Help. Can someone skilled in chemistry come help me?
- Thread starter JeremyAN7
- Start date
choff
Non-member
Hey Jeremy,
I feel your pain and these issues suck. I'm dealing with a nasty lobophora algae problem that I'd gladly trade places with you.
As for your issue, I'm gong to repeat a couple of important questions John asked that you may have missed.
walk us through your filtration.
- what are you using for mechanical filtration? Filter socks, filter floss etc
- what are you running for chemical filtration? GFO , gac , bio pellets etc
- how is the chemical filtration being used? Reactors, fluval, filter bags etc
- what are you running for biological filtration? Live rock, bio balls, matrix, siporax etc
- where did you get your live rock? What type is it?
- how often and what percent water changes do you do?
- have you tried any chemical remedies like algae fix marine?
Without me knowing any of that and based on your years in the hobby, my hunch is that the possible source of your issue is either your water or your rock. The first thing I would do is test your RODI water for phosphates. I would test it at least 3 times due to the range of inaccuracy of our hobby grade tests can produce zero phosphates even when some are present. If that passes that would lead me to believe your rock is leaching phosphates. There is a hole host of reasons why that could be happening. Most likely they may have always been present, but I've also read that phosphate free rocks can absorb phosphate and then when they hit their saturation point they begin to leach it back out. Bottom line, you need to find the source of your phosphate. Short of that, the alternative is to combat it with GFO or outcompete it with an algae scrubber or fuge full of chaeto.
As mentioned previously, 99pct of the folks posting algae problems get readings of 0 n and p. That doesn't mean you don't have an n and p problem, it just means the algae is consuming it. That is mostly why initially no one is taking you up on the offer to come to your house and test chems. If after some board discussion you still have issues, then I'd be happy to pop over and take a look to see what we are missing.
Good luck man and have patience with us as we ask questions. I know it's frustrating, but we want to help you.
Edit: forgot to mention, I would also strongly consider sending your water out to TRITON to be tested. It's 50 bucks, but gives you a pretty comprehensive snapshot of your water parameters. I did it about 18 months ago and planned on doing it periodically. I may do it again very soon. Iron is another biggy that is critically important for algae growth.
Best,
Mike
I feel your pain and these issues suck. I'm dealing with a nasty lobophora algae problem that I'd gladly trade places with you.
As for your issue, I'm gong to repeat a couple of important questions John asked that you may have missed.
walk us through your filtration.
- what are you using for mechanical filtration? Filter socks, filter floss etc
- what are you running for chemical filtration? GFO , gac , bio pellets etc
- how is the chemical filtration being used? Reactors, fluval, filter bags etc
- what are you running for biological filtration? Live rock, bio balls, matrix, siporax etc
- where did you get your live rock? What type is it?
- how often and what percent water changes do you do?
- have you tried any chemical remedies like algae fix marine?
Without me knowing any of that and based on your years in the hobby, my hunch is that the possible source of your issue is either your water or your rock. The first thing I would do is test your RODI water for phosphates. I would test it at least 3 times due to the range of inaccuracy of our hobby grade tests can produce zero phosphates even when some are present. If that passes that would lead me to believe your rock is leaching phosphates. There is a hole host of reasons why that could be happening. Most likely they may have always been present, but I've also read that phosphate free rocks can absorb phosphate and then when they hit their saturation point they begin to leach it back out. Bottom line, you need to find the source of your phosphate. Short of that, the alternative is to combat it with GFO or outcompete it with an algae scrubber or fuge full of chaeto.
As mentioned previously, 99pct of the folks posting algae problems get readings of 0 n and p. That doesn't mean you don't have an n and p problem, it just means the algae is consuming it. That is mostly why initially no one is taking you up on the offer to come to your house and test chems. If after some board discussion you still have issues, then I'd be happy to pop over and take a look to see what we are missing.
Good luck man and have patience with us as we ask questions. I know it's frustrating, but we want to help you.
Edit: forgot to mention, I would also strongly consider sending your water out to TRITON to be tested. It's 50 bucks, but gives you a pretty comprehensive snapshot of your water parameters. I did it about 18 months ago and planned on doing it periodically. I may do it again very soon. Iron is another biggy that is critically important for algae growth.
