Trying to bring my tank back from the brink

[Anonymous]

I have a bushel basket of chaeto in my sump, and let me tell you, it isn't preventing anything....

 

[Mihai]

Sure, not preventing, reducing . I'm sure that if you pull it off it will be worse.
M.

 

[Anonymous]

I'll let you know, it's outta there. It's a humungous surface area for nitrifying bacteria, might is well have a wet/dry in there.

 

[Anonymous]

I'll let you know, it's outta there. It's a humungous surface area for nitrifying bacteria, might is well have a wet/dry in there.

That's a really good point and one I had not previously considered.

I still believe a remote batch of Chaeto will be a postitive though. It will consume a measureable amount of Nitrate and Phosphate but a handful isn't going to do much.

I definately agree with you that it's far from a cure for microalgae but I think it's one tool among many that can help.

 

[Anonymous]

Update, a bit of a setback...

Tested the water with some new fresh test kits (after a 10% water change). Nitrate was somewhat higher than I like it (about 4ppm) and phosphate was very ugly (.5+ ppm). Seems I still have work to do before I can declare the battle won and add coral again. If only I could keep the frigging skimmer working steadily it would sure help. :evil:

On the positive side, visually the hair algae is continuing to decline and the tank looks better than it has in a long time. In some spots some M. Digitata and M. Capricornus has survived the months of algae and inadequate light and is coloring up again.

Should be able to install my new circulation pump this coming weekend, getting more water movement in there should help.

 

[Anonymous]

thanks for the update and sounds like good progress.

Just a thought: with the nitrates low and phospattes high you migh want to harvest some of the macros. The idea is to get it growing faster and accumulating more of the phosphates.

 

[Anonymous]

The chaeto still has a lot of growing room in the sump. I suppose it is big enough I could harvest a little, maybe get some of the stuff off the edges of the mass where some detritus seems to be collecting.

4 ppm is low nitrate? I know it isn't off the chart or anything, I have read that as long as you are below 10 as a rule of thumb, but it used to be barely detectable when I was testing regularly back when the reef was thriving. Of course the system was younger then.

 

[Anonymous]

The chaeto still has a lot of growing room in the sump. I suppose it is big enough I could harvest a little, maybe get some of the stuff off the edges of the mass where some detritus seems to be collecting.

4 ppm is low nitrate? I know it isn't off the chart or anything, I have read that as long as you are below 10 as a rule of thumb, but it used to be barely detectable when I was testing regularly back when the reef was thriving. Of course the system was younger then.

I consider those nitrates low. But then I was wondering if your test kit measures total nitrates or nitrate nitrogen. If it is nitrate nitrogen then you must multiply by something like ~ 4 1/3 to convert to total nitrogen. So you could actually have ~ 20 ppm total nitrogen.

there have been reports of thriving reef tank with much higher levels of nitrates either way. My 55g seemed to take off when total nitrates finally dropped to under 5-10 or so.

You might try something almost unheard of on these boards. Actually look at the system. (and i know you are trying to recover this system). In this case if the chaeto is not growing rapidily and you are getting cyano then the system is telling you "i need the chaeto growing faster". regardless of what test kits are telling you. One club member here reports his chaeto doubles/triples each week. And nitrates are unmeasureable and cyano is gone. It is a 10g with a plastic shoe box as a refug. He removes 1/2-3/4 the chaeto each week.

I am not saying you should do exactly that because your refug could be a larger part of the system.

In my system I harvest some macros if I get some cyano. In a couple of days the cyano is gone. I also harvest macros for club members about once per month. I have found my nitrates remain 0-5ppm unless I have upset something or added new fish etc etc etc. then I get a bump up in nitrates (to ~10-20ppm) which goes back down in a couple of weeks.

Using those methods, the system is so stable (as opposed to constant), that I now only test once a month or so.

 

[Anonymous]

No cyano these days. The chaeto is growing noticeably buy not at the rate your clubmate reports.

I agree about testing being only one way of monitoring tank health. I wish I hadn't gotten lazy about it a couple years ago though, I might have seen the phosphate creeping up and been able to take action before the algae took off.

 

[Ben1]

If you started your tank with the micle mud as substrate you may have also had an iron problem. Correct me if I am wrong but doesnt that stuff have iron in it to provide some to the macros that are supposed to be grown in it? I didnt think it was supposed to be a whole tank bed just a refugium bed with heavy planting on macros.

 

[Anonymous]

Nah, the mud was just in the fuge. Its too expensive to use in the display even had I been inclined to do that.

 

[Anonymous]

Minime:

sound like your system is well on its way to a complete recovery. and almost no time will back to its former glory.

Bob

BTW IMO the entire ecosystems system is vastly over priced. But then I fell that way about live rock and live sand also.

 

[Oceans Ferevh]

I have a bushel basket of chaeto in my sump, and let me tell you, it isn't preventing anything....

I didn't think that it was doing anything either till a few months had passed. My hair alge is gone as is the slime algae. It needs to be harvested about once a week to be effective and should be under light 24/7. That is the key to algae scrubber success IMHO. Granet though things are always different for each individual.

 

[Anonymous]

Update time!

I had been getting discouraged again, but in the last month the hair algae has disappeared. Not a trace! Also the scummy algae that was competing with the chaeto in the sump is gone. Just green chaeto now, plus some caulerpa has magically re-appeared.

Phosphate is still reading higher than I would like. I think I will get some phosban going. If I can keep algae-free for a few weeks it will be time to go shopping for coral. 8)

 

[Anonymous]

Well, I've had persistant mild algae problems as long as my tank has been set up, despite harvesting a bucket of chaeto every month.

I'm not saying it doesn't help, but it certainly didn't fix my problems. I worked with it for a couple of years.

Lately I have added a 2nd skimmer, blow off the rocks every time I change water, added a micron bag, removed most of my substrate, and added 100 astreas and 100 ceriths. Its incredible how fast the micron bag gets dirty! Tank is looking better but still not perfect.

 

[Anonymous]

I'm 100% with Dan. Harvesting macroalgae definately helps but it's just one of many tools that need to be used in closed systems.

 

[Anonymous]

I tend to agree. Based on my tank's history, it seems the macros thriving or not is just one of many indicators of the tanks relative health, more so than a cause. I still think thriving macros are a good thing for various reasons (including nutrient export) and intend to keep a green 'fuge going.

 

[Anonymous]

BTW, forgot to mention I still have a bit of an aiptasia problem that must be addressed before I can get all nutty adding coral. It isn't of the obscene proportions of a few months ago, so the peppermint shrimp I added must be having an effect. In fact I have spied peppermints a couple times (shy they are) and they were huge.

 

[Anonymous]

Good deal Brian. Sounds like things are slow progressing for the good.

 

[Anonymous]

minime

congrates on your progress.

now if you can help me control my aptasia we both will have better tanks. :lol: