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Algae Bloom question

N

NJTaxMan

Morning everyone. Just looking to re-affirm my thoughts. Two days ago I added a little more food than my aquarium is used to and i got the wonderful cloudy water bloom. Tank parameters are pretty consistent to what I always have with the 'food source' parameters with nitrates undetectable with using the API test kits and my phosphates have 'spiked' to between 0.5 and 1 PPM. I did a 15% water change this morning and am preparing another one..just in case. Normally, I would not think twice about this but I did have one of my montipora digi bleach. Now I cannot tell if it was just slightly too close to a torch or if this is related to the bloom.

To my question...anyone think that this is more than a 'wait it out' situation. If it was not for the Monti bleaching I probably wouldn't give this a second though..but i do have a few nice torches in there and some higher end sps. Would hate to endure a preventable tank crash.

Thanks
 
N

NJTaxMan

I lost two more Monits. Really bummed as one was a grafted red/Green WWC capricornis. So definitely not a wait it out situation. Glad i had the additional water change ready. Hoping i didnt wait too long.
 
DangerDave

DangerDave

NJRC Member
I dunno, over feeding once usually doesn’t crash a tank. What are the rest of your parameters? Have you had any swings in any of them?
 
N

NJTaxMan

8.5 Alk, 1.024 Salinity, 8.1 PH, 0 Nitrates, 480 Ca, and as mentioned before 1.0 PO4. I have been cloudy'ish for a while so probably has been a level of over feeding for a while..but outside of the phosphates..everything has been REASONABLY consistent. When I say reasonably..my alk has swung from between 8 and 9.5. Could be the time of day measurement..but that has been the only parameter that has not stayed dead on.
 
DangerDave

DangerDave

NJRC Member
well that’s a lot of phosphates for me. I don’t think that’s a enough of an alk swing to cause issues most of the time. You have a Nano right? I’ve never run one before, but everything happens faster in a Nano....
 
N

NJTaxMan

Yup. She's a Red Sea Reefer Nano. 21 gallons with roughly a 7 gallon sump. Definitely going to do something to get those phoshates down. Had some cloudiness for a while but my last over feeding really gave me a nice bloom. Its a shame. My Cheato in the sump really hasnt taken off. It manages the nitrates wonderfully but just not getting those phosphates dealt with. Might have to look at chemical.
 
N

NJTaxMan

Still waiting on my Potassium Nitrade to show up..but wanted to ask a secondary question and get some advice..if anyone doesnt mind. I put in the seachem PhosGuard and got the phosphates to undetectable. This in conjunction with undetectable nitrates (via the API master test kit), I would have expect that my cloudiness would have cleared up or at least noticeably started to clear..but it hasnt. Outside of a pretty active pistol shrimp, i am just flat out of ideas on how to clarify the water. How long does these blooms take to clear up once you have removed the food sources? I know we are only talking 5 ish days since the cloudiness took over..but I am generally concerned that something else is going on because I have not really noticed a perceivable difference. All of my fish and corals seem to be happy again..but the water just looks terrible.

Thoughts?
 
D

Deleted member 27248

Guest
Are you running activated carbon? Do you run a filter sock or micro filter?
 
N

NJTaxMan

I ran active carbon last week and that is when this entire bloom started...so curious if there is any connection.

My mechanical filtration:

  • 200 micron filter sock (cleaned regularly)
  • Poly filter floss (changed regularly)
  • Microbubble sponge filter
  • Tunze nano skimmer (emptied regularly)
Chemical filtration
  • SeaChem Phosguard
  • Cheato (really hasnt taken off in the two months since I have had it)
 
D

Deleted member 27248

Guest
Njtaxman said:
I ran active carbon last week and that is when this entire bloom started...so curious if there is any connection.

My mechanical filtration:

  • 200 micron filter sock (cleaned regularly)
  • Poly filter floss (changed regularly)
  • Microbubble sponge filter
  • Tunze nano skimmer (emptied regularly)
Chemical filtration
  • SeaChem Phosguard
  • Cheato (really hasnt taken off in the two months since I have had it)
Click to expand...
Hmmm...Do you have any pictures? Could it be calicium precipitation?
 
N

NJTaxMan

My calcium and Alk are slightly high..but that is just because I did a 50% water change (over the course of a few days). I use instant ocean reef crystals. I thought about precipitation too but I am still getting some powdery brown on my glass..which to me tells me there is still some sort of food source. I just retested again...undetectable nitrate and phosphate.
 

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D

Deleted member 27248

Guest
From my experience having 0 nitrate and 0 phosphate Causes more problems. It could be diatoms or it could be dinos. There is a bunch of good videos by bulk reef supply talking about just that.
 
N

NJTaxMan

I am slapping my head silly for the dinos and diatoms. I dont know if i am suffering from dementia or stupidity..but i definitely should know better. trying to slowing bring some nutrients back in the system, put in same bacter7 to replenish my good bacteria. thanks for being awesome @MaximusReef.
 
N

NJTaxMan

UV sterilizer installed. Corallife 6x Turbo Twist. Went from a thick fog to best clarity ever over a period of 36 hours. Still probably have to get my water chemistry a bit more stabilized but crisis appears averted.
 
M

mickeysreef <*))))<

NJRC Member
bad experience with that brand. read the instructions and install correctly. mine lasted me exactly 89 days installed incorrectly.- fixture busted and was putting electricity in the tank. got lucky and was refunded by chewy.
 
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