75g Lurking danger and Leafy Seadragons

[vlangel]

That’s a perfect regime but is it possible is Dino’s, not Cyano?
Just want to check. I’ve only seen Cyano is loose mats or sheets.
I don’t see any sheeting of that stuff at all, but, sometimes pictures can’t show detail well.

Two things make me unsure, returning very quickly, and pale rust colour, that could be Dino’s if they look more powdery on the sand.

Usually we see flowing mats of red, dark red or greenish patches sticking to stuff, but still, always easy to remove.

I did not check with a microscope but I am leaning toward cyano because it is not really on the rockwork or any of the coral. Its not stringy or filamentous looking at all and as far as I can tell they are not toxic which is more indicative of dinos. What it really looks like is diatoms but they should have run their course in my tank by now. Whatever it is, I am pretty sure that I've had it before and it always eventually went away.
Now that my nitrates are in a good place, I am going to try and bring my phosphates down a little, along with my other actions. Besides that, I am not going to fret too much over this.

 

[vlangel]

I have been focusing on my tank on both Fridays and Mondays. A while ago I realized that I needed to dose more than once a week when it comes to macroalgae because they use up iron very quickly. Also I am guessing that my coral need more AFR since I am not doing water changes. Today I cleaned the pre-filter to my canister which was really dirty and siphoned the surface of the sandbed. I replaced the water back into the tank after siphoning out the dirty sand. Then I added coral snow. Lastly I added phosphate sponge to lower PO4. Both fish and coral look very good. Even the goni is looking better.

 

[vlangel]

I decided to try and keep my tank more stable to deal with the sandbed uglies. That led me to buy a PH and alkalinity kit as those are not things that I have tested for years. I can hear the gasps of horror! And rightly so as my tank was really low in both! I am amazed that my coral could still look as good as they did considering. So I set about to slowly raise both. The Alkalinity has responded pretty well but PH has not. My guess is that without a skimmer, having macroalgae respiration, and using glass tops this is not going to be easily fixed. I will do a few successive bigger water changes to see if that helps.

Its was kind of bad timing, (since my tank isn't at its best) but our our local reef club hosted a coral show. Still I figured I could buy sturdy coral. I came home with quite a few nice frags and a maxima clam! I chose mostly zoas, but also got a monti, a pocci, a pulsing xenia and a variegated Kenya tree. My tank is not full but if these frags grow its going to look like a tank that is not brand new. Ignore the ugly sand. Unfortunately the new coral are in the worst part of the tank for clean looking sand.

 

[griss]

You better ship that Maxima to me for safe keeping. Congrats on the nice acquisition.

Looks great. I no longer chase ph. I will test it on occasion but, IMO Alk is much more important.

 

[vlangel]

You better ship that Maxima to me for safe keeping. Congrats on the nice acquisition.

Looks great. I no longer chase ph. I will test it on occasion but, IMO Alk is much more important.

I dont know how safe the clam is with me but I think i have the keeping part down! LOL This clam is so beautiful. I had a crocea years ago that grew from this size (1 and half inches) to about 4 or 5". I ended rehoming it along with all my fish when I kept seahorses. I have missed having a clam ever since.

I am guessing that my PH has been low for quite some time. It's literally been probably a decade or more since I tested PH. Our water out of the tap was 8.3 and so with me doing water changes I just assumed that it would stay in a reasonable range. I am not going to chase PH either but I will try to be more diligent about blowing detritus into the water column to be filtered out and I will do bigger water changes as long as my nutrients don't bottom out.

 

[griss]

I love Tridacna. Probably my favorite invert.

Our homes are so well sealed these days, we tend to lean towards low ph. If you could somehow introduce outside air, it will likely make a big difference.

 

[griss]

Many people run and airline tube from outside to their skimmer intake.

 

[vlangel]

Many people run and airline tube from outside to their skimmer intake.

I don't have a skimmer but my tank is reasonable close to a window so maybe I could just put an air pump (with an airstone or open airline) just outside an open window?

 

[griss]

I don't have a skimmer but my tank is reasonable close to a window so maybe I could just put an air pump (with an airstone or open airline) just outside an open window?

That would work

 

[vlangel]

My PH is up to 8.0 during the day and I can live with that.
My new alk test kit is not accurate at all. (I am wondering if it was long expired?) A friend came over and did tests for me. He got 11 for alk and I got 4.5 so the kits were not even close. I took a water sample to our lfs and they got 11 also, so I bought a new test kit. I was probably where I had wanted to be before I bought the alk test kit. Then when I got low alk readings I began to dose AFR, because I figured the tank was using the big 3. My friend found my calcium and magnesium were both high too, so nope. Everything was probably good before I started messing with it. So now I am doing water changes with regular IO to bring the big 3 down. I figured that was the safest way to do that but I do need to watch NO3. I don't want to bottom out nitrates. I won't bottom out phosphates because I know our water has them so I am still running phosguard. I am now becoming less trusting of test kits and wondering if just doing weekly water changes is better for me and my tank? I do at least have a new alk test and I should try it tomorrow to see if its close.

I think what really impresses me is how resilient our tanks are! My tank has been through a lot with the fish medications a few months back and now with me messing with ph and alk, calcium and magnesium. It feels like a lot of instability and yet so far my coral still look pretty good.

 

[Uncle99]

Maybe your test kit measured in meq/l instead of dkh? There’s some that measure in dkh, ppm and meq/l.
I have also not tested PH in years but I do employ those things which may help elevate it, brisk surface agitation, skimmer and big lit Fuge.

