I've been using AF products for about 2 months now and a strange green-brown algae started growing. It's not cyano, but there is some slime like strings floating around. Maybe a bryopsis. I really hope it's not dinos. The only harm is has caused so far is it seems to be growing on a granulosa frag that wasn't doing so good. I'm not entirely sure it's still alive. PO4 ~0- hanna, NO3 ~5 -salifert. Nitrate down from 20 about a month ago. I'm slowly introducing zeolite media. I also added 2 Liters of siporax with the intention of slowing removing my live rock from my sump. I started dosing Build twice weekly, and amino acids, power food, and energy once weekly. The algae seems to have a bio-like film in it that reminds me of the "mulm" that builds up using zeovit. Zeozym and coral snow would normally break it down. Is there an AF product to combat this? I've started cutting back on my photoperiod and intensity. Thinking about investing in a sea hare. Any suggestions? Im afraid to keep dosing any additives at this point.
Strange algae
- Thread starter cflow
- Start date
Aquaforest
.Registered Member
Hello, Can you please show your tank and corals and photo of this algae?
Lighting is an ATI sunpower dual nanobox hybrid. 2 blue+, 1 coral +, 1 purple +. T5 all on 8 hours during day. Bulbs about 4 months old. Leds ramp up to 40% and back down over the course of 10 hours. Dosing schedule is pro bio s with np pro every other day, one drop each. I rotate with pro bio f, 1 scoop. I was using power food 1 scoop per week but cut out for now. Amino mix, energy dosed 1 drop per week, usually with 1 drop build. I yse kz iodide complex, 1-2 times per week, and kz sponge power 1-2 times per week. 4 gallon water change with AF probiotic salt once during weekend. 0 TDI.
Salinity 1.026
KH 7.9
NO3 5
PO4 0
K 380. Just started dosing kalium.
I used only 2/5 the recommended dose of zeolite media using stacked method with carbon and PO4 remover. Skimmer is deltec sc 1351 skimming super dry.
Flow is x2 mp10s with 6 second counter pulse on opposite sides of tank and vertex mocean return.
Salinity 1.026
KH 7.9
NO3 5
PO4 0
K 380. Just started dosing kalium.
I used only 2/5 the recommended dose of zeolite media using stacked method with carbon and PO4 remover. Skimmer is deltec sc 1351 skimming super dry.
Flow is x2 mp10s with 6 second counter pulse on opposite sides of tank and vertex mocean return.
Aquaforest
.Registered Member
System looks not matured. How long is this tank running? When did you put first corals after start?
Do you know your NO2 or NH4 levels?
Do you know your NO2 or NH4 levels?
Started tank july 4th, 2017. Srarted using AF products after about a month old. I checked nitrite and ammonia at 1 month and they were undetectable. I added corals at about this time. When I started using zeolites i noticed corals looking brown and withdrawn. Colors are finally coming back and polyp extension is noticeable during the day. I just have algae now.
I decided to get out the turkey baster and see if i could blast off the algae. Most of it blew right off. I'm pretty sure it's buildup of mulm sitting on a little bit of hair algae because my corals went crazy when it was blowing around in the tank. Zeozym helped with mulm management in my last tank. I rechecked NO3 today. It's 0.1. I noticed some corals are getting back really nice colors. I've cut my lighting back to 6 hours of t5s. Leds at 10%. This seems to be working.
Update on my tank. PO4 now 0 per hanna checker and NO3 0-0.2 per salifert kit. The tank is a little less than 5 months now. I've noticed that growth has slowed a bit in my corals and some look really pale. The underside of my hyacinthus is pretty white and some other corals look very drab. Some corals look amazing, just not all of them. I stopped dosing bacteria and carbon source thinking my nutrients are too low. I'm only doing water changes now with probiotic salt. I also added a couple more damsels and a kole tang. I have been feeding heavily, and dose amino acids plus power food daily to boost nutrients. I haven't dosed energy in about a month because some corals looked too thin. I think I need to remove the zeolites. I only have 2/5 the recommended dose anyway. I've turned the flow to the reactor down to the point where it's just a small dribble flowing through for the past month. I've been checking potassium weekly as well. It's been about 380. I dose K+ a couple of times a week to keep it closer to 400. I'm not sure what to do besides ditch the zeolites and start dosing bacteria again to assist in NO3 reduction instead of zeolites. Just a little bit brown algae grows occasionally but is eaten by my CUC. Any suggestions?
Aquaforest
.Registered Member
Hello,
Is this possible to see your corals now and can you tell us how much supplements and foods are you dosing now?
Please, remove zeolites also now.
380 potassium is still ok - did you test it on ICP?
Is this possible to see your corals now and can you tell us how much supplements and foods are you dosing now?
Please, remove zeolites also now.
380 potassium is still ok - did you test it on ICP?
My dosing regimen is power food 1 scoop nightly, amino acids 1 drop at least 5 days a week, vitality 1 drop about 3 days a week. Also dose potassium 1 drop 2-3 times a week and kz iodide complex 1 drop about twice a week. Component 1,2,3 10ml nightly. Occasionally, i add 2 ml of kz strontium. I do a 10% water change once a week with probiotic salt. My potassium test kit is salifert. No samples sent to lab. Here are pics of the poor looking corals.
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Aquaforest
.Registered Member
They looks like attacked by aefw of other worms.
To test potassium I recommend to check parameters on ICP from time to time.
To test potassium I recommend to check parameters on ICP from time to time.
Last night I thoroughly inspected the corals with a flash light and blasted them with a turkey baster to see if anything flies off. There was nothing. I'm pretty sure they are bleached. I'm not sure why. Maybe my lighting, but it only happened to a few corals and I'm very careful when acclimating new corals to my light. Maybe i starved them and didn't realize it until it was too late.
