Tank Reboot & How to fix GHA problem

[taulgrl]

I concur 100% with diver collected live rock to inoculate system with micro fauna & fana that provide multiple nutrient pathways to feed hungry mouths. Yes to a cryptic refugium but also add diver collected live rock in display. Butterfly fish & Drawf Angel continually munch on this rock.

I disagree that low nutrients will limit opportunistic algae’s. Both Cyanobacteria & Dinoflagellets thrive when nitrogen & phosphorus are limited.

Thanks for your post and thoughts. I have always had low nutrients but very controllable algae for 4 of my 5 years reefing. Things got off balance somehow about a year ago (I think it was because I hadn’t replaced my very old RODI cartridges) and I now find myself in a constant battle against GHA, Dino’s and Cyano. I’m hoping the move to my new tank will provide the reboot it needs!

 

[pasadena_reef]

I’m weeks away from moving my current 5 yr mixed reef to a new Waterbox 110Ex system. New tank and sump are about the same size as current tank (80 gal)

I have been battling uncontrollable GHA growth in my current tank for almost a year and nothing seems to be working. Parameters in line with recs and stable (Alk 8.5, Nitrate 5-10, Phos 0.03). Running GFO, carbon, and dose Kalk. I replaced all RODI cartridges and membrane, have ~30 snails, 2-3 urchins (big and old tuxedo just died), a few hermits and just got a sea hare (who doesn’t seem overly hungry). Algae eating fish = Scopas tang. Maintenance = manual GHA removal w 10-20% water change every week or two. It just grows back like crazy!

So, I’m giving up and hoping that moving to new tank will help. All equipment will be new. My plan: I’m starting w new live sand but I hate to start over w new rock. My plan is to scrub the heck out of them and rinse in fresh RODI before transferring.

What suggestions to people have? I’m wondering if I should throw my UV sterilizer in to see if it helps at all… only thing I can think of other than adding algae killing chemicals (don’t want to do that)

5 year old reef tank and your having those problems? Really comes down to the looked over things, source water, what you’re dosing, what your weekly tests look like, Icp results?

I just recently discovered through “it looks fine from here” as I squint to look at my di resin, a culmination of complacency, tds meter out of battery, and not testing my source water, my phosphates kept climbing. Come to find out my di resin was wasted, causing film over my tank after only hours of scraping, and cyano.
My source water tested .5 ppm phosphate‍

Just recently I had auto water changes set on my display, after some corals showed signs of stn, no testing and shaking the fresh salt bin and finding it full after a couple of weeks…I finally decided to test the calibration on my versa pumps, sure enough after a year the tubes were wasted and weren’t drawing any water…

Something in your husbandry is lacking. Start from
step 1
Source water? Rodi? Or do you buy from a store?

Step 2 weekly parameter tests? What do you use to test?

What other inputs do you dose into the tank?

Lighting schedule? Running red green and warm white too long or too high?

Idk what your reefing methodology is or experience. I barely hit my 3 year mark, so I’ve been falling victim to my own complacency’s

 

[taulgrl]

5 year old reef tank and your having those problems? Really comes down to the looked over things, source water, what you’re dosing, what your weekly tests look like, Icp results?

I just recently discovered through “it looks fine from here” as I squint to look at my di resin, a culmination of complacency, tds meter out of battery, and not testing my source water, my phosphates kept climbing. Come to find out my di resin was wasted, causing film over my tank after only hours of scraping, and cyano.
My source water tested .5 ppm phosphate‍

Just recently I had auto water changes set on my display, after some corals showed signs of stn, no testing and shaking the fresh salt bin and finding it full after a couple of weeks…I finally decided to test the calibration on my versa pumps, sure enough after a year the tubes were wasted and weren’t drawing any water…

Something in your husbandry is lacking. Start from
step 1
Source water? Rodi? Or do you buy from a store?

Step 2 weekly parameter tests? What do you use to test?

What other inputs do you dose into the tank?

Lighting schedule? Running red green and warm white too long or too high?

Idk what your reefing methodology is or experience. I barely hit my 3 year mark, so I’ve been falling victim to my own complacency’s

Thanks for your suggestions! Like you, I had let my RODI cartridges and membrane go way too long.. Chloramine rose, a fish died, plus a host of other issues that may have been from that (Dino’s, coral death..). I have new test kits (all Salifert) and cut back on white lights and photo period but didn’t help much. I haven’t tested my RODI and freshly mixed salt water so thanks for that tip! ,