So you got a new fish tank Newbie

[Knyght]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6367605#post6367605 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Ann1214


I am concerned about cloudy water with a green tinge to it. I assume this is diatom growth, but I don't know if I should do anything.

Any hints or comments?

You can cover the tank with something. Old blankets work great. This keeps the tank dark. What you have is the beginnings of algae. Not necessarily a bad thing, but if you are like me green water is ugly to look at. Give it a few days, peeking in once in awhile. It will clear up on it`s own.
Several members in our club had this happen to them and this trick seemed to solve it. HTH

:beachbum:

 

[WaterKeeper]

Hi Ann,

That's the old spirit. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

What you are seeing right now is pretty much normal during the cure/cycle period. Ammonia is elevated as decay sets in and the nitrifying bacteria are starting to convert it into nitrates. Soon ammonia will fall and nitrates will predominate.

The cloudy water is caused by a sharp increase in bacteria in the water column. As the food that is causing this bloom is consumed they will drastically decline in numbers and the water will clear.

The green is another matter. That nitrate your tank is actively producing is a great fuel for algae. It is very possible that the "green plaque" will be with you for some time. Again, this is just part of starting a new reef tank. You can limit light of course but as long as the nitrates are still in the water the algae will return when illumination is restored. The solution is large, frequent water changes to remove the nitrates. It seems the LFS is not a real big water change fan. There is still a common misconception that water changes during the cycle slow the process down. This is completely untrue and water changes speed up the decline in algae to a great degree by removing the nutrients that fuel it.

I'd crank up the RO/DI, buy some salt mix on sale and start doing big (25%) water changes about every three days until your nitrate levels fall to about 5 ppm or less.

So far you sound like things are going well. Keep up what you are doing and soon you'll have that SW tank of your dreams. Oh, and there is no such thing as too big a sump but any size will do.

 

[Radicaljbr]

Hi Tom,

It's me again. Your talking about green algea I see. I have a huge problem that is not going away. As you can see I have this real bad green algea problem. This picture and the ones in my gallery are from a few months ago when red (Cyano...spelling bad) ruled my tank and killed all corals and some fish. My ALK was way down, nitrates were fine. I used baking soda to get my ALK back up and then had to take all the rock out and scrub it off.

Tank looked fine for about a week and then green algea took over.

Now the green algea cover everything and is very thick. It is even growing on the glass. The only coral I have left is a toad stool. And I have 3 fish that have survived. All shrimp died except for my coral banded. Even a ton of snails died.

Nothing is dying now, but this green algea will not go away. It is getting bigger. I am doing water changes every 2 weeks and barely feeding the 3 fish I have. (Hippo Tang, flame angel and clown)

Please come take out my hairy green algea.......I mean please tell me how to get it out.

 

[dastratt]

Hi Ann,
Having recently cycled a new tank with LR, I now wish I would have changed more than 20-25% per week. I might have saved more of the interesting critters and coraline if I'd kept the ammonia under control.

One way to reduce the pita factor on waterchanges is to not run the tank full if you can (fewer gallons to change).

Running carbon and/or filter pads or sock in the sump might clear the clouds a bit, just change them out often.

 

[WaterKeeper]

Algae is the bane of sooo many reefers but it is a plant and, like any plant, it needs things to grow. They are

• Light
• Nitrogen
• Phosphorus
• Potassium
• Trace Elements

With light there is not much you can do if you are keeping corals. The next three chemicals are the key. Nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Ever used a fertilizer on your plants? It is marked something like 12-6-2 where those numbers indicating the fertilizer contains 12 part nitrogen to 6 parts phosphorus to 2 parts potassium. It is the first two chemicals, nitrogen and phosphorus that the reefer tries to attack.

Remember the ocean is fairly nutrient poor. All algae are in a battle for both nitrogen and phosphorus. To win the battle they are amazingly good at snatching up both N and P available in the water column. Often a tank that show zero ANN (ammonia, nitrite, nitrogen) will have sufficient nitrogen compounds to sustain an algae bloom. The thing is the algae take it up before the tester has time to gather the sample and run his/her test.

One of the reasons I still hold to having a DSB, especially for the beginner, is that it provides a great place for bacteria to completely process ANN into nitrogen gas, a form of nitrogen not usable by most algae.

Phosphates are different story. There is no phosphorus gas that can be eliminated by venting it to the atmosphere. Any entering the tank will remain there unless it is exported in some fashion. There are 4 main ways to do this

1. Skimming
2. Water changes
3. Using a phosphorus "sponge/reactor"
4. Growing Macro-algae and harvesting it
   [/list=1]
   
   The bare bottom folks advocate a fifth method; removing detritus from the tank. That is well and good but unless you are constantly removing your fish droppings the tank will process phosphate into soluble forms available for algae growth.
   
   My guess is that you cured your LR in your main tank. This added heaps of nitrogen and phosphate into the display. Water changes will eventually remove it but I'd suggest trying either macro-algae in the sump or a phosphate sponge to hasten export of this nutrient. I bet that helps.

 

[sarahsmile]

Thanks so much WK for the info on the flow rate and chiller.

Every night for the last 2 weeks my Husband has asked me what "new thing" had I discovered I would need for my SW tank and how much was it going to cost. I was nice to tell him I might not need that $700 chiller.

Thanks again. I'm sure I'll be back with more questions either here or on the "Let's shed some light on the subject" thread.

