High nitrates and Green Hair Algae

[Uzair Aiman]

Well like I said water changes did not seem to change things much however still did them. I don't like dosing because the previous owner dosed all the time, and figured he was causing the issue. Also a big discussion on use of vibrant here, killing off everything because they are saying is an algaecide, I don't trust manufacturer claims just me maybe. Look for natural ways to solve things, so far seems to work. The skimmer is big to me, and aggressive cleaning of the rock out of the tank with brass brush

I am thinking of brushing the rocks. But my anemones foot is stuck to it right now. It’s not really in ideal shape so I really don’t want to touch and move my anemone with force. Do you think removing this algae by pulling my nem off will actually pay off more than the sacrifice I might take to remove my nem? Do the pros weigh out the cons?

 

[damsels are not mean]

Been dosing phyto for over a year in my 200gal. and tank does'nt look any different to my eye. In my opinion its a waste of time and money. I think it's more of a fad, just like cooking rocks were 10 years ago. Why put something in only to have your skimmer go nuts take it out?

Well it works quite well at growing filter feeders and copepods when you are not running any mechanical filtration

 

[homer1475]

Been dosing phyto for over a year in my 200gal. and tank does'nt look any different to my eye. In my opinion its a waste of time and money. I think it's more of a fad, just like cooking rocks were 10 years ago. Why put something in only to have your skimmer go nuts take it out?

Phyto is a basic building block to the micro inhabitants on the reef. It is not a fad, nor is it useless.

 

[Garf]

Phyto is a basic building block to the micro inhabitants on the reef. It is not a fad, nor is it useless.

Well, it probably adds a bit of f/2 fertilizer, which probably isn’t a bad thing. I’ve only ever seen one or 2 mysids which could eat it, the normal Copepods scrape there food off surfaces.

 

[homer1475]

What?

Copepods eat live phyto directly.

 

[Garf]

What?

Copepods eat live phyto directly.

In a culture, yeah. Not seen it in a tank.

 

[homer1475]

So in the ocean, I guess they don't eat live phyto either? Only in a culture?

Suppose all those companies that sell phyto and pods, are taking us for a ride?

It's simple google. Pods eat live phyto directly out of the water column.

 

[homer1475]

Heres a quote from the NOAA website on copepods.

These tiny animals form the basis of the food web of estuaries, coastal waters, and oceans. Zooplankton feed on microscopic plant-like organisms called phytoplankton, which get their energy from the sun. Tiny crustacean zooplankton called “copepods” are like cows of the sea, eating the phytoplankton and converting the sun’s energy into food for higher trophic levels in the food web. Copepods are some of the most abundant animals on the planet.

I think I'll stop then if its useless and copepods don't eat it. I think my 2 fat, and happy breeding mandarins might pitch a fit though.

 

[paintman]

Phyto is a basic building block to the micro inhabitants on the reef. It is not a fad, nor is it useless.

So your telling me there are no pods in tanks that don't dose phyoto? This dumping phyto in tanks hasn't been around all that long yet there have been many beautiful tanks for the past 30 years.

 

[homer1475]

And people have been dosing "green water" just as long. I think the masses have just realized how well it works. Call it a fad if you will, but phyto dosing has been around for a long time.

And yes pods reproduce just fine without it, but micro life thrives with it. The whole food web gets fed.

 

[sixty_reefer]

I already have white distilled vinegar (5%) in hand right now. Just researching on how and should I dose. Any tips or precautions?

You need to raise your po4 if you going to carbon dose

 

[paintman]

So in the ocean, I guess they don't eat live phyto either? Only in a culture?

Suppose all those companies that sell phyto and pods, are taking us for a ride?

It's simple google. Pods eat live phyto directly out of the water column.

If I remember correctly alot of you guys couldn't dump a bottle of vibrant in their tank fast enough from that company.
Nobody ever said pods don't eat phyto. Pods have been in our tanks long before we started dumping bottles phyto in.

