New Tank - What’s growing on my rocks?

trevorhiller

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Tank is 81 days old, started with marcos rocks.


Parameter Snap Shot: (full trend Parameters below)

pH 8.0
Alk 8.7
Nitrate 0.0
Phosphate 0.16
Salinity 34.6
Temp 78.0
Calcium 440
Magnesium 1320

Nitrates and phosphates have been zero pretty consistently. I’ve tried increasing feedings and dosing reef roids a few times a week. I had one little spike in phosphate, but nothing for nitrate.

filtration wise I’m running a skimmer w/ CO2 scrubber, activated carbon and floss. I’ve stopped doing water changes since nitrate and phosphates are low. I only change floss when it gets clogged up.

I tried the paper towel test to check for Dino’s and all I saw is one little strand in the glass. Not sure if this is positive or not. I have a microscope on order, but USPS is being slow as usual.

2 days ago, I killed the lights to see what happens. It seems like the stuff has stopped growing and phosphates have come up to 0.16, nitrates are still 0. Alk and calcium are now rising and pH is lower than normal 8.3-8.5) since the lights are out, but they’ve been pretty steady since I’m dosing All For Reef 4.8 mL/day. Only coral in the tank is a ricordea

If I brush the stuff off of the rocks, it comes back in a day or so.

I have some Microbacter Start XLM & Vibrant on hand, but haven’t used. I’ve got some nitrate and phosphates on order to try DIY dosing them.
Ok… now that you know what I’ve done….
My questions:
1. what do you think this is?
2. Do I need to be intervening? How?

A35061A6-C309-4DB9-8747-522E49256FCC.jpeg A5526C6C-ADD6-4964-8498-74B33E7E458E.jpeg
 

Jekyl

GSP is the devil and clowns are bad pets
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Edit:
I retract my previous statement lol
 
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trevorhiller

trevorhiller

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I’m game with riding it out, I just don’t want to miss something I should/n’t be doing and make it worse. I’ve been trying to read everything I can, but sometimes it’s helpful to have experienced eyes check out the situation.
 

Jekyl

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Took a second look at video and saw some bubbles. Worried it could be dinos. Let's have @vetteguy53081 take a look.
 
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trevorhiller

trevorhiller

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BTW it’s a Waterbox 15 and For CUC I’ve got 3 Trochus snails (laziest things I’ve ever seen, they don’t seem to eat much of anything), 3 super small Nassarius vibex, a peppermint shrimp, pin cushion urchin, 3 red leg hermits and a emerald crab.
 

jassermd

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If your phosphates and nitrates have been 0, it's almost certain you're dealing with dinos. You'll need a microscope to identify what kind... For most effective treatment, it's good to know what kind.
@vetteguy53081 is a great resource.
Lots of threads on R2R on how to deal with them...
 

vetteguy53081

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There’s definitely some bubbles in places, not consistently throughout all of it though. Some of the stuff is stringy in places, other places look fuzzy.
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
 

vetteguy53081

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This Dino. You have another thread in this which I just answered
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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trevorhiller

trevorhiller

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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
Thanks! I am going to try your method and see how I make out.
 
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trevorhiller

trevorhiller

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I was able to pickup my microscope from the post office today. Forgive my shaky hands (too my coffee) and the blurry video, but I think this will suffice. The little round, almond-shaped things appear to be Ostreopsis. Are the other rod-shaped things diatoms?

 
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trevorhiller

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Update: Progress!



Dinos appear to be gone. I have the lights out since the 22nd and am on day 3 of dosing the peroxide and Microbacter Start XLM. Did a two gallon water change after brushing the rocks off and have been doing daily filter floss changes as directed.

Today's parameters
Alk 9.9
Calcium 450
Mag 1440
pH 8.5
Nitrate 3.1
Phosphate 0.18
Salinity 34.6
Temp 77.7

I decreased my All For Reef dosing from 4.8 to 2.0 mL/day since the Alklinity seemed to be rising rapidly with the lights out and while my Alk is elevated above my target, it's still within range. Calcium is only up a little, but mag is up about 100 ppm. Coralline seems to be loving it and I've noticed a bunch of new spots on the rocks.

I imagine I'm going to have to readjust my AFR dosing once the lights come back on, but that's a small price to pay to get rid of the Dinos.
 

Idech

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I decreased my All For Reef dosing from 4.8 to 2.0 mL/day since the Alklinity seemed to be rising rapidly with the lights out and while my Alk is elevated above my target, it's still within range. Calcium is only up a little, but mag is up about 100 ppm. Coralline seems to be loving it and I've noticed a bunch of new spots on the rocks.
Good job about the dinos !

I’m wondering why you dose All for reef when you have no corals ?
 
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trevorhiller

trevorhiller

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I was struggling with low alkalinity, it was dropping about 0.3/day and I wasn’t doing water changes because I was trying to elevate nitrates and phosphates (unsuccessfully). Therefore decided to start dosing All For Reef so I could start getting it tuned in for my tank before corals went in.

Didnt want to throw corals in and then go through a month period of dialing in all for reef to figure how to get it stable.
 

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