Tank Journal Archive

[Ziggy]

So the tank is now three months+ old and the corals (except the zoas) are growing like weeds. :) The hammers, the frogspawn, the Elegance coral, the clam, the Duncan, the mushrooms and the Gonis (except the dreaded death Goni from hell), the fungi, slipper coral and so on are all growing really well and very happy. Half my zoas simply don't grow, melt and disappear and I still have no idea why. I am the zoa grim reaper I think .

The fish (Foxface, blue tang, 2 x clowns, 4 PJ cardinals and the blue/green chromis are all very happy and healthy. One of the clowns (both cute little misbars) has grown more than the other so I suspect that's going to be my female. They're not hosting in anything yet though. Still little tackers still.

The two redline shrimps still consider themselves kings of their domain and continue to moult once every 3 weeks or so. They are both near on 3" long already! The three peppermint shrimps have found their permanent homes in the rocks and are doing well. The last of the red handed shrimps that I caught myself last summer are still growing like weed with the biggest one now about 2" long!

The two storm snails cruise the tank relentlessly cleaning up but I notice they leave this strange "poop" behind them which is a sort of gelatinous roll of sand about the same size as they are. The two big trochus snails continue to cruise the back wall and rocks eating algae and they do a sensational job actually. The back wall is now algae free. Interestingly, they NEVER cruise the side or front glass, only the back wall. The remaining snails are helping to battle the algae. The nassurius snails have started laying eggs again and this is the first time since I transferred them from the seahorse tank so they're obviously feeling settled again now.

Have been gently dosing with Randy's recipe and this week got the all, calcium and Mg to spot on levels so am happy with that.

NSW top ups are going great guns so I'll be sticking with that instead of ASW from here on in.

However, the dreaded algae war continues. It is is getting better but soooooooooooo slowly. The sandbed still grows a lawn within four days. This algae is defiantly a light feeder as it doesn't grow on the sand under the rocks where the shade is. However, there seems to be a different sort of algae growing on the rocks because that only grows in the shade. Additionally I still have a crop of GHA growing in the sump which I clear out once a week. Phosphates are reading as zero on the Hanna egg and nitrates are also reading zero o the Salifert tests. So this dam algae is still doing my head in but I am bouyed a little because I do think its nowhere near as bad as it was but just dam persistent.

I think my plan of campaign at this point is to add a lot more trochus, turbo etc snails to help shift the algae and add some more nassurius snails to eat the additional snail poop that will be generated. I have nowhere near enough snails. I had enough for the seahorse tank but that is 1/3 the size of this tank so I obviously need lots more. Buying additional snails was something that got missed in my planning it seems!

 

[Rob]

Its a shame someone close cannot give you some snails, I threw out maybe 20-30 last night.....

Maybe an illusion however it seems you only have a small layer of sand so I don't suppose you can increase the current around the sand bed. I know in my tank there is very little algae (touch wood) however if I get any it will be in the low flow area's, i.e. corner of the tank.

 

[Ziggy]

Yep, I deliberately had a shallow sand bed this time round so if I point the powerheads at the sand a bit more, I get bald spots. I do have a couple of dead spots though, one in particular in one corner and thats why I vacuum the sand every couple of days or so. I probably need to rearrange those powerheads though to overcome those dead spots a bit more. But definitely more snails are needed.

 

[KoNP]

The reason you're getting 0 on nitrate and phosphate is because that algae in your display is eating it up before it has a chance to linger in the water column. You've got a nutrient problem, basically. Either you're overfeeding, your top-up or change water is high in phosphate, or your skimmer/other support equipment is underperforming.

Nutrient issues in a 3 month young tank isn't at all surprising, it's still getting balanced. My tank is nearing 3 YEARS and I still get the occasional upset. Part of the cycle is the algae period, which you appear to be somewhat stuck in.

You can approach this a few different ways. You've got tufty green algae. There's plenty of things that will eat that. Consider dosing an organic carbon source - vodka is a good, cheap and easy option. Randy Holmes-Farley wrote an excellent article on how to get started dosing vodka. Grab a bacterial supplement like MicrobeLift's Special Blend. It's an actual bottled bacteria, not a pretend one - the stuff is kinda thick, slimy, sludgy and smells like a sewer, exactly as you'd expect from active bacterial colonies. The good news is it's cheap as hell. Grab some and follow the instructions.

If you use ASW, consider finding someone local to you who can deliver you actual sea water, as some commercial mixes can be problematic. I switched from ASW to NSW and haven't looked back. Also, if you don't have an RO/DI unit to purify your topup water, absolutely buy one. If you need one cheap I just upgraded to a bigger version of mine, so I could sell you the old one if you wanted. Works fine, I just wanted a bigger one.

Look at getting some high-grade activated carbon, or even something like Chemi-pure Elite. Also, you could try outcompeting the algae by building a turf scrubber or putting a fast-growing macroalgae in your sump.

 

[Ziggy]

Thanks KoNP for your suggestions.

I fully realise that the zero test results are likely to read zero because the algae are consuming the nitrates and phosphates thus rendering the results as zero.

I'm using NSW for water changes. I started using this instead of ASW about six weeks ago. Didn't seem to make any difference, at least none that I can see as yet. All top ups are done with water from my RODI unit and the TDS results from that show 0. I've also tested the phosphate levels from the NSW and that comes back as zero. I concur with a friend who suggests the phosphate is being leached from my LR which came from my seahorse tank. Phosguard however has done a sensational job of bringing the phosphates back down.

I do have a tonne of macro algae (cheato and Caulerpa) growing in the sump so of course that too will be eating up lots of the nitrate and phosphates as well but thats good nutrient export and as you say competes with the algae for nutrients.

Thanks for the other ideas, I shall explore those :)

 

[slin1977]

Great aquascape Over the years this will fill out to become a masterpiece.
Love what you did with the hammers.

 

[Lesley]

Love the WHITE Flower pot coral, ..........he looks lovely and white ........Grrrrrrrrrrrr hahaha

 

[KoNP]

Ah well, you sound like you're on top of the situation then as far as equipment goes. Just see if you can find some critters that eat that kind of algae and wait it out. Manually remove what you can, of course, but otherwise yeah.

 

[DeWalt]

Ziggy - your tank looks pretty healthy to me for such a young tank. As long as your husbandry is decent, the tank will find its own balance in time. The phosguard will starve out the phosphates over time.