[Desmo Pete]

Hi All,

I made the decision to swop over to D/I water as I am now adding live rock and some soft corals. I have not done a water change using the new water yet but have been topping up with it for nearly a week now.

I have also changed my lighting from a simple twin tube Hagen Glo T5 to 4x T5 tubes (2x actinic & 2 14k).

Since these changes I have noticed a film build up on the water surface. This does not go it just gets broken up by the 2 Koralias and the return output pipe. There has also been a bloom in Diatom algae on the sand. This is unlike the other Diatom algae as its more red than the dark brown from before.

The new water I am using has a TDS of <0.05ppm and has been run through an industrial de-ioniser, UV & Nuclear Grade Water Polishers.

Here are my most recent readings:-

Temp 26-27c
SG - 1.024
PH - 8.1
Nitrate - 25ppm
Nitrite - 0ppm
Phosphate <0.03
Magnesium - 1140ppm
Calcium - 390
Ammonia - 0
KH - 8.1dKH

I am aware that I need to buffer the calcium a little to bring it over 400ppm.

Here are a couple of pics of the problems....:-





Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Pete

[lindsay]

What is the skimmer?.

[Desmo Pete]

lindsay, on Apr 22 2010, 04:29 PM, said:

What is the skimmer?.

Hi Linsay,

Its a V2 600

Pete

now you're gonna tell me that's my problem!

[lindsay]

What pump is on it?.

[Desmo Pete]

lindsay, on Apr 22 2010, 04:34 PM, said:

What pump is on it?.

Standard one that came with it.... Rio 2100+ i think

[lindsay]

Up grade the pump to an Aqua bee 2000,you will be surprised at the difference,the Rio pumps are pants under pressure.

[Desmo Pete]

lindsay, on Apr 22 2010, 04:44 PM, said:

Up grade the pump to an Aqua bee 2000,you will be surprised at the difference,the Rio pumps are pants under pressure.

Will have a look at that. Theres one on eBay.

cheers

Pete

[lindsay]

Desmo Pete, on Apr 22 2010, 04:55 PM, said:

Will have a look at that. Theres one on eBay.

cheers

Pete

Worth doing,with all the V2 skimmers,first job i do is change the pump lol.

[Dave.I]

Do you have any surface skimming/overflow? What salt are you using? H2ocean?

[Desmo Pete]

Dave.I, on Apr 22 2010, 05:37 PM, said:

Do you have any surface skimming/overflow? What salt are you using? H2ocean?

Hi Dave,

Surface skimming is by a comb on the top of the wier/weir??

The salt I use is Tropic Marin Sea Salt.

Pete

[Marcus Watts]

Hi all,
probably a fair bit of organic nutrient in the sand from feeding the fish (fish only without the diversity of life on a reef/living rock setup means you have a lot fewer micro species eating the crud) , the new lights will have created better conditions for algae to grow and the excess nutrients are fueling it. As Jas said maximising the performance of your skimmer will reduce the organic waste. More flow will help as the rock will now be creating dead areas and sand disturbing creatures have made my sand squeeky clean - watchman goby is my No 1, conches do a fantastic job, sand sifter starfish not so good imo, they seem to bury too deep to move the surfce layers.

My watchman is about 3" long and has fully cleaned a 5ft tank- big sand too - 3-8mm - more like coral gravel - one tasty place he has cleaned down to the glass.

I found the dusty surface water on my old tank that had a comb would not go through it due to surface/comb resistance. I ended up trimming down part of the comb so the top millimeter or so of water could pass over rather than through. this worked quite well and it was perfected by playing with two powerheads pointing at the surface and lots of tweaking to get a flow that pointed at the gap in the wier comb. then just a sock or floss to catch it

marcus

[Desmo Pete]

Marcus Watts, on Apr 22 2010, 07:29 PM, said:

Hi all,
probably a fair bit of organic nutrient in the sand from feeding the fish (fish only without the diversity of life on a reef/living rock setup means you have a lot fewer micro species eating the crud) , the new lights will have created better conditions for algae to grow and the excess nutrients are fueling it. As Jas said maximising the performance of your skimmer will reduce the organic waste. More flow will help as the rock will now be creating dead areas and sand disturbing creatures have made my sand squeeky clean - watchman goby is my No 1, conches do a fantastic job, sand sifter starfish not so good imo, they seem to bury too deep to move the surfce layers.

My watchman is about 3" long and has fully cleaned a 5ft tank- big sand too - 3-8mm - more like coral gravel - one tasty place he has cleaned down to the glass.

