Reef Discussion

[Ken]

Hi I've been having bad hair algae problems tested nitrate 40! & phos between .5&.10
It's 6x2x2 running 50/white 15000-20000k 50blue56nm 120w units,3 wave pumps,wet/dry with bioballs 400mmx300x300(just bought 8"x8"x4" marine pure biofilter material I plan on taking 1/2 bio balls out for it also have 700mmx300x400h sump I tryed mangroves because can't find maro anywhere I've posted on forums so if anyone can spare some for $ would be awesome anyway some mangroves took but others went off by the time I relised they stunk I took them out immediately (week ago ) now all sump has is heaps of coral ruble and sand ,my phosban 150 and medium arrived today also and my phos & nitrate test kits I'd run out of arrived also tomorrow I'm picking up various corals clam anemone fish etc think I'll see if I can pay and have him hold them,he has plenty of good mature water too but for the moment where do I start before corals sulking please any help much appreciated especially macro or advise in quickest and most permanent solution,I won't be able to reply to post for an hour after that I will be desperate

 

[Buddy]

Water changes will be your best friend for a while. Do as large and many as you can. I would definitely not be adding new stock at the moment, especially an anemone.
Regular water changes are the quickest and permanent solution!
Macro algae is something that might help in the long term.
Good luck :)

 

[OSCAR85]

My apologies i don't know much about your tank. If you want to get on top of it fast as Buddy said you can do water changes but also use red sea no3po4. It works wonders on nitrate and will help bring phos down a little. Ive use this b4 for a while and worked very well at lowering nitrate. How many litters is your tank?

 

[Sam Parker]

Others may disagree with me, but those Params aren't that bad? The hair algae issue isn't good, but I wouldn't loose sleep over 40ppm nitrate and would be stoked if I had .10 phosphate! Be good to get the nitrate down to 5-10, but I have seen things do just fine in 40 (maybe temporarily?)

Don't add anything for a while, few big water changes, test again - have someone else test to confirm your readings and under feed for a while. Should be fine :)

 

[Riaan_Tas]

I have to agree with @Sam Parker ...not so bad ...... worst thing you can do is stress .... take it slow ... it ain't that bad unless you have a tank full of SPS .... water changes like all advised but PLEASE take it slow .... sudden changes in water will do more harm .... just my 2c

 

[holly]

Agree with @Sam Parker and @Riaan_Tas - you're stressing and no one makes the best decisions when they think they need to act in the next 5 minutes or something terrible will happen. Do a 10-20% spread over the day (e.g. 10% in the morning and night). 40ppm isn't too bad, fish and corals can adjust slowly to that but I would definitely not be adding in stock now.

A few things about your tank may be helping push the nitrates up: coral rubble (hides detritus), sand (nitrate factory if not super fine ie. 1-2mm). I would turn off your return and pull out all the rubble and give it a good clean in some heated waste tank water. Clean out the sludgy water that is left in the sump and change it to fresh. In a month or so when your marine pure block is sufficiently stocked with bacteria, gradually remove your rubble and sand and anything else that is helping waste accumulate. I would also add a filter sock onto your drain pipe to prevent the detritus build up from happening again. Keep up very regular water changes (10% a week) during this whole period, especially when you start adding stock. An anemone will not do very well in a newly cycled tank - it will likely bleach due to lack of zooanthallae in the water column.

Plenty of people on here have macro for sale - Reeflections have it in regularly for $5 a bag.

 

[Ken]

Hi guys thankyou so much,I'll do as many frequent water changes as I can (it's been 100ltrs in the last 5 days I will change to three smaller changes a week and no new stock,skimmer is going off! Removing shitloads of gunk,sump is getting overhaul as well
Thanks again guys :)

 

[Ken]

My apologies i don't know much about your tank. If you want to get on top of it fast as Buddy said you can do water changes but also use red sea no3po4. It works wonders on nitrate and will help bring phos down a little. Ive use this b4 for a while and worked very well at lowering nitrate. How many litters is your tank?

380ltrs cheers for your interest :)

 

[Ken]

Agree with @Sam Parker and @Riaan_Tas - you're stressing and no one makes the best decisions when they think they need to act in the next 5 minutes or something terrible will happen. Do a 10-20% spread over the day (e.g. 10% in the morning and night). 40ppm isn't too bad, fish and corals can adjust slowly to that but I would definitely not be adding in stock now.

A few things about your tank may be helping push the nitrates up: coral rubble (hides detritus), sand (nitrate factory if not super fine ie. 1-2mm). I would turn off your return and pull out all the rubble and give it a good clean in some heated waste tank water. Clean out the sludgy water that is left in the sump and change it to fresh. In a month or so when your marine pure block is sufficiently stocked with bacteria, gradually remove your rubble and sand and anything else that is helping waste accumulate. I would also add a filter sock onto your drain pipe to prevent the detritus build up from happening again. Keep up very regular water changes (10% a week) during this whole period, especially when you start adding stock. An anemone will not do very well in a newly cycled tank - it will likely bleach due to lack of zooanthallae in the water column.

