More Time, Improving my Reef. Need Help

[chiefifd]

With a little more time on my hands like many of us, I'm trying to get a handle on several issues in my tank.

I have a 90 gallon tank and sump with about 25 gallons in it, salinity steady at 1.025/1.026 using a (Tunze ATO), temperature between 76 and 77 degrees regulated by an Apex EL system I bought back in January. That's helped me get things back on track, or at least it's got me thinking about it.

I have a light bio-load, 2 Clownfish, and one Orchid Dottyback. I lost one Kole Tang and Neon Gobie a year or so back, the Clowns and Dottyback I've had for about 4 years. I have a few LPS, doing better now that I've lowered the lighting and testing on a regular schedule every few days. I'm running a sock and have taken my Lifereef skimmer out of the sump for now. I do need to rent a PAR Meter. I have a DYI (ReefLEDlights.com) fixture, I know I had the LED's set too high and have since cut back on the lighting intensity. My Duncan's have been doing much better.

My other water parameters.
Calcium is 440 ppm (Red Sea Test), phosphate .020 (Hanna Checker), alkalinity is 9.7 dkh (Hanna Checker), and magnesium is 1600/1700 ppm (Red Sea Test). Nitrates (2,5) using the ELOS test kit chart. PH is running 8.01 to 8.06 Apex Probe.

I've been dosing (KNO3) potassium nitrate the last week or so to raise nitrates until I dosed, I had zero nitrates in the tank.

I'm trying to get Coraline algae to grow and take over the rock and knock the algae off with no luck so far. I have hundreds of tube feathers of some type I'm hoping will go away too. Any suggestions or comments would be appreciated.

I plan on getting a few more fish when I get things turned around a bit. A yellow or Kole tang and a small group of Bangi cardinals.

Take Care All.....:fish1:

 

[Michael Hoaster]

It sounds like your tank is in not too bad a shape, except you have algae and hundreds of feather duster worms.

To get coralline algae to take over, you've got to remove the bad algae. Manual removal is very effective because the algae itself contains the highest concentration of it's food, so you're exporting algae and algae food.

Consider adding competition for nutrients. Macro algae come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Get one green one, like Ulva (sea lettuce), and a red one like Botriocladdia (red grapes). Ulva grows fast, which is key for outcompeting micro algae. The red grapes grow slower and steadier for normal operation.

Personally, I'd be delighted with hundreds of feather dusters, but I guess they're not for everyone. They will likely disappear as your water quality improves consistently.

 

[chiefifd]

I've tried to add chaeto to my sump on two or three occasions with no luck, died within a month or so. After the first attempt, I bought a Kessil 360 light, still no luck. Maybe just the lack of Nitrates, my testing was subpar for quite some time. Never given another type of macroalgae any thought, maybe the sea lettuce or similar would work for me.
Thanks for the advise :dance:

 

[bertoni]

That looks like a hair algae of some sort. Some people have good luck with AlgaeFix or similar chemicals, I think. Other than that, you could try some carbon dosing. That sometimes helps. A different macro alga might work well, but getting one that grows in your tank can be a challenge.

I agree that harvesting some of the algae will remove nutrients, but it's a lot of work. I would try other approaches first.

 

[chiefifd]

I had some long hair algae a year or two back, lots of manual removal. I cut back on feeding and that helped took some time to get that kinda under control. I think that's why I lost my Kole tang, starved him to death.

This algae is short more like a rug. I haven't had the long hair stuff in a while, that was ugly for sure.

I did buy reef flux a bit ago but have been hesitant to use it. I have the 10 capsule bottle that says it treats 100 gallons, about the volume in my tank and sump. I've heard that you need to break open the capsules and add the powder to the filter sock.

Anyone have adverse issues when treating their reef with this?

 

[Apotack]

Add snails, hermits another tang?

 

[chiefifd]

I have 5 blue leg hermits, only one or two snails left. I do have high magnesium levels, I'm switching salts to Tropic Marin so that should bring down the magnesium levels which may help with the snails alive.
I'll be adding a Tang and a few more smaller fish, but I want to wait and see if I can get this a bit more under control. When my magnesium levels come down, I'll get some additional snails.

 

[bertoni]

Sometimes, people get lucky with cleanup crew animals eating an alga like this, but I think it's somewhat rare.

Reef Flux seems to be fluconazole, which seems to be relatively safe. I haven't heard of any horror stories yet, anyway.

 

[chiefifd]

Hi Jonathan..

I'm going to try the Reef Flux tomorrow, I'll post my findings in the next 10 days or so.

Appreciate the feed back

Ed

 

[bertoni]

A number of people have had a lot of success with it.

 

[chiefifd]

Not of any particular note, are you of Italian heritage???

 

[bertoni]

On my father's side.

 

[chiefifd]

I grew up in an Italian neighborhood as a kid. I wasn't Italian but wondered if there was something wrong because I wasn't Italian.
Take care

 

[bertoni]

LOL. Only if you don't like pasta...