Sarah

 

[Radicaljbr]

Tom,

Your info is always the best. Yes, I cured the LR in my tank 2 years ago. Where would I find a phosphate sponge? Do not see it in the Marine Depot catalog.

Thanks

 

[seadragon53]

Thanks!

Thanks!

Just wanted to give a big Thanks! to WaterKeeper for his interesting, fact-filled & hunorous information!

I am also a newbie... sort of. I had a 65G tank a few years ago with great success. My move from Oregon to Florida made my tank a nice present for my ex-GF. She was very good at the hobby and I am sure that all my little fellas are surviving just fine.

I am now in West Texas, living near the old Permian Sea. Funny... just a few miles away is the old Permian Beach!

Time to re-energize my interest and build a new tank!

I feel like a newbie due to all of the changes (read new stuff available) in the hobby - and its only been 4 years!

Just wanted to thank everyone for the re-introduction to the hobby. Great Thread!

Rick

 

[Radicaljbr]

Oh...and does the same thing happen with Phosphate tests. meaning, mine reads "0". Is this because the algea is also using it up making my test say "0"?

 

[Knyght]

Tom,
Not to derail your thread here but wondering if you had any opinion on Calfo`s remote deep sand bed. The 5gl thread.
My nitrates are still in the upper range even with weekly 30% waterchanges. I have been seriously considering trying it as the sand bed in the display is around 1". I tried the BB and just couldn`t stand the look of it. I also have approx. 3-4" of sand in my fuge.
No need to answer here if you wouldn`t mind taking the time to post in my thread.

Once again as always thanks for your time and knowledge.

:beachbum:

 

[Radicaljbr]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6376672#post6376672 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Knyght
Tom,
Not to derail your thread here but wondering if you had any opinion on Calfo`s remote deep sand bed. The 5gl thread.
My nitrates are still in the upper range even with weekly 30% waterchanges. I have been seriously considering trying it as the sand bed in the display is around 1". I tried the BB and just couldn`t stand the look of it. I also have approx. 3-4" of sand in my fuge.
No need to answer here if you wouldn`t mind taking the time to post in my thread.

Once again as always thanks for your time and knowledge.

:beachbum:

What is the link to your thread???

 

[sarahsmile]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6377148#post6377148 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Radicaljbr
What is the link to your thread???

Lots of good information in it!

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=595109

 

[WaterKeeper]

Radi,

Any of the iron based phosphate removal compounds will do. Rowaphos and Salifert Phosphate Eliminator are two widely used products that are generally available.

Hobby test kits can only measure the simple form of inorganic phosphate, orthophosphates. More complex inorganic and all organic forms are not detected. You probably have more phosphate in your tank than you suspect.

Knyght

To me it is like having a DSB only in the refugium rather than the main tank. It has limited surface area and may not handle higher loads. Several people are trying the method and there will undoubtedly be more info forthcoming. It is a little too soon for me to pass judgement. Here is the thread that discusses it DBS in a Bucket

 

[Radicaljbr]

Tom,

Have you ever heard of Lawnmower blemmies eating up green algea like I have in the picture above? Someone mentioned this and I thought they only ate coraline aglea.

 

[Knyght]

Radicaljbr,
Just click the red house above that says www for the link to my thread.

Tom,
That is what I had thought about it. Only from following the thread you linked to what I have concluded is that I need my sand to be deeper than just 3-4" in the fuge. Obviously it is not able to handle the load by itself, and adding another 5gl rdsb seems like a fast, simple and effective way to add to it.
I can`t go any deeper in my fuge and still have room for cheato to grow.

Thx again Drill Sgt!!
Hope your Christmas was a Merry one.

:beachbum:

 

[boxfishpooalot]

Hi Tom,

Im interested in dosing phophates. I believe my phoshpates are too low to export sufficient nitrate anymore. Somhow my nitrates are 30ppm and my phosphates are 0.

Where can I get some some phophate so I can remove the nitrates by harvesting my macroalgae. The macro is sitting under a 400watt 6500kelvin metal halide in the sump.So achieving growth should not be problematic. I have tried iron dosing that used to help but like I said the phospates are zero....

I hear that there is some sort of dosing regimine for this kind of dosing.

 

[WaterKeeper]

Herbivore fish are really not a big help in exporting nutrients from one's tank unless you regularly catch and eat them (baked Blennie anyone?). I'm more inclined to use boxfish's method of marcro algae export as one always can use extra greens in their diet.

Box; I'm not at all sure I would ever add phosphate as a supplement. It seems that is just asking for problems. In almost every tank I've heard of, the addition of food provides more than enough phosphate to sustain algae growth. I'd be more inclined to just do a very heavy pruning of the macro and skip the addition of phosphate.

 

[boxfishpooalot]

your the third chemist to say that about adding phosphates. Strange?

How come my redfield ratio is out of wack?(is that the name for it) Dont I need the correct balance of nitrate-phosphate for the macro algae to reduce nitrates to zero? Keep in mind that my tank is bb.

The only other way I can think of to remove all the nitrate without add Po4 is to just do a 97% water change.....

 

[WaterKeeper]

originally posted by boxfishpooalot
Strange?

You will learn, my young Padawan, that all chemists are indeed Strange. It is just the nature of our profession and, if you want to learn anything in this hobby, you must ignore this foible. .

 

[six.line]

I wonder what that means for engineers.