Plenty of people on here have macro for sale - Reeflections have it in regularly for $5 a bag.

Thanks for your interest I was wondering how long marine pure would take to establish a months not bad,I have 3 prefilter layers in wet/dry then it flows through bioballs then through a tube with sock on the end of it to the ref with rubble then sand,the rubble appears clean no sludge and when I stir sand(fine coral sand) there's only a little sediment,I think the mangroves were the culprit some took well but when I smelled the sump it smelled rotten this was about a week ago because they were in the sand it could still be contaminated I'll clean it using some tank water (I had a few air stones in the sand after I removed mangroves) so I'm not sure if the levels are up from mangroves or if there is still a source in there somewhere,cheers Ken

 

[Str8edge]

I have read that mangroves are fairly useless when it comes to nutrient export compared to macro and other forms.. If you are chasing macro just post a WTB in the classifieds I'm sure there will be a member near you on here or know a place you can get it..

 

[Ken]

I have read that mangroves are fairly useless when it comes to nutrient export compared to macro and other forms.. If you are chasing macro just post a WTB in the classifieds I'm sure there will be a member near you on here or know a place you can get it..

Hi I live in moe there's not much of anything round here lol but I'll travel I posted while ago no luck:(

 

[Buddy]

0.8 is a huge amount of phosphate! Unless you mean 0.08?
I agree with @Sam Parker if you actually meant 0.08, its not bad, my phosphate usually sits around that.
I would have to say 40ppm of nitrate is still a little high though.

 

[Ken]

0.8 is a huge amount of phosphate! Unless you mean 0.08?

Unfortunately 0 to .8 in 2 weeks!

 

[Buddy]

Its just that in your title you say 0.8 and then you mention in your first post...

phos between .5&.10

.10 is actually less than .5 or .8
sorry but im just a little confused on what you mean ;)

 

[holly]

Thanks for your interest I was wondering how long marine pure would take to establish a months not bad,I have 3 prefilter layers in wet/dry then it flows through bioballs then through a tube with sock on the end of it to the ref with rubble then sand,the rubble appears clean no sludge and when I stir sand(fine coral sand) there's only a little sediment,I think the mangroves were the culprit some took well but when I smelled the sump it smelled rotten this was about a week ago because they were in the sand it could still be contaminated I'll clean it using some tank water (I had a few air stones in the sand after I removed mangroves) so I'm not sure if the levels are up from mangroves or if there is still a source in there somewhere,cheers Ken

Yeah then water changes are your best friend. There are a couple of people out that way that might be able to direct you to some macro @Miller @Ian G . Otherwise the stuff posts really well with minimal water. I'll have some to sell in a month or so.

 

[Ken]

Its just that in your title you say 0.8 and then you mention in your first post...

.10 is actually less than .5 or .8
sorry but im just a little confused on what you mean ;)

Sorry 0.5 to 1.0

 

[Ken]

Yeah then water changes are your best friend. There are a couple of people out that way that might be able to direct you to some macro @Miller @Ian G . Otherwise the stuff posts really well with minimal water. I'll have some to sell in a month or so.

That's great I'll get straight on to it thanks

 

[Ian G]

Yeah then water changes are your best friend. There are a couple of people out that way that might be able to direct you to some macro @Miller @Ian G . Otherwise the stuff posts really well with minimal water. I'll have some to sell in a month or so.

Don't like Mangroves myself, not for a normal display system anyway.

At the moment I'm only maintaining small amounts of each macro while I concentrate on this new fern like one I picked up. Most LFS will sell you a bag of Brachypus for $5 to get you going. I can grow out some north american chaeto for you but it'll take about a month. $15 including express post. Basically to cover postage, packinging and bribing my son to take it to the post office :)

Where are you located? I know Brendan had some chaeto over Traralgon way.

 

[Str8edge]

having phos running around 1ppm to 2ppm isn't an issue in a tank that doesn't have sps it may inhibit growth to some extent but not going to cause a problem with any lps, softies, inverts or fish.. My tank sits around 1 to 2ppm on phos with no ill effects (no problem algae in display, only have to clean the glass every 2 to 3 weeks and good growth on lps/softies) the only thing I can see with running phos that high is it inhibits coralline algae growth.. So @Ken don't stress and make any rash decisions about lowering phos just everything you are doing is fine get rid of the bio balls and coral rubble over time and get the marine pure block into the tank so it can seed also get into a routine of water changes and maintenance and all will be fine..
Once the hair algae in your tank starts to recede you know that your phos and nitrates are getting lower what you need to remember is if you have a bad hair algae problem in the tank, what you are testing in the water column is what the algae hasn't/can't consume.. Also don't waste money on buying the Red Sea product no3po4 it is just a mix of ethanol, sugar and vinegar if you want to go down this route look into carbon dosing/vodka dosing needs a bit of research, care taken and a large skimmer just like the Red Sea product just a hell of a lot cheaper and you can make yourself a drink while you are at it.. :rofl

 

[Sam Parker]

I've been as high as 1.44ppm without any sign of problems, but it try to keep it under 0.25. I don't like SPS though :)