stuff in my new tank

 

[KritikaL]

 

[gtbarsi]

Brown stuff looks like diatoms and that is 100% natural for a new tank to have a diatoms bloom.

 

[Ryan2428]

Let it ride out it is all part of the cycle

 

[J Rog]

Ya, its just cycling. Just try to keep it under control with your clean up crew but it will do that for a little bit..

 

[KritikaL]

i know neither of these pictures show the bubbles, but there are actually bubbles with it... :/ i will get a picture of that tomorrow when it grows back :S

 

[KritikaL]

nitrates are under 2ppm and phos has never gone above 0.015 the corals look good! really good infact, having no issues there, some look a little washed out but thats just expected at the moment. fish look happy my purple tang eats this stuff. but he can never eat enough of it, i wonder if another tang would help him out. Only problem is hes a vicious ******* and will probably kill any tang that goes in with him.

I keep adding snails i always see them grazing the rocks, but i'm gonna get a shed load of nasssarius snails and a black cucumber to see i they clean the sand.

 

[NanaReefer]

What salt are you using? I'm asking because I suffered the same issues with my new setup. Had to take some rock (all new reef saver rock) out and scrub it, removed about half pound of sand vacuuming it off my SB.

 

[KritikaL]

Reefers best salt mate

 

[Preyou]

While it is not one of the tests that people normally look at, your silica level may be on the high side. Diatoms feed on silica in the water column.

Do you use RO water for your system? If not, I would make the switch. Your water source may be the culprit.

 

[KritikaL]

Tested for silica got no reading even at night when whatever this is disappears!

 

[KritikaL]

Oh and yeah I use ro water after the first attempt I decided to change all filters bought new online Tds meter and everything all 0 :/

 

[Preyou]

Oh and yeah I use ro water after the first attempt I decided to change all filters bought new online Tds meter and everything all 0 :/

Cool... way to go.

Hmmm... if it disappears at night, then I do not think that it is diatom growth.... You got me there....

 

[CoralHut]

How long is your photoperiod?

 

[wangspeed]

Uh oh. If it disappears at night you are probably looking at dinoflagellates. Good luck. I just battled it myself. Hydrogen peroxide for a few weeks plus a 3 day complete blackout did it for me.

 

[KritikaL]

**** not again :/ it has to be the same thing again doesn't it :/

It really took over my last attempt, this time it hasn't been as bad but i can only see it progressing :/ i guess i've gotta do a 3 day blackout straight away and see if it does anything, problem is with corals in the tank :/

 

[KritikaL]

photoperiod is 12-8 with blue leds on 11-9

Its so weird, i dont understand it.:/ I understand the horrible stages new tanks go through, but this one is a weird one and i saw it completely take over my last tank.

But there are a few questions i need to have answered so i can actually distinguish whether this is dinos or not.

Do diatoms disappear at night? Mine disappear.

Do diatoms break into tiny particles? mine is like dust when i break it up.

Do diatoms have bubbles in at any time? Mine has SOME bubbles

 

[wangspeed]

Dinoflagellates is not a stage. Do some googling. Many a reefer has shutdown a tank due to them. Take no prisoners approach worked for me but I lost a lot of acros.

 

[KritikaL]

One thing I have found after testing everything I found that my skimmer pump a red dragon speedy 3 has been leaking voltage into my tank! Quite a lot too! Gave me a nasty shock just by luck I touched my light unit and the water at the same time and got a proper bad shock!

I also think this has been leaking tin into my water!

I don't know if there is a side affect of tin but it definitely has done something to my tank on both occasions! :/