Ryan's 150g Marineland Deep Dimension!

[Fishie]

So you all can laugh at how much hair algae and cyano has taken over the tank? I don't think so.

 

Ryan

 

I have my lights running 15 hours in the day...no nuisance algae

 

Also have brs rock that I cured for about 10 days...it's turned brown now and slowly getting coraline on it

 

My phosphates were 0.05

Edited April 14, 2012 by Fishie

[Fishie]

Did u ever clean ur sand... Like a lot ..Before adding it to ur dt

Edited April 14, 2012 by Fishie

[Ryan S]

4-14-2012 FTS's (the tank is 2 months old)

 

 

 

[Ryan S]

Did u ever clean ur sand... Like a lot ..Before adding it to ur dt

 

I did not. Your tank is the same size and age as mine right? You aren't dealing with massive algae blooms or fish die-off... I must have done something wrong other than "go to fast." Unless a fish had velvet and that's what wiped them all out. And as for the algae... Your BRS pukani didn't have it, so I don't know why mine does?

[DaveS]

4-14-2012 FTS's (the tank is 2 months old)

 

Dude, that's nothing. You can still see the rock. That's not a hair algae outbreak. That's like a hair-club-for-men algae outbreak.

[Jan]

Beautiful set up, Ryan. It looks like bryopsis to me. Are your parameters stable now? If so I'd suggest getting a tuxedo urchin, BRK usually has them, and squirting (with small pipette) Kent tech M magnesium to a large area where there aren't any corals. DO NOT squirt directly onto corals. Check your mag levels first. Max you want after squirting is 1650-1700 (pushing it).

 

4-14-2012 FTS's (the tank is 2 months old)

 

 

 

[Chad]

Ryan, seriously, that's nothing!!

 

You should have seen mine at it's peak after startup... it was more like a green jungle!!

[Fishie]

Yea that doesn't look like algae break out ...i was imagining it a lot worse

 

I did wash my sand ...it was dry not live sand...and I must have washed it at least a few dozen times

[epleeds]

That's not bad. What I would do is put a foxface or a yellow tang in there if you know that the tank has stabilized. Let them eat that all off the rock. You would only have to feed flake like once a week. Let em graze all day long.

[SunWyrm]

Honestly I am jealous. I am tankless right now...

 

Start just a little bity one... what could it hurt?

[Ryan S]

Test Results Today, 4/14/2012:

Salinity = 1.028 (high)*

Temperature = 78.2 (ok)

pH = 8.25 (ok)

ORP = 388 (ok)

Ammonia = 0.0 ppm (ok)

Nitrite = 0.0 ppm (ok)

Nitrate = 5.0 ppm (high)*

Phosphate = 0.02 ppm (ok)

Alk = 7.06 dhK (low)

Cal = 440 ppm (high)

Magnesium = 1280 ppm (ok)

 

Last Test Results, 3/31/2012:

Salinity = 1.023 (low)

Temperature = 78.4 (ok)

pH = 7.96 (ok)

ORP = 392 (ok)

Ammonia = 0.0 ppm (ok)

Nitrite = 0.25 ppm (high)

Nitrate = 5.0 ppm (high)

Phosphate = 0.14 ppm (high)

Alk = 7.67 dhK (low)

Cal = 420 ppm (ok)

Magnesium = 1100 ppm (low)

 

*going to increase alk dosing from 2.2mL/day to 11mL/day.

*going to lower salinity tomorrow with water change.

[Ryan S]

That's not bad. What I would do is put a foxface or a yellow tang in there if you know that the tank has stabilized. Let them eat that all off the rock. You would only have to feed flake like once a week. Let em graze all day long.

 

The problem with fish is... I lost 18 fish to ich or velvet. 3 remain. 2 Blue Eyed Cardinals and 1 Lyretail Anthias. I am waiting for them to die (but they look healthy). Then was going to leave the tank fishless for 12 weeks to make sure the ich is gone (if it was ich). What do I do if they don't die? IE they are immune to the ich or velvet? They can still carry the ich up to a year, correct? So it would be stupid to add a yellow tang? Basically, no matter what, I need to remove these 3 guys and leave the tank fishless for 12 weeks before adding any new fish, or is there another option...?

[CaptainRon]

It looks like the standard algae cycle to me - park of the natural maturation process of the system. I wouldn't add much other than clean up crew at this point - at least that's what I did with my system when it looked similar and it all eventually just went away with normal tank husbandry. Let it ride!

 

 

[Jan]

Bring your mag up to 1350 and see if the algae starts to go away.

 

Test Results Today, 4/14/2012:

Salinity = 1.028 (high)*

Temperature = 78.2 (ok)

pH = 8.25 (ok)

ORP = 388 (ok)

Ammonia = 0.0 ppm (ok)

Nitrite = 0.0 ppm (ok)

Nitrate = 5.0 ppm (high)*

Phosphate = 0.02 ppm (ok)

Alk = 7.06 dhK (low)

Cal = 440 ppm (high)

Magnesium = 1280 ppm (ok)

 

Last Test Results, 3/31/2012:

Salinity = 1.023 (low)

Temperature = 78.4 (ok)

pH = 7.96 (ok)

ORP = 392 (ok)

Ammonia = 0.0 ppm (ok)

Nitrite = 0.25 ppm (high)

Nitrate = 5.0 ppm (high)

Phosphate = 0.14 ppm (high)

Alk = 7.67 dhK (low)

Cal = 420 ppm (ok)

Magnesium = 1100 ppm (low)

 

*going to increase alk dosing from 2.2mL/day to 11mL/day.

