ReefCheef
Active Member
Flucanozol will completely remove the bryopsis. I spelled it wrong because I’m driving but wanted to get you the info asap. GHA youre gonna have to feed less or filter more.
hope this helps. You can overcome it
I'm going insane
- Thread starter Ro Bow
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hope this helps. You can overcome it
Chrisv.
2500 Club Member
Your nitrate and phosphate are low because of the abundance of hair algae.
Dumping more nitrate or phosphate into this tank would be putting gasoline on a fire.
This is NOT cause by too low no3 or po4.
Decrease light. Consider a substantial blackout. It looks like you have few if any corals that would be impacted.
Treat that algae directly and then treat your hidden nutrient issue. Limit growth with decreased light. Manually remove. Add more CUC. Feed much less. Add chemipure blue BEFORE you do this, so that when the algae dies off and the nutrients rear their ugly head, you're on top of it from the beginning. Consider Dr Tim's waste away and refresh.
Dumping more nitrate or phosphate into this tank would be putting gasoline on a fire.
This is NOT cause by too low no3 or po4.
Decrease light. Consider a substantial blackout. It looks like you have few if any corals that would be impacted.
Treat that algae directly and then treat your hidden nutrient issue. Limit growth with decreased light. Manually remove. Add more CUC. Feed much less. Add chemipure blue BEFORE you do this, so that when the algae dies off and the nutrients rear their ugly head, you're on top of it from the beginning. Consider Dr Tim's waste away and refresh.
Chrisv.
2500 Club Member
sorry if I seem impatient here, I'm in 8th grade and am stressed because of the tank. Sorry
Also, cool that you're doing this in 8th grade. I started my first reef in 7th grade. I still have some of the Tonga branch from that tank in my current reef, more than two dozen years later.
jimk60
Well-Known Member
I agree. Raising your nitrates and phosphate at this point will only make it worse. Vibrant will help you out but there's a whole thread on the dangers of that.
monkeyCmonkeyDo
7500 Club Member
I have to come back and read all this.
My 100g I added 100 or 200 ceriths.
20 nerite
12-16 top crown snails
3 pencil urchins
2 bristle stars
Gha is gone.
I'd like to know your filtration and flow too. Ur on a wc schedule?
Thxs
D
My 100g I added 100 or 200 ceriths.
20 nerite
12-16 top crown snails
3 pencil urchins
2 bristle stars
Gha is gone.
I'd like to know your filtration and flow too. Ur on a wc schedule?
Thxs
D
monkeyCmonkeyDo
7500 Club Member
BTW don't go insane. Go sane
... lol
D
... lol
D
It is not worthwhile obsessing about a fish tank when you are young. Are your parents reacting to the tank or how it is affecting you?
Any box of water that has living things from the sea is successful IMHO.
The tank will grow things based on the conditions you make. Learning to change the conditions to get what you expect may take a long time. There is no A+B+C always equals X here. This forum is full of threads were 2 people do the same thing and get opposite results.
If you enjoy learning to make it work you will have a rewarding life long hobby and everybody does this at their own speed.
Almost 100% of the time I see people here get a bare tank and stick reef lighting on it. This is going to result in an algae filled tank almost 100% of the time. If you put the tank somewhere where it gets some ambient light you could fight algae forever.
Most advice on here fixates on water chemistry. That is only 1/3 of what you need to think about. Lighting and water movement are just as important.
I am on another forum for RC cars. It is the same on there. You have to fiddle with them and fix them all the time.
You cant expect to just switch them on and go except when they are brand new. Not even then sometimes.
Many people quit once the new breaks.
Any box of water that has living things from the sea is successful IMHO.
The tank will grow things based on the conditions you make. Learning to change the conditions to get what you expect may take a long time. There is no A+B+C always equals X here. This forum is full of threads were 2 people do the same thing and get opposite results.
If you enjoy learning to make it work you will have a rewarding life long hobby and everybody does this at their own speed.
Almost 100% of the time I see people here get a bare tank and stick reef lighting on it. This is going to result in an algae filled tank almost 100% of the time. If you put the tank somewhere where it gets some ambient light you could fight algae forever.
Most advice on here fixates on water chemistry. That is only 1/3 of what you need to think about. Lighting and water movement are just as important.
