Benapilot's SCA 150 Upgrade

[BirdGuy21]

Sorry to hear that, you’ve had more than your share of issues for sure. You’ll get it back though!

 

[benapilot]

I went to the LFS for more salt mix (switching back to Red Sea Coral Pro from Tropic Marin) and ended coming home with a Sea Hare as well. I’ve had mixed results with these unique creatures. Hopefully he’ll appreciate the feast in front of him. LOL!

I also picked up a trio of Blue Fin Damsels. For some reason I really like Damsels. They’re active and colorful.

Here’s something odd…. My Blue Hippo Tang is turning black. Not the yellow tail or the yellow hue on the bottom, but anywhere that is supposed to be electric blue is very dark. Maybe my lighting is too blue???

 

[Chris Spaulding]

The sea hair should make a difference at cutting down the algae..

 

[hhaase]

I've been stuck in that loop of one annoyance after another, it's frustrating and seems like it never ends. But it does end once you find the source.

Sea Hare's can carve through a lot of algae, but it's just going to put the nutrients back into the water, you need to get those nutrient levels back down and find a way to wean off the chemical additives. With a high fish load that could be a challenge. Normally I'd say toss some chaeto in the sump, but I don't see you've got a space for it to be successful. I've never used one myself, but this almost seems like a great application for an ATS or macroalgae reactor.

 

[benapilot]

Yeah, no room for a Refugium…. I’ve not considered an algae reactor or turf scrubber. This may be on my next research list!

 

[Chris Spaulding]

Benapilot we have basically the same system and I went through most of what you are going through. What helped me finally get things under control was the ATS and Biopellets. It has taken time for the Pellets to kick in along with the ATS added about 5 weeks ago. Finally seeing Nitrates coming down slowly about 1.5 points every 2 days. Is it the pellets or ATS ? Not sure yet. once the tank gets No3 to about 5 then I am going to pull the pellets off line. and check No3 daily looking for changes. The hare will help knock down the Algae and make it easier for your tangs to keep up. I have 3 Tangs and a Rabbit keeping any algae out of the main tank but they will not touch anything that is long .

 

[hhaase]

When ULN tanks were all the rage, biopellets were a lot more popular. I had biopellets in mine as well when the tank was new, and eventually had to take them out because my corals were starving. I was constantly reading 0 for nitrates with high phosphates. When I took the biopellets out my nitrates started to appear on tests, and the phosphates started to come down. But yeah, it takes about 6 weeks for biopellets to really start to have an effect, and they can be too effective at nitrate reduction. So you need to watch out if levels start to get too low.

 

[Chris Spaulding]

When ULN tanks were all the rage, biopellets were a lot more popular. I had biopellets in mine as well when the tank was new, and eventually had to take them out because my corals were starving. I was constantly reading 0 for nitrates with high phosphates. When I took the biopellets out my nitrates started to appear on tests, and the phosphates started to come down. But yeah, it takes about 6 weeks for biopellets to really start to have an effect, and they can be too effective at nitrate reduction. So you need to watch out if levels start to get too low.

I was running about 40 ppm now down to 20 ppm watching it like a hawk.This possibly could be an avenue for Ben

 

[benapilot]

Thanks, guys!

I did a full clean up yesterday, sucked out a bunch of the algae, sifted the sand, etc. I pulled mats of it off the sand bed. Fortunately, much of it came off easily (I’ve had bryopsis in the past and that stuff is stubborn!). There is still a bunch on the rocks for the Sea Hare to hopefully consume.

I‘ve been doing some research on turf scrubbers and algae reactors. If the Tunze reactor was available, I’d be $400 poorer, as it was the only one I was impressed with (aside from the $1000 ones). I think for now I’ll ramp the NoPoX back up and see how that works. It’s simple, clean, and I had great success with it in my previous tank.

-Chris. (my last name is Bena, and I’m a pilot…. Benapilot rolls off the tongue better than chris-b-pilot! )

 

[Chris Spaulding]

Thanks, guys!

I did a full clean up yesterday, sucked out a bunch of the algae, sifted the sand, etc. I pulled mats of it off the sand bed. Fortunately, much of it came off easily (I’ve had bryopsis in the past and that stuff is stubborn!). There is still a bunch on the rocks for the Sea Hare to hopefully consume.

I‘ve been doing some research on turf scrubbers and algae reactors. If the Tunze reactor was available, I’d be $400 poorer, as it was the only one I was impressed with (aside from the $1000 ones). I think for now I’ll ramp the NoPoX back up and see how that works. It’s simple, clean, and I had great success with it in my previous tank.

-Chris. (my last name is Bena, and I’m a pilot…. Benapilot rolls off the tongue better than chris-b-pilot! )

I was just abbreviating so I didn't have to tap the whole name out

 

[JayRozzer]

I went to the LFS for more salt mix (switching back to Red Sea Coral Pro from Tropic Marin)…..

Curious why the switch?

 

[benapilot]

Facebook told me to, LOL!!

There’s a Facebook group (Mack’s Reef Dinoflagellate Support Group) moderated by a guy who has helped literally hundreds beat Dinos. He said Tropic Marin has elevated iron which feeds the Dinos.
I’ve had great success with Red Sea Reef Pro in the past (only thing I don’t like is the sediment it leaves in my holding tank). When I built this new tank I jumped on the Tropic Marin hype. Is it a factor in my Dino’s? I don’t know. At this point I’m trying anything and everything!

