Die Algae DIE....Dracarys!!!!!

JCRove06 · May 16, 2019

Ok so unfortunately I don’t have an iron born ocean going dragon with a thirst for pest algae. I have the next best thing. The internet and R2R where guys that are a lot smarter than me have been there, done that, and come out on the other side stronger.

I dosed a 50 gallon fluconazole treatment for my 40 gallon tank on 5.11.19 in the evening. So as of now it’s been 5 days. I’m not including 24 hours for the 11th because I dosed around 10:30. The thing is I’m not seeing white tips or much change.

I’ve read that fluconazole doesn’t affect coral, fish, and vertebrae which has been the case so far.

My question is...it’s day 5 can I dose another 50 gallon dose? This way I can hopefully nip this In the bud, do a big water change after/siphoning, and get all my carbon etc back in my filters.

AllSignsPointToFish · May 17, 2019

Seriously? Nutrient control. What skimmer to you have?

I totally skipped the "ugly" phase of my tank because I had an oversized skimmer and started carbon dosing very early.

AllSignsPointToFish · May 17, 2019

LOVE the marine betta, BTW!

Hemmdog · May 17, 2019

What did you seal those frags down with? Is that Bubble-Yum? Lol jk

Nice corals, grab some blue leg hermits, not sure about your elixirs.

JCRove06 · May 17, 2019

The frags are sealed with big league chew grape flavor. Jk (“Coraline” epoxy)

What elixirs are you referring to?

This project started with a 10gallon budget tank set up due to an x girlfriend wanting to keep some creatures I’d catch in my cast net. I was totally against it but she and I did “budget tank” research with some success. We upgraded to a 40 gallon (Craiglist special). Since then I have been off to the races buying coral fish etc. I’ve learned a lot over the last year and a half.

The filtration isn’t the best but my parameters are pretty much always on the money. I’m expecting a nitrate hike after (hopefully) all the algae dies. My research told me salt water tans can use HOB filters when double the volume is being cycled (gph of 80 essentially) I have a 50 and a 70 gallon fluvial with sponge, ceramic balls, and gfo.

Has anyone double the dose of Fluconazole with success?

JCRove06 · May 17, 2019

AllSignsPointToFish said:
LOVE the marine betta, BTW!

Thanks brotha! I waited a WHILE to get a big one. He’s a little bad ****. Here’s a couple pics.

laverda · May 17, 2019

A Canister filter will work on a fish only system with low lights. For a reef they are nothing but nitrate factories. They are great at removing stuff ( ditrus and excess food) from the water column, but all that stuff breaks down in the canister filter into nitrates and phosphates. The only way to use a canister filter suscesfully on a reef tank is to rinse out the media in saltwater every 3-4 days. No one does that. That is why you have an algae issue!
You will continue to have an issue unless you export the nutrients somehow. If you want to do it cheaply I suggest you build an ATS. You can put one in a HOB filter. Check out my ATS thread in the DIY forum for some ideas.

laverda · May 17, 2019

The only reason you parameters are on the money is because the algae is using the high nitrates and phosphates as a food source.

Hemmdog · May 17, 2019

JCRove06 said:
The frags are sealed with big league chew grape flavor. Jk (“Coraline” epoxy)

What elixirs are you referring to?

This project started with a 10gallon budget tank set up due to an x girlfriend wanting to keep some creatures I’d catch in my cast net. I was totally against it but she and I did “budget tank” research with some success. We upgraded to a 40 gallon (Craiglist special). Since then I have been off to the races buying coral fish etc. I’ve learned a lot over the last year and a half.

The filtration isn’t the best but my parameters are pretty much always on the money. I’m expecting a nitrate hike after (hopefully) all the algae dies. My research told me salt water tans can use HOB filters when double the volume is being cycled (gph of 80 essentially) I have a 50 and a 70 gallon fluvial with sponge, ceramic balls, and gfo.

Has anyone double the dose of Fluconazole with success?

Elixirs as in the fluconazole dosing, I was just being stupid, lol.

JCRove06 · May 17, 2019

I didn’t start having an Algae issue until about the last 3-4 months. Which coincides with target feeding coral if I think about it.

I’ll look into the ATI.

****Has anyone dosed more than the recommended dose for Fluconazole without any problems?*****

ngoodermuth · May 17, 2019

I don’t know about doubling the dose, but I would wait a little longer. It doesn’t work right away... it takes some time.

Edit. I just went back and looked (it’s been a while since I’d done this) it was around day 3 actually that the tips began turning white.

You don’t have anything that could be removing the medicine from the water column do you? Carbon, etc?

W1ngz · May 17, 2019

No experience doubling up the flucanozole, but have used the recommended dose to take care of some stubborn bryopsis and a patch of hair algae that was buried in the middle of a zoanthid colony.

