Awais' 120g Build

[awais98]

Just an update...

There is brown hairy algae everywhere..... with a lot of bubbles in them. What is it?

I thought its a part of a relatively new setup ( now 3 months post cycle) it will just go away...been about 3 weeks but no signs of it going away...

What do I do guys? Lights off?

 

[Andystl]

My guess would be cyanobacteria (from the fact that it has bubbles, cyano is also generally redish/brown & stringy/hairy). Do a quick search for a pic, it is pretty common among new tanks.

 

[kegogut]

Ive read that Cyano breakouts can be a side effect of biopellets. Not sure if thats whats going on but try to do a search about biopellets and cyano.

 

[zero26]

Could be Dino's?

 

[awais98]

Been working a lot, just got some chance today to see this.

Yes, it looks exactly like that. I didnt know it was dino.
Initially when the tank was cycling, there was dino there but went away in a week or two.Now its about 4 months since cycling. This thing came up about a month or 5 weeks ago.... I think when I got most of the corals and fishes in there... this thing also started.

Ill try lights out, decreasing feeding, BP has been going from day one Will try wet skimming too.

Will keep updated.

Could be Dino's?

 

[dbuesking]

Ive read that Cyano breakouts can be a side effect of bio-pellets. Not sure if thats whats going on but try to do a search about bio-pellets and cyano.

That happened to me when I took my bio-pellets reactor off line. I increased my GFO and was catching it in my filter socks. It lasted about 5 weeks. Good sized water changes helped also. You can siphon it out also as you do water changes.

 

[kegogut]

How goes the tank Awais? Havent heard from you!

 

[awais98]

Hi Dave,
Just been working my *** off lately...

I blacked out the whole Dt for 3-4 days, wet skimmer, with daily skimmer cleaning, filter sock change.
They ( dino) disappeared completely for 2 weeks and now I see them beginning to come back again!!

Dont know what else to do.

I thought its probably nutrients.
Finally Bought Hanna dkh and Phos ultra low checker..

I rechecked all my parameters today:

Ph: 8.4
1.0245
dka: red sea: 10.6!!
Hanna dka: 11.76!! I did'nt know red sea is stupid too!!
Calcium: 520, Mag 1500


API saltwater kit:
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0
Phos: 0
I checked with Hanna ultra low Phos: 22 PPB ( thats not bad at all)

So I wonder where the hell the dino is getting food to grow.

I have the BP running from day 1 and macro algae in the Refuge.....

And now I also began to see very few green hairy algae...but they look so worn out....v pale green.... I hope they just die away...

Good thing though I see a lot of Pods in the DT.....excited...maybe Ill be able to get a mandarin!!


Also Ive been very slowly increasing the light.

Sadly most of the corals I had bought are gone.

From all what I got from Justin ( sistom) 6 weeks ago, Only one of the bird of paradize is live and I see it growing slowly with a very light pink hue ( it was supposed to be bird of paradize)

Most florida ricordia are ok, but not growing.

What I got from Stephnaie about 8 weeks ago, only 1 zoa is fine....eagle eye....rest all gone.

Even the toad stool, Xenia, blue cespitularia and blue clove polyp are gone!!

Wonder what is going on?

Is there something with high water flow?

I dont know whats going on.

 

[awais98]

Nobody with any comments..

 

[VSpeck]

If your having issues with algae but showing no nutrients on tests chances are the algae is sucking it up so its not showing in the water column.

Where are the nutrients coming from is the question. What is your feeding schedule and what do you feed?

What are you using for flow?(sorry I'm sure you said somewhere but I have to ask again) how is the skimmate production? What skimmer?

Is the algae mostly in the substrate or on rocks?

I'm sure there is more questions to be asked but let's start with those to try to get a better feel of the tank and help you out.

 

[awais98]

If your having issues with algae but showing no nutrients on tests chances are the algae is sucking it up so its not showing in the water column.

Where are the nutrients coming from is the question. What is your feeding schedule and what do you feed?

What are you using for flow?(sorry I'm sure you said somewhere but I have to ask again) how is the skimmate production? What skimmer?

Is the algae mostly in the substrate or on rocks?

I'm sure there is more questions to be asked but let's start with those to try to get a better feel of the tank and help you out.

Thank you for your reply!

Feeding schedule:
Automated pellets twice a day
Once a day brine/mysis.

Flow:
Return lines x 2, has very high flow, so much ( i think!) that i have to keep the powerhead off. Have enough ( lot, lol) of nassarius to vanish any detritus if any is left, lol

Skimmer: Reef Octupus 200, works very good, skimmate: brown slimy muddy, I try cleaning every other day.

Brown wavy algae with air bubbles in their ends( i believe Dino) mostly on the rocks, not on substrate at all.

 

[Mr D smack]

Maybe back the feeding off to once a day to maybe once every other day. Also make sure what your storing water in and mixing water in are food grade

 

[VSpeck]

Agree with feed less

how much flow does the return lines have? Which pump. I would say you have stuff settling. Returns are just for the sump circulation.

 

[kegogut]

Thats way to much feeding. I feed my fish once a day,sometimes every other day. Only time I feed twice a day is when I throw in a 1/2 sheet of nori.

 

[smoothdog]

Actually, the amount fed per day question was never really answered just the number of times fed. I feed 2-3 times per day but very small amounts, it's healthier for the fish and easier on the system to feed multiple small portions than one bigger one. If you're filling the auto feeder chambers all the way with pellets and feeding a cube size portion of frozen on top of that then yeah, that's way too much.

 

[awais98]

Well, regarding feeding:
The automated pellets are dialled down to half a 'serve' 2 x a day
Frozen i give about 3/4 cube per day.

And it seems like Im feeding to much, so I will just stop the pellets all together for now.

The reason I was feeding that much was:
1: I have lyre tail anthias, and was told to feed them couple of times a day....
2: there are a lot ( lot!) of nassarius, I didnt want them to starve too.

And I never see anything settling, I dont think anything is left... with those hungry snails around.

Any way i will decrease the feeding to just frozen 3/4 cube once per day

Regarding flow:
Its a panworld 200ps, rated for 1750 at 0 feet, and at 15 feet ( basement to DT) its about 1000g/hour.

I really dont think things r settling, the way the sands have moved, i doubt anything gets a chance to settle...

What DSmack brought up...regarding storing water. I dont know if those cans are food grade!! Very early on, I had gotten 2 black 32g trash cans from walmart and thats what Ive been using......
Could that be it for the death of the corals? maybe?

Is there any way to find out before changing the cans?

 

[VSpeck]

There will be a NSF stamp on the bottom of he can if they are food safe. If they are leaching it could cause algae and coral death.

If you only have 1000g/hr in a 120 I guarantee you have settling. I have ~8000/hr in a 40 and I still get piles of crap on the bottom. Do you ever clean the sand?

Sounds like a lot of food your feeding to me but I'm used to every other day feeding.

 

[awais98]

I dont think they r food grade cans!!
Thats the first thing I am going to change. taht could be THE reason for coral deaths.
Once i change that, id do water changes.

Nitrates and phosphates hasnt really been issues....
As most of SLASH feels im overfeeding, Ill just stop the pellet feed for now.
Do black outs again.
I do have powerheads in there, but it seemed to me there was too much water and sand storms in there and hence stopped the powerheads.
Believe me I still do not see detritus in there....If and when I do get sps, id restart it again...

 

[Sistom]

I dont think they r food grade cans!!
Thats the first thing I am going to change. taht could be THE reason for coral deaths.
Once i change that, id do water changes.

Nitrates and phosphates hasnt really been issues....
As most of SLASH feels im overfeeding, Ill just stop the pellet feed for now.
Do black outs again.
I do have powerheads in there, but it seemed to me there was too much water and sand storms in there and hence stopped the powerheads.
Believe me I still do not see detritus in there....If and when I do get sps, id restart it again...

I think your chasing an invisible enemy here (regarding SPS)…You might have been feeding a little much, and the food grade cans may be an issue, but how long has your tank been fully up and running? Based off this thread, I’m seeing something like 3 months maybe? Regardless of where your numbers are at (NO3, ALK, Ca, etc.) there is something special about a mature (aged) tank that you just can’t measure…I think that might be your main problem (with SPS specifically). Give your tank a good 6 to 8 months and add things slowly to ensure the tank is ready to support it.

Another good indicator is coralline algae. I see people throwing SPS frags in tanks with no coralline algae on the rocks and wonder why their SPS die. If your tank can’t support coralline algae, it most likely isn’t ready for SPS corals…Likewise, if you have great coralline algae growth, you’ll likely have great SPS growth. As with anything, this varies from tank to tank and coral to coral, but I think coralline is a good (basic) indicator for SPS (and overall tank health in general)…

Just my thoughts…Best of luck…I still have some easy SPS for you when your ready…

 

[zero26]

IMO I wouldn't worry about the containers. I know how everybody feels, that it may leach phosphates. But I have a cheap Walmart 32 and a brute 32 Rubbermaid. In my case I didn't have any extreme amount of phos in either container. The cheap 32 I've had for 4 years.