What is wrong with my tank and how can I fix it?

Dav2996

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So the RODI water might be my issue? Or should I scrub it all down add bacteria and put a cleanup crew in there?
Chris there many things that cause the problem you are facing. Maybe 20 things and you probably have to go through all of them and even then it will not go away right away. It could take months for it to go away its part of owning a tank. When I have issues I scrub it daily and I know I did all the things I could and it went away eventually.
 

Dav2996

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So the RODI water might be my issue? Or should I scrub it all down add bacteria and put a cleanup crew in there?
Here's what I do. These are all the solutions and I use all of them. Doing all of these will reduce it but it could take months for it to go away no guarantee.
1. Dose Nopox
2. Use my own RODI and it has 0 TDS
3. I have 20 blue hermit crabs they love algae but it needs to be short for them to eat they have weak claws and cant cut stalks of algae
4. have sand sifting starfish they are easy to kill if you dont know what your doing
5. Scrape algae off my back wall with a long scraper that has a sharp edge
6. hyyger my glass
7. Scrub my rock with tooth brush to get algae off
8. plug stubborn algae out of tank
9 water change the bad algae out in the water column
10 use a skimmer to reduce bio available nitrates and phosphates for the algae to grow
11. add a refugium compartment in the back of the tank with a special light so the algae that I do have will grow there instead of my main tank
12. brush and prevent algae from covering corals because it will kill the coral
13. Have red lights, green lights low on your light in your tank
14. Have a powerhead pointed towards the sand so it stirs the sand not blows it in the water so algae cant grow in it
15. get a herbivore like a tang, or lawnmower blenny they eat algae
16. Black out your tank for a day or 2 could possibly kill coral if too many days and if the coral is weak
17. Get an algae scrubber and plum it into your tank
18. could try ozone but it is dangerous if not operated correctly to even you
 
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Chris_Noles

Chris_Noles

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Here's what I do. These are all the solutions and I use all of them. Doing all of these will reduce it but it could take months for it to go away no guarantee.
1. Dose Nopox
2. Use my own RODI and it has 0 TDS
3. I have 20 blue hermit crabs they love algae but it needs to be short for them to eat they have weak claws and cant cut stalks of algae
4. have sand sifting starfish they are easy to kill if you dont know what your doing
5. Scrape algae off my back wall with a long scraper that has a sharp edge
6. hyyger my glass
7. Scrub my rock with tooth brush to get algae off
8. plug stubborn algae out of tank
9 water change the bad algae out in the water column
10 use a skimmer to reduce bio available nitrates and phosphates for the algae to grow
11. add a refugium compartment in the back of the tank with a special light so the algae that I do have will grow there instead of my main tank
12. brush and prevent algae from covering corals because it will kill the coral
13. Have red lights, green lights low on your light in your tank
14. Have a powerhead pointed towards the sand so it stirs the sand not blows it in the water so algae cant grow in it
15. get a herbivore like a tang, or lawnmower blenny they eat algae
16. Black out your tank for a day or 2 could possibly kill coral if too many days and if the coral is weak
17. Get an algae scrubber and plum it into your tank
18. could try ozone but it is dangerous if not operated correctly to even you
Thanks, I am going to try the manual scrub down along with a larger CUC. I have a skimmer I can run but I was hearing I need to increase my nutrients. I have 2 powerheads in the tank and random flow heads for my return pump. I have blacked out my tank multiple times but everything just keeps coming back. I also run some chemipure so idk if I need the Nopox
 

Dav2996

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Thanks, I am going to try the manual scrub down along with a larger CUC. I have a skimmer I can run but I was hearing I need to increase my nutrients. I have 2 powerheads in the tank and random flow heads for my return pump. I have blacked out my tank multiple times but everything just keeps coming back. I also run some chemipure so idk if I need the Nopox
Nopox you can use daily chemiclean in the directions says once a month
 
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Chris_Noles

Chris_Noles

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Gotta be careful with both of those though. If you tank nitrates or phosphates to 0 and also chemically remove cyano, you can end up with dinos that are considerably worse than cyano or algae.
Yeah I am not going to use any chemiclean, I've already dumped enough chemicals in my tank. I am going to try some manual removal and add more CUC since that might help solve the issue. Going to run my skimmer aswell.
 

Roatan Reef

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about $150.00

Yes make your own water,add more CUC..and pay attention to what @Dav2996 said!
20220623_015442.jpg
 

Roatan Reef

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Yeah I am not going to use any chemiclean, I've already dumped enough chemicals in my tank. I am going to try some manual removal and add more CUC since that might help solve the issue. Going to run my skimmer aswell.
I wish you the best Man! Even as a Die Hard Canes Fam! This shyte sucks man!
 

Dav2996

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Gotta be careful with both of those though. If you tank nitrates or phosphates to 0 and also chemically remove cyano, you can end up with dinos that are considerably worse than cyano or algae.
I run UV I never get Dino’s and I never use chemiclean unless I have cyano
 

Roatan Reef

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I run UV I never get Dino’s and I never use chemiclean unless I have cyano
I run Carbon, Phosguard, Chemi Pure, Filter Floss, Poly FilterPads, Aquachar, and bio balls in my Cannister also.

