Hi! 1.5mo IM 30L (build thread) currently experiencing an algae bloom.
I started it with Fritz Turbo 9000 and parameters have been very even. Doing 10% biweekly water changes.
We were out over the weekend and when I got back (having done 10% water change and very light substrate surface siphon the Friday we left) the water was quite cloudy compared to how it had been. This was true in this tank and the QT tank I still have a zoa isolated in (which also turned green). I did move the second AI prime light onto it from the QT tank on that Friday as well because I was moving in 2 zoas from the QT, and thought the chalice might want more light as well (it's on the far end).
There was also a big bloom of brown spots that the CUC is not touching. They look maroon under the blue light but turn brown under white light, which also reveals some rainbowy algaes -- bright green, yellow, etc. And increasingly over the past couple of days a "fuzz" type algae has started.
One of my two ninja star snails died. The ceriths seem completely fine. One astrea is acting a bit weird. Ceriths, turbos, and hermits all seem fine. But they don't appear to be touching this stuff, whereas previously I've had brown diatom blooms that they've mowed down in short order. The ninja stars had laid eggs a couple of weeks ago. Don't know whether to be concerned by the one death. I do have pretty deep (1.5-2") sand in anticipation of a pistol shrimp arriving this weekend with a yasha goby.
I had some sporadic thready things I'm pretty sure are dinos, and now they seem to be concentrated in my filter floss. I'm going to just pull out the floss that has them, unless there's a reason I shouldn't.
I did have chaeto in a back chamber that melted, probably lack of light -- but I had been thinking in a tank this young I shouldn't have it in there anyway (I got it as a pod habitat). I added one jar of Galaxy pods from algaebarn, but I hadn't acclimated them, so I wouldn't be surprised if none survived. I had been adding plankton daily/every other day, but stopped while we weren't home (obviously).
pH: 8.2
Nitrate: 0
Phosphate: 0
Ammonia: 0.25 (API -- I know)
kH: 150
Calc: 450
Inhabitants: RBTA (do we call the nexus BTAs "R"?), 2 small ocellaris clowns, 2 zoa frags, 1 neon green sinularia, 1 space invader chalice, 1 GSP, 1 extremely tiny lava lamp disco mushroom. CUC 2x astrea, 2x turbo, 1x ninja star snail (
), 5 dwarf ceriths, 2 blue-legged hermits, 1 red-legged hermit.
My main question is whether I should manually remove the algae. It doesn't seem to be collecting much on the glass, but has covered the back wall pretty thoroughly, is heavy on the rocks, and is also spreading on the sand.
I know there are mixed ideas about this, but I have a bottle of Microbacter 7 I was going to start -- but with phosphate and nitrate 0 I'm wondering if there's anything for it to do. I've read of folks having good results dosing phosphate and nitrate when adding the bacteria -- though the bottle doesn't say to do that and I'm inclined not to throw stuff in the tank artificially. But will the microbacter be effective without anything detectable to work on?
Feeding clowns flake food daily, gave corals some reef roids last week before cleaning the tank. Had given the BTA some about a week ago which it was VERY enthusiastic about.
My plan is:
- change carbon -- it's been a month
- brush off the algae, siphon, water change
- start microbacter
- figure out why the ATO isn't working
- order more pods
Should I do something different?
Thank you for any advice!
Here's a video of the fuzziness and motion of the algae: https://photos.app.goo.gl/tfyg1RXeuVPNkWZC7
Back wall:
Cloudiness:
Filter floss dinos:
Photobombers:
Substrate stuff:
I started it with Fritz Turbo 9000 and parameters have been very even. Doing 10% biweekly water changes.
We were out over the weekend and when I got back (having done 10% water change and very light substrate surface siphon the Friday we left) the water was quite cloudy compared to how it had been. This was true in this tank and the QT tank I still have a zoa isolated in (which also turned green). I did move the second AI prime light onto it from the QT tank on that Friday as well because I was moving in 2 zoas from the QT, and thought the chalice might want more light as well (it's on the far end).
There was also a big bloom of brown spots that the CUC is not touching. They look maroon under the blue light but turn brown under white light, which also reveals some rainbowy algaes -- bright green, yellow, etc. And increasingly over the past couple of days a "fuzz" type algae has started.
One of my two ninja star snails died. The ceriths seem completely fine. One astrea is acting a bit weird. Ceriths, turbos, and hermits all seem fine. But they don't appear to be touching this stuff, whereas previously I've had brown diatom blooms that they've mowed down in short order. The ninja stars had laid eggs a couple of weeks ago. Don't know whether to be concerned by the one death. I do have pretty deep (1.5-2") sand in anticipation of a pistol shrimp arriving this weekend with a yasha goby.
I had some sporadic thready things I'm pretty sure are dinos, and now they seem to be concentrated in my filter floss. I'm going to just pull out the floss that has them, unless there's a reason I shouldn't.
I did have chaeto in a back chamber that melted, probably lack of light -- but I had been thinking in a tank this young I shouldn't have it in there anyway (I got it as a pod habitat). I added one jar of Galaxy pods from algaebarn, but I hadn't acclimated them, so I wouldn't be surprised if none survived. I had been adding plankton daily/every other day, but stopped while we weren't home (obviously).
pH: 8.2
Nitrate: 0
Phosphate: 0
Ammonia: 0.25 (API -- I know)
kH: 150
Calc: 450
Inhabitants: RBTA (do we call the nexus BTAs "R"?), 2 small ocellaris clowns, 2 zoa frags, 1 neon green sinularia, 1 space invader chalice, 1 GSP, 1 extremely tiny lava lamp disco mushroom. CUC 2x astrea, 2x turbo, 1x ninja star snail (
), 5 dwarf ceriths, 2 blue-legged hermits, 1 red-legged hermit.My main question is whether I should manually remove the algae. It doesn't seem to be collecting much on the glass, but has covered the back wall pretty thoroughly, is heavy on the rocks, and is also spreading on the sand.
I know there are mixed ideas about this, but I have a bottle of Microbacter 7 I was going to start -- but with phosphate and nitrate 0 I'm wondering if there's anything for it to do. I've read of folks having good results dosing phosphate and nitrate when adding the bacteria -- though the bottle doesn't say to do that and I'm inclined not to throw stuff in the tank artificially. But will the microbacter be effective without anything detectable to work on?
Feeding clowns flake food daily, gave corals some reef roids last week before cleaning the tank. Had given the BTA some about a week ago which it was VERY enthusiastic about.
My plan is:
- change carbon -- it's been a month
- brush off the algae, siphon, water change
- start microbacter
- figure out why the ATO isn't working
- order more pods
Should I do something different?
Thank you for any advice!
Here's a video of the fuzziness and motion of the algae: https://photos.app.goo.gl/tfyg1RXeuVPNkWZC7
Back wall:
Cloudiness:
Filter floss dinos:
Photobombers:
Substrate stuff:
