Too much at once?

[bull1134]

Hi everyone, my first post.

So I have a 75gal mixed reef with a few fish. The tanks a year old and was doing pretty well. Everything except Xenia that is, for some reason those and Duncan’s just won’t live. But everything else is growing like crazy, but I started to get a bit of green algae on the sand.

The skimmer was working, and I always wanted to build my own sump, so I figured I would build a bigger sump and up the bio filtration (I actually doubled it). Because more is better right?

In that same thought, I came up with doubling my carbon (in media bags) and add phos ban. THEN. Go ahead and dose some vibrant while I’m at it and everything should be beautiful, cleanest sand and rocks ever, and it be show quality with all this done to a tank that just had a little algae starting, right?…WRONG!

Now, the algae exploded everywhere, my corals that were growing don’t want to come out, or they are shrinking, and I’m really worried.

Where did I mess up the worst? I e pulled out the carbon, and am now waiting on my water to finish (roi) so I can do a big water change, I don’t know if there is anything else I can do but hold on and wait.

Suggestions?

 

[Dbichler]

First biggest mistake was using vibrant. Vibrant can irritate corals or even kill them. Doubling up on carbon doesn’t really do much but last longer. Making a bigger sump should help. Try to keep your nitrates and phosphates above 0 and manually remove the rest .

 

[ryanjohn1]

Good advice there^. Probably just hitting the ugly stage. Manual removal of algae

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Hi everyone, my first post.

So I have a 75gal mixed reef with a few fish. The tanks a year old and was doing pretty well. Everything except Xenia that is, for some reason those and Duncan’s just won’t live. But everything else is growing like crazy, but I started to get a bit of green algae on the sand.

The skimmer was working, and I always wanted to build my own sump, so I figured I would build a bigger sump and up the bio filtration (I actually doubled it). Because more is better right?

In that same thought, I came up with doubling my carbon (in media bags) and add phos ban. THEN. Go ahead and dose some vibrant while I’m at it and everything should be beautiful, cleanest sand and rocks ever, and it be show quality with all this done to a tank that just had a little algae starting, right?…WRONG!

Now, the algae exploded everywhere, my corals that were growing don’t want to come out, or they are shrinking, and I’m really worried.

Where did I mess up the worst? I e pulled out the carbon, and am now waiting on my water to finish (roi) so I can do a big water change, I don’t know if there is anything else I can do but hold on and wait.

Suggestions?

Welcome to the forum!

I'm sorry about your troubles.

What are your nitrate and phosphate levels? Why did you add phosban in the first place (what was your phos level before)?
Vibrant has been known to cause problems, but with all the changes at once it's going to be difficult to say for sure.

Can you post pictures?

 

[bull1134]

Thanks, I was worried about the vibrant, I saw a few videos recommending it, after I used it I started seeing videos with a lot of people not recommending it (of course!). I had just done so much at once I started second guessing all of it.

I have always had carbon in the sump, so there can’t be too much?
And phosban, can that hurt more than it helps?

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Thanks, I was worried about the vibrant, I saw a few videos recommending it, after I used it I started seeing videos with a lot of people not recommending it (of course!). I had just done so much at once I started second guessing all of it.

I have always had carbon in the sump, so there can’t be too much?
And phosban, can that hurt more than it helps?

Don't use a phosphate remover unless you need to lower your phosphates. Yes, it can cause problems like starving your coral, causing dinos, etc.

As for "too much" carbon, that's dependent on other factors...like, do you have tangs? is the carbon itself acting as a detritus trap? ...

I personally don't use carbon unless I'm trying to remove something from the water (potential toxins, for example). I know others use it all the time though, so I can't say for sure that it would cause a problem. One possibility is if you didn't rinse the new carbon well enough and some of the dust irritated the coral...

 

[bull1134]

Welcome to the forum!

I'm sorry about your troubles.

What are your nitrate and phosphate levels? Why did you add phosban in the first place (what was your phos level before)?
Vibrant has been known to cause problems, but with all the changes at once it's going to be difficult to say for sure.

Can you post pictures?

Here is what is on the sand. The Kenya tree is not spreading out, Xenia or starburst either, annd they have been growing a lot (not the Xenia, I’m cursed trying to get that going) everything else seems okay.

I took some what we by the green on the sand and looked at it under a microscope, from what I see pictures of online it looks like Dinos, but that’s a guess for me really, I’ve never tried looking under a scope for things.

Phosphate was at .04
I’m still really new at this, I hate that I had it all good and seem to have messed up a good thing.

 

[bull1134]

Here is what is on the sand. The Kenya tree is not spreading out, Xenia or starburst either, annd they have been growing a lot (not the Xenia, I’m cursed trying to get that going) everything else seems okay.

I took some what we by the green on the sand and looked at it under a microscope, from what I see pictures of online it looks like Dinos, but that’s a guess for me really, I’ve never tried looking under a scope for things.

Phosphate was at .04
I’m still really new at this, I hate that I had it all good and seem to have messed up a good thing.

I had a bit of problems at its start up, but I went from needing to clean the glass once a week, to almost being able to watch it cover it.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

.04 phosphate may be why the corals aren't doing well. That's very low, especially for soft corals like Xenia.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Here is what is on the sand. The Kenya tree is not spreading out, Xenia or starburst either, annd they have been growing a lot (not the Xenia, I’m cursed trying to get that going) everything else seems okay.

I took some what we by the green on the sand and looked at it under a microscope, from what I see pictures of online it looks like Dinos, but that’s a guess for me really, I’ve never tried looking under a scope for things.

Phosphate was at .04
I’m still really new at this, I hate that I had it all good and seem to have messed up a good thing.

That's hardly anything... Just an algae bloom on the sand.

I know you're new, but please resist the urge to throw everything but the kitchen sink at future problems, especially algae. At this point there's nothing you can do to quickly make things better (nothing good happens fast in this hobby). Take out the phosphate remover, stop dosing or adding any chemicals, feed your fish (you want to raise nutrients), and test things again in a week.

What is your nitrate level?

 

[bull1134]

That's hardly anything... Just an algae bloom on the sand.

I know you're new, but please resist the urge to throw everything but the kitchen sink at future problems, especially algae. At this point there's nothing you can do to quickly make things better (nothing good happens fast in this hobby). Take out the phosphate remover, stop dosing or adding any chemicals, feed your fish (you want to raise nutrients), and test things again in a week.

What is your nitrate level?

Zero

 

[kevgib67]

Zero

You don’t want to starve your coral. Get nitrate up 10-15 and phosphate up.05-.1.