Left for Thanksgiving for 5 days and I come back to a mess…

[Zaxh]

I’ve been battling Diatoms, Dino’s and GHA in my nano 10 gallon tank since I’ve gotten it and I swear to god I’ve tried every method.

My test levels before I left Wednesday to visit family were:

Nitrate: 12
Phosphate .07
Calcium 450
Alkalinity 8.6

Today I got back and my entire sand bed was covered in brown uglies, GHA and small bubbles that appear to be Dino’s.

I have a UV sterilizer and I’ve been using a turkey baster to suck up the sand bed and dump the infected sand into a container to eventually throw out. I’ve initially started dosing H202 and that didn’t work out tired dosing twice a day (AM and PM) 1 ml of h202 for 2 weeks, saw no change.

Then I started dosing phyto and the GHA growth went slowly down, but the diatoms were increased and everyday I’d clean the sandbed for a few hours later to look like a dog wiped their butt all over the floor.

I’ve just started dosing vibrant but my LFS told me to stop as it really isn’t safe.

additionally I added lots of dragonsbreath macro algae which helped with nutrients significantly helped with nutrients.

Today I got back from thanksgiving to the tank being an absolute mess, but for some reason all my corals were fully expanded out, so much I’ve never actually seen them this far out before. Everything looked great except I noticed that the GHA was everywhere and inches long in parts even though Tuesday I toothbrushed everything.

Today my tests are

Nitrate 23
Phosphate .14
Alkalinity 7.4
Calcium 380


Any additional ideas? I’ve debated on throwing those two rocks I have in the 10 and going to my LFS and buying live rock. Otherwise I have yet to do a blackout. My only fear is that it is torture to my fish.

 

[19Mateo83]

Have you dosed copapods? They help with the diatoms, algae and the slime with bubbles.

 

[Zaxh]

Have you dosed copapods? They help with the diatoms, algae and the slime with bubbles.

I used to have a really high copepod population and suddenly it just disappeared. I’ll go to my LFS tomorrow as they have copepods. I’m debating on boarding my fish for a week and just doing a pure blackout in the tank for week just to blow up the Dinos.

 

[VintageReefer]

You need a water change to reduce nitrates and replenish alkalinity, and the sand issues will resolve in time. For the algae I reccomend one snail only / Mexican turbo snail. They will eat the hair algae. I would say 3-4 total for a tank that size. Also see if you can get a fighting conch (just 1) It’s the hardest worker in my tank. It will help clean up the sand bed. Mine cleans sand all day every day. Nassarius snails can help too but honestly nothing cleans sand better than my conch

Tank is in what we call an ugly phase, it’s fixable. Don’t rush it and be patient.

 

[DrinkinPepsi]

H2O2 seems to do a number on pods.

 

[Nano_Man]

Maybe reduce lighting if possible but I know you have corals

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I would add more rock, rock provides space for bacteria and biodiversity, also provides hiding spaces for pods and other critters.

Add another powerhead, the tank looks stagnant, algae likes stagnant tank.

Do you have a skimmer in the tank? If not, then you should have a powerhead pointed at the water surface to agitate and help oxygenate the water.

You should be doing weekly water changes, but I see no mention of water changes in your post.

I don't see any snails in the tank, some adult turbo snails can eat through a lot of gha.

Blackouts don't work, the algae usually grows back after a few days, you have to address the fundamental issue's.

 

[dthom]

Yes, get a clean up crew. Multiple different types of snails and small blue legged hermit crabs. Your tank is still new and needs to get balanced out. Takes a lot of patience. Hang in there!

 

[aquaman67]

Did you run your lights when you were gone?

That would have been a perfect time to go dark for a few days. Makes a vast improvement. Even if it doesn’t improve it won’t get worse.

 

[Zaxh]

I would add more rock, rock provides space for bacteria and biodiversity, also provides hiding spaces for pods and other critters.

Add another powerhead, the tank looks stagnant, algae likes stagnant tank.

Do you have a skimmer in the tank? If not, then you should have a powerhead pointed at the water surface to agitate and help oxygenate the water.

You should be doing weekly water changes, but I see no mention of water changes in your post.

I don't see any snails in the tank, some adult turbo snails can eat through a lot of gha.

Blackouts don't work, the algae usually grows back after a few days, you have to address the fundamental issue's.

Yes, I do 15% water changes weekly. Although I’ve heard from all over that it’s not recommended while battling Dino’s. I have two turbo snails, two emerald crabs, two blue leg hermit crabs and an astrea snail. My other Mexican died a week into the tank as for some reason my gigantic blue leg hermit decided to attack and eat it. (Probably knew it wasn’t in good health). My power head is a jebao slw20 which is way overpowered for a 10 gallon tank and I have the return pump agitating the surface. Lots of flow through out the tank; although I can’t have too much as I just mainly have LPS.

 

[dthom]

I would get more snails

 

[kevgib67]

I’d snag a small tuxedo urchin to tear through the gha. You would still need to manage the length of the gha. Nothing did a better job with gha than the urchin followed by Mexican Turbo snails. You’ll probably need to rehome the urchin when the algae is gone because of the size of your tank unless you want to supplement feed it.

 

[Idech]

Are you sure it’s dinos ? Have you checked under the microscope ? If it is, you need to know which type, as they don’t all respond to blackout or peroxyde.

About diatoms, just let them be. They will go away on their own. It’s also good to have as they compete with dinos.

For algae, restrict your light schedule a bit for a while (less time, less intensity), feed less (go slow so the fish have time to eat it before it flies away or sinks) and get a good CUC.

After that, relax and time your time. You can’t rush biodiversity and tank maturity.