I am on another forum for RC cars. It is the same on there. You have to fiddle with them and fix them all the time.
You cant expect to just switch them on and go except when they are brand new. Not even then sometimes.
Many people quit once the new breaks.
HuduVudu
2500 Club Member
@DweltAlloy you need to stop judging others outsides with your insides. People only post when they are having success. This is the nature of social media. If you want to be one of the people that posts like this then you need to follow your parents advice because you are doing this for the wrong reasons.
I started out with an undergravel filter in ten gallon tank. This was converted from a freshwater when I was 13 years old. My first fish, that didn't last long because I was ignorant, was a Niger Trigger. I loved that fish. His name was Twiggy. We didn't have social media then and there was no one to see the tank. I had the tank because I loved salt water fish.
Things change and we grow in our understanding of how the tanks work. This is an iterative process and is NOT guaranteed. If you are looking for a known path then freshwater is where you need to be. Hilariously even at the higher levels of the freshwater hobby the path is a lot like salt water.
If you are frustrated and want out then, do it. You didn't fail, you learned and that is far more important than any accolades on some social media site that no one cares that you are a part of. Continuing on when you haven't digested the lessons that were learned just muddies them and creates enormous frustration.
I started out with an undergravel filter in ten gallon tank. This was converted from a freshwater when I was 13 years old. My first fish, that didn't last long because I was ignorant, was a Niger Trigger. I loved that fish. His name was Twiggy. We didn't have social media then and there was no one to see the tank. I had the tank because I loved salt water fish.
Things change and we grow in our understanding of how the tanks work. This is an iterative process and is NOT guaranteed. If you are looking for a known path then freshwater is where you need to be. Hilariously even at the higher levels of the freshwater hobby the path is a lot like salt water.
If you are frustrated and want out then, do it. You didn't fail, you learned and that is far more important than any accolades on some social media site that no one cares that you are a part of. Continuing on when you haven't digested the lessons that were learned just muddies them and creates enormous frustration.
JumboShrimp
5000 Club Member
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- Aug 12, 2018
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Start over. Apply all that you have learned to your ‘new’ venture.
Last edited:
sixty_reefer
5000 Club Member
As I see it:
the current parameters in this tank are way to low, even if theoretically the invasive algae was using the nutrient, more nutrients need to be added to keep the overall balance in the tank.
I would advice at this point to do the following to remove all those organic that have settled in the sand bed and rocks that will be producing ammonia and feed the algae.
You can use tap water for the following procedure.
• Remove all the rock work and give it a deep scrub.
Use tick rubber gloves during this step many things can happen wend dealing with live rock from bacterial infections to bristle worms, be very careful during this step.
• Give the sand bed a good wash until you see the water clean.
Again use ppe if you don’t know what is living in your sand bed.
Once a initial clean is done you will have to take new steps going forward.
• Refill the tank using only 10% of the old tank water
• Make your sand bed more thin this will avoid the build up of organics in the sand bed, try and vac the sand bed from here forward with every water change you do.
Giving a good blast to the rock work before a water change is also a good practice to keep detritus away from the tank.
• Run a good quality granular activated carbon at list once a month for the next few months to remove organics from the water column, this organics can aid the algae growth by changing the light spectrum to a more yellow that will be beneficial to pest algae photo
• Nutrient, you will need to raise your nutrients to a minimum of 5 nitrates and 0.5 phosphates and try and keep those number stable even if you see the algae coming back you shouldn't lower your nutrients this will always give you more bad than good outcomes. For this I normally prefer artificial sources of nutrients that are tailored to allow the beneficial bacteria to thrive. Adding just random amounts of food in hope that the nutrients will raise is not a good practice imo.
• Do a recount of cuc and add more if needed.
Overall don’t get discouraged almost everything can be achieved in this hobby with some patience and enthusiasm.
the current parameters in this tank are way to low, even if theoretically the invasive algae was using the nutrient, more nutrients need to be added to keep the overall balance in the tank.
I would advice at this point to do the following to remove all those organic that have settled in the sand bed and rocks that will be producing ammonia and feed the algae.
You can use tap water for the following procedure.
• Remove all the rock work and give it a deep scrub.
