I think im gonna lose my mind! please help

King Turkey · Sep 29, 2019

LagoonLounge said:
Are you using leds if so what % is the red and green on?

its a red sea led reef 90. it ouly has blue and white I don't think light produces those collers

King Turkey · Sep 29, 2019

crabcore said:
its a red sea led reef 90. it ouly has blue and white I don't think light produces those collers

its 80 watt blue 9 watt white 1 watt ultraviolet for moon phase light

Jon Fishman · Sep 29, 2019

I would run UV. I watched a local shop set one up on a tank with dino’s and came back a few days later to a clean tank.

Sumbub · Sep 29, 2019

I think you should stop with the mysis feed. Slow it to once every 3-5 days. Pellet food is very concentrated so only feed what can be consumed in a short amount of time.

How long is your photoperiod?

King Turkey · Sep 30, 2019

All right I will slow down on the mysis. Everything is usualy scooped out within 10 min of eating. I am hoping it's just a food and light problem. I was thinking about uv but that's just free floating algae and I have had many people tell me it's not worth it in the past.

BeejReef · Sep 30, 2019

Best of luck. Getting good advise.
Aside from the algae, your rocks and sand appear very young, given that it's a nine month tank?? No coraline yet?

Agree with others, running your whites that high probably is not helping.
You have a pretty robust CUC, but if they're fat and happy on mysis, probably not eating too much algae.

Believe it or not, running 0 (or near zero) on phosphate can encourage GHA in a fuged system. The chaeto can't compete with the micro algae when you have very low phosphate. Given that your rocks are so accessible, I wouldn't be able to resist just pulling them into a little bucket of saltwater and having a serious go at them with a wire brush and a sprayer of hydrogen peroxide.

I've heard that turkey bastering your rocks every week or so helps to dislodge and crud and gunk algae may feast on. Good luck, you'll beat it!

King Turkey · Sep 30, 2019

BeejReef said:
Best of luck. Getting good advise.
Aside from the algae, your rocks and sand appear very young, given that it's a nine month tank?? No coraline yet?

Agree with others, running your whites that high probably is not helping.
You have a pretty robust CUC, but if they're fat and happy on mysis, probably not eating too much algae.

Believe it or not, running 0 (or near zero) on phosphate can encourage GHA in a fuged system. The chaeto can't compete with the micro algae when you have very low phosphate. Given that your rocks are so accessible, I wouldn't be able to resist just pulling them into a little bucket of saltwater and having a serious go at them with a wire brush and a sprayer of hydrogen peroxide.

I've heard that turkey bastering your rocks every week or so helps to dislodge and crud and gunk algae may feast on. Good luck, you'll beat it!

yeah its weird I don't have coralline yet on the dry rock. I even tried the stuff on the bottle with rock having coralline on em and nothing. but corals are doing awesome.
I reduced my whites from 80 to 50 today and will reduce more in a few days. I got approved today for my apt to install a ro/di. any suggestions I was looking at the 6 stage from brs my town I'm in uses lots of chlorine like you smell like a pool after taking a shower. I was using distilled. I was not running low on phosphate or nitrate just don't know if reading is correct because algae consuming it faster than I can test for it. thanks for the suggestion on the blowing off the rocks sounds like a good idea to me. I was about to literally toss all my rock work and replace but was afraid it would reboot my system sorta speak. or do what you said take it all out and scrub but all the crabs are sorta living in the rocks and am afraid of killing em or disrupting the 30-40 ish lbs of live sand

BeejReef · Sep 30, 2019

#brandon429

He's the guy if you're considering major maintenance, scrubbing, sand issues.

I don't know if it helped at all, but I got the lfs to scrape me some coraline at about the 4 month mark and I sprinkled it on my rocks.

I'd def not toss your existing rock out. Old rock is valuable rock... even if it's troubled atm. Sorry, not a rodi expert either. So long as you're dealing with chlorine, not chloramine, it isn't as big an issue. Water pressure is a key consideration. If you get over 40 or 45 psi, you can do a four or five stage more easily. If you don't have the pressure, you can't do so without a booster pump. That might be a tough install in an apartment. I only have four stage. Wish I had one more so I could run two di resins instead of the one mixed bed. Mine depletes unevenly.

If I was doing an apartment install, I'd go under the kitchen sink and mount to the back wall of the cabinets. Apt. manager will never notice a few screw holes way back there. Better yet, mount the unit in the cabinets just left of the sink where it's really out of the way and store the christmas cookie baking sheets and the fondu pot somewhere else.. lol

Sumbub · Sep 30, 2019

I agree with blowing on the rocks. You'd be surprised at the amount of detritus that accumulates on the rock. What is the tests for calcium, alk, and mag? Perhaps the levels are off that's why coralline algae hasn't taken off yet.

Bret Brinkmann · Oct 1, 2019

This sounds and looks like a normal ugly phase. Everyone goes through a gha and green cyanobacteria phase. Give it some time and don't over react and it will pass in time. For now consider algae management with more cuc instead of major maintenance like removing and scrubbing the rocks. Trochus snails and Mexican grazers take to the rocks well. Ceriths and fighting conchs are great for keeping sand clean. Ceriths will also go all over the tank and come in 3 sizes. The dwarfs tend to favor the sand more than the Caribbean and Florida ceriths.

