Refugium growth came to a hault!

[LostInTheDark]

Well my nitrates show undetectable and the phosphate is the same.

I know this sounds counter-intuitive but my glass stays much cleaner when my tank shows nitrates at 2-3. When they fall to 0, the glass clouds up much faster. I have a heavy fish load and run a fuge. I can throw away a basketball size of cheato every week but it does slow down if I lighten up on feeding the fish.

 

[Denisk]

I know this sounds counter-intuitive but my glass stays much cleaner when my tank shows nitrates at 2-3. When they fall to 0, the glass clouds up much faster. I have a heavy fish load and run a fuge. I can throw away a basketball size of cheato every week but it does slow down if I lighten up on feeding the fish.

I see. Only problem is I can feed 2 cubes of frozen food a day and the Chaeto won’t grow. However it use to grow like crazy. That’s why my last post was relating the potential Dino’s and if that may have anything to do with the Chaeto no longer growing.

 

[LostInTheDark]

Well my nitrates show undetectable and the phosphate is the same.

I would say this is your answer. If you have a large proportion of live rock in your tank it could be consuming a good amount of nitrates. I find cheato uses ammonia first, nitrates next and phosphate last. Try feeding more and see if it helps. Even with heavy feeding I dose a small amount of potassium nitrate to keep my nitrates from bottoming out. I can tell if they go too low by the film on the glass.

 

[LostInTheDark]

That’s why my last post was relating the potential Dino’s

I have no clue whether this is related or not. That's for the scientist among-st us to answer.

 

[Denisk]

I would say this is your answer. If you have a large proportion of live rock in your tank it could be consuming a good amount of nitrates. I find cheato uses ammonia first, nitrates next and phosphate last. Try feeding more and see if it helps. Even with heavy feeding I dose a small amount of potassium nitrate to keep my nitrates from bottoming out. I can tell if they go too low by the film on the glass.

The only thing, if I feed my water starts to go from crystal clear to this white hue almost like a bacterial bloom. Also my sps are currently deep in color. If I was worried there was no phosphate or nitrate, my acros tend to get pale.

Not arguing you that your opinion is wrong but want to make sure I write as much about what’s going on in the case I’m missing something. I’ve never really had this issue and have been keep Reef tanks for 7 or so years.

 

[mcarroll]

I looks dino-ish to me!!

I would lower the hours of light on your chaeto to <12 hours. I might even remove it until things normalize in the tank without your prospective dino's.

Well my nitrates show undetectable and the phosphate is the same.

I know there must be some excess nutrients since I need to clean my glass daily and there is a bit of cyano in the display.

Cyano is pretty good at using alternate phosphorus sources and it can fix its own nitrogen....so it's making use of other excess nutrients.

When N and P are plentiful, better algea tend to outcompete the cyano for the other nutrients. Dino's like cyano too.

 

[mcarroll]

Can you post some example pics of your bloom and what happens during feeding?

Also, was there any motion to the cells in the photo? If so snap a movie!

 

[Denisk]

Can you post some example pics of your bloom and what happens during feeding?

Also, was there any motion to the cells in the photo? If so snap a movie!

So it looks like diatoms on the sandbed with a mix of cyano. Before the lights turn on I can already see The discoloration on the sand bed. Nothing really changes during feeding. Not sure if I should look out for something?

I do have a video but I don’t know how to post it. The cells are in motion for sure!

 

[Denisk]

I looks dino-ish to me!!

I would lower the hours of light on your chaeto to <12 hours. I might even remove it until things normalize in the tank without your prospective dino's.



Cyano is pretty good at using alternate phosphorus sources and it can fix its own nitrogen....so it's making use of other excess nutrients.

When N and P are plentiful, better algea tend to outcompete the cyano for the other nutrients. Dino's like cyano too.

I will for now turn down the refugium light to 12 hours.

Also as far as the comment about Dino’s like cyano, what does that necessarily mean?

 

[mcarroll]

Just that whatever is growing on the glass is not incompatible at all with dino's.

 

[Denisk]

Just that whatever is growing on the glass is not incompatible at all with dino's.

Well I will try and post the video to see if that helpful in determining anything. I wonder if it will play out eventually. Currently I have cut down on feedings and now changed the refugium light to 12 hours.

 

[mcarroll]

Have you already posted your N and P test results? If there's a history of either being zero/near-zero then that's what needs to be addressed ASAP.

If you haven't already checked out the main page here, do so, and see if it seems to apply:
Dinoflagellates – Are You Tired Of Battling Altogether?

There's are sections on photoID that might help too. Post a pic there for ID if you want too!

In particular focus on the N and P sections and the nitrate calculator link.

 

[Denisk]

Have you already posted your N and P test results? If there's a history of either being zero/near-zero then that's what needs to be addressed ASAP.

If you haven't already checked out the main page here, do so, and see if it seems to apply:
Dinoflagellates – Are You Tired Of Battling Altogether?

There's are sections on photoID that might help too. Post a pic there for ID if you want too!

In particular focus on the N and P sections and the nitrate calculator link.

I ended up posting to that thread as well.

Thank you for all your help. Also if my repetitive with some questions it because it’s hard for me to understand some of the science terminology behind Reef tanks when your really get into the depth of the whys and how’s.

 

[mcarroll]

I ended up posting to that thread as well.

Thank you for all your help. Also if my repetitive with some questions it because it’s hard for me to understand some of the science terminology behind Reef tanks when your really get into the depth of the whys and how’s.

If you have any questions, ask away – here or there!!! Don't worry too much about repetition!

IMO there should be a lot less mysteries in this hobby than there are.

 

[Denisk]

If you have any questions, ask away – here or there!!! Don't worry too much about repetition!

IMO there should be a lot less mysteries in this hobby than there are.

Well thank you! I definitely think the Dino’s have been pretty interesting. It seems a lot of people have them!

I did recently dose Chemi clean due to my outbreak of cyano. Since then I have had my skimmer off (last 5 days it’s been off) my Dino bubbles are all gone and the cyano is gone. The only thing I have left is a bit of the brown sand and even that has decreased. I still only feed once a day and dosing live phytoplankton at night.