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

[Itacan]

Zero Phosphate with 50 Nitrate. Lost many corals recently and i cant seem to solve it! I think i used too much GFO a few months ago which caused the imbalance.

 

[Justin Cook]

Upgrading my light and slowly trying to acclimate an established aquarium to the higher levels. It's a terrific problem to have but I've been moving corals and dealing with additional algae. Nothing catastrophic but it still caused stress. I'm always asking "Was it always like that or does it have something do do with the new lighting?!?!"

 

[reeftivo]

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.

lights out then may help a bit. i'd do 2 to 3 days and see where your at.
one note that i didn't elaborate more on is the eheim sludge extractor i used. the extractor isn't super powerful, but it has a 50 micron detachable filter and allows you to sweep the very top layer of substrate while catching the dinos in the filter chamber and minimizing any release back into the tank, I tried running power heads with filter socks and it was such a pain. the extractor was waaay easier. the filter on the extractor was always loaded with dinos so i know it was helping. Do you scrub your rock work daily just before lights off?
I used the eheim before i started using a tooth brush on the exposed rockwork right before lights out. UV 24/7

good luck

 

[reeftivo]

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

i'd lower your alk to 8 with those perameters. what test kits do you use for NO3 and PO4?

corals may be starving. they love a little nitrate and phosphate. i would shoot for 3 to 10ppm NO3 and .02 to .06 ppm PO4 and see if things improve.

feeding more is a good start to raise levels

 

[shred5]

"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.

If you are growing macro algae you should add iodine because algae uses it.
Matter of fact I think iodine shortage may be the issue some have growing macros like chaeto.



If not you may not care.
Iodine disappears pretty quick in a reef.
It can be replenished with water changes and is sometimes in the food we add..
It is one of those very debatable subjects especially when it comes to coral.


Personally I add some twice a week.

 

[michael giordano]

I am out of space for my acros and my wife will execute me if I upgrade. My friends will not stop harassing me if I don’t upgrade, 1st world problems..

 

[ZsWithTheFishes]

GHA in one of my tanks. I started it with tap water while I was changing out my RODI system. I now have a 7 stage 200 gpd system and USE it but the gha is unforgiving. The more I pick, the more it grows. I just left for 4 days and it is much worse than this picture now.

 

[shred5]

GHA in one of my tanks. I started it with tap water while I was changing out my RODI system. I now have a 7 stage 200 gpd system and USE it but the gha is unforgiving. The more I pick, the more it grows. I just left for 4 days and it is much worse than this picture now.

Looking at the picture most of it seems to be coming off the whiter rock.
Is this rock newer?
Was it precycled?
I have had dead rock that has been loaded with nutrients.
That is what it looks like here that the rock maybe leaching nutrients.

 

[ZsWithTheFishes]

Looking at the picture most of it seems to be coming off the whiter rock.
Is this rock newer?
Was it precycled?
I have had dead rock that has been loaded with nutrients.
That is what it looks like here that the rock maybe leaching nutrients.

The rock has been in there for a while, the reason it is white is that I took it out and gave it a scrub because it was covered with GHA. I had committed to taking out about a rock a week and scrubbing it, but I changed my mind because that or something else was bothering the wildlife.

Just getting home from that 4-day vacation, I did not get to check the tank last night other than to turn the skimmer back on. Now that I had a chance to wake up and see the state of things, I'm going to head over to the emergency forum where I probably belong right now.

 

[Ariel V Rosa]

My tank seems to be partially stuck in it's cycle. At first I thought the test kit was maybe giving false reading so i went and tested my established tank... nope test kit works. Been Stuck at .2 ppm ammonia for about a week now. More time, Up the ammonia? how far there is life on these rocks so i don't want to go up to crazy levels.

 

[Ariel V Rosa]

GHA in one of my tanks. I started it with tap water while I was changing out my RODI system. I now have a 7 stage 200 gpd system and USE it but the gha is unforgiving. The more I pick, the more it grows. I just left for 4 days and it is much worse than this picture now.

GFO reaction is your friend, you don't need a reactor, just use any plastic jar. Stick a whole down the center with a piece of tubing to the bottom, hole on the top, small , small pump and let it run in your tank whole thing submerged. Looks like you need to strip the water of whatever that tap water put in.

