Sound off: What are you dealing with? Maybe someone can help!

[JBKReef]

you could probably use reef safe mortar mix if you would never need to re-position the coral, but you would have to let it set up in air a bit (small ball) and have to hold the coral in place for a quite a while until it holds. marco rocks sell some serious stuff. when it's cured it's much stronger than even your rock. Marco states theirs cures fast under water, although i haven't tried it in that application. Only dry rock application for me.

Hmm... I wonder if I could use a two fold approach. A small amount of marcos making direct contact with the rock and frag, but also a larger amount of the Tunze epoxy on the outside to temporarily hold it in place while it cures and the smooth off the outer rough edges.

 

[MTBake]

what methods are you using right now to battle them?

I had dinos when my nutrients bottomed out while on vacation. i implemented lots of things but finally found a recipe that worked for me (3 months later-aarg!)

i dosed a few mls of nitrate and phosphate to get off "0's", raised pH by converting one of my BRS reactors into CO2 scrubber, i lowered my lighting intensity by half and focused on the blue spectrums, no water changes, no skimming. Then what seems to be the key that turned things around for me was dumping extra pods and phyto into the system. weekly doses of pods and daily doses of 20ml (ocean magik) phytoplankton (algae barn). I started seeing a reduction after day 2. Then added my little 15 watt UV to draw in and return directly from the display while using tooth brush on rocks daily. Also used my eheim sludge extractor to siphon the top layer of sand daily. Within a few days they were gone to the point of not being visible anymore.

i would suggest buying an affordable microscope from amazon in order to i.d which type of dino you have. i had prorocentrum which led me to add my UV.

Good luck it's lots of work but they can be beat.

Got the microscope id. Ostreopsis is what I'm dealing with.

Running uv. Dosing no3 and po4 to maintain levels. Already had a co2 scrubber on the tank when the out break started. Added a second to run them one after the other so the media lasts a bit longer. Running carbon in a reactor.

Tried vibrant and h2o2 dosing. Neither seemed to do anything at all.

I add a bottle of pods once a month on top of a phyto and rotifiers culture from a friend of mine. Again, doesn't seem to be doing anything.

Perhaps I should try lights off for a day or 2? I haven't tried this yet. I can't alter the settings on my lights as they are metal halide.

 

[Hemmdog]

"Not sure" should be an option.

I got back an ICP test that showed I had 0 iodine and low boron in my tank.... should I care? I'm not sure. I do 10-15% AWC weekly, so it should be getting replenished, not sure if I should be dosing additionally or not.

Are you running a fuge or do you have a lot of zoas? They consume a lot of iodine and macro algae in general consumes a ton of trace elements. If your growing macro ya gotta dose traces.

 

[cracker]

I'm having algae & stability issues, always. Cant even keep a simple Monti alive !
The Rev opened up a big can of worms with this . I have the feeling this is going to be a long thread ! LOL

 

[Hemmdog]

I'm having algae & stability issues, always. Cant even keep a simple Monti alive !

I didn’t know you were having issues cracker! What’s going on. I’ll help lol. Parameters ?

 

[cracker]

Thanks Man ! I'll get with Ya . I don't have a current numbers at the moment.

 

[LetItReef]

This one, looks like Bryopsis?
How to control?

 

[Elcubanodel510]

My 3rd attempt at keeping birds nest everything was fine until last Friday. Framed off the living pieces to try and save it but it’s slowly bleaching out. Has remained the same the past two days so hopefully it’s alright.

 

[ScooterV]

Now my pistol shrimp ran off with a zoa frag, plug and all, and I can't find it!! "It's cute" my wife says!!!

LOL, SPS tank and got the zoas by accident and one rock island in the sand for it so I'm more worried wherever it was left it will grow!!!

 

[DarkSky]

Are you running a fuge or do you have a lot of zoas? They consume a lot of iodine and macro algae in general consumes a ton of trace elements. If your growing macro ya gotta dose traces.

Macro and acro. I've started dosing res sea's coral colors.

 

[Hemmdog]

Macro and acro. I've started dosing res sea's coral colors.

Perfect. I dose Red Sea Trace Elements too. Good stuff.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Currently the moody leather that is paper plate size and starting to droop on me. May have to cut it at the base and re-seed it on a new rock

 

[CarChase]

I have two issues, tank has been up and running for 15 months and still in ugly stage with algae. It’s a standard 30 gal tank (no sump) with protein skimmer and HOB refugium. Lighting 2 AI primes and one t5.
Water change was 5 gal once per week now bumped it up to twice per week for the last 1.5 months. When will it end!!!!!

