Need help P04 or?

[TK_KW]

Evening,

#reefsquad
#Reefsquadleaders
#RandyHolmes

So I've been battling something going on in my system for about a month now, and cant seem to get under control.

I had noticed byropsis, so I was dosing vibrant, twice a week. I had removed my Chateo for this. I dosed for eight weeks or more. Didnt do anything for bryopsis except dint it. I have since added Chateo back a week ago.

I never had any of these problems ( for the expectation of bryopsis getting in my system) before I removed Chateo and started vibrant. Prior my Chateo was growing like crazy.

Currently my byropsis is in 4 patches that I keep hand picking out. Im About to do reefflux dose for bryopsis, but want my p04 under control first. P04 at least I think is my issue.

About five or six weeks ago noticed some acan frags had algea growing around base of heads. One of my two elegancess wont open near the same it used too. My gold torches wont open. What looks like hair algea pushing a Lobo head back. And seems my sps growth has stunned. And some brown what looks like algea growing on substrate in lower flow areas or shadowed areas.

Odd algea in sump on block, and baffle, never been there prior. Red looking thin string like algea off pink sentosa. Tank shows no haircalgea on interior glass. Aside from a dark film.

Auto feeder goes off twice a day. Amount of food is quite small that it feeds.

My parameters are nearly all the same leading up to recent weeks. Averages from my charts.

1.025-1.026
Ca 440-480
Dkh 8.3-9
N03 0 (always reads zero at least)
P04 .1 (redsea)
Mag 1350-1400

These numbers are almost always constant when tank wasnt showing any of these other issues that started five six weeks ago.

Yesterdays numbers

1.025
Ca 457
Dkh 9
N03 0
Mag 1400
P04 .1 (redsea)
2.14 (hanna?)

Cal and dkh dose 4ml intervals over (96ml total 24 hrs)
Dose acro power once a week
Dos water changes 5 gallons daily

I currently added a reactor running gfo @66 GPH, put online last friday. (Previously had gfo bag hanging over baffle in sump)

Also think about building myself a algea turf scrubber to add to my system.

Please help.

 

[Hemmdog]

You need nitrate. Feed frozen food not pellets in an auto feeder.

 

[dwest]

I am concerned about 0 nitrates as well. Your algae looks like cyano to me. However, I would look at it under a microscope to rule out dinos.

 

[TK_KW]

I am concerned about 0 nitrates as well. Your algae looks like cyano to me. However, I would look at it under a microscope to rule out dinos.

It looks fuzzy like hair algea.

 

[TK_KW]

You need nitrate. Feed frozen food not pellets in an auto feeder.

I feed roids once a week, with frozen mysis once a week aswell during coral feeding

 

[Hemmdog]

I would and do feed mysis multiple times daily.

 

[TK_KW]

I am concerned about 0 nitrates as well. Your algae looks like cyano to me. However, I would look at it under

I would and do feed mysis multiple times daily.

Rinse or dont rinse?

I havnt had any problem up until recently.
What's your take on the algea in sump? And on block? That also only started around a month ago.

Wouldnt adding mysis more, creat more phosfates? Should I continue running gfo, or turn off?

 

[NS Mike D]

is the NO3 test ket Red Sea as well. concur that this is a classic cyano situation, NO3 with PO4 present and a disaster for the corals, but let's confirm that number first. API are notorious for reading 0 when it's not

 

[TK_KW]

is the NO3 test ket Red Sea as well. concur that this is a classic cyano situation, NO3 with PO4 present and a disaster for the corals, but let's confirm that number first. API are notorious for reading 0 when it's not

Redsea test @ 0

I used to use salifert. When I used that it would float from 0 - .1

So feeding mysis more is best bet for bring up nitrate. And should I continue to run gfo?

 

[NS Mike D]

Rinse or dont rinse?

I havnt had any problem up until recently.
What's your take on the algea in sump? And on block? That also only started around a month ago.

Wouldnt adding mysis more, creat more phosfates? Should I continue running gfo, or turn off?

If your NO3 is indeed zero, the corals will struggle to uptake PO4 as there is little to no NO3 with which to synthesize with the PO4 (photysthesis). Cyano is more resourceful in getting nitrogen from other sources. If you raise NO3. (and yes feeding will add PO4 to the tank) the corals will be able to more effectively use the PO4 and thus it should drop and settle in a more stable balance

 

[Dan_P]

i believe that “algae” is cyanobacteria.

There are reports that “I used Vibrant and now have cyanobacteria” . @taricha has looked into this and provides a possible mechanism for these observations.

I have to wonder why nuisance organisms grow at the base of coral. Is it because they are stressed and exuding organic material that the organisms feed on?

You may have more than one issue here to resolve.