 

[40breederzach]

i am currently trying everything in the book to raise my ph and keep it steady at 8 it is stubborn at 7.6 and rises to 7.8 i have a co2 scrubber and am about to start 2 part and running a tube out the window to the skimmer.

 

[clown and friends]

Bubble algae...I keep picking it off and siphoning during water changes and then there is none I can see. End of the week when a water change is due more bubbles are back! Nitrates aren't sky high and have never been above 20. Usually ~5 after water change and 10 or so right before. Don't know what to do to get rid of it. If anyone has experience let me know!

 

[116185]

Had the tank up for 3 years now.

#1 ICH I started running a UV and keeping them fat and happy. So far so good. Fingers crossed. Its been about 3 months now. Went fallow last year and it wont happen again! Tank will come down before I do it again!

#2 GHA! Its killing me!! Been at it for 6 months. Wont stop. Been against Tangs all along due to aggression. But added a yellow from Biota. Shes hard at work. And wont starve!

 

[MombasaLionfish]

This most awesome saltwater and reef aquariums is one of ups and downs, highs and lows! One day you're fired up about your pristine pink covered rocks in a box and the next you see a speck of green and the doubt begins to grow along with the algae!

This hobby is not perfect as we all know and it's going to keep you guessing a lot of times but I for one think it helps to just "get it out there" sometimes! Let someone know what's going on, spill the beans and sound off! Who knows maybe someone will help you over the hump!

So what are you currently going through?

image via @Broadfield for inspiration!

Fish are recovering from marine velvet and GHA was just introduced to my tank.

 

[MombasaLionfish]

Fish are recovering from marine velvet and GHA was just introduced to my tank.

Also a weird coral or something ate my zoas.

 

[Chiefmaster30]

Had the tank up for 3 years now.

#1 ICH I started running a UV and keeping them fat and happy. So far so good. Fingers crossed. Its been about 3 months now. Went fallow last year and it wont happen again! Tank will come down before I do it again!

#2 GHA! Its killing me!! Been at it for 6 months. Wont stop. Been against Tangs all along due to aggression. But added a yellow from Biota. Shes hard at work. And wont starve!

Do you have any cleaner shrimp? If not get you some. I went through the ick thing when I began In This hobby 3 yrs ago. Got ick, went fallow 80 days. Never got it again. But... in November we bought a home. Moved my 3 yr old 125 gallon mixed reef and within 48 hrs everything in it was dead, have no idea what did it. Since then I started over. I figured if I’m gonna start over I’m starting over right. So I bought the tank I had always wanted. 2 months ago after adding some new fish I got ick once again. Just like you now, I’m thinking screw this fallow period. After all I’ve done been through I’m not waiting another 80 days. I ended up asking a reefer friend that’s been in the hobby for many years and actually has his ow. Aquarium maintenance company and he suggested Scarlet skunk cleaner shrimp. So with nothing to lose I headed out and got 3. Within 30 mins my tang was getting cleaned by the shrimp and within 2 days all his spots were completely gone. It’s been 2 months and this tang or none of my fish have any signs of ick or any other illness. Sry for ramble but hope this helps!

 

[Mastiffsrule]

THIS. ;Inpain;Inpain

 

[Frtdrmrose7]

Yeah I need more livestock!

 

[MTBake]

lights out then may help a bit. i'd do 2 to 3 days and see where your at.
one note that i didn't elaborate more on is the eheim sludge extractor i used. the extractor isn't super powerful, but it has a 50 micron detachable filter and allows you to sweep the very top layer of substrate while catching the dinos in the filter chamber and minimizing any release back into the tank, I tried running power heads with filter socks and it was such a pain. the extractor was waaay easier. the filter on the extractor was always loaded with dinos so i know it was helping. Do you scrub your rock work daily just before lights off?
I used the eheim before i started using a tooth brush on the exposed rockwork right before lights out. UV 24/7

good luck

Thinking of siphoning water through a filter sock while sucking up as much of the visible dinos as possible. Dump the "filtered" water back in so I'm not adding fresh salt water. Then brushing the rocks before lights out. Thoughts on this?

I feel like I'm close to beating these things. Just need final push to eliminate them.

Thanks for the help by the way. It is appreciated.