Best,
Mike
Last edited:
Ok here goes..
Filtration. Mechanical is JUST what is in the reactor as shown. there are 3 stages of filter pad in there which do get cleaned/ replaced at 6 weeks. there is also the 1 cup of GFO, carbon and chemipur (each) in there. all in the reactor separately.
there is a skimmer.
The live rock is all original Fiji and tonga rock from when i set up the tank in 2002
water changes are 15g monthly. (70g tank)
I've tried Marine S.A.T. on the chemical side, with no luck.. not sure if there are better..?
J
Filtration. Mechanical is JUST what is in the reactor as shown. there are 3 stages of filter pad in there which do get cleaned/ replaced at 6 weeks. there is also the 1 cup of GFO, carbon and chemipur (each) in there. all in the reactor separately.
there is a skimmer.
The live rock is all original Fiji and tonga rock from when i set up the tank in 2002
water changes are 15g monthly. (70g tank)
I've tried Marine S.A.T. on the chemical side, with no luck.. not sure if there are better..?
J
dreadnaught92
Non-member
Is that a GFO reactor? What are you running in it?
As for the algae. I suggest low feeding + carbon + manual removal. It seems just like you have too many nutrients. You can also look into vodka dosing, bio-pellets, or pro-biotic dosing to increase nutrient export.
As for the algae. I suggest low feeding + carbon + manual removal. It seems just like you have too many nutrients. You can also look into vodka dosing, bio-pellets, or pro-biotic dosing to increase nutrient export.
Last edited:
"Filtration. Mechanical is JUST what is in the reactor as shown. there are 3 stages of filter pad in there which do get cleaned/ replaced at 6 weeks"
While probably not the whole issue, this ^ is concerning. Whatever that filtration is filtering is then being held in the water to rot for up to 6 weeks at a time. This could significantly contribute to nutrient issues.
While probably not the whole issue, this ^ is concerning. Whatever that filtration is filtering is then being held in the water to rot for up to 6 weeks at a time. This could significantly contribute to nutrient issues.
reefstarter
Non-member
what I did when My tanks were out of whack was to do very big water changes and very often . At the time I had a little over 600 gallons going and I would change out 100 at a time and did it every couple days till I started to see some changes . then I would go back to normal 10 % weekly . For me if I lost a heater I would be doing tons of carbon changed out every 4-5 days big water changes and thats that .
choff
Non-member
Going to agree with John. While that 3 stage filter may not be the entire issue, it's not something I would do or use. GFO depletes much much faster then GAC. I prefer separate reactors. I typically run GAC for 4 weeks and GFO for 2 weeks. GFO can only hold so much phosphate before it will start to leach it back out. 6 weeks on those filter pads are gong to trap a lot of organic that are going to break down and generate nitrates.
In top of this you are doing imo very low nutrient export with 20pct water changes monthly. The general guideline I have always believed or followed was 10 pct weekly.
In a nutshell, what I see is a tank that does not have enough nutrient export. If it was my tank, I would increase my water change to 10g/wk and assuming my skimmer was properly sized and hopefully a bit oversized I would carbon dose with vinegar. If I didn't see improvement in a few months I would consider adding an algae scrubber. I would have tested my RODI water for phosphates too.
One other question I can't believe I forgot to ask was your light cycle and if you mentioned it I forgot what type of lighting you run. I believe in shorter more intense light cycles. I've read a lot of recent stuff about if the light is strong enough that most corals get enough energy in approx the first 6 hours of light and not much happens after that. I cut my cycle down from 12 hours(2 hour ramp up and down) to 9 hours (1 hour ramp up).
The best thing you can do is change your water. It's also the cheapest. You can get a bucket of IO on sale for $25 which would be enough for 2 100% water changes. Do a bunch of 20% water changes this weekend making sure the new water is close to your existing parameters. You can run your carbon and gfo together (never heard of gfo leaching p04), I change once a month or so. Change it a bit more frequently if you are monitoring your po4 levels regularly.
Steviereefs
Non-member
What town do you live in?
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