*going to lower salinity tomorrow with water change.

[zygote2k]

[comment removed] your tank is still cycling.

let it ride, do regular water changes and don't start dosing alk, cal, or mag.

after about a month, your parameters will even out to whatever they will be. Alk at 7dkh is fine as long as it's stable. Mg is fine at 1100-1400 as long as it's stable. Regular water changes will keep everything stable.

What you don't want to do is to wildly start dosing or adding fish and inverts to deal with the natural progression of things.

The magic cure for all of your woes is patience.

Edited April 17, 2012 by Coral Hind
removed comment

[Reefoholic]

<br />

The magic cure for all of your woes is patience.<br />

<br />

 

 

Ditto!!! I think you should leave it alone. Do regular water changes and everything will be fine. The nuisance algae will slowly but surely whither away in time. In the future, addition of tangs and other grazing fish will definitely help keeping some of the algae in control. Again, please refrain from adding anything to the tank at this point. Let the rocks cure, let nature do its thing.

[Ryan S]

Thanks everyone. Another random question.

 

I have some frags in the tank including florida ricordea, SPS frags and zoanthid frags. Some of them have hair algae on them or cyano. I try to brush off the cyano by waving my hand near them and it usually flies off. The hair algae is tougher, I try to grab it with my fingers, but don't get it all. Can hair algae kill frags - by blocking the light or something? Should I put the frags on the sand bed, or put them on frag racks, until the algae in the tank is gone - or should I leave them glued to the live rocks in the tank, and just do my best to keep them from being covered with cyano or hair algae?

[Chad]

^The short answer to "Can algae kill frags?" is yes, via light competition and sometimes chemical suppression. However, what you are doing is good... remove what you can around the frags to keep the effects lower. If the frags are glued down where you want them, then I wouldn't remove them. Perhaps find a toothbrush and brush around them to clear it out and pull out what you can to keep it short.

 

By the way, does your algae look more hairy or more feathery in appearance?

 

Also, if you are not opposed to crabs (they have pros and cons like everything else), mithrax crabs would be a good thing right now to add to help you out.

[Reefoholic]

A turkey baster is handy and efficient for blowing away cyano.

 

Is hair algae growing on coral skeleton? Or just around it? I would try to pick it by hand as much as possible. Also, carefully scrubbing it with a small toothbrush helps a lot too. To be honest, that's how I got rid of my hair algae. I used to scrub the algae of the rock and my filter would catch all small strings that I cannot get with my hand. You can trim it off by hand and scrub the roots. Again, if carefully done around the corals this could be your quick solution to defeating the enemy. Chad, you beat me to the brush idea buddy! Great minds think a like, lol!

Edited April 17, 2012 by Reefoholic

[Chad]

[Ryan S]

^The short answer to "Can algae kill frags?" is yes, via light competition and sometimes chemical suppression. However, what you are doing is good... remove what you can around the frags to keep the effects lower. If the frags are glued down where you want them, then I wouldn't remove them. Perhaps find a toothbrush and brush around them to clear it out and pull out what you can to keep it short.

 

By the way, does your algae look more hairy or more feathery in appearance?

 

Also, if you are not opposed to crabs (they have pros and cons like everything else), mithrax crabs would be a good thing right now to add to help you out.

 

Definitely hairy. I did a water change last night and removed a ton of it. Should I remove the frags, to scrub the plugs around the zoas, etc, in a dish with water on my table, or would that be overkill?

[trockafella]

Ryan thats a fine idea IMO. I usually get a little bowl or container with tank water, I scrub lightly and then swirl it around, repeat a few times as needed. Just be very delicate with the corals. You can scrud the disc in the tank if its glued down, again, just becareful.

[Reefoholic]

Ryan thats a fine idea IMO. I usually get a little bowl or container with tank water, I scrub lightly and then swirl it around, repeat a few times as needed. Just be very delicate with the corals. You can scrud the disc in the tank if its glued down, again, just becareful.

 

 

+1

[Novi]

Ryan, My Powder Blue & mimic tang hammer jacked any and all of my Hair Algae. What you see in this pick is now completely bare rock. I know you aren't getting any fish but I am just saying

 

 

[Chad]

Definitely hairy. I did a water change last night and removed a ton of it. Should I remove the frags, to scrub the plugs around the zoas, etc, in a dish with water on my table, or would that be overkill?

 

 

Ryan thats a fine idea IMO. I usually get a little bowl or container with tank water, I scrub lightly and then swirl it around, repeat a few times as needed. Just be very delicate with the corals. You can scrud the disc in the tank if its glued down, again, just becareful.

 

 

Agree.

 

Ryan, do you plan on having crabs (in the tank)

 

A few emrald crabs would be beneficial.