For me, without testing all big 7, somewhere down the road, always big trouble.
This is the first time running 7 years without issue and low maintenance. A simple 10% water change weekly.
I have not touched the sand bed, seems the micro guys keep rocks clean and sand white.

But, some kits are not very accurate.

What has worked well for me was:
Alk…Hanna….fast and accurate…..alk we do every day……stable Alk is critical.
Salinity…..calibrated refractometer……weekly……super critical….if salinity out….everything out.
Phosphate UL phosphorus…..Hanna…….its the only test kit that could get down real low.
CA, MG, and Nitrate….Salifert or Aquaforest…..less expensive and easy to read….good colour change.
Temperature drift .5 degrees every two hours.

 

[vlangel]

Maybe your test kit measured in meq/l instead of dkh? There’s some that measure in dkh, ppm and meq/l.
I have also not tested PH in years but I do employ those things which may help elevate it, brisk surface agitation, skimmer and big lit Fuge.

For me, without testing all big 7, somewhere down the road, always big trouble.
This is the first time running 7 years without issue and low maintenance. A simple 10% water change weekly.
I have not touched the sand bed, seems the micro guys keep rocks clean and sand white.

But, some kits are not very accurate.

What has worked well for me was:
Alk…Hanna….fast and accurate…..alk we do every day……stable Alk is critical.
Salinity…..calibrated refractometer……weekly……super critical….if salinity out….everything out.
Phosphate UL phosphorus…..Hanna…….its the only test kit that could get down real low.
CA, MG, and Nitrate….Salifert or Aquaforest…..less expensive and easy to read….good colour change.
Temperature drift .5 degrees every two hours.

All my test kits were Salifert but since I did not have a ph or alk test I ordered the Seachem kit because it contained both. The ph was accurate but not the alk. I have a Fritz alk test now and it agreed with both my friend's kit and the lfs so I trust it.
I do think by doing water changes consistently, it helps in keeping the elements in balance. If I watch my alkalinity usage, that should tip me off that calcium and magnesium are also being used and AFR should replenish all three.
I think I will get a Hanna checker phosphate test kit. I have a Salifert NO3 test kit so I have a plan now.

 

[Uncle99]

All my test kits were Salifert but since I did not have a ph or alk test I ordered the Seachem kit because it contained both. The ph was accurate but not the alk. I have a Fritz alk test now and it agreed with both my friend's kit and the lfs so I trust it.
I do think by doing water changes consistently, it helps in keeping the elements in balance. If I watch my alkalinity usage, that should tip me off that calcium and magnesium are also being used and AFR should replenish all three.
I think I will get a Hanna checker phosphate test kit. I have a Salifert NO3 test kit so I have a plan now.

That’s perfect.
If you keep Alk pinned with AFR, the other two should be fine.
I found that by knowing my water chemistry and doing a small weekly change, I had tons more success and much easier.
Good luck

 

[vlangel]

Ok, Through the water changes I have my alkalinity down to 8 and I plan to monitor and keep it there with AFR. The coral seem to have weathered the changes just fine and they look very nice.
I think NO3 and PO4 are still kind of high but my tanks' usually are, so I am not gonna sweat that. It just feels good to have the aquarium in a relatively stable place.

 

[vlangel]

So far my PO4 is still pretty high. I am contemplating running chemipure in the canister along with the phosGuard in the intank filter. I am not doing any water changes but the NO3 may have come down a little although I think they are still at least 10. The alkalinity is holding steady at 8 at the moment.

Some good news is that in the last 2 days I believe the nasties have diminished. I am not sure what is the main reason because along with dosing bacteria in a bottle, I plugged in the UV sterilizer which in turn heated the water up to 82°. It could be that the UV sterilization and the warmer water are both having a impact. However, I had to unplug the UV yesterday as I definitely don't want the tank to get any warmer than 82°. I will continue to use the UV as the temperature allows. The coral continue to look pretty good.

HALF HOUR LATER:
Well I discovered why my PO4 hasn't come down. I placed my hand in front of the intank filter output and almost no flow was coming out! So I took it apart and found out that the drawstring from the filter bag containing the PhosGuard had gotten sucked into the impeller! So I fixed that and now flow is going through the intank filter so hopefully now the phosphates will come down.

 

[griss]

Glad you found the fix

 

[vlangel]

Glad you found the fix

I will let you know in about 4 days if PO4 is coming down.

 

[vlangel]

I checked the PO4 and at least with my test kit it is still reading the same. I am aware that the test kit might be faulty. I guess I need to get a new test kit to at least compare.

I reduced the intensity of the white and red channels of my ReefBreeder Photon light in hopes of further reducing the uglies. They are diminishing but I am not sure what are the contributing factors. I am still dosing Stability and PNS daily in hopes of outcompeting the uglies. I am also stirring the sandbed almost daily while using my oversized UV sterilizer 24/7 until the temperature reaches 82°F. Because my UV is so oversized, when the outside temps are warmer it can slowly warm the water in the tank but this time of year the outside temps are fluctuating so I am able to keep the UV on consistently. I can see the uglies diminishing but I cannot say for sure why but I am encouraged that this is not going to last forever.

 

[vlangel]

This morning I broke down and bought a Hanna URL phosphate checker and a new Salifert nitrate test kit. I am cheap so this was tough for me but I really don't trust the results I am getting on my phosphate tests and multiple folks that I trust recommended the Hanna checker. The test kits come Friday!

 

[griss]

Make sure you follow the directions on the Hanna. The last step, after adding reagent is to hold the button until the timer (3 minutes) displays. I can't tell you how many people I've known who made the mistake of just inserting the vial, hitting the button and reading a false result