Diatoms/Brown Algae

[Erics210]

Hello All,
Transferred my my 210 gallon tank from the prior owners house, tank/stand/live rock/sand/water/fish everything.

That was done on 1/13. The guy let his lights go bad, Aiptasia Anemone EVERYWHERE, and his ASM skimmer hadn't worked in awhile as the pump was dead.
Anyway....
Fast forward just a month and a half and I have lighting upgraded to working T5s, got myself a Reef Octopus skimmer producing nice skim mate after about 4 - 5 days.
Also totally redid the sump to create a refugium.
Also purchased some Berghia Nudibranch to address the aptasia which have gotten better.

I have 2 questions or issues.
#1. I had a diatom bloom about a month into the tank.i figure it was sorta a cycling thing or recycling just due to the die off of some of the coral over the move.
Anyway- since setting up the sump and refugium I have had much better filtration.
Water is 0.0125, ph 8.3, ammonia, nitrite and bitrates all o.

Still getting the Brown algae/diatoms.
CAN I scrape them with a brush and allow them to be filtered into the filter socks?
OR
Just leave them?
Will the coraline which is on much of the live rock over take the brown algae?

 

[Erics210]

Question #2:

Question #2:

Still having lots of bubbles through my return.
The flow from my refugium does not have lots of bubbles, AND i have it go over under the two baffles to remove any bubbles from the return pump.
Will try and get pictures of both Diatoms and sump

 

[Erics210]

Going to try and reduce the total lighting for a while and see if that helps.

Currently doing 2x Actinic Blue lamps from 9am till nooon.
Both 2x 10000K & 2x Actinic Blue lamps from Noon till 5pm,
2x Actinic Blue lamps from 5 till 9 and then 4x LEDs moonlight till 12.

Gonna go from Noon till 3 with both and 3 till 6 with the 2x Actinic Blue lamps.

 

[S14hayame]

your diatom issue will go away in time, i know it is unsightly but as your tank matures they will start to dissipate. Reducing your lighting will help also but imo just let time take care of that issue. As far as your bubbles problem goes its kinda hard to give any suggestion to try until i see some kind of picture of your return pump section of your sump but u can try stuffing some filter floss between the baffles that usually helps. Good luck mate.

 

[Unanonymous]

Are you running GFO? A cheap TLF reactor plus cheap GFO on amazon (use less than manufacturer recommended) and that will save you a lot of headache (at least in my own experience). I believe diatoms eat silicates, which is pulled by GFO. GFO will also remove the phosphates that your algae lives on. My tank was night and day after I started using GFO, and now I have to supplement seaweed for my poor tangs that don't have algae to eat anymore.

I can tell its time to change my GFO when my sand starts turning a little brown.

 

[S14hayame]

Hello Unanonymous!! Yep running GFO or any kind of phosphate remover is "almost" a must have in conjunction with ro/di water, i recommend that to all my customers. but being his tank was broken down and transferred about a month and a half ago his tank definitely need to be reestablish again due to massive die off(micro organism). All my tanks at my shop when thru the diatom phase in the beginning with or without gfo...in fact i had to drain my frag tank due to a leak and once patched up and using the same water the diatom came back and now it starting to go away and thats about a month and a half ago. But I totally agree with Unanonymous, GFO is the way to go..without it makes it harder to battle algae and beside your corals and future corals will enjoy a being in a tank with minimum phoshate.

 

[Erics210]

Thanks for the replies. I may try running the GFO material through my cannister filter for the time being. Initial set up has been costing a bit. I have my must haves done: Working Skimmer and Lights. Now I am doing upgrades and nice to haves while I get other things under control.

And bubbles seem to get better or worse depending on the amount or return water. I will try and figure that out a bit more. May have a leak somewhere in the return toppers creating air suction.

 

[TYC]

I wouldn't take out the rocks to scrub b/c every time they're exposed to air & scrubbed there will be some die offs which won't help to stabilize a newly setup tank. U dont need a GFO reactor either IMO.

Leave the lights off for few days and add some Astrea or Trochus snails and diatom's will be cleaned up in a week or so as long as ur tank is no cycling still. This is how I got rid of diatoms from my tank, and no the coraline algae will not overtake the diatoms its the other way around. Once diatoms are gone, turn lights back slowly, not too long and not at full power for the 1st several days

r u using ROI or tap water? if tap water, u should start using ROI or distilled water from now on for all water changes.

 

[Erics210]

Thanks TYC,

Thanks TYC,

Tank has gotten much better over the past week. Reduced lighting. Getting a little green algae now which I have read is the final phase of cycling. And it is not too bad. So I am just hanging in there. If anything changes drastically Iw ill be posting.

 

[TYC]

Ur welcome Eric.

Hate to tell u but if the tank is still cycling that's too much life in there, especially sensitive animals like anemone...its too bad the previous tank owner did not maintain the aquarium well, now u'r having to clean it up with all the life in it too. U've taken on a very challenging project!

Was the water tested and monitored daily to confirm start and end of cycle? beginning of cycle should've shown spike in ammonia and nitrite, during which water changes should be done w ROI water to bring ammonia down to >.25. When nitrate starts showing/increasing then cycling is done. Please test ur water regularly/daily until cycle ends and keep an eye on the sensitive anemone, which should not be in a tank less than 6-8 months old. Make sure it's eating (1x/week), mouth isn't staying open and anemone is not closed/thin mostly which is a sign of stress. if an anemone dies in ur tank it'll release toxin so u have to keep an eye on it and remove it ASAP if it gets sick. Check out http://www.karensroseanemones.net/ that has great info on anemone.

keep an eye on the green algae to see if it's the green hair algae, which will be a big headache to get rid of and they spread quickly!

I recommend watching NY Steelo youtube videos, very informative stuff from yrs of experience. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttR-RO7nXUE

lastly, are u monitoring the salinity and evaporation? my 65G cube w sump usually needs appx 1/4 gal of top off water daily due to evaporation. A 210g tank like ur's is probably evaporating a lot more water than mine. Top off water must be fresh ROI UNSALTED water bc as ur tank water evaporates the salt is left behind. So if fresh water is not constantly added ur salinity will increase. I highly recommend adding an ATO to ur sump like I did bc it gets very tiring monitoring/adding the water am/pm daily. U can buy a cheap ATO system from autotopoff.com http://autotopoff.com/Pumps/index.html

 

[djtuzik]

Tank has gotten much better over the past week. Reduced lighting. Getting a little green algae now which I have read is the final phase of cycling. And it is not too bad. So I am just hanging in there. If anything changes drastically Iw ill be posting.

chemipure elite can help a lot!