Just Getting Started. All Advice Encouraged! (1 Viewer)

[spsick]

Starting with dry rock is really hard, I call it ice skating uphill.

For the hair algae, I always suggest a couple turbo snails. They mow through it, but don’t live terribly long (3-6 months).

No reason to do more than a weekly water change, you just need to get ahead of the algae. I would def stop feeding coral food as that’s fueling it.

 

[reef junkie]

Urchin could be eating all the coraline. They love that stuff. I don’t have much of any in my tank with my two urchins no matter how much I dose.

 

[Mathew0]

I wouldn't worry too much about coraline.
I agree with stopping the Reef Chili.
Turbos are good, they're usually pretty big, tho, and my not fit in all the crevices you've got. It took my 1st tank a good 8-10 months to come out of the GHA stage. I gave up on corals entirely as the algae would grow around and choke them out.
You could try to add an algae eating fish, they wont go for the long strands, though. I had a Foxface, Powder Blue, Scopas, and Convict when they algae finally gave up, but all of those are too big for your setup, unless you get a baby with the intention of trading in when it gets bigger.
Can you give us a new pic of how it looks right now?

 

[MistakesWereMade]

I have dealt with algae issues a couple of times. Sometimes it's harder to just ride it out but sometimes that is just what it takes. Having 12 hours of light on is definitely a factor in the growth. What kind of spectrum are you running. I have had more luck controlling algae when I run more blues than whites.

To try and get the algae more under control, you could cut the light down for awhile. After it seems like you have a handle, slowly increase the lighting back to what you want.

You could also add a UV. If that isn't in your long term plans you could add a small one to your display (like a green machine) for a couple of weeks and see what kind of improvements that makes for you. Could also try and HOB style one, even if it's off to one side for a temporary time.

I have had very little success just dealing with algae with just CUC. Even my tangs and foxface rarely touch algae but eat nori like crazy. I likely just feed then too well.

 

[BlindSwordsman]

People have been given very good advices. I myself don't claim to be an expert and what I do is probably not that awesome. What I say here won't sound very scientific but I have started a few tanks myself. I don't use chemicals and it might take 3-4 months for the tank to stabilize. It might go through some ugly phase with some 'red stuff' for 1-2 weeks but I don't normally have algae issue. All of them were started with mostly dry rock, live sand (in bags from Petco), maybe something extra to 'seed' the tank, e.g. additional small amount of live sand or live rock from some established tank. I sometimes trick the new tank into thinking it's an old tank with a large water change by using large amount of old water from the old tank, reuse of dirty, old filter floss from the mature tank. I even dump in the skimmate from the other tank into the new tank. People might consider that I add 'bacteria' into the new tank or whatever by doing so . I let that going for 6 months or more until I decide the tank is mature enough that I can replace some of the dirty stuff like the old filter floss. People might disagree with my methods and thinking, but if I had an algae issue, I would look into a few things: Cutting down the light time, cutting down on white spectrum, reduce feeding, add more clean up screw (I don't mean only 1-2 snails), add fish to help with the algae clean up, increase filtration/skimming (?), add in chaeto, ... Again, everybody does things differently and thinks differently. For example, I would say red spectrum promotes algae growth, and someone might disagree, and says any spectrum can grow algae, etc. People also usually have the thinking that something expensive and strong and whatever so it must be good. Similar to my friend in college who thought brand name shirt must have awesome material and quality and must look good on him . Same thing, sometimes people think blasting their tank with high light, high flow, etc. must be good. I would say that could be true to certain extent, but not always. In any case, I should be doing something else instead of spending my Sun writing up my arguments .

There are a lot of people on this forum who have very successful tanks. Maybe you could be able to learn something from them if they have open meetings for people to attend? I know there's a meeting coming up in this April (?).

 

[Mathew0]

Strong point with established media to jump start things. I did that while I upgraded to the 220 and didn’t have any issues.
This is a fairly small tank. Depending on what’s there now and how bad the algae is, I full restart might be an option, too

 

[asifiqbal2]

Don’t be discouraged by the hair algae. It is part of the succession of your biome developing and everything fighting for dominance with space and resources. Allow it to happen without making too many chemistry changes. Like many have suggested add Turbos. Also if you hair algae is long, manually remove it ( you can use a clean toothbrush) … snails will take care of the mopping

 

[hamtb1]

Thanks everyone. I really appreciate all the advice. I've attached a photo I shared with someone earlier today, and i can attach more photos tomorrow when the tank lights are back on.

After watching some BRS videos, I've convinced myself this may be dinos, but my confidence level on that isn't too high. I have been religious about weekly water changes, 15-20% and have never had nitrates read above 0.0ppm. Phosphate is 0.0 the day after the change and may get up to 0.03 by the end of the week. I also run a mini protein skimmer in the back of the tank. For those are new to the thread, the tank is an AIO 25 gallon. I'm now thinking my good intentions have unintentionally set me behind the 8 ball. Do you agree this is a dino problem?

I turned the protein skimmer off for now, and will do a focused 1-2 gallon water change/focused removal tomorrow. If it is dinos, then I need to get my nutrients up., which to me means restarting coral feeds. BRS also recommended increases the microbiodiersity in the tank by adding pods (which I've never added) and microbacteria. While I want to dump Microbacter 7 and AF life source in there immediately, I imagine it would be prudent to wait until my nitrates and phosphates are detectable.