 

[Freenow54]

Right before I stepped away from my routine, the tanks nutrients wasn’t ideal; but bearable. GHA was just starting to grow at that time since it is a relatively new tank, but bearable.
I do not have the space to install and chaeto system in my tank though. How long of this routine did it take you to clear it all out? Was the chaeto a big role in this? I will cut down on feeding. Maybe feed once every other day, and I’ll try to scrub off as much algae as I can.
Will it bring any side effects if I divert to just dosing vinegar instead? Or should I do your route and maintain my routine?

If you want cheato there are hang on the tank systems with lights. I have a finnex works great

 

[Freenow54]

I am thinking of brushing the rocks. But my anemones foot is stuck to it right now. It’s not really in ideal shape so I really don’t want to touch and move my anemone with force. Do you think removing this algae by pulling my nem off will actually pay off more than the sacrifice I might take to remove my nem? Do the pros weigh out the cons?

Personally I would not I have heard they move

 

[Garf]

And people have been dosing "green water" just as long. I think the masses have just realized how well it works. Call it a fad if you will, but phyto dosing has been around for a long time.

And yes pods reproduce just fine without it, but micro life thrives with it. The whole food web gets fed.

I dosed it for about 12 months, about 15 years ago, saw no benefit. My mandarin lived for 10 years.

 

[J_Reagan]

Also, I have a bubble magus protein skimmer in my back compartment (It’s and AIO Tank), which seems to be going crazy and not skimming really well. And also, my green star polyps has lost its green for some reason, not sure if it’s the nitrates or the algae but, the polyps do extend, just everything is purple haha

For High Nitrates simply staying on top of water changes is the only way I've seen to get them down personally.
First time reefer here so I made some mistakes but have learned from them as well. Now keeping to a water change routine.

(Below will show my experience BEFORE adding corals)
In my 24 nano tank. I had 80ppm nitrates at that period of time. Due to neglect/long work hours really. It was a fish only tank then I started my journey into reefs after getting the tank back to normal levels.
What I personally did was 50% water change. Waited a day did another 50%. Waited another day did another 50%.
WOULD I RECOMMEND this? Absolutely NOT! It's stressful on your fish! Could possibly leave them susceptible to ick. It did in mine. After I installed a UV unit NOT to eradicate the issue but to help it. UV won't get your total system free and clear never will, but it will help it. Also great for cyano and Dynos.

Mine being a 24 gal tank that's half the water volume, so doing that in that size tank I wouldn't recommend.
Wouldn't do more then 20% a day to lower them down below acceptable range.

As far as Phosphate issues, I started dosing Phosphate-E to get Phosphates under .1 is the target. Ideally for me at .05 is my target goal however, under .1 is just fine overall.

Tangs - WITHOUT tang police ripping on me! You can place a tang in a 24 gal when its smaller. HOWEVER, it cant permanently stay here. Eventually youll have to upgrade to a bigger tank until its at its permanent home. Id say Tangs are great CU crew honestly. They control algae very well! Now I don't have a tang yet. Do plan on getting some but NOT without another tank big enough to house them permanently. BUT I have heard people doing this temporarily (keyword)

I also have Vibrant that I dose weekly.

Another thing you can look at is what Filter media's are you running? If you have Filer Socks are you changing them every 2-3 days? Or filter floss? Those two traps a lot so changing those regularly helps cut out nitrate spikes and Phosphates. Especially if your over feeding removing sponges/filter socks/Filter Floss like it's the death of you would really be beneficial.

My two cents. Hope all goes well! Happy Reefing!

 

[Garf]

For High Nitrates simply staying on top of water changes is the only way I've seen to get them down personally.
First time reefer here so I made some mistakes but have learned from them as well. Now keeping to a water change routine.