 

[JayRozzer]

Gotcha. I had a Dino problem and tried a lot of the things you did. In the end I ended up going old school. I stopped dosing anything, did water changes, and the final way I fixed it was siphoning out probably 95% of my sand. Almost solved my problems immediately. Now I rely on a skimmer, macroalgae in my fuge and an occasional dose of MB7. I think once you start dosing chemicals you end up in this constant loop of dosing more chemicals to fix problems the 1st chemicals caused. My $.02.

 

[benapilot]

Making good progress!

Hopefully my dino eradication methods have worked. My sand has remained clean these last few days- just a couple rust-colored patches. Cyano maybe?

The Sea Hare is doing its job. Every day there is less and less hair algae.

I’ve started water changes again. I’m doing about 6-7 gallons a week.

NoPoX is doing its job.

My phosphates have bottomed out (consumed and bound up in the GHA). Nitrates are getting to a tolerable level. I’ll get it down to 5-10 and reduce NoPoX to a maintenance level.
Here’s a graph of the last few months. You can see where I stopped water changes and NoPoX.

And finally a full tank shot.

 

[hhaase]

Glad to see the progress going on, as long as it's trending the way you want I'd say just keep doing what you're doing.

Just don't let the nitrates and phosphates bottom out too low for too long.

 

[benapilot]

I’m finally seeing some good progress!

Nitrates are down to 15.5
Phosphates still at 0
I’ll dial back the NoPoX dosing to maintenance levels (I’m seeing a hazy white film on the glass- have to clean it every other day. I think that’ll subside once I dial back the NoPoX).

The Sea Hare has 90% of the green hair algae wiped out! There’s still a little more here and there. Once that’s taken care of, hopefully I can find him and take him back to the LFS.

I believe the rust colored patches on the sand are diatoms. Not sure if I should just wait that out, or use some Chemiclean. I’ll get my parameters all in check the deal with that.

I’m regretting my choice getting the blue fin damsels. They looked pretty at the LFS, but they’re just little black fish against a black background in my tank. Ugh. Wasted calories. LOL!

 

[hhaase]

If it’s diatoms, they should bloom for a short period and then die off once the silicates are consumed. Not even sure chemiclean deals with them.

I wouldn’t hit with any chemicals now anyway. Looking too nice to risk it.

 

[Zach B]

I’m finally seeing some good progress!

Nitrates are down to 15.5
Phosphates still at 0
I’ll dial back the NoPoX dosing to maintenance levels (I’m seeing a hazy white film on the glass- have to clean it every other day. I think that’ll subside once I dial back the NoPoX).

The Sea Hare has 90% of the green hair algae wiped out! There’s still a little more here and there. Once that’s taken care of, hopefully I can find him and take him back to the LFS.

I believe the rust colored patches on the sand are diatoms. Not sure if I should just wait that out, or use some Chemiclean. I’ll get my parameters all in check the deal with that.

I’m regretting my choice getting the blue fin damsels. They looked pretty at the LFS, but they’re just little black fish against a black background in my tank. Ugh. Wasted calories. LOL!

Glad to hear things are turning a corner. Keep us posted

 

[josvanmeer]

I just hope you know NoPox is only a temporary solution, it doesnt make organics disappear it just binds them up and your skimmer or whatever you use still has to remove them. Your source for the high nitrates/phos is your bioload/feeding. Your filtration, however you want to look at it cannot be supported by chemicals otherwise like others have already mentioned the problems will just keep coming back. Since my personal hair algae battle, I have added 40lbs more rock to my system, and started my refugium up with Ulva on a reverse light cycle powered by a Kessil H380. So far my hair algae is not coming back. (Its been half a year or so) A turf scrubber is insanely effective, and you will definitely want to run a reactor with GFO to contain phosphates due to feeding, also insanely effective. Im sorry you are going through this, but you should definitely work on balancing the balance sheet regarding the nutrients that go in & out of your tank. That's all this really is.

If adding equipment is not really an option now, you will have to consider to start doing very frequent waterchanges.

Once you stop the NoPox, keep testing Nitrates daily to see what your bioload and your feeding does to the balance sheet. Most reefers I admire, whether it be friends or well known reefers in the community, keep their nitrates at a 5-10ppm. I realized personally quickly that a skimmer doesn't really do a whole lot keeping those parameters stable. Also when you keep fish that need to eat like 4 times a day, just make sure that you feed them actually very little. A short metabolism doesn't mean they eat a lot, they just need to eat more often. I have also learned this the hard way. I keep a lot of wrasse and thinking to feed non stop bit me in the butt so hard I had to do stop doing that asap. I feed them so little now but same amount of time and these fish are still doing absolutely fantastic.


We all learn everyday in this hobby, and most things the hard way. I just hope you beef up your filtration soon otherwise you will keep looking at a hairy tank and I know how demoralizing that can be.

Jos

 

[benapilot]

Thanks for your insight.
I had just assumed that what worked well for the last 5 years on my 75 gallon would have done the same in this 150. I dosed NoPoX successfully for years and never had a hair algae problem. It showed up when let the nitrates rise to fight dinos. I’ll stay the course and keep testing. Plan is to keep the nitrates, like you said, in the 5-15 range.
An algae scrubber or chaeto reactor may, indeed, be in my future.
I feed New Life Spectrum pellets. A small amount twice a day (Eheim auto feeder). A couple times a week I’ll throw a little frozen food in as well as hang a noori sheet.
Water changes are daily, 1-2 gallons.