 

[NS Mike D]

Redsea test @ 0

I used to use salifert. When I used that it would float from 0 - .1

So feeding mysis more is best bet for bring up nitrate. And should I continue to run gfo?

I wouldn't run GFO just yet. That should be a last resort. Lets get NO3 in the tank for the corals. Randy's forum has lots of info on this if you prefer to dose NO3. Start by upping the feeding and let your fish do their thing with the ammonia cycle

Siphon out as much as possible. If you can remove the rock and scrub with a H202 solution and rinse, that will help get more of the nasty stuff out of the tank

I don't worry about algae in my sump. That's where you want it and when the tank gets back in balance it should self regulate

 

[NS Mike D]

i believe that “algae” is cyanobacteria.

There are reports that “I used Vibrant and now have cyanobacteria” . @taricha has looked into this and provides a possible mechanism for these observations.

I have to wonder why nuisance organisms grow at the base of coral. Is it because they are stressed and exuding organic material that the organisms feed on?

You may have more than one issue here to resolve.

true, classic example of making a low nutrient problem (cyano) worse by trying to lower nutrients or using a chemical without fixing the underlying problem.

What do you think about my suggestion that he first get NO3 in balance, and see how it goes.

Once it's in balance (assuming it's cyano), the corals rebound, and he's siphoned off what he can, then going with something like chemiclean to finish off the last of it.

thoughts?

 

[TK_KW]

I wouldn't run GFO just yet. That should be a last resort. Lets get NO3 in the tank for the corals. Randy's forum has lots of info on this if you prefer to dose NO3. Start by upping the feeding and let your fish do their thing with the ammonia cycle

Siphon out as much as possible. If you can remove the rock and scrub with a H202 solution and rinse, that will help get more of the nasty stuff out of the tank

I don't worry about algae in my sump. That's where you want it and when the tank gets back in balance it should self regulate

Not worried about the algea so much in the sump, as much as it's new looking to me.

Rock removal is impossible.

Dosing any over the counter products for Nitrate, good luck as products are all banned in Canada.

Ok I'll turn off gfo, and up feeding. And watch then I guess.

What about dosing reefflux for my bryosis issue? Any problem with me going ahead and doing that? Could It help at some nitrates?

 

[NS Mike D]

Not worried about the algea so much in the sump, as much as it's new looking to me.

Rock removal is impossible.

Dosing any over the counter products for Nitrate, good luck as products are all banned in Canada.

Ok I'll turn off gfo, and up feeding. And watch then I guess.

What about dosing reefflux for my bryosis issue? Any problem with me going ahead and doing that? Could It help at some nitrates?

I'm not a fan of trying to do too much at one time (from painful experience here) but of course some with better knowledge than me might have another view.

 

[GoVols]

And should I continue to run gfo?

Your at .1ppm on phosphates so keep the GFO going.

Does it have a fern type structure?

 

[Dan_P]

true, classic example of making a low nutrient problem (cyano) worse by trying to lower nutrients or using a chemical without fixing the underlying problem.

What do you think about my suggestion that he first get NO3 in balance, and see how it goes.

Once it's in balance (assuming it's cyano), the corals rebound, and he's siphoned off what he can, then going with something like chemiclean to finish off the last of it.

thoughts?

Yes, good plan, get the corals healthy and get N and P to recommended levels for these corals, siphon/blow/scrub off nuisance organism. When everything is showing growth, then focus on eliminating nuisance organism.

 

[TK_KW]

@GoVols
Hey man,

Ya for sure has fern structure. More green brown than photo above. I could go pull a piece right now for you, if it makes a difference for I.d.

Thought on running the reef flux for it. Will it help with the Nitrates? I think it came in on a snail awhile ago, but has slowly spread through tank.

Any other thoughts about the Nitrate situation?

All this only started happening when I pulled the chateo and started the vibrant few mouths ago .[/QUOTE]

 

[TK_KW]

Yes, good plan, get the corals healthy and get N and P to recommended levels for these corals, siphon/blow/scrub off nuisance organism. When everything is showing growth, then focus on eliminating nuisance organism.

Some of my sps is growing like crazy, but not all. But I agree levels need to get back check

 

[NS Mike D]

Your at .1ppm on phosphates so keep the GFO going.

Does it have a fern type structure?

''fwiw 0.10 ppm PO4 is ok. that is in a range (0.08 - 0.12ppm). that Red Sea publishes for mixed reef tanks, along with 1 -2 ppm NO3

It should drop once NO3 is introduced (we are agreeing to achieve this via the natural ammonia cycle by feeding our fish), If we agree that Red Sea knows what they are doing, we don't want PO4 to drop much more than that.

This is why I am inclined to hold off on running the GFO when NO3 is measurable. We don't want it to drop so that the corals struggle to use the new NO3

I am curious at to your thoughts of the PO4 range. I can see keep it running until we see it start to drop. Is that it?