Parameters out of whack! Struggling to get stabilized again.

J_anderson_75

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I’ve been battling what I think is green hair algae and a few spots of bubble algae (?) for at least a month and just can’t seem to get a handle on it. I’ll admit, I got complacent with testing and probably was over feeding as well for a few months. The tank has been running for a little over a year and a half. The green hair algae was worse a few months ago, but seems to have stalled where it is now. Originally I was just doing about a 10-15 percent water change twice a week and scrubbing the algae with a brush. I tried this for about a month and had minimal effects at getting rid of the algae. Then I had an epiphany and tested my water. LOL Phosphates, nitrates and ammonia were a little high. I added 6.5 OZ. Chemi-Pure Elite and a bag of Phosguard on January 7th. Within hours my Phosphates dropped to almost an undetectable amount, so I removed the bag of Phosguard that same day. Currently have the Chemi-Pure Elite, bio media, filter floss, small bag of carbon (that is due to be replaced now) and the stock filter sponge. Still doing 10 -15 percent WC twice a week. Currently have 2 Yellow Tail Damsels, 2 Turbo snails, 2 emerald crabs, 2 Nassarius Snails, 2 blue legged hermit crabs and a few Nerite snails (I think they are Nerites)..

I’ve read through some of the other threads about GHA see some people have recommended blacking out my tank. Other that, am I missing something? Can I add a couple more snails? Emerald crabs? Just keep doing the WC twice a week and replace my carbon bag with a fresh one? I really don’t want to black out my tank because I like looking at it everyday. LOL Any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Below are my parameters:

Thursday, January 7, 2021:
  • Temperature at 75.7 F
  • Nitrate at 5 ppm
  • Phosphate at 0.25 ppm
  • Alkalinity at 10.0 dKH
  • Calcium at 400 ppm
  • Ammonia at 0.25 ppm
  • Salinity at 1.023 SG
Thursday January 14, 2021
  • Temperature at 76.5 F
  • Nitrate at 2 ppm
  • Phosphate at 0.10 ppm
  • Alkalinity at 9.0 dKH
  • Calcium at 420 ppm
  • Ammonia at 0.10 ppm
  • Salinity at 1.024 SG

And lastly...here's a few cell phone pics of the tank currently:

20210110_102150.jpg


20210110_102203.jpg


20210110_102209.jpg


20210110_102218.jpg
 

SPR1968

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its probably being caused by raised phosphate which is will use as a food source and 0.25 is very high, 0.1 is better but a good target is less than 0.03 so I would leave the phosphate remover in place and starve the GHA out for a while longer

The tank looks nice anyway
 
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J_anderson_75

J_anderson_75

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its probably being caused by raised phosphate which is will use as a food source and 0.25 is very high, 0.1 is better but a good target is less than 0.03 so I would leave the phosphate remover in place and starve the GHA out for a while longer

The tank looks nice anyway
Thank you @SPR1968. The bag of Phosguard I used was pretty big; 100 ml. I don't think it is nano size, but not sure. I'll try to put it back in today and test my water again tomorrow. I've heard to be careful not to leach all my nutrients out, so I was a little iffy on leaving it in too long. Appreciate the advice!
 

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I’ve been battling what I think is green hair algae and a few spots of bubble algae (?) for at least a month and just can’t seem to get a handle on it. I’ll admit, I got complacent with testing and probably was over feeding as well for a few months. The tank has been running for a little over a year and a half. The green hair algae was worse a few months ago, but seems to have stalled where it is now. Originally I was just doing about a 10-15 percent water change twice a week and scrubbing the algae with a brush. I tried this for about a month and had minimal effects at getting rid of the algae. Then I had an epiphany and tested my water. LOL Phosphates, nitrates and ammonia were a little high. I added 6.5 OZ. Chemi-Pure Elite and a bag of Phosguard on January 7th. Within hours my Phosphates dropped to almost an undetectable amount, so I removed the bag of Phosguard that same day. Currently have the Chemi-Pure Elite, bio media, filter floss, small bag of carbon (that is due to be replaced now) and the stock filter sponge. Still doing 10 -15 percent WC twice a week. Currently have 2 Yellow Tail Damsels, 2 Turbo snails, 2 emerald crabs, 2 Nassarius Snails, 2 blue legged hermit crabs and a few Nerite snails (I think they are Nerites)..

