What am I doing wrong?

[Yamaha1634]

My 50gal is 8 months old. For about 2 months now I’ve been battling some brown algae.

Started on the sand bed, then on the glass, then on the rocks, not on coral skeletons….

In the past 2 months I’ve had a candy cane recede almost entirely but is actually making a come back and then in the past month I’ve had a Duncan with nearly 15 heads bail out almost entirely. I also have a torch which is very fleshy but with next to no polyp extension while my other torch and hammer both look fine. My zoa garden is half fine and half struggling to open. My alveopora is showing poor extension and my bubble tip anemone has been shrivelled up for weeks.

SOMETHING IS WRONG!!!
My last set of Red Sea test results were as follows

Sal 1.025
Ph 8.2
Nitrate 6
Phos 0.04
Cal 400
Mag 1400
Alk 10.2
Temp 25.3C

I also did an ICP test, results below. A few things were low but nothing crazy that I could see.

Im dosing Zlements Amino which I have gradually lowered as I was worried it was furling the issue…

Im also dosing All For Reef which I have upped from 6ml a day to 10ml a day after the Icp showed low mag and cal.

I’ve also in the last few days started to dose Nyos iodine at 2 drops every other day.

Lighting I have two 16HDs, 10 inches above the water and 10 inches in from each end of my 3ft tank.

Flow is done by a Maxspect 2K Gyre which was on the back centre but I’ve recently moved it to one end and upped it to a pulsing flow between 10 and 70% every 2 seconds (goes 10, 20, 10, 30, 10, 40 etc etc) to increase flow in the corners… doesn’t appear to have helped…

My dosing and lighting schedule is below along with my ICP results and pictures of the tank under white light only.

I’m completely at a loss. I’ve tried various things but the problem keeps getting worse… I can’t even figure out exactly what I have and so I’m always scared to make changes as I’m basically guessing!

Can anyone tell me firstly what I have, secondly why I have it, and thirdly what I do to get rid of it?!

 

[Shibaken3]

whats ur live stock and cuc

 

[Yamaha1634]

whats ur live stock and cuc

Here’s me thinking of covered everything!

Corals
Duncan nearly completely bailed
Candy cane making a recovery from recent issues
2 torch, one struggling to extend
Hammer
Kenya tree
Alveopora
7x rhodactis mushrooms
8x zoa frags
6x acan frags
Trachyphylia
Plating monti frag
Stylophora
Pocilophora

Fish
Ocelaris clown
3 Panama cardinal
Scopas tang
Mccoskers wrasse
Cosmetus wrasse
Tailspin blenny

Inverts
Skunk cleaner shrimp
2 conch
5 hermits
10 bumblebee snails
4 trochus snail

 

[Schwartzy]

Judging from the sandbed, it looks like it could be dinos (some forms of dinos are toxic). Only way to know 100% is to put a sample under a microscope if you have one or know someone who does.

 

[Shibaken3]

I would definitely add more cuc. will help out by turning over the sand and eating algae from the rock.

 

[Yamaha1634]

Judging from the sandbed, it looks like it could be dinos (some forms of dinos are toxic). Only way to know 100% is to put a sample under a microscope if you have one or know someone who does.

Don’t have access to a microscope or know anyone who does….. would an LFS have one do you think?

if it is dinos what’s causing them and how do I rid myself of them?

 

[Yamaha1634]

I would definitely add more cuc. will help out by turning over the sand and eating algae from the rock.

That makes sense… but is the issue my lack of CUC or am I just adding them to keep it under control? Can I not find the source of the issue and fix that?

 

[SilvermistInc]

What are you topping off with?

 

[Schwartzy]

Don’t have access to a microscope or know anyone who does….. would an LFS have one do you think?

if it is dinos what’s causing them and how do I rid myself of them?

Possibly. I work at an LFS and we have one. Can't speak for others though. Otherwise you can get one for cheap on amazon.

As to the second part of your question, there's a lot of debate on what actually causes dinos and how to get rid of them. But typically what causes them in an imbalance in the tank. In your circumstance, it could have been caused by the aminos. How to get rid of them will depend on what specific type of dinos you are battling. For me, I have beat them in the past by literally not touching the tank (aside from necessary maintenance) and that seemed to help the tank balance out naturally. I did not have the toxic form of dinos though, which definitely makes your situation a bit more time sensitive.

 

[Yamaha1634]

What are you topping off with?