More light always means more algae. Even if it is blue. Corals can adapt to less light better than they can to too much. Coraline prefers higher intensity light, but won't grow on a surface that already has something living on it. Once the gha isn't covering what looks like nearly all surfaces of your rocks the coraline will kick in which will help prevent gha from growing back.

Your parameters look good. I recommend getting some herbivores like snails or a blenny and reducing the intensity of the light was a good step too. The hermits will go after snails at some point so a fish is probably the safer option. Be patient and this will pass. Edit: Actually with your Mg being at 1500 ppm I wouldn't recommend snails as those levels can be toxic and kill them.

King Turkey · Oct 1, 2019

Yeah mybca is 500 all 9.0 mg 1500 read again this morning. I do not dose except for alk witch will drop 1dkh a week. Everything els does not move even if I skip a week on water change. Topic marin salt. It's weird just stays super high. I have snails 3 and they are doing good in the high levels

King Turkey · Oct 4, 2019

Okay so I got the ro/di. I hope this helps my issues some what.

Kjames · Oct 4, 2019

crabcore said:
Okay so I got the ro/di. I hope this helps my issues some what.

I would highly recommend you try Vibrant. You will be amazed. You’ll still have to address or get through whatever phase your tank is in but it dramatically reduce the algae pressure in the mean time. Check out the BRS video about it.

King Turkey · Oct 4, 2019

Kjames said:
I would highly recommend you try Vibrant. You will be amazed. You’ll still have to address or get through whatever phase your tank is in but it dramatically reduce the algae pressure in the mean time. Check out the BRS video about it.

thank you for the suggestion. I am going to try this for a but along with manual removal. if I can not get it to go away I will try that. looks like it is vinegar bacteria and amino acids. I have a from of carbon dosing and I have bacteria in my tank.. think it would work?
but I can say after doing a 5 gallon water change yesterday the growth of algae has slowed down. I am gonna do anouther 5 today. total system is 40g display 1g refugium 1.5 g can filter. think I should change water everyday for a wail?

Kjames · Oct 4, 2019

If you are feeling good about the RO water I would stick with that. 5 gal every few days for a while with reduced feeding could really help.

The bacteria in Vibrant are different from the nitrifying bacteria present in reef tanks, so carbon/amino dosing won’t replicate the effect. They are algae destroyers and results can happen fast. Don’t overdo it if you decide to try - a tank full of dead algae is worse than a tank full of live algae.

PurpleMonsterSlayer · Oct 4, 2019

Just my opinion.
First things first RO/DI unit. You don’t have to permanently install it he can just sit on your counter and be hooked to a Faust. No one that works at your apartment complex can ever enter your apartment without your permission it’s a federal law. So you can always detach it and put it away if they ever have to come.
Second you should rinse your Misys cubes before feeding.
Third Your phosphate and nitrate levels are much higher than what your test are reading or else or else he wouldn’t grow that fast. The algae just consumes it before you can read it. You can always try doing larger water changes weekly and that should help.
I might’ve missed it but do you run filter socks if so you should change them regularly. And I did not see anything about a protein skimmer it might help you out if you don’t have one.
Sorry edit. No filter socks or protein skimmer you have a canister filter which is probably the source of your problem since the detritus is building up and breaking down in the canister. You should probably clean it out regularly (not with tap water, If you’re worried about losing any of your nitrifying bacteria that are in your filter media just rinse it out and some salt water or RO/DI water).

King Turkey · Oct 4, 2019

RichardG said:
Just my opinion.
First things first RODI unit. You don’t have to permanently install it he can just sit on your counter and be hooked to a Faust. No one that works at your apartment complex can ever enter your apartment without your permission it’s a federal law. So you can always detach it and put it away if they ever have to come.
Second you should rinse your Misys cubes before feeding.
Third Your phosphate and nitrate levels are much higher than what your test are reading or else or else he wouldn’t grow that fast. The algae just consumes it before you can read it. You can always try doing larger water changes weekly and that should help.
I might’ve missed it but do you run filter socks if so you should change them regularly. And I did not see anything about a protein skimmer it might help you out if you don’t have one.

I don't run fs but I have a skimmer I run 24/7. I did just get a ro/di. i kinda figured with the readings. should get better.

bblumberg · Oct 4, 2019

Lots of good advice above. I'd consider adding an effective algae grazer such as a lawnmower blennie, keeping up with partial water changes and generally being patient.

King Turkey · Oct 17, 2019

Update on tank. Ro/di makes corals happier. I scrubbed rocks real good last night. Algae coming back again like normal. Reduced mysis to 2 times a week. Only feed small amount pellets that only the fish eat none left in tank. 5-10 gallon wc once a week on 40g tank. Anyone could recommend anything els or am I doing a waiting game. Am I doing somthing wrong. Should I carbon dose? Recomendasions/ experance on vibrant for reef?