I’ve read through some of the other threads about GHA see some people have recommended blacking out my tank. Other that, am I missing something? Can I add a couple more snails? Emerald crabs? Just keep doing the WC twice a week and replace my carbon bag with a fresh one? I really don’t want to black out my tank because I like looking at it everyday. LOL Any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Below are my parameters:

Thursday, January 7, 2021:
  • Temperature at 75.7 F
  • Nitrate at 5 ppm
  • Phosphate at 0.25 ppm
  • Alkalinity at 10.0 dKH
  • Calcium at 400 ppm
  • Ammonia at 0.25 ppm
  • Salinity at 1.023 SG
Thursday January 14, 2021
  • Temperature at 76.5 F
  • Nitrate at 2 ppm
  • Phosphate at 0.10 ppm
  • Alkalinity at 9.0 dKH
  • Calcium at 420 ppm
  • Ammonia at 0.10 ppm
  • Salinity at 1.024 SG

And lastly...here's a few cell phone pics of the tank currently:

20210110_102150.jpg


20210110_102203.jpg


20210110_102209.jpg


20210110_102218.jpg

I have a Fluval Evo and am experiencing similar issues with hair/bubble algae; 1. In retrospect, I was overfeeding and didn't have enough nutrient export - I've added a skimmer in the empty chamber I was using for my heaters 2. I started feeding 3x per week and reef roids only once per week 3. I vacuum the gravel when I do water changes 4. I've been dosing Vibrant the past month, haven't seen much change but I'm hoping it will kick in. 5. Last but not least, I've been picking them off with a skewer as I do water changes

Hope this helps and good luck. Nice tank!
 
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J_anderson_75

J_anderson_75

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I have a Fluval Evo and am experiencing similar issues with hair/bubble algae; 1. In retrospect, I was overfeeding and didn't have enough nutrient export - I've added a skimmer in the empty chamber I was using for my heaters 2. I started feeding 3x per week and reef roids only once per week 3. I vacuum the gravel when I do water changes 4. I've been dosing Vibrant the past month, haven't seen much change but I'm hoping it will kick in. 5. Last but not least, I've been picking them off with a skewer as I do water changes

Hope this helps and good luck. Nice tank!
Appreciate the info! I have also been dosing Vibrant, and not sure if it has helped or not. Maybe if my parameters were more in line the Vibrant would work better? I have also considered a small skimmer, maybe that is next. I have never vacuumed my sand bed and that might be a problem. I've been scared to because I have read you do not want to disturb the sand?? I just recently, like with the last water couple water changes, blow off my rocks with a turkey baster to get some of the gunk/sand/and stuff moving around. My goal is to capture some of that junk with the water change and hopefully the rest runs through the filter. I also sucked as much gunk out of the chambers with the turkey baster during my last water change.

I think I was too complacent and kinda thought as long as I did a quick water change once a week, the tank would run itself. I'm learning it is more than that. Plus, I'm a slow learner! LOL I'll try some of this out and see how it goes.

Thank you!
 

Pntbll687

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How big is the tank?

Seems like a series of 5g water changes would be simpler and not swing parameters around so much.

I like phosguard, but don't rely on it to control phosphates for extended time. It does contain aluminum and others have reported high aluminum on icp tests after extended use.
 
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J_anderson_75

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How big is the tank?

Seems like a series of 5g water changes would be simpler and not swing parameters around so much.

I like phosguard, but don't rely on it to control phosphates for extended time. It does contain aluminum and others have reported high aluminum on icp tests after extended use.
Thanks @Pntbll687. Tank is a Fluval Evo 13.5. Maybe my next WC I'll increase the amount to around 5 gallons. 5 gallons would be roughly 40 percent...think that is ok? I added my Phosguard back in this morning and will test again tomorrow. I'm scared to leave the Phosguard in too long, so I'll probably remove it later this afternoon. Not sure if that's a good move or not. I just think the Phosguard removes the Phosphates pretty fast since it's a 100 ml bag. My WC tomorrow I'll up to 5 gallons, or close to.

