Frustrated--look At Pics
- Thread starter gary1328
- Start date
who dey
Active Member
ok, i battled this cyano/diatoms/annoying stuff for about a year and finally figured it out. This growth is caused by phosphates. You may be testing zero but you really are not. I have not been a very big fan of additives but i am going to recommend this. Start by doing 20 %water changes WEEKLY siphoning out as much sludge as you can each time you change.feed every other day. Kick your lights back to 7hrs on until symptoms get better. If your using a wet/dry style you need to run phosphate pads. Along with the a special phosphate pad from Tropical Science with a slime algae additive which should be dosed about 3 times. dose once and wait 48 hrs and i promise it will go away. It will come back after about 5 days so at the 1st sign of that, you need to dose again. It will take about 3 doses probably and by that time all this work with water changes etc... will finally begin to show some stability in your tank . Also alot of the phos sponges out there are junk. You need phosban. it comes with a media bag and should be placed in your sump infront of the intake on your return pump so water can be pulled through the media to absorb the phos. I run phosban all the time changing it out every month. With all of this work I was able to rid my tank of what you have as well as a massive outbreak in hair algae in about a month.
bonebrake
Active Member
Originally Posted by gary1328
How about decaying or dead snails?----Could this really foul up the conditions that bad????
It would have to be a lot of dead snails; somewhere in the range of 10 or more dead snails decaying and not being eaten by anything else which is highly unlikely.
Do you own a TDS meter and have you checked the nitrates and phosphates of your RO/DI water? Are you sure you do not overfeed?
Replacing pumps, installing a in-line UV system, leaving your lights on for less hours, etc. is not going to solve this.
How about decaying or dead snails?----Could this really foul up the conditions that bad????
It would have to be a lot of dead snails; somewhere in the range of 10 or more dead snails decaying and not being eaten by anything else which is highly unlikely.
Do you own a TDS meter and have you checked the nitrates and phosphates of your RO/DI water? Are you sure you do not overfeed?
Replacing pumps, installing a in-line UV system, leaving your lights on for less hours, etc. is not going to solve this.
who dey
Active Member
Originally Posted by Bonebrake
I also agree with the increase in volume and/or frequency of water changes, but you first need to verify the quality of your RO/DI water and freshly mixed saltwater.
You should be doing 10-15% every week or 25-30% twice a month.
your ro/di should test no more than zero for po4when coming out of your machine. If it doesn't your water changes will be a waste of time and change out the parts.
I also agree with the increase in volume and/or frequency of water changes, but you first need to verify the quality of your RO/DI water and freshly mixed saltwater.
You should be doing 10-15% every week or 25-30% twice a month.
your ro/di should test no more than zero for po4when coming out of your machine. If it doesn't your water changes will be a waste of time and change out the parts.
F
fishwilly1
Guest
FLOW!!!!
FLOW!!!!
FLOW!!!!
JUST GET SOME FLOW THRU THERE AND LET NATURE TAKEN IT'S COURSE, ALSO YOU MAY TRY AN ARMY OF EMERALD CRABS TO HELP ON THE SAND AND ROCK, THEY ARE QUITE VEROCIOUS AT THIS TYPE OF AN OUTBREAK, ALSO TAKE OUT THE CARBON FROM YOUR SUMP/FUG WITH THE LIVE ROCK AND YOUR ADDITIVES THE LAST THING YOU NEED WITH AN OUTBREAK LIKE YOU GOT AND ANY NITRATES SHOWING UP IS 2 CARBON PACKS CYCLING THRU. HOPE YOU HAVE BETTER LUCK.
who dey
Active Member
FISHWILLY1 said:FLOW!!!!FLOW!!!!FLOW!!!!JUST GET SOME FLOW THRU THERE AND LET NATURE TAKEN IT'S COURSE, ALSO YOU MAY TRY AN ARMY OF EMERALD CRABS TO HELP ON THE SAND AND ROCK, THEY ARE QUITE VEROCIOUS AT THIS TYPE OF AN OUTBREAK, ALSO TAKE OUT THE CARBON FROM YOUR SUMP/FUG WITH THE LIVE ROCK AND YOUR ADDITIVES THE LAST THING YOU NEED WITH AN OUTBREAK LIKE YOU GOT AND ANY NITRATES SHOWING UP IS 2 CARBON PACKS CYCLING THRU. HOPE YOU HAVE BETTER LUCK.[/QUO
inc. flow will help but i think the problem is beyond flow and is being fueled by poor water quality. I had more flow than a jacuzzi in my tank when my problem started and i figured i needed water qlty adjustments.
