Hey everyone....
Dealing with a pretty stupid (IMO) issue the last two months or so. Acro dominated tank with a Euphyllia garden. The tank has been up a year and a half about.
I put in frag racks with tiles for the acros to grow on. Was pretty smooth sailing for the 8 months they've been in there. Having issues with a piece here and there, but mostly am starting to grow out big acro colonies.
A couple months back I started dosing some products, mainly phyto and oyster feast. I also upped my Iron dosage as it was near undetectable on ICPs and I was concerned about acro tissue health (I know iron plays an important role in filamentous algae...) I noticed some pretty nice results actually (IMO), polyp extension seemed much better in most pieces. However, this was followed by a hair algae plague on the frag tiles that I just haven't been able to kick. The hair algae will just overtake entire tiles and literally smother acros. Now... I think the root causes are that:
1) I inadequately cycled the tiles
2) Dosed food products too quick with inadequate export
3) Potentially iron just fueled the fire
I stopped adding anything to the tank livestock-wise, and halted on all the food products except the fish food I feed (spirulina mysis/brine). I also changed carbon (IDK if this does jack for this issue tbh), started skimming a bit wetter, and began monitoring nutrients a bit closer. I was surprised to find my Nitrates bottoming out with PO4 at like .05-.08 (Hanna). So, also in the last two weeks I have gone back to closely eyeing nutrients and maintaining the "redfield ratio" (now my PO4 measures around .01-.02, nitrates 1-5). Again, I'm very open minded to the fact that none of this is the correct route to tackle this issue.
So where am I at now...? Every 3 days I'm going in with a dang toothbrush and scrubbing the crap out of all my tiles. It's working in the short-term, but it's a pain in the butt and there's gotta be a better way... It's very problematic for small frags/digitatas though, due to their growth pattern, like the filamentous algae seems to be really bothering them. Unfortunately, this algae has already killed a couple acros = /
Tank info:
125G 60" x 24" x 20.5"
2 clowns, 2 tangs, 2 wrasses, diamond goby, lawnmower blenny, midas blenny
2 urchins
I can see lots of different snails (trochus, turbo), but IDK if I need a restock, I have humored this idea.
Parameters:
ICP from 11/15 (I had the issue amidst this test, this is MS Oceamo ICP):
I'd be surprised if my parameters have since significantly deviated from the above, save Iron (due to higher dosage) and Iodine (due to carbon).
Temp: 78-79
PH: 8.5-8.75
Tried to provide as much info as possible. I'd appreciate any broad thoughts on the situation. Basically, I think my issue is adequately exporting the crap that is fueling all this hair algae. But also shifting the habitat in my tank so the acros can out-compete all that algae.... Seems like the issue is just getting worse. I also always appreciate any broad thoughts or advice on SPS in general given my parameters/actions above.
Picture of the problem (I'll try to take better ones, this was the only one on my phone):
Picture of acro section days before hair algae disaster:
As you can see - it's not all doom and gloom. I'm just trying to stay on top of issues. Thanks everyone.
Dealing with a pretty stupid (IMO) issue the last two months or so. Acro dominated tank with a Euphyllia garden. The tank has been up a year and a half about.
I put in frag racks with tiles for the acros to grow on. Was pretty smooth sailing for the 8 months they've been in there. Having issues with a piece here and there, but mostly am starting to grow out big acro colonies.
A couple months back I started dosing some products, mainly phyto and oyster feast. I also upped my Iron dosage as it was near undetectable on ICPs and I was concerned about acro tissue health (I know iron plays an important role in filamentous algae...) I noticed some pretty nice results actually (IMO), polyp extension seemed much better in most pieces. However, this was followed by a hair algae plague on the frag tiles that I just haven't been able to kick. The hair algae will just overtake entire tiles and literally smother acros. Now... I think the root causes are that:
1) I inadequately cycled the tiles
2) Dosed food products too quick with inadequate export
3) Potentially iron just fueled the fire
I stopped adding anything to the tank livestock-wise, and halted on all the food products except the fish food I feed (spirulina mysis/brine). I also changed carbon (IDK if this does jack for this issue tbh), started skimming a bit wetter, and began monitoring nutrients a bit closer. I was surprised to find my Nitrates bottoming out with PO4 at like .05-.08 (Hanna). So, also in the last two weeks I have gone back to closely eyeing nutrients and maintaining the "redfield ratio" (now my PO4 measures around .01-.02, nitrates 1-5). Again, I'm very open minded to the fact that none of this is the correct route to tackle this issue.
So where am I at now...? Every 3 days I'm going in with a dang toothbrush and scrubbing the crap out of all my tiles. It's working in the short-term, but it's a pain in the butt and there's gotta be a better way... It's very problematic for small frags/digitatas though, due to their growth pattern, like the filamentous algae seems to be really bothering them. Unfortunately, this algae has already killed a couple acros = /
Tank info:
125G 60" x 24" x 20.5"
2 clowns, 2 tangs, 2 wrasses, diamond goby, lawnmower blenny, midas blenny
2 urchins
I can see lots of different snails (trochus, turbo), but IDK if I need a restock, I have humored this idea.
Parameters:
ICP from 11/15 (I had the issue amidst this test, this is MS Oceamo ICP):
I'd be surprised if my parameters have since significantly deviated from the above, save Iron (due to higher dosage) and Iodine (due to carbon).
Temp: 78-79
PH: 8.5-8.75
Tried to provide as much info as possible. I'd appreciate any broad thoughts on the situation. Basically, I think my issue is adequately exporting the crap that is fueling all this hair algae. But also shifting the habitat in my tank so the acros can out-compete all that algae.... Seems like the issue is just getting worse. I also always appreciate any broad thoughts or advice on SPS in general given my parameters/actions above.
Picture of the problem (I'll try to take better ones, this was the only one on my phone):
Picture of acro section days before hair algae disaster:
As you can see - it's not all doom and gloom. I'm just trying to stay on top of issues. Thanks everyone.