Greatings from Whidbey Island

[Fishfry]

Well tomorrow I am going to just do a double (50 gallon) water change. I'd like to dip my stuff but right now cant get away to get to Alger (Nicki is fighting a sinus infection). If you wouldn't mind stopping by Floyd I sure could use some advice for this next idea of mine. I plan on starting at high noon is I dont stay up all night playing video games...lol

 

[thatguy559]

I can help too I get off at 2pm if you need me to help out

 

[tat2z_21]

Hey Ed,

How is the tank doing. I havn't seen you post for some time. Just wondering how the tank is doing.

 

[Fishfry]

Lagae is there still but not growing near as bad. Everything seems to be happier now so I am thinking we are going in the right direction. Just have to get rid of the algae now.

Big Shout out to Erik for the pump. It is working much better than the little one I had and is very quiet.

 

[NWDiver]

Good to hear from ya Ed!
You are on the way, it just takes a bit of time.

 

[tat2z_21]

So After I test out this algea scrubber, maybe we could try it out on your system. Take a minute and google the mega Algal turf scrubber.

 

[ac7av]

Hey Ed,
Glad to here things are looking up.
The algae problem you were having, did it look something like this?
This was that tank I was telling you about that was killing snails.

 

[Fishfry]

Yep but with lots of bubbles too. This weekend it seemed to go back to hell overnight. Got more water ready for another partial this week and I am going to take all the rocks that dont have coral out of the aquarium and clean them up and let them dry out before puting them back in. I also turned off my lights and am going to see if that helps kill off more algae. So far everything is doing good that is alive (including the alga) with the exception of my glaxias that now are getting covered with the algae. Once again I feel like I am at my wits end. Life is busy enough for me without having to take care of the tank (water changes) all of the time. By the way the pump you gave me is running nice and quiet too. I can't thank you enough.

 

[ac7av]

Well let me start by saying the water is not the problem. Ill bet the test numbers or your water couldn’t be better. The algae is really going to clean the water and the corals seem to not be bothered by it unless they start to get covered with it. If you remove the rock and dry it and put them back in will not do much in the end I think and never the less doing water changes will probable not fix the problem. You have already see the ebb and flow of the algae growth in what changes and water changes you have made. I’m starting to get more suspicious of phosphates being the source of the problem. Even though my brothers tank has been dismantled and sold after dealing with the problem you see in the pictures I still think about it a lot. We did water changes after water changes with ro-di water, manual cleaning, using lots of carbon, removing and boiling the rocks and pressure washing them before putting them back in, nothing seem to make it go away it only just seemed to get worse.

After reading the latest write up on phosphates on RF I’m starting to wonder if that’s what it was and is going on with your tank. I wonder if someone local has an extra reactor or something you could borrow for a while to run some phosphate remover for a while just to see if it makes a difference.

 

[Fishfry]

I have tested them and am at nearly zero. I dont know maybe I need to get about a 100+ snails and crabs to mow that stuff down. I know this though, I am about at the same point your brother was and even talked to the wife about just getting rid of it for now. We are going to give it a little longer.

 

[ac7av]

Your getting zero of probably anything because you tank is one big algae scrubber. Tat2z_21 would love to plumb into your tank for filtration of his 180. He is building a tank to grow on purpose what your trying to get rid of.

Have you gotten some lights on your fuge to grow some macros in there instead of your main tank? It really could help a lot. Like Krish always says, give it a place it will want to grow more then your main tank is it will go there.

I’m definitely no expert but some weekend when your free you should try and have one of the north sound reefers come over and just give everything a look over. Justin and Floyd are very knowledgeable and very local and I would consider them experts in the area. I know you don’t want to show off a green tank but sometimes it can help to have a second opinion or set of eyes on what may be going on.

 

[tat2z_21]

I know that this is frustrating, bityou can't give up. So listen he is right phosphates are your number one problem with algea spread. So withalgea you have to remember that when you test and it is at zero, it is because your algea is consuming it. Algea would not be able to grow with out a food. So things to look at. What do plants need to grow. Lights, food source (nutrients), and water. Well since they live in water, we can go ahead and count that one out. Sothen we have lights, if your lights are old they will put a spectrum that the algea is really enjoying. 6500k is the perfect temperature for plant growth. So if you have 10k bulbs and they are old and the spectrum is slipping a little, that could be what is fueling the algea.

Next is food source. Phosphates. You need to understand how they get into your system.

There are many reasons for phosphates to appear and then be present in the water, both external and internal ones.

Some Internal Reasons

high fish and/or coral population in the aquarium,
plant material that dies off and mineralization,
breakdown of undigested food in feces,
bacterial die-off and its decomposition and mineralization,
algal die-off and its decomposition and mineralization,
any other living material that dies, decomposes,
fish slime (and coral slime in reef tanks) that decomposes (cfr Thiel)

Some External Reasons

Overfeeding and the decay of the food that is not consumed,
Phosphate in the water you are using,
Phosphate present in the salt you use to make up water,
Additives that contain it,
Carbon that leaches phosphate into the water,
Calcium hydroxide of low quality used to make limewater,
Phosphate based chelators in additives (cfr Thiel)
Phosphates in buffering compounds,
Using frozen foods and adding the liquid after it thaws, to the tank (cfr Thiel),
Using low grade calcium carbonate in calcium reactors (cfr Knop)
and many others

So to fight this problem we need to get to the bottom of it. You can use phosphate removers but that you should always look at the reason this is happening.

 

[Fishfry]

So I have a cycle of algae groeing then dieing then decomposing to supply nutrients for more algae to grow and then die etc. etc. etc.

That sucks. Lights have all been changed in the last month or 2. 15,000K MH and fresh blue atinics. No overfeeding here. I make sure that they eat everything before it has a chance to get on the rocks or gravel. Dont use a lot of additives and they are all additives I have used since I started.

I would love it if you could come over and see Floyd at the great experiment that seems to be living in my aquarium. How do you think the inhabitants in my tank would do if I left only the LED moon lights on and wrapped the tank so no light got in it for lets say a week or two?

 

[tat2z_21]

Not sure if you will be home today, but I would love to come over and see what we can get going.

 

[tat2z_21]

Hey let me know when a good time to come over and check out the system would be.

 

[tat2z_21]

Hey ED, hopefully everything is going good. I have not heard from you in a while. Let me know if you still would like me to come by and check out the tank.

 

[ac7av]

Hey Ed, same here.
I’d like to tag alone too if you could use some one else to get in the way.

 

[bigblue141]

I left only the LED moon lights on and wrapped the tank so no light got in it for lets say a week or two?

Your coral would not be very happy with u, but everything should make it just fine.

Another thing to look at, is your food could actually be causing outbreaks as well.

Ryan

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