Newbie who rushed a bit. Tail between my legs. Looking for advice on closed polyps and brown algae.

[JasonG1]

I'm new to the hobby, hoping for advice, and wondering why my Green Star Polyp hasn't opened in 2 days and if the brown growth shown in the pics is a "safe" nuisance algae.

I sadly admit that I rushed like I said I wouldn't. I understand if folks don't want to help since I rushed.

My tank started with 2 clowns and Dr. Tim's to cycle. 20% water changes were done every few days to keep Ammonia and Nitrite as low as reasonable. After 2 weeks, I had 0 Ammonia, 0 Nitrite, and 1 Nitrate so I added a six-line wrasse, yellow clown goby, and magenta dottyback...still doing 20% water changes every 3-4 days with RODI & Aquaforest carefully measuring SG. I knew I should probably only add 1 fish at a time, but the LFS guy told me in a tank my size, these 3 little guys would be fine (I'm suspicious) and my children were hassling me. A week later, I added a piece of green star polyp and 4 small hermit crabs. I realized adding the green star polyps meant I need to turn on my AI Prime (which I thought I'd leave off [or very low] for months). Well now with the lights on...why not add 1 zoa (which I did on Saturday 6/3/23). I noticed about that same time that some brown algae was forming on the tops of the rocks and sand bed directly under the light. So I reduced the intensities on the AI Prime channels...~20% down to ~15% and reduced the hours per day from 11 to 8 (also too much too fast I think). Also, I saw Nitrites increasing over the last week (but 0 ppm Ammonia), so did (3) 20% water changes over 1 week, and may have found the source of the Nitrite spike on this new tank...a dead hermit crab.

All fish appear healthy and hungry. Here are my issues:

1) The polyps haven't opened in 2 days so, thinking it was the light reduction, I just increased the light back to previous levels, but still only 8 hours/day.
2) The brown algae seems to somewhat disappear at night and return further expanded each day. Is it normal to largely disappear at night then return the next day?
3) The new zoa frag (that looked pretty pink at the LFS) just look brown in my tank.

Below are my tank and water details.

Can you please let me know what you would do if in my situation? I can take the jabs...just looking to get on a good path forward.

1 month old 40 Gallon IM AIO with Carib Sea sand bed, 30 pounds reef saver, AI Prime 16. Aquaforest Reef Salt and RODI with 0 TDS output. Running carbon and GFO packs (both replaced on 6/4) and filter sock. I dose Vibrant and Microbacter Clean according to their instructions. (2) clowns, (1) six-line wrasse, (1) yellow clown goby, (1) magenta dottyback, (3) hermit crabs, (1) Green star polyp frag, (1) zoa frag

Parameters measured on 6/7/2023:
Temp 77.3 (average of 77.0, 77.3, 77.4 readings)
Salinity (Milwaukee Refractometer): 1.026 SG
Salinity (TM High Precision Hydrometer): 1.023 SG (I trust this more)
PH meter (https://amzn.to/3P037YN): 7.25 - stable for 1 month
PH (Red Sea): <7.6 (test kit doesn't show below 7.6)
Ammonia (Hanna Colorimeter): 0.0 ppm
Ammonia (Red Sea): 0.2 ppm
Nitrite (Red Sea): 0.5 ppm
Nitrite (Hanna Colorimeter): 38 -> (125), 72 -> (236) ppb
Nitrate (Red Sea): 1 ppm
Nitrate (Hanna Colorimeter): 3.3 ppm
Phosphate (Hanna Colorimeter): 0.14 ppm
Alkalinity (Red Sea): 8 dKH
Alkalinity (Hanna Colorimeter): 8.2 dKH
Calcium (Hanna Colorimeter): 455 ppm

 

[piranhaman00]

I just skimmed but it looks like you started with dry rock and are dosing vibrant.

1) tank will take 1-2 years to mature. For the first 6 months, be patient, don’t do anything. Stop dosing anything.

2) throw vibrant away, you are dosing an algaecide to a brand new aquarium. Let things mature naturally.

 

[Stephen8169301]

your fine as long as your fish are good that’s the main part take it slow I know it’s hard and tempting I’ve been there we all been there with dry rock it’ll take longer for your tank to mature with the diatoms this is a normal part of a tank maturing it’s called the ugly phase so your tank is going in the right direction corals wait at least 6months btas 1 year

 

[twelvefive]

Trash vibrant. You gotta push through the uglies.

What light are you running?

Why did you decide to put in GFO and carbon?

 

[Sleeping Giant]

get rid of vibrant
increase temp to 78
salinity 1.024-1.025
PH 8-8.1

your values are low, which might be a source of the problems.

try blowing off the brown algae with a turkey baster, might just be settled poop.

 

[JasonG1]

your fine as long as your fish are good that’s the main part take it slow I know it’s hard and tempting I’ve been there we all been there with dry rock it’ll take longer for your tank to mature with the diatoms this is a normal part of a tank maturing it’s called the ugly phase so your tank is going in the right direction corals wait at least 6months btas 1 year

Thank you for helping me calm down and not worry as much!

 

[JasonG1]

Trash vibrant. You gotta push through the uglies.

What light are you running?

Why did you decide to put in GFO and carbon?

I got the Vibrant idea from the BRS videos that said "it's like cheating" and can start before turning the lights on. I used the GFO since it came with the tank and I heard I want Phosphates at zero or near zero unless I have LPS and SPS??

 

[JasonG1]

get rid of vibrant
increase temp to 78
salinity 1.024-1.025
PH 8-8.1

your values are low, which might be a source of the problems.

try blowing off the brown algae with a turkey baster, might just be settled poop.