Appreciate the help!
 

Pntbll687

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Thanks @Pntbll687. Tank is a Fluval Evo 13.5. Maybe my next WC I'll increase the amount to around 5 gallons. 5 gallons would be roughly 40 percent...think that is ok? I added my Phosguard back in this morning and will test again tomorrow. I'm scared to leave the Phosguard in too long, so I'll probably remove it later this afternoon. Not sure if that's a good move or not. I just think the Phosguard removes the Phosphates pretty fast since it's a 100 ml bag. My WC tomorrow I'll up to 5 gallons, or close to.

Appreciate the help!

40% isn't going to be too big. The first change will dilute the phosphates the most. Maybe a 3g water change every day for a week would be better.

And don't worry about the phosguard that much. It won't leach aluminum that fast. I'm talking about using a small amount of phosguard for months at a time.
 
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J_anderson_75

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40% isn't going to be too big. The first change will dilute the phosphates the most. Maybe a 3g water change every day for a week would be better.

And don't worry about the phosguard that much. It won't leach aluminum that fast. I'm talking about using a small amount of phosguard for months at a time.
Got it...Thank so much!
 
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J_anderson_75

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So I added the Phosguard this morning and it's still in. Tank/corals/fish look happy and water is crystal clear; but I noticed tonight all of the hair algae was covered in little air bubbles. I used a thin round brush (i think its a brush designed for cleaning the inside of straws??) and scrubbed/pulled as much of the algae out as I could and all of the air bubbles floated off the algae and went away. I've seen these air bubbles before only in the evening. Anyone have any ideas??

I still plan on doing a 4-5 gallon WC tomorrow. Thanks!
 

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So I added the Phosguard this morning and it's still in. Tank/corals/fish look happy and water is crystal clear; but I noticed tonight all of the hair algae was covered in little air bubbles. I used a thin round brush (i think its a brush designed for cleaning the inside of straws??) and scrubbed/pulled as much of the algae out as I could and all of the air bubbles floated off the algae and went away. I've seen these air bubbles before only in the evening. Anyone have any ideas??

I still plan on doing a 4-5 gallon WC tomorrow. Thanks!
I had similar experience - bought a tooth brush and brushed hair algae off, next morning there were bubbles everywhere, not sure what this was due to, but it went away in 2-3 days. Also, on wk 5 if dosing Vibrant and the first bubble algae’s are starting to fall off - crossing my fingers.
 
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J_anderson_75

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It appears upping my water changes, replacing my bag of carbon and adding the Chemi-Pure Elite, with minimal Phosguard has really helped my water. Now let's just hope the GHA and bubble algae start to go away and my Nitrates come up slightly. Here's my water parameters over the past 2 weeks:

Thursday, January 7, 2021:
  • Temperature at 75.7 F
  • Nitrate at 5 ppm
  • Phosphate at 0.25 ppm
  • Alkalinity at 10.0 dKH
  • Calcium at 400 ppm
  • Ammonia at 0.25 ppm
  • Salinity at 1.023 SG
Thursday January 14, 2021
  • Temperature at 76.5 F
  • Nitrate at 2 ppm
  • Phosphate at 0.10 ppm
  • Alkalinity at 9.0 dKH
  • Calcium at 420 ppm
  • Ammonia at 0.10 ppm
  • Salinity at 1.024 SG
Wednesday January 20, 2021
  • Temperature at 76.5 F
  • Nitrate at 0 ppm
  • Phosphate at 0.05 ppm
  • Alkalinity at 8.5 dKH
  • Calcium at 440 ppm
  • Ammonia at 0 ppm
  • Salinity at 1.024 SG
 
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J_anderson_75

J_anderson_75

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Looks like it might be dinos. If it is changing water/lowering nutrients only makes it worse.
Rexommend 5 days with no tank lights on and put 1ml per 10 gallons a day in Ans stop running gfo.
So far it looks to be getting better. I'm going to watch it close for a few days and see. My fear is I bottomed out my nutrients and will start to get Dinos. The tank is pretty well established though, so hopefully it will be ok. Corals and fish seem to be happy!
 

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