Losing Corals . . . Is my action to fix correct?

Jekyl

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Doesn't look like you have dinos, just algae soaking up nutrients. I could be wrong though. If you notice bubbles forming on the algae then it points toward dinos. As for the skimmer don't shut it off. Either reduce the collection or you can pull the plug on the cup and attach a hose to let drain back into the tank. Getting a cheap HoB filter will be beneficial for you. Doesn't have to be huge, just something that fits the tank and has a surface cleaner. In mine I always have a sponge and some filter floss in it. I change the floss once or twice a week. I also have the room inside to runs bags of carbon or chemipure.
 
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Doesn't look like you have dinos, just algae soaking up nutrients. I could be wrong though. If you notice bubbles forming on the algae then it points toward dinos. As for the skimmer don't shut it off. Either reduce the collection or you can pull the plug on the cup and attach a hose to let drain back into the tank. Getting a cheap HoB filter will be beneficial for you. Doesn't have to be huge, just something that fits the tank and has a surface cleaner. In mine I always have a sponge and some filter floss in it. I change the floss once or twice a week. I also have the room inside to runs bags of carbon or chemipure.
I sure hope these are not dinos. What do you think?
 

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If it is dinos, don't stress out too much. Usually they go away after dosing or raising phosphate.
 

vetteguy53081

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Not sure what test kits you are running but this is early stage dino
Prepare by starting with a water change and blow this stuff loose with a turkey baster and siphon up loose particles.
Turn lights off (at least white and run blue at 10-15%) for 5 days and at night dose 1ml of hydrogen peroxide per 10 gallons for all 5 nights. If you dont have light dependent coral- turn all lights off.
During the day dose 1ml of liquid bacteria (such as bacter 7) per 10 gallons.
Clean filters daily and DO NOT FEED CORAL FOODS OR ADD NOPOX as it is food for dinos.
Day 5,, you can start with blue lights - ramping up and work your white lights up slowly
 
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As others have said turn your skimmer back on. Your tank isint 4 months old you are still going through the uglies. Adding corals this early IMO will leave you stressed out, your going to see high mortality rate until everything in your tank gets more stable. Sps tend to never do well in a tank this young and ive made the same mistake. Sps didn't start doing well until my tank was running for 8 months. my indicators that things were going well enough was-
- pods everywhere in the tank day and night, I mean the sand looks like its moving there are so many.
-coralline algae, many will debate this but one of the best signs that your ready will be coralline. It will cover everything and make it much harder for algae to take hold on your rocks.

You need to work on your algae issues right now and take things a little more slowly.

Personally I would stop worrying about your nutrients until you get the algae under control. The reason you can't get your numbers up is because your feeding all the algae and prolonging the uglies.

Keep at it! The older your tank gets the easier this stuff gets.
Skimmer is back on. I fed my corals Reef Roids and that perked them up some, but they are still not really happy.
Not sure what test kits you are running but this is early stage dino
Prepare by starting with a water change and blow this stuff loose with a turkey baster and siphon up loose particles.
Turn lights off (at least white and run blue at 10-15%) for 5 days and at night dose 1ml of hydrogen peroxide per 10 gallons for all 5 nights. If you dont have light dependent coral- turn all lights off.
During the day dose 1ml of liquid bacteria (such as bacter 7) per 10 gallons.
Clean filters daily and DO NOT FEED CORAL FOODS OR ADD NOPOX as it is food for dinos.
Day 5,, you can start with blue lights - ramping up and work your white lights up slowly
Thank you for the advice. I was running API for phosphate. It showed 0.25ppm on every test. I ordered a Hanna ultra low range Phosphate tester yesterday that should be here today. Would a UV sterilizer be helpful?
 

vetteguy53081

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Skimmer is back on. I fed my corals Reef Roids and that perked them up some, but they are still not really happy.

Thank you for the advice. I was running API for phosphate. It showed 0.25ppm on every test. I ordered a Hanna ultra low range Phosphate tester yesterday that should be here today. Would a UV sterilizer be helpful?
Sterilizer always helpful
Run 12 hrs at night time
 

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Skimmer is back on. I fed my corals Reef Roids and that perked them up some, but they are still not really happy.

Thank you for the advice. I was running API for phosphate. It showed 0.25ppm on every test. I ordered a Hanna ultra low range Phosphate tester yesterday that should be here today. Would a UV sterilizer be helpful?
+1 on the UV sterilizer. As long as it has enough flow. Do you see the brown stuff on the rocks diminish over night and come back over the course of the day? That would be a good indication it's dinos that are going into the water when lights are out. UV would be good for knocking them down at night! Some dinos produce a toxin which could be irritating your corals.


Good call on the Hanna ULR phosphate. Just a note it will shut itself off not long after the test is done (unless they changed the programming with more recent productions).
 
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GrampsReef

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+1 on the UV sterilizer. As long as it has enough flow. Do you see the brown stuff on the rocks diminish over night and come back over the course of the day? That would be a good indication it's dinos that are going into the water when lights are out. UV would be good for knocking them down at night! Some dinos produce a toxin which could be irritating your corals.


Good call on the Hanna ULR phosphate. Just a note it will shut itself off not long after the test is done (unless they changed the programming with more recent productions).
Yes, the bubbles were gone this morning. I have turned off the white light and turned down UV, V, RY, and G to 35%. I set blue at 110%. Hopefully that will be okay for my corals. Here are some pictures I just took (I temporarily turned up the white light). My Hann just arrived. I'll be testing shortly.
 

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Shirak

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Yes the brown strands are Dino's there is some green algae underneath but the CUC won't touch it probably until the Dino's are gone. How big is the tank? I used a 24w green killing machine in a small tank for Dinos once. Worked fine. Can drop in the corner. Not very pretty but it works!
 
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Yes the brown strands are Dino's there is some green algae underneath but the CUC won't touch it probably until the Dino's are gone. How big is the tank? I used a 24w green killing machine in a small tank for Dinos once. Worked fine. Can drop in the corner. Not very pretty but it works!
It's a 55 gallon tank. The UV I just ordered is a 15 Watt Advantage 2000+ UV Sterilizer with Hanger Spout - Aqua Ultraviolet. I ordered a Syncra Silent 1.0 Pump (251 GPH) - Sicce to go with it. That gives me over 4+ times the volume of the tank going through it every hour. That is the pump that BRS suggested to go with it.
 
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It's a 55 gallon tank. The UV I just ordered is a 15 Watt Advantage 2000+ UV Sterilizer with Hanger Spout - Aqua Ultraviolet. I ordered a Syncra Silent 1.0 Pump (251 GPH) - Sicce to go with it. That gives me over 4+ times the volume of the tank going through it every hour. That is the pump that BRS suggested to go with it.
As soon as my hose thaws out I'm going to make 15 gallons of RO water so I can suck the algae off as much as possible.
 

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It's a 55 gallon tank. The UV I just ordered is a 15 Watt Advantage 2000+ UV Sterilizer with Hanger Spout - Aqua Ultraviolet. I ordered a Syncra Silent 1.0 Pump (251 GPH) - Sicce to go with it. That gives me over 4+ times the volume of the tank going through it every hour. That is the pump that BRS suggested to go with it.
Super!
 
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I just checked my Phosphate and Nitrate with my Hanna checker. Phosphate = 0.23ppm and Nitrate = 0.00. My PH is at 8.2.
 

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