I found the dusty surface water on my old tank that had a comb would not go through it due to surface/comb resistance. I ended up trimming down part of the comb so the top millimeter or so of water could pass over rather than through. this worked quite well and it was perfected by playing with two powerheads pointing at the surface and lots of tweaking to get a flow that pointed at the gap in the wier comb. then just a sock or floss to catch it

marcus

Thanks Marcus. I believe you are not far from me. I live over at Fraddon.

I have moved my Koralias direction of flow to the surface and the scum has virtually disappeared!

As far as the diatom goes, you recommend a Watchman Goby? Sounds good to me. I also need to increase my CUC as I only have about 5 Hermits and a cleaner shrimp.

[Desmo Pete]

Desmo Pete, on Apr 22 2010, 07:42 PM, said:

Thanks Marcus. I believe you are not far from me. I live over at Fraddon.

I have moved my Koralias direction of flow to the surface and the scum has virtually disappeared!

As far as the diatom goes, you recommend a Watchman Goby? Sounds good to me. I also need to increase my CUC as I only have about 5 Hermits and a cleaner shrimp.

ok so the surface thing is sorted. Now the algae on the sand has bubbles in it which are lifting it off in places and some has even gone to the surface.

Is this a good sign? Someone said it's Cyanobacteria but a google search on it says that is blue/green algae which is not the colour of mine.

Anyone?

[karnivor]

Trust me, its Cyanobacteria, which is blue/green in freshwater but deep red in marine water.

[Desmo Pete]

karnivor, on May 2 2010, 11:51 PM, said:

Trust me, its Cyanobacteria, which is blue/green in freshwater but deep red in marine water.

Tony, how do I eradicate it?? Is it a case of just waitingfor it to take it's course?

Pete

[Marcus Watts]

Desmo Pete, on May 5 2010, 10:29 PM, said:

Tony, how do I eradicate it?? Is it a case of just waitingfor it to take it's course?

Pete

patience now pete - the phosphates from the tap water need to be used up, new rowaphos in the skimmer chamber, small amounts & change every 10-14days, get the salt levels back on track, keep tweaking the flow from the powerhead until it moves along the front of the tank and it will clear - It wouldn't hurt to just feed flake and pellets instead of frozen for a week or two, all these will improve the tank conditions and the cyano will begin to go. Conches and sand sifter too, keep the sand turning over. Also do regular tests for phos and nitrate (every 1-2 days), this will indicate what is happening in the tank with the filter, biopellets etc

[chriss]

Anti biotic treaments are available, but they should be a last resort. Doing whatever you can to remove nutrients already in the system and cut down on what's added will hopefully see it burn itself out in time.

Bi-weekly water changes, keep your skimmer running efficiently, ensure you have good flow and not allowing detritus to settle/get trapped in the tank instead of going to the skimmer, good ro. Generally, anything you can do to physically clean up your system will help.

I'm going thru the same thing, so you're not alone! It's ugly stuff, but i know in my case it has been caused by not getting my tank water to the skimmer quick enough hence all my current replumbing.

Chris

[tommo]

Quote

deep red in marine water.

or brown, or green, or yellow, or black, or purple.......

theres hundreds of them

correct diagnosis tho

Make sure your water management is spot on with regard to ph, calcium, alk, magnesium, remove manually as much detritus as is practically possible (lots of syphoning) perhaps increase turbulence (not necessarily flow- this just means make sure water flow patterns are as random or oscillating as possible), having said that flow will help too, then wait..... and perhaps wait..... and perhaps do even more waiting. It can be a pain sometimes!

Typically, healthy corals that polyp regularly and well will be totally unaffected by cyano. If the water is acceptable for some of them, begin to add them. They are direct competition for nutrients, light and the more new live rock you get in there attatched to them. the more diversity of algae you will have, some of which will outcompete the cyano and beat it at its own game. Its pointless hanging around once your water is right!

HTH



Tom

[lindsay]

Any cyano around the bases of sps should be removed because it will often cause die back and sometimes start bacterial infections of the corals tissue.

[tommo]

Ive only ever noticed this happen with SPS which have already grown weak at the base due to shading. Its probably a very wise precaution however, as cyano is often very toxic, and isnt that difficult a thing to do! a bacterial infection started could also mean healthy tissue afflicted so this is logical!

One of the hardier group of corals (ie ones you could possibly add) i've found to be exceptional in competing with cyano for space is the various star polyps, Pachyclavularia, Briaerium etc etc

Tom