In the first 7 days, what I had physically removed wasn't growing back.
In the 2nd week, what was green was starting to brown out and was easier to remove. Physical removal got me 75% of the way there. It also kept the nitrate spike under control.
Days 14-20, what was left seemed to vanish in patches overnight.

There are threads that describe this pretty accurately, and I observed the same thing that was already documented. Like everything else that relates to tanks, research, reading and patience get you where you want to be.

hatfielj · May 17, 2019

Do not use chemicals or antimicrobial medications to try to battle algae in a reef tank. You have a nutrient problem and those algae are simply opportunistic residents that are there to consume the nutrients on your rocks and in your water. Fluconazole is an antifungal medication developed for humans with fungal infections. It makes no sense to put it in a reef tank to fight algae. All you're doing is screwing up the ecology of your system by using that. Our tanks have to undergo a process known as succession, similar to how a bare field of dirt will go through various stages of growth and eventually become a forest if left alone for long enough. Our tanks do the same thing. We start with dead rock (most of the time) and various organisms have to settle in at different stages until eventually a sort of ecological homeostasis is reached and you have a mature tank.
Skim heavily, change your water often, use a turkey baster to blast your rock work regularly, increase the flow in your tank, add more snails, tangs, or other herbivores, consider growing chaeto in a remote fuge, and then, most important of all, be patient. Your tank will eventually be clean and growing coralline algae instead of the ugly stuff. Best of luck
BTW, I love the GOT reference, I chuckled a bit when I read your title

SDK · May 17, 2019

What do you have generating flow?

Also, can you define "on the money" with actual numbers? Very curious about your alk, NO3 and PO4 readings in particular....

JCRove06 · May 17, 2019

SDK said:
What do you have generating flow?

Also, can you define "on the money" with actual numbers? Very curious about your alk, NO3 and PO4 readings in particular....

I get 0’s for my ammonia, nitrite, 8.0 for ph, Nitrate from 0 to next lowest reading on api (I guess because algae doing a good job eating it all. ...I just started testing phosphate since I got a Hanna and the algae is a relatively new issue after having the tank closer to two years. Phosphate .05-.10

I test alk and calcium often. I had an issue with one doser so alk went down to 5 or 6 got up to 7-8 and increased dosing to target 9. Calcium 350 - 400ppm

ngoodermuth · May 17, 2019

.1 phosphate with the algae present is very high... I’d try to find the source of the phosphate.

Where do you get you water? RO/DI? How old are the filters? TDS?

SDK · May 17, 2019

What about flow?

You also have what looks like dinoflagellates, and your rockwork has the look I often see in tanks without enough flow.

Others may give different advice, but if that was my tank I would be looking to increase flow and balance out NO3 and PO4 (drop PO4 and raise N03 a bit). Then I would be manually removing algae/dinos and observing without adding any more meds for the time being. I would also consider:

1- Get the sponge out of the HOB filter unless you are pulling and cleaning it at least two or three times per week
2- Consider adding a HOB fuge or skimmer

Good luck and keep us posted

JCRove06 · May 17, 2019

That’s funny. I was actually looking at HOB fuges today. What looks like dinos? I thought that was when the sand bed was brown?

What’s the story wit removing the sponge? It collects nitrates and they have a little orgy there?

Tested phosphate just now and I’m at .12. I added another bag of gfo.

As far as FLOW I have two 800 gph powerheads. One is on 24/7 and the other is on/off throughout the day. The aqua clear 50 and 70 pump 200 and 300gph respectively.

I noticed my new and very expensive torch wasn’t look happy and neither is my frogspawn. I moved one frogspawn and the torch to my 13.5 tank that’s not being treated.

Thanks all for your help again.

SDK · May 17, 2019

You’re welcome and always glad to help. The brown slime with the bubbles trapped in them are dinoflagellates. They tend to form in areas of lower oxygen and water movement, which is why I asked about flow. If possible, try to direct your powerheads down into those areas and start reading up in the big Dino thread.

Sponges in high flow filters don’t remove nitrates. There is too much oxygenated water flowing through them for denitrification (nitrate removal) to occur. Same story with your ceramic balls.

In smaller tanks, you want to export nutrients before they break down into nitrates. This is essentially what skimmers and refugiums do. Pulling out the sponge a few times a week and cleaning it out also exports nutrients. This is where floss cups and filter socks have a convenience advantage. It’s a pain to pull sponges from a HOB filter. Depending on the model, you could just add rock rubble, chaeto and a light to your current HOB and turn it into a fuge. Then add bags of carbon or GFO as needed.

If you buy a separate HOB fuge, I would just pull the HOB filter altogether...