Chrysophytes battle

[pboutin]

Day 3 - continued
Dosed 10 ml KN03 - back down to 10 ml after shutting off bioreactor
Dosed 40 ml of P2O5

Observations:
No big changes - corals starting to look worse (most likely due to no nitrates)

Changes:
I turned on my 40 watt UV
Turned on my GFO reactor
Turned off my bioreactor

I picked up a used H.O.T. Magnum canister filter and bought a new micron filter for it. Did not opt to by diatom earth to go with it yet.

Day 4
N03 measured at 0 - still at 0 even with bioreactor offline and a single dose of KN03
P04 measured at 0.08 - seems stable with the single dose of P2O5
Alk measured at 10 - down from 11 after turning on the GFO

Observations:
Coral health seems to remain the same
No noticeable changes in the Chrysophytes in the DT

I need to run back out to the LFS this morning as soon as they open to pick up my intake tube I left there last night. I would have cleaned last night had they not closed. Now I have to wait until 10am to pick it up. Maybe by noon i'll be able to clean

 

[reeferfoxx]

Not sure what you mean here... Only run it for 24 hours?

Yes. Only run fresh GFO for 24 hours. Idea is to remove silica and not all of your po4.

 

[pboutin]

Yes. Only run fresh GFO for 24 hours. Idea is to remove silica and not all of your po4.

OK i'll turn off the GFO after lunch that will be about 24 hours. If you see my post for todays updates my P04 has not dropped it seems to be stable.

 

[reeferfoxx]

OK i'll turn off the GFO after lunch that will be about 24 hours. If you see my post for todays updates my P04 has not dropped it seems to be stable.

Did you also clean out as much chryso as you could before GFO?

 

[reeferfoxx]

The exact food source for chryso ranges from nutrients to diatoms to bacteria and therefore difficult to determine. But like I said before, silica is a common source for it's cell wall. The idea is to remove chryso via canister or vacuum. Then run gfo for 24 hours. Then perform 20-25% waterchange.
If you forgot to do a step its not a problem. Just remove GFO, give 24 hours between going back online. In that time clean the chrysos out. Then once the 24 hour break period is up, turn gfo on for the last 24 hours. Followed by water change.

 

[mcarroll]

Right. Going from memory, within it's first 24 hours of activity it strongly binds Si...binding action on PO4 is slower or maybe even reduced at that time. (I can't recall that part for sure.)

So in other words use small quantities (no more than recommended) and replace it daily.

 

[pboutin]

Did you also clean out as much chryso as you could before GFO?

Nope... first i'm hearing of this method. Since I just now got all the parts to my filter I plan on cleaning at noon. I can replace GFO or wait until tomorrow to run it. Let me know.

Then run gfo for 24 hours. Then perform 20-25% waterchange.

I'll start making up 40 fresh gals of water for the change.

So in other words use small quantities (no more than recommended) and replace it daily.

I use BRS High capacity GFO and they recommend 1.25 cups for 160 gal. If I replace it daily wouldn't that mean going over my 24 hour period?

 

[reeferfoxx]

Nope... first i'm hearing of this method. Since I just now got all the parts to my filter I plan on cleaning at noon. I can replace GFO or wait until tomorrow to run it. Let me know.


I'll start making up 40 fresh gals of water for the change.


I use BRS High capacity GFO and they recommend 1.25 cups for 160 gal. If I replace it daily wouldn't that mean going over my 24 hour period?

No worries. Just just a little set back. I would just stop the GFO for now.

Focus on cleaning and removing chrysophytes, today.

Wait till tomorrow to put GFO back online. I would use fresh again since it can exhaust fairly quickly and running fresh GFO post cleaning is the most important task. So after you initiate GFO let it run 24 hours.

After 24 hours is up, take GFO offline. Then perform water change.

 

[pboutin]

After 24 hours is up, take GFO offline. Then perform water change.

Wouldn't the water change also introduce some silicates?

 

[mcarroll]

I use BRS High capacity GFO and they recommend 1.25 cups for 160 gal. If I replace it daily wouldn't that mean going over my 24 hour period?

Like I said that was from memory – I would suggest looking up the instructions. Lemme see.

 

[mcarroll]

Can't remember where I read it myself now....but using GFO 24/7 is fine, but you don't leave a single batch in longer than 24 hours. Still trying to find a link....

 

[reeferfoxx]

Wouldn't the water change also introduce some silicates?

Yes but you are looking at a minor amount compared to whats in your tank right now.