Use tick rubber gloves during this step many things can happen wend dealing with live rock from bacterial infections to bristle worms, be very careful during this step.
• Give the sand bed a good wash until you see the water clean.
Again use ppe if you don’t know what is living in your sand bed.
Once a initial clean is done you will have to take new steps going forward.
• Refill the tank using only 10% of the old tank water
• Make your sand bed more thin this will avoid the build up of organics in the sand bed, try and vac the sand bed from here forward with every water change you do.
Giving a good blast to the rock work before a water change is also a good practice to keep detritus away from the tank.
• Run a good quality granular activated carbon at list once a month for the next few months to remove organics from the water column, this organics can aid the algae growth by changing the light spectrum to a more yellow that will be beneficial to pest algae photo
• Nutrient, you will need to raise your nutrients to a minimum of 5 nitrates and 0.5 phosphates and try and keep those number stable even if you see the algae coming back you shouldn't lower your nutrients this will always give you more bad than good outcomes. For this I normally prefer artificial sources of nutrients that are tailored to allow the beneficial bacteria to thrive. Adding just random amounts of food in hope that the nutrients will raise is not a good practice imo.
• Do a recount of cuc and add more if needed.
Overall don’t get discouraged almost everything can be achieved in this hobby with some patience and enthusiasm.
jimk60
Well-Known Member
Expecting this tank to be cleaned up in three weeks with a clean up crew and a blenny is totally unrealistic in my opinion. Lots of good advice here on how to clean it up realistically!
BanjoBandito
Valuable Member
Rip cleans will set you back to a manageable space, but unless you understand the WHY it'll just keep happening. Also, most of us are insane in this hobby. Comes with the territory. Do you know anyone local to you that is into reefing? A local reef club? Find someone who has a tank you want and ask them how they did it. This hobby is full of people who think they know, but the real OGs will drop everything to help you. If you need help message me. I think we've all had a "mess of a tank" at some point in our careers. Be lucky you are getting it out of the way early!
chadfish
Active Member
Freshwater is no easier. Use Reef Flux. It will kill the briopsis and beat back the gha. Follow the directions carefully. It works great.
Then in the future cut back on nutrients and plan for more nutrient export (skimming wetter, refugium, and/or water changes)
this is an easy fix. You’ll be fine, you’re doing great.
OP
OP
Ro Bow
Valuable Member
Here's my thoughts and I have to apologize in advance as I haven't had time to read through everything here. First, be patient. Second, don't stress out, or at least don't make decisions based on feeling you need to do something because what you've tried hasn't worked yet. If you follow Brandon's instructions his RIP clean method should help your system (I will add I've never had to go to that extensive of an overhaul) Reef systems are verycomplex and it takes time to change the equilibrium so corals thrive and algae stays in check. Here's a thread I did on hte local forum dealing with hair algae with just water changes and manual removal and I'd note nutrient levels rose as the algae disappeared. ALgae is better than corals at scavenging nutrients and from what I've seen over the decades reading and keeping reefs and being active on multiple forums for over a decade is starving a system hurts corals more than algae.
Hair Algae, a second case study
Nuisance algae in reef systems is pretty much a ubiquitous problem, and one that is a common source of frustration for reef aquarists. It is also one I've learned to view the problem very differently than what is generally portrayed and it just takes a few rather basic steps, and patience. (This ...www.austinreefclub.com
These links I've found to help a great deal in understanding the roles of corals, algae and all the microbial stuff in reef systems:
"Coral Reefs in the Microbial Seas" This video compliments Rohwer's book of the same title (Paper back is ~$20, Kindle is ~$10), both deal with the conflicting roles of the different types of DOC in reef ecosystems. While there is overlap bewteen his book and the video both have information not covered by the other and together give a broader view of the complex relationships found in reef ecosystems
Thanks I'll check it out
OP
OP
Ro Bow
Valuable Member
I tried Reef Flux like I mentioned it didnt work sadly.
OP
OP
Ro Bow
Valuable Member
I tried using it, it didnt work
OP
OP
Ro Bow
Valuable Member
I do water changes every week (10% water changes). Filtration: Reef octopus skimmer, 3 filter socks, Phosphate reactor, and sponge mesh in the sump. Thanks
davidcalgary29
2500 Club Member
Two months of dosing phyto last year.
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