(Below will show my experience BEFORE adding corals)
In my 24 nano tank. I had 80ppm nitrates at that period of time. Due to neglect/long work hours really. It was a fish only tank then I started my journey into reefs after getting the tank back to normal levels.
What I personally did was 50% water change. Waited a day did another 50%. Waited another day did another 50%.
WOULD I RECOMMEND this? Absolutely NOT! It's stressful on your fish! Could possibly leave them susceptible to ick. It did in mine. After I installed a UV unit NOT to eradicate the issue but to help it. UV won't get your total system free and clear never will, but it will help it. Also great for cyano and Dynos.

Mine being a 24 gal tank that's half the water volume, so doing that in that size tank I wouldn't recommend.
Wouldn't do more then 20% a day to lower them down below acceptable range.

As far as Phosphate issues, I started dosing Phosphate-E to get Phosphates under .1 is the target. Ideally for me at .05 is my target goal however, under .1 is just fine overall.

Tangs - WITHOUT tang police ripping on me! You can place a tang in a 24 gal when its smaller. HOWEVER, it cant permanently stay here. Eventually youll have to upgrade to a bigger tank until its at its permanent home. Id say Tangs are great CU crew honestly. They control algae very well! Now I don't have a tang yet. Do plan on getting some but NOT without another tank big enough to house them permanently. BUT I have heard people doing this temporarily (keyword)

I also have Vibrant that I dose weekly.

Another thing you can look at is what Filter media's are you running? If you have Filer Socks are you changing them every 2-3 days? Or filter floss? Those two traps a lot so changing those regularly helps cut out nitrate spikes and Phosphates. Especially if your over feeding removing sponges/filter socks/Filter Floss like it's the death of you would really be beneficial.

My two cents. Hope all goes well! Happy Reefing!

Warning: Use Vibrant at your own risk

It does not appear to be what UWC claims. Data clearly suggest it is an algaecide identical to Algaefix (see thread below) IMO, this as a very serious breach of trust from a company that has insisted it is not an algaecide. It is also a clear breach of the Reef2Reef terms of service (about...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[fish farmer]

Right before I stepped away from my routine, the tanks nutrients wasn’t ideal; but bearable. GHA was just starting to grow at that time since it is a relatively new tank, but bearable.
I do not have the space to install and chaeto system in my tank though. How long of this routine did it take you to clear it all out? Was the chaeto a big role in this? I will cut down on feeding. Maybe feed once every other day, and I’ll try to scrub off as much algae as I can.
Will it bring any side effects if I divert to just dosing vinegar instead? Or should I do your route and maintain my routine?

It took about half a year to get my nitrate levels down from 30 ppm to 5 ppm, Phosphates from 2ppm to under 1ppm. I believe chaeto was the biggest help, it was doubling in size every month, but eventually slowed when levels dropped. I still have some and it just grows slowly or maintains. When I test my nitrates and phosphates now, I rarely get a reading. My WC's weren't massive about 15% every two weeks, siphoning out algae and detritus when I did it. I cut back feeding to every other day.

My tank is a 29 gallon with three fish and at that time, 4 years ago, was mostly soft corals. Some of the rock is very old, my issues were similar with regard to not keeping up with maintenance, probably feeding too much and my rock was likely loaded with phosphates.


I don't have any working knowledge of vinegar dosing, do a search on this forum for "carbon dosing" and you should find all the info you should need.

 

[J_Reagan]

Warning: Use Vibrant at your own risk

It does not appear to be what UWC claims. Data clearly suggest it is an algaecide identical to Algaefix (see thread below) IMO, this as a very serious breach of trust from a company that has insisted it is not an algaecide. It is also a clear breach of the Reef2Reef terms of service (about...

www.reef2reef.com

I have no clue what all that means they lost me when they started all the science talk. Dummy it down for me would ya. Lol

 

[Garf]

I have no clue what all that means they lost me when they started all the science talk. Dummy it down for me would ya. Lol

Lol. Vibrant is probably just an algaecide, not a bacterial product as advertised. May be harmful to clams. Can be bought cheaper, such as Algae fix.