Ugly Stage with Fritz Turbo Start 900

alex1994 · Nov 13, 2023

Hi guys , i made my reef tank 2 months ago cycled with Fritz Turbo Start 900 and Fishless Fuel. After one month the ammonia drops and i put fish and corals. In this time i dose food for fish and a very less coral food. I dose Phytoplancton too. Now , a week ago is start the ugly stage , i don't know why but there is it. There are brown algae and cloudly brown water. What i can do to not lose the corals that i put on? I attach a photo of the tank, the photo is about 2 days ago , now the water is more cloudly.
The test yesterday are like this :
NO2 = 0
NO3 = 0
PO4 = 0
NH4 = 0
KH = 8
Calcium = 440
Magnesium = 1350
Salinity = 35

One week before the brown algae the test are :
NO2 = 0.02
NO3 = 15
PO4 = 0.02

Spare time · Nov 13, 2023

That is a bacterial (or phytoplankton if its green) bloom. Aerate the water as best as you can, clean the mechanical filter daily, and consider adding a cheap uv sterilizer. The main concern is oxygen for the fish.

alex1994 · Nov 13, 2023

Spare time said:
That is a bacterial (or phytoplankton if its green) bloom. Aerate the water as best as you can, clean the mechanical filter daily, and consider adding a cheap uv sterilizer. The main concern is oxygen for the fish.

It's green yeah. But i'm worried about algae on the corals , i clean but maybe is deadly for the corals.

Spare time · Nov 13, 2023

alex1994 said:
It's green yeah. But i'm worried about algae on the corals , i clean but maybe is deadly for the corals.

No, it isn't deadly. You just need more things to eat it. You can also use a toothbrush to scrape it off.

I would get a cheap uv sterilizer, do a decent water change, and consider adding some copepods since they eat phytoplankton (avoid tigrio pods)

Lavey29 · Nov 13, 2023

I agree with the above and please prepare yourself for a variety of ugly phases over the course of the first year due to tank instability. Weekly water changes are necessary and don't break the wallet on corals while your tank is maturing the first year.

19Mateo83 · Nov 13, 2023

Get you some copepods from @Dinkins Aquatic Gardens or @AlgaeBarn . They will help eat diatoms and other uglies that come along with cycling a tank.

alex1994 · Nov 14, 2023

I live in Italy , so i can't buy copepods from above but i can get from other shops here. Today i buy a UV light on Amazon and tomorrow i put in the water. After the water clears i do a 20% water change and add Prodibio bacteria. Is ok for you? Today i see in the tank and for me is not an algae bloom because the water is very green and the algae on rocks is not so bad , and the nutrient are 0 levels. I attach a today's photo.

Reef. · Nov 14, 2023

Stop adding coral food, your tank is very young, adding all that food will cause algae.

If it’s a bacterial bloom it might go with a week or two.

Keep doing water changes and cleaning the tank.

Most problems will fix themselves with time, I think you are overthinking everything and worrying too much.

Don’t think just because your tests read zero you don’t have high nutrients, the algae will be using the nutrients so your tests will give a false low reading.

alex1994 · Nov 14, 2023

Reef. said:
Stop adding coral food, your tank is very young, adding all that food will cause algae.

If it’s a bacterial bloom it might go with a week or two.

Keep doing water changes and cleaning the tank.

Most problems will fix themselves with time, I think you are overthinking everything and worrying too much.

Don’t think just because your tests read zero you don’t have high nutrients, the algae will be using the nutrients so your tests will give a false low reading.

I add very low coral food. Like 5 g in two weeks.

PitzBen · Nov 14, 2023

I have the same challenge with the ugly phase, my LFS recommended that I maintain phosphate at less than 0.04 and nitrate around 5 to avoid a future problem with cyano. Are you agreed with this recommandation. Indeed, I've added several snails, it reduces the brown algae and I have to be patient.

Mr. Mojo Rising · Nov 14, 2023

It looks like the tank could use a powerhead in there, maybe 2 of them. The tank looks stagnant, looks like no flow at all. You should point one of the powerheads at the water surface to help oxygenate the water.

jda · Nov 14, 2023

GAC in a powered filter can help. GAC in a bag in the sump won't do as much.

I would stop with the phytoplankton dosing.

You have the ulgies because your ecosystem is not developed. The fish gut bacteria added more to the biom than what you added initially. However, none of this creates a complete ecosystem like most super mature tanks have. You need worms, pods (more than come in a bottle), mini starfish, other types of film and surface bacteria and algae, etc. This can come in bit by bit on the small rocks and frag plugs that you get frags on, or you can get a few pieces of real live rock.

exnisstech · Nov 14, 2023

Mr. Mojo Rising said:
It looks like the tank could use a powerhead in there, maybe 2 of them. The tank looks stagnant, looks like no flow at all. You should point one of the powerheads at the water surface to help oxygenate the water.

Agreed. Unless all flow is turned off for pics I see no indication of flow in the tank.
Also not sure about dosing phyto to a new tank. Personally I have never dosed phyto on any tank so maybe I'm missing out on something? I would also not spend money on pods. All of my tanks are full of them but I've never added any.