Think of it like this, all the chrysos have a silica wall or a metal wall, the GFO is like a magnet. You clean out the chrysos, whatever floats gets absorbed to the GFO, then follow up with a water change and you've just cleaned out 90-95% of all chryso.

 

[pboutin]

Silica
GFO is advertised to effectively remove silica, and testing confirms this. Silica is quickly and effectively reduced in concentration, as its concentration fell to below the detection limit of the testing device (in essence 'zero'). See Figure 11.



Figure 11. Silica concentrations fell to below the detection limit of the instrument (essentially zero) in less than 24 hours under the conditions of this experiment.

Also: "reactive phosphorus from total phosphorus, we find total phosphorus concentrations remain static. Total phosphorus is weakly, if at all, removed by GFO. This form of phosphorus is likely organically bound in suspended particles."

from
Aquarium Chemistry: Effects of GFO (Granular Ferric Oxide) on 'Trace' Metals Concentrations in Artificial Seawater
By Dana Riddle

 

[reeferfoxx]

Silica
GFO is advertised to effectively remove silica, and testing confirms this. Silica is quickly and effectively reduced in concentration, as its concentration fell to below the detection limit of the testing device (in essence 'zero'). See Figure 11.



Figure 11. Silica concentrations fell to below the detection limit of the instrument (essentially zero) in less than 24 hours under the conditions of this experiment.

Also: "reactive phosphorus from total phosphorus, we find total phosphorus concentrations remain static. Total phosphorus is weakly, if at all, removed by GFO. This form of phosphorus is likely organically bound in suspended particles."

from
Aquarium Chemistry: Effects of GFO (Granular Ferric Oxide) on 'Trace' Metals Concentrations in Artificial Seawater
By Dana Riddle

Yes! Glad you read that. But you are forgetting that chrysos make up the added % of silica. So that is why this is done in an order of operation.

 

[pboutin]

My reactor doesn't fit more than 2 cups of GFO so it will be 1/4 cup short... I don't think this will matter much however.
One more question...
Do I wait 24 hours before running fresh GFO after I clean the chrysos? as Matt said

using GFO 24/7 is fine, but you don't leave a single batch in longer than 24 hours.

 

[reeferfoxx]

My reactor doesn't fit more than 2 cups of GFO so it will be 1/4 cup short... I don't think this will matter much however.
One more question...
Do I wait 24 hours before running fresh GFO after I clean the chrysos? as Matt said

I thought about this. And because GFO impacts alk, I think it would be best to clean tank, then wait till next morning. That way you have all of the next day to monitor alk.

 

[reeferfoxx]

And I'm only suggesting it this way because you said you had SPS coral in the tank already. I would hate for you to lose live stock due to major swings in a short amount of time.

 

[reeferfoxx]

You also asked why the water change after GFO since fresh salt mix has silicates. The reason is because yes we've deplete a lot of silica and because its going to help remove more silicate and chrysos but we don't want to deplete the tank of silica entirely. There are benefits of silica and diatoms in reef aquaria.

 

[mcarroll]

Right....though I used a "whole can" of GFO, I think that was about 4-5 days of Si removal. And as I said, I couldn't tell whether it had an effect or not....even on alk.

Definitely watch alk just in case though. And maybe a single 24 hour treatment will do just as well vs the days of treatment I did.

I don't think this is a necessary step at all BTW, but I suspect it'll help things progress more quickly than if you didn't do it. Much like disturbing or removing the patches where it grows. Most of mine was not easily removable, so instead of removing them I most was just brushing them off of where I didn't want them.

Still worked.

The main and mandatory components of what you're doing are:

1. restoring and maintaining a normal nutrient situation, and
2. encouraging succession from chrys. to normal algae. That means everything except Bryosis and dino's are WELCOME.
3. time

FYI, everything else you do like these special GFO treatments, N or P dosing, siphoning, UV, diatom filtration, etc is in support of those items – but each is more or less optional.

 

[pboutin]

So I just finished cleaning my rocks... Good thing most of my corals were not glued down yet. I removed my rocks in favor of scrubbing them in a bucket of salt water. There were a few rocks I didn't remove as they had coral mounted on them. I took the brush and the intake tube of the filter and while keeping them close scrubbed those rocks. You know this stuff doesn't come off that easily! While in the bucket the water became so dirty you couldn't see what you are doing, so like shaving in a foggy mirror, I was feeling the rocks for slime as I scrubbed. The pump in the filter I got just was not that powerful. I'll leave the pump on the tank and run it for a while. I'll also change my filter pad later.

After I was done scrubbing I had to rescape my tank.

Here are some shots!