Thoughts?

 

[Varig]

Is it brown or red? Does it get more stringy than that or stay as a mat?

I tend to agree, it looks likely to be Dino’s. Especially with zero nutrients. But could also be some cyano if your nitrates have always been zero, but phosphates elevated.

Do you have access to a microscope to confirm? If not, if you bring a sample to the expo this weekend I could put it under a microscope for you.

Can’t know for sure without the microscope, but my experience with Dino’s says this is likely ostreopsis. Which means you’re going to need a properly sized UV.

Let me know if I can help.

 

[asifiqbal2]

Does look like Dino…

 

[hamtb1]

A few more images. I will throw up a screenshot of my light schedule/settings when I get home from work.

I'd say the stuff is more brown than red. Brick colored, if I'm allowed to offer an in between option

To my knowledge, I don't have immediate access to a microscope, so I may try to find you at the expo this weekend if I can find some time. Not sure how work will pan out. Alternatively, does New Wave have a microscope?

 

[spsick]

Looks like cyanobacteria on top of hair algae to me. It comes in different flavors, red, brown, green, and black.

Your plan of adding pods and microbacter sounds solid.

 

[hamtb1]

Cyano was my first thought. It does start out as stringy until it gets everywhere and becomes mat-like. It also brushes off in large chunks when I clean it.

 

[Varig]

easy to confirm via scope. I dunno if NWA has one. Most local libraries do. But again, I’m 100% happy to help you identify if we can meet up at the expo. I’ll be there towards the end and through clean up. So even if you popped over during clean up that would be great.

 

[hamtb1]

My lighting schedule for those curious.

Excuse my ignorance but do I need a ticket for the expo tomorrow?

 

[Varig]

You do not need a ticket for the expo.

Regarding lighting, I’m no expert, but a few thoughts.

1) If it turns out you have Dino’s, I was told to turn the whites down while you beat them. Something to consider once we positively identify them .

2) Seems like an awfully long ramp. Is it 4 hrs on either end? Or 4 hrs total of the 12 hour schedule? Looks like it could be either end, only leaving you 4 hrs of peak photo period? I learned the hard way that that will starve your coral. I don’t know what you have for coral, but I wouldn’t increase the duration during the Dino battle. But once you win, I’d work towards 8-10 hrs of peak, 12 total (so a shorter ramp).

3) I assume you know this, but you can feel free to shift your light schedule towards the evening so you can enjoy the tank at night after work. The coral and fish don’t know. I run mine 10-10 instead, so that I still get several good hours of viewing after work.

Hope to meet you tomorrow at the expo.

 

[hamtb1]

For those of you playing along at home, it would appear that I have a massive cyano outbreak in my tank. @Varig , was very helpful to have provided these photos from the microscope for me.

To provide more context, for the 25 gallon, I do a 4 gallon weekly water change. I have a BRS 5 stage system at home, and the TDS meter reads 0 out. Salt is tropic marin. I have a tunze mini protein skimmer in one of the back compartments, and a small amount of BRS 0.8 rox carbon in another back chamber that I change out monthly. I have also included a screenshot of my parameters. As you can see, my nitrates have always been 0, while my phosphate has fluctuated a little bit, but has rarely been above 0.1ppm.

Non-coral tank inhabitants are 3 fish (clown, cleaner goby, damsel), fire and peppermint shrimp, urchin, 5 trochus, 2 astrea, 3 nassarius.

I'll open this back to the group, but after watching BRS' latest cyano video and others, my current thought process and management/treatment plan is

1. Given that I have never seen nitrates above 0, I don't think it's a problem of over-nutrition. In fact, I think with my protein skimmer and carbon, I am removing a lot of nitrates and phosphates from the system and the cyano is better equipped to out-scavenge the beneficial bacteria.

2. This is probably also why over the course of the year, I really haven't seen much coral growth, since they are probably not getting the ideal nutrition to thrive.

3. Action plan would be to manually suction the cyano often (1-2 week), monitor nitrate and phosphate levels with the carbon and protein skimmer out of the picture, and add pods and good bacteria to the system and see what happens. After getting a feel for how my feeds affect levels, then I will reconsider/reintroduce the reef chili and aminos.

 

[MistakesWereMade]

I have used chemiclean before. Works well to clean up the issue but doesn't really solve long term issues (it may come back). If you address the issues as stated above it may fix the issue with time.

If you opt to use chemiclean, make sure the water is getting plenty of oxygen. Typically it is enough to just let skimmer run, it's going to overflow, just let it flow back into the tank. Could also do air stone. Then a water change in a couple of days. Best of luck.

 

[hamtb1]

Thanks. I'm not against using chemiclean, but I guess my question was more towards addressing the issue. Does anyone have a problem with my above solution or my thought process? Would you suggest something additional or different?

 

[spsick]

Thanks. I'm not against using chemiclean, but I guess my question was more towards addressing the issue. Does anyone have a problem with my above solution or my thought process? Would you suggest something additional or different?

Your plan sounds great.