Rodi I filter myself with a 5 stage unit. Mix my own salt water with red sea blue bucket and RODI. My ICP test included RODI but haven’t had those results back yet…

 

[Shibaken3]

Algae is a natural thing that will happen in any tank, If the cuc and regular maintenance can't handle an outbreak then something is wrong with the tank.

 

[Yamaha1634]

Possibly. I work at an LFS and we have one. Can't speak for others though. Otherwise you can get one for cheap on amazon.

As to the second part of your question, there's a lot of debate on what actually causes dinos and how to get rid of them. But typically what causes them in an imbalance in the tank. In your circumstance, it could have been caused by the aminos. How to get rid of them will depend on what specific type of dinos you are battling. For me, I have beat them in the past by literally not touching the tank (aside from necessary maintenance) and that seemed to help the tank balance out naturally. I did not have the toxic form of dinos though, which definitely makes your situation a bit more time sensitive.

Ok I’ll try and find a microscope. Will any microscope do? I have a few friends with school aged kids that might have something if that would do?

 

[Spare time]

Looks like lygbya possibly?

 

[keatonmjenkins]

From seeing what you are doing to an 8-month-old tank is alot. There honestly is no reason you should be dosing anything to your tank. It's very new still and water changes and regular feeding should keep it balanced.

I would stop dosing everything and do weekly water changes until there is a need to dose. You don't have enough coral to be dosing. Dosing will come years later when your water changes can't keep up with what you're loosing.

 

[Schwartzy]

Ok I’ll try and find a microscope. Will any microscope do? I have a few friends with school aged kids that might have something if that would do?

Ideally something that can do 80-100x or more. I've used a cheapo $15 one on amazon before and it did the job (pain in the butt to use though). You just need to figure out what you are battling first so you know how to take action against it.

I've seen dinos a lot, and like I said, it appears similar based on the photos. But it's important to know what it is because battling dinos and algae are two very different approaches.

 

[Yamaha1634]

From seeing what you are doing to an 8-month-old tank is alot. There honestly is no reason you should be dosing anything to your tank. It's very new still and water changes and regular feeding should keep it balanced.

I would stop dosing everything and do weekly water changes until there is a need to dose. You don't have enough coral to be dosing. Dosing will come years later when your water changes can't keep up with what you're loosing.

This is where reefing is so frustrating! Everyone else has given me the advice of dosing some for of coral nutrients, I started with manual dosing of AB+ then went to a pump with aminos. Then when my mag and calc were low everyone recommended AFR!

Its impossible to know what to do for the best!

 

[Yamaha1634]

Ideally something that can do 80-100x or more. I've used a cheapo $15 one on amazon before and it did the job (pain in the butt to use though). You just need to figure out what you are battling first so you know how to take action against it.

I've seen dinos a lot, and like I said, it appears similar based on the photos. But it's important to know what it is because battling dinos and algae are two very different approaches.

I’ve text a load of people and found someone with a 100x microscope from a kids science kit!!! I’ll get it asap and see what I can see. Do I just grab a lump and look or it?

 

[Schwartzy]

I’ve text a load of people and found someone with a 100x microscope from a kids science kit!!! I’ll get it asap and see what I can see. Do I just grab a lump and look or it?

I would suck a sample off the sandbed (without getting any sand) and start there first. You're looking for something like this (see attached picture).

Here's a good bit of info on it as well: http://blog.coralwonders.com/en/dinoflagelados-en-el-acuario-marino/

 

[Yamaha1634]

I would suck a sample off the sandbed (without getting any sand) and start there first. You're looking for something like this (see attached picture).

Here's a good bit of info on it as well: http://blog.coralwonders.com/en/dinoflagelados-en-el-acuario-marino/

I will report back tomorrow after my microscopic experiment! Thanks Schwartzy!!

 

[keatonmjenkins]

This is where reefing is so frustrating! Everyone else has given me the advice of dosing some for of coral nutrients, I started with manual dosing of AB+ then went to a pump with aminos. Then when my mag and calc were low everyone recommended AFR!

Its impossible to know what to do for the best!

Yea dosing is because you need minerals and your water changes cannot keep up within the week to two weeks.

So as a new hobbiest and so you don’t kill your motivation with ugly stages and new theories. Just keep it simple, feed your fish and do your water changes and test once to twice a week. This will help you be more in tune with your tank since you’ll be performing water changes.

So stop dosing everything and keep it simple until you actually need to dose. Anyone who tells you that you need to dose in the beginning is 100% wrong