Also had coral bleaching issues with a Acans , Hollywood stunner, frog spawn and favities. Not sure what the issue was , in Italy had cheap lead with the whites and reds up too high, I also added more flow recently and was probably running at 83 degrees or higher. Recently installed didgital thermometer and I keep temp stable at 78 degrees.

My zoas mostly stay closed up as well.
Getting frustrated as to what the issues are.
Should I send out for ICP testing ?

Part are as follows (Salinger’s test kits)
All 8.6-9.0 dkh
No3 and Po4 at or near zero
PH 8.0-8.1
Temp 78.0
Reef crystals , with RODI

 

[leepink23]

Issues. I always have issues. I am causing most of them I think.
T0o many options and settings on my stuff.
A reply to some pictures I posted has caused me to order a 48" MH and T-5 combo this morning. The only thing I will have to worry about is when it comes on and turns off. My tank is a year old now and isn't where I want it to be.

I did the same thing for the same reason, I have been happy after one month

 

[Ruben Sacramento]

Currently fighting the tinman after getting polip bailout for no apparent reason. Found elevated tin after ICP

 

[Matyas]

Dinos

 

[Urbanknight]

DISCLAIMER: I am not bashing this company's equipment! I am posting this to say to newbies and old hands... Know this. ANY piece of equipment on your tank is subject to failure. Have a backup plan in place when it does! After years of using an Apex and allied equipment, my EB 832 failed after 10 months in service. Because my Apex sort of put everything on "cruise control" I had become so reliant on it that I had a panic attack when the system crashed several days ago. I changed routers and following the instructions in the Getting Started Guide, when I attempted to bring the system back online. While doing so, I noticed that the lights on my DT went out.

I thought, "Oh well, a small glitch." Then I noticed that there was a orange blinking light on the EB 832 and no light at all on the Apex. Now, I know I'm in trouble! That meant that everything the Apex controlled, would not function.WAV pumps...out. Skimmer...out. ATP...out.Heaters...out. You get the picture. I was in a full panic mode for about two hours. It took me that long to remember how to run my system without the aid of an Apex! (Of course it was Saturday when this happened.)

I sent in a ticket to tech support right away. After the feeling of misery passed, I pulled out a couple of power strips and timers and went to work. Fortunately, I keep a couple of 48" MARS 165 watt LEDs in the closet. They had to temporarily replace my radions. For flow, I put in a Jebao RW20 and my 230 Gyre to function in place of the WAV pumps.

To add to my frustrations, I got an email back from a tech on Sunday, telling me that I had to perform a group of test which included unplugging and plugging the EB 832 to the Apex and check for which color light light up on the Apex. In my original email, I had already explained everything that I had done in an attempt to rectify the situation (including what he asked me to do). I also stated that the Apex base unit was dead. No lights at all. Did this compound my frustrations? You bet! However, I realized that it was St Patty's Day and this was more of a canned message to let me know they had received my ticket. On Monday, I got a more reliable email from them which had me apply external power to the Apex and it light up. However, no power in the EB 832. We were then able to identify this as the culprit. RMA issued and the unit sent in.

Had I not worked myself into such a tizzy, I would have remembered that I had an Apex Classic in the closet! DUH! So my friends I said all that to say this. Those of you who have hoarded equipment over the years, know what equipment you have and how you will use it when something on your system fails. For those who are new to the hobby, put yourself in a position where you can take fast and appropriate action when failures occur. The best of equipment will fail at some point too! I remain a fan of the Apex unit. I believe I just happened to get the one of 1000 that failed.

 

[BiGGiePauls33]

Low alk and high calcium. Walt disney and JF Night Stalker doing well but lost a orange digi. Building a shelf tomorrow to set up my dosing pumps and containers.

 

[homer1475]

It's a reef tank, aren't we always dealing with something? GHA, low/high parameters, ALK spike, heater stuck on, return pump died when it chewed up a snail, need new T5's, LED's are too bright or not bright enough, PO4 is high, NO3 is high, etc, etc, etc. It really is a never ending battle.

Currently for me, and I'm sure a lot of others, GHA! Not really bad this time, but I redid my scrubber box, and it was offline for 2 weeks so some GHA took over the display.

 

[MexiReefer]

Feeling extremly anxious to get the tank wet. I have finalized all the plumbing, lights connections and cable management. Rocks are being sucked in water to test for phosphates. Should be mixing saltwater now, but I am just finding excuses to delay the W-Day.