Thank you. I see a pattern here of getting rid of Vibrant. Will do. Will up temp 1 degree. Will increase salinity (using TM Hydrometer as measure). How do I best increase the pH on this brand new tank? Thanks!

 

[Budman93]

- Your PH is way too low. Likely why the coral is annoyed. From the look of the picture there is almost no surface agitation which helps add oxygen to the water. Direct the rear return pumps to the surface or raise the wavemaker up so that it breaks the surface of the water. That should be enough to at least raise it to above 7.8. You can also open a window when you can to help add oxygen to the room.

- Your salinity should be up a little higher. 1.024-1.025 is ideal.

- Algae is unavoidable when starting up a reef tank. You are going to get diatoms (Which look to be starting) and very likely green hair algae or cyano at some point. This is a natural part of the process.

Love the tank though have the exact same one and same stand. Have had mine up for about 3 months now.

 

[twelvefive]

Do you have any surface agitation? That will help naturally increase ph.

Increase salinity slowly over a couple of days.

 

[Sleeping Giant]

Thank you. I see a pattern here of getting rid of Vibrant. Will do. Will up temp 1 degree. Will increase salinity (using TM Hydrometer as measure). How do I best increase the pH on this brand new tank? Thanks!

Post in thread 'Regulating pH - An idea for those of you interested in stabilizing pH' https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/r...rested-in-stabilizing-ph.987601/post-11414193

 

[nothing_fancy]

As all are saying, discontinue vibrant. Id run that light fixture no higher that 60% at 4-5hours peak and leave it alone, if you can measure the par, get it around 400 at the surface and then leave it alone. Cut back on the water changes, only once 10% weekly. You might try dosing nitrates (neonitro) until your nitrates are up but I wouldn't care much about phosphate removal media, carbon is fine. (1) bag of ChemiPure blue is probably all you need (carbon) Adding micro fauna to your system is something I would recommend. Phyto and copepods. Dose the phyto daily and eventually get your doses up. I have the same tank as you and I dose 30+ mil of phyto daily, only additive I do daily outside of flatworm stop. Lastly, May seem counter intuitive but I would do less, let it be, try to be patient with the algae and just keep up with it manually, scrape glass, toothbrush rocks etc. Keep feeding your fish and your phos and nitrate will eventually balance out. Don't worry about it so much, do some maintenance weekly and in time it'll become stable. In the meantime you could look into dkH and Calcium stability, when you are ready to add Corals for real this sort of stability will be the most important thing in my opinion.

 

[twelvefive]

Vibrant is overpriced API algaefix, the company lied about what was in it, so everyone hates it. The BRS video may have been older, but they should really take it down if it's supporting vibrant

A new tank needs to go through the uglies to establish the proper environment. All the algae and bacteria are fighting for dominance and as long as you keep it under control, everything will be happy soon. Nitrates and phosphates need a balance too little of one can cause issues, too much of one can cause issues. Too much or too little of both can also cause issues, but higher is better than zero for coral. I'll find a link about the balance and post back shortly.

 

[twelvefive]

Optimal Parameters for a Coral Reef Aquarium: By Randy Holmes-Farley

[note: edited on 5/29/2022 to update the nitrate and phosphate sections with higher recommended levels.] One of the main roles of an aquarist with a coral reef aquarium is to ensure that the conditions are right for their tank inhabitants. There are many different attributes of the aquarium...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Dburr1014]

Is the ph meter calibrated?

This reading is the only thing that stands out in your readings.

I do see a dust layer on the surface of your water. This means no agitation. Be mindful, if your house is tight and you have high co2 in the house, agitation won't help to raise the ph.

I didn't see a skimmer in your list.
Do you have one?

 

[JasonG1]

Thanks for all the great support! I upped the IM Helio Thermometer controller to 78 (only changes in 1 degree increments unfortunately). I pointed one of the returns upward and it's agitating the surface nicely now. Will watch pH closely now for hopeful increase. Will also slowly increase the Salinity to 1.0245. Thanks folks for the links...I'll check those out. The Vibrant use came from the BRS 5 minute videos: (see 2:39 of this video) - BRS 5-Minute Skip The Ugly Phase .

 

[twelvefive]

Thanks for all the great support! I upped the IM Helio Thermometer controller to 78 (only changes in 1 degree increments unfortunately). I pointed one of the returns upward and it's agitating the surface nicely now. Will watch pH closely now for hopeful increase. Will also slowly increase the Salinity to 1.0245. Thanks folks for the links...I'll check those out. The Vibrant use came from the BRS 5 minute videos: (see 2:39 of this video) - BRS 5-Minute Skip The Ugly Phase .

You're going to have more evaporation with added surface agitation so watch your salinity. You can use this to help you raise salinity, top off with equal or higher salinity water depending on how quickly it's moving to your target.

 

[JasonG1]

Is the ph meter calibrated?

This reading is the only thing that stands out in your readings.

I do see a dust layer on the surface of your water. This means no agitation. Be mindful, if your house is tight and you have high co2 in the house, agitation won't help to raise the ph.

I didn't see a skimmer in your list.
Do you have one?

I read that I should only add a skimmer if my nitrates are consistently too high even when doing regular water changes. I considered removing the filter sock and putting a skimmer in there...should I just do that now? There were other BRS videos saying maybe a skimmer isn't needed if Nitrates are not high and I'm not looking to reduce the frequency of water changes?

 

[KStatefan]

Just remember a video produced by someone selling something is a marketing video.

 

[JasonG1]

You're going to have more evaporation with added surface agitation so watch your salinity. You can use this to help you raise salinity, top off with equal or higher salinity water depending on how quickly it's moving to your target.

Very good point! Thank you. I have a Tunze Osmolator 3155 on there (RODI in tank underneath) and will use my water changes over the next few weeks to slowly raise it.