Never really experienced the Ugly Stage, except after 1.5 months. Added Yuge CUC, and over filter my tank...all is good!



For Now!!
 

Lasse

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Sorry late in and maybe will turn everything upside down

Don't be fooled by everyone who is going to tell you it is GHA and dump a CUC in. You may very well have lynbya.

Lyngbya is a family of cyanobacteria that are able to fix nitrogen with help of bunch of bacteria even in aerobic environment. They do not need nitrogen in the water column (read nitrate) - they fix it by themself. These type of cyanobacteria will dominate in an environment low in dissolved inorganic nitrogen - together with other filamentous cyanobacteria from the family Oscillatoriaceae.

As a general comment, you need to raise your nitrates...
Indeed

IMO - you need to establish which organism you have - if it is a type of cyanobacteria or a type of normal algae. This of many different reasons. If it is a cyanobacteria - a CUC will not be able to do its job. Many cyanobacteria is toxic and will not be eaten, they can even kill your introduced CUC. But also because the type of things you need to do will differ, If it is cyanobacteria - you need to rise your nitrates at least to around 3 ppm, This will give dissolved nitrogen for other more wanted organisms and reduce possible release of PO4 from rocks and sand.

The things I would do in this situation (and I think that @paintman is on the right direction what I see from the pictures - but I can be wrong) is
1. Rinse everything as good as possible - with brush if it is necessary. Keep most of the water.
2. Rise NO3 levels to around 3 ppm Use 40 g of NaNO3 (Chile salpeter, Sodium nitrate ) from the grocery store spice shelf - or KNO3 (Saltpeter or potassium nitrate) from the same shelf. Dissolve these 40 g in 500 ml of RO water. 1 ml of this stock solution will rise the NO3 level of 100 L water with around 0.5 ppm.
3. Go down in light intensity with around 50 %. If your fixture have an adaptive mode - set it to around 30 days to go from 50 % intensity to 100 %
4. Introduce a CUC but observe if the cyanobacteria come back or not.
5. Keep the NO3 concentrations around 3 ppm
6. If possible some mixed bacteria blends can be effective or sediments from well working aquariums
7. Do not do WC before the situation is under control
8. I would not use NoPox if it is cyanobacteria - it tends (IMO) make the situation worse if it is cyanobacteria

Sincerely Lasse
 

dmsc2fs

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Looks like dying GHA and bubble algae. First, pull as much as you can by hand. A root system, will suggest bryopsis. If you see fern like appearance with roots, you MUST remove roots or this stuff will not come back. A dental pick or small crochet needle will take roots off easily. Afterwards . . . .
Unfortunately, you will have to remove rock into a separate container ...


I believe this should have read " you MUST remove roots or this stuff will not come back."

Another option if you are against removing the rock would be to try Reef Flux for a month or two. It has shown an ability to kill off bryopsis. That plus an urchin and a Mexican turbo snail can give you some options. Any one of the three may or may not help but I have seen all three be effective in different circumstances. The urchin and mexican turbo will be easy to rehome if they are not working.
 

vetteguy53081

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I believe this should have read " you MUST remove roots or this stuff will not come back."

Another option if you are against removing the rock would be to try Reef Flux for a month or two. It has shown an ability to kill off bryopsis. That plus an urchin and a Mexican turbo snail can give you some options. Any one of the three may or may not help but I have seen all three be effective in different circumstances. The urchin and mexican turbo will be easy to rehome if they are not working.
Yes or will return
 

paintman

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Sorry late in and maybe will turn everything upside down



Lyngbya is a family of cyanobacteria that are able to fix nitrogen with help of bunch of bacteria even in aerobic environment. They do not need nitrogen in the water column (read nitrate) - they fix it by themself. These type of cyanobacteria will dominate in an environment low in dissolved inorganic nitrogen - together with other filamentous cyanobacteria from the family Oscillatoriaceae.


Lasse, thank you for posting this. Seeing as how you and RHF are the only ones with advice I would follow, How would you go about battling Lyngbya?
 

Lasse

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Sorry, Lasse how would you go about battling lynbya?
Its a tough opponent to battle but - I have had it once in a 20 L nano. I rinse a lot and rise the NO3 levels. Something like the points above. You can´t battle them with zeroing the PO4 either because they can use tricks that release PO4 from the sediment (if "jelly" mats is formed) If the NO3 levels i above 2-3 ppm it will more difficult for them to use bounded PO4.

Sincerely Lasse
 

paintman

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Its a tough opponent to battle but - I have had it once in a 20 L nano. I rinse a lot and rise the NO3 levels. Something like the points above. You can´t battle them with zeroing the PO4 either because they can use tricks that release PO4 from the sediment (if "jelly" mats is formed) If the NO3 levels i above 2-3 ppm it will more difficult for them to use bounded PO4.

Sincerely Lasse
Hmmmm, my P04 sits at 0.07 and my Nitrates are at 12. Not sure what you mean by rinse. Are you saying remove rock and do peroxide bath?
 

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