Carbon dosing troubleshooting

[rob189]

Hi guys.

Ok so I've been carbon dosing for a year+ already. Happy with the results, but not 100% happy.

I'm dosing a vinegar/glucose mix (75g glucose for every 1L vinegar). Currently dosing 250ml of this mix per week (800L approx water volume total).

I usually don't test my nitrates and phosphates (the test kits suck), but have been battling with cyano for a while. Nitrates undetectable and po4 about 0.08-ish. I read somewhere that an I'm balance between No3 and po4 can cause cyano??

This leads on onto my question: should I be adjusting my glucose/vinegar ratio? If so, at what rate?

A bit about my tank:
Mixed reef with hopes of getting more sticks
Curve 9 skimmer
5 radion g2's
Refugium (critter breeding ground to keep my cbb happy)
Yep that's pretty much it...

Oh and im battling with some of the weirder algaes: bubble and some green mossy type stuff(comes off very easily). The mossy algae only seems to be growing on my dead sps colonies (which I can't remove unfortunately)

Any advice will be appreciated

Thanks

 

[rob189]

 

[nereefpat]

I usually don't test my nitrates and phosphates (the test kits suck), but have been battling with cyano for a while. Nitrates undetectable and po4 about 0.08-ish. I read somewhere that an I'm balance between No3 and po4 can cause cyano??

If you are carbon dosing, then you probably should be testing for N&P. Most folks carbon doses to keep nitrates (and, to a lesser extent, phosphate) down.

Causes of cyano are hard to pinpoint. Cyano doesn't need much for nutrients, and sometimes really low levels of N or P can cause problems like cyano ...or even dinos. Maybe increased flow would help, or there's no shame in using chemi-clean.

Do you have any algae eaters for the bubble/hair/turf algae? What about snails that eat cyano for the sand?

 

[rob189]

If you are carbon dosing, then you probably should be testing for N&P. Most folks carbon doses to keep nitrates (and, to a lesser extent, phosphate) down.

Causes of cyano are hard to pinpoint. Cyano doesn't need much for nutrients, and sometimes really low levels of N or P can cause problems like cyano ...or even dinos. Maybe increased flow would help, or there's no shame in using chemi-clean.

Do you have any algae eaters for the bubble/hair/turf algae? What about snails that eat cyano for the sand?

Thanks for the response. I used to test my N&P religiously. But nowadays I use my sps as indicators. Only test them when I notice that something is off.

I have been thinking that flow could be a bit of an issue as the cyano is most instense in the dead spots (I do have 2 mp40's at Max power in the tank though + 2 other smaller flow pumps). Would rather not use chemi-clean. I like to try solve all my problems by using a natural approach.

For the bubble algae, I'm hoping to get my hands on an emerald crab one of these days. In the meantime I'm slowly upping my carbon dosing to try starve them.

I had no idea that you get cyano eaters....that's a game changer..I did however get a nice pair of sand sifters the other day and they've made a noticeable difference

 

[mcgyvr]

With undetectable nitrates and .08ppm phosphate I would not be upping your carbon dosing amount..
Both nitrates and phosphates are beneficial nutrients needed by all marine life..
Attempting to "starve" the bubble algae is also starving your corals..

You would be better off reducing your carbon dosing and allowing nitrates to rise some to detectable levels 1-2ppm is great..
That will also potentially move you back into a closer "balanced" area with phosphates and could potentially help with your cyano..
You could also just do a 3 day lights out to help combat the cyano.. That will not harm your corals at all and repeating that every few weeks can help against cyano..

 

[reefgeezer]

I agree with Mcgyvr. Don't increase carbon dosing. Vinegar is thought to be less likely to encourage Cyano. You could reduce the glucose in the stock solution to see if that slows the Cyano. That would also reduce the carbon content of the stock solution also and might let nitrates rise a little.

I had problems with a particularly bothersome type of Cyano when I was carbon dosing... a light brown fuzzy kind. It took several steps to get rid of it.

1. Weaned the tank off of carbon
2. Did a 3 day lights out, skimmed very wet, & ran lots of GAC/GFO
3. Did a big water
4. Did one round of Chemiclean per the Mfg instructions
5. Did another big water change, ran a lot of GAC for a few days, then removed it.
6. I have also increased water changes to an average of 15%/week.

The Cyano went away but was replaced by some small patches of turf algae. To this point the Tangs, Unchins, & snails keep it under control. The tank is performing much better. Corals are growing faster & organisms like tube worms and baby snails are starting to appear that suggest the tank is maturing. I still can't see any nitrate or phosphate on my test kits, but I know it is available because of the algae.

 

[rob189]

Thanks for the input guys:

Ok so here's an update:

Finally got around to removing all my substrate yesterday (held crazy amounts of detritus). Ive also be controlling the amounts of food I've been adding (2 blocks of frozens a day,and occasionally a pinch of flakes)

Bubble algae almost completely gone, but that's probably because of my 2 emerald crabs

The green turf algae have gotten out of control though
It really downplays the beauty of the tank and all the hard work that has gone into it. However, this is but a speedbump

Also got some bacterial colonies on my back glass (in the high flow areas for some reason).

Going to be slowly dropping my carbon dosing amounts over the next while to see what happens. Currently doing 300ml/week of the mixture. Going to drop down to 280m today, and then go from there.

I've been trying to do some research on the potential negatives of carbon dosing, but can't seem to really find much apart from stories of tanks bottoming out. Are there any threads around on info about any nusance algaes, etc. that would feed off of excess carbon?