Algae help needed

[Llorgon]

Originally Posted by Razor Ramon

The system I have is new and a lot is going on . The corals are Zoas from another tank and already had algae on them so the Dino’s would attach to it . The crabs and snails eat the algae after the Dino’s are blown off .
The nitrate and phos pads are keeping the levels in check for algae blooms .
The bacteria,low blue light,dosing peroxide and filtering seems to be the answer to the Dino’s .
It is defiantly a balancing act between bacteria , algae’s , Dino’s .
I think it just takes time and the effort to work it out .

Interesting. The blue lights didn't do much for me in the fight against dinos. I never tried peroxide. I am kind of scared to try it.


I have been having good results so far with elevating nitrate and phosphate. The dinos are almost completely gone off the rocks, rocks are getting a nice coating of green on them with some hair algae here and there. There is still a light brown coating every day, but not long and stringy stuff like it was.


The sand is a bit more tricky it seems. Dinos are still growing on it, but not as quickly or as bad. I can see some white sand now. No other algae seems to be taking hold on the sand as of yet.


My nitrate and phosphate are high, but my chaeto seems to be shrinking. Any ideas on getting it growing? I would have assumed it would be growing pretty well with all the extra nutrients. I have a LED grow light above the refugium that comes on opposite of the display tank lights.

[Frogger]

Chaeto can be temperamental at the best of times, that is why I use an ATS, never could get the chaeto to take off.

Sounds like you are winning the battle, competition is the key once you have a good balance in your tank the dinos will slowly recede. Dinos are usually around in most tanks but it is only under certain circumstances that they seem to grow out of control.

Slow and steady wins the race. Every day you are becoming a better reef tank aquarist. Good work in hanging in there.

[Razor Ramon]

Just keep at it as long as it’s going in a positive way . If not try something else .
3%Peroxide I dosed 2x recomeded dose because I have a lot of experience using it with my Zoas.
Safe dose is 5ml for 30 gallons of water . I did 10ml /30 gallons for 2 days then skipped a day then another 2 days for over a week . Added a lot of the bacteria in a bottle , two different types .
I’m keeping my nitrate and phosphate as low as I can . The clean up crew are eating the green stuff . Lot of turkey baster and filter floss to catch the particles.
Dino are about 95% done in green algae 80% consumed . I’m almost there Zoas are on the way to recovery .
I saw a huge move the right direction in my case when dosing the bacteria they consume the same food source as the Dino and the algae’s .
I also am using a rio hang on protein skimmer it dose skim a little I guess lol
Very wet skim like week tea .
I did put chetta from my main tanks sump in the aquarium under the light in one corner of the tank and added podes from my sons culture for his clowns.
I feel like you have to starve this bad stuff out , it’s a balance between a food source , bacteria , algea ,dinos. Remove the food have something to eat the sources. I’m not a expert and I’m learning as I go .
Like I said before so many good reefers here and they do help and have been trough it .

[gregzz4]

Don't worry right now about peroxide dosing or the fact that your chaeto is dying off.
Just keep your methods going forward.
Too many things at 1 time ...
Chaeto doesn't always live.
Stick with what you are doing for the next month.
Then make changes.
I've told you many times, slow and steady and nothing good happens fast in a reef tank :-)

[gregzz4]

Originally Posted by Razor Ramon

Just keep at it as long as it’s going in a positive way . If not try something else .

First off, that's the worst advice I've ever read. Try it 1 way but if it doesn't work, then go the other way ..

Secondly, you should keep your advice about peroxide away from people with new tanks.
Your advice is going to nuke new tanks

Watch what advice you give here as people trust this site and many of us here have years of knowledge.
We don't need you ruining the site reputation.

[ReefMadness]

Originally Posted by gregzz4

First off, that's the worst advice I've ever read. Try it 1 way but if it doesn't work, then go the other way ..

Secondly, you should keep your advice about peroxide away from people with new tanks.
Your advice is going to nuke new tanks

Watch what advice you give here as people trust this site and many of us here have years of knowledge.
We don't need you ruining the site reputation.

not to pile on but I agree, especially in the case of Dinos where even being on the right path requires more than giving the system a few days to resolve things before changing tactics.
in a hobby that rewards consistency of practices and patience the worst advice I can think of is to encourage irritability.

[Razor Ramon]

Look slow and steady your guys are right . I meant if you miss understood.
If things are improving keep on that path . Other wise you’ll have to try something else but I should have added the good things don’t happen over night it takes time .you guys give good advice ! I dealing with the Dino break out too on a new system . There is many ways to get to the end goal of a stable system
And that’s where we would like to get to and it dos t happen over night .iv been battling this for over a month on this new system . Sorry if I ****ed you off this morning . This isn’t advice it’s just my journey to beat the Dino’s

[Llorgon]

Originally Posted by Frogger

Chaeto can be temperamental at the best of times, that is why I use an ATS, never could get the chaeto to take off.

Sounds like you are winning the battle, competition is the key once you have a good balance in your tank the dinos will slowly recede. Dinos are usually around in most tanks but it is only under certain circumstances that they seem to grow out of control.

Slow and steady wins the race. Every day you are becoming a better reef tank aquarist. Good work in hanging in there.

The dinos are definitely getting out competed on the rocks, sand not so much. Thanks for the words of encouragement! I hope one day to have a tank with colourful corals and not brown algae.

Originally Posted by Razor Ramon

Just keep at it as long as it’s going in a positive way . If not try something else .
3%Peroxide I dosed 2x recomeded dose because I have a lot of experience using it with my Zoas.
Safe dose is 5ml for 30 gallons of water . I did 10ml /30 gallons for 2 days then skipped a day then another 2 days for over a week . Added a lot of the bacteria in a bottle , two different types .
I’m keeping my nitrate and phosphate as low as I can . The clean up crew are eating the green stuff . Lot of turkey baster and filter floss to catch the particles.
Dino are about 95% done in green algae 80% consumed . I’m almost there Zoas are on the way to recovery .
I saw a huge move the right direction in my case when dosing the bacteria they consume the same food source as the Dino and the algae’s .
I also am using a rio hang on protein skimmer it dose skim a little I guess lol
Very wet skim like week tea .
I did put chetta from my main tanks sump in the aquarium under the light in one corner of the tank and added podes from my sons culture for his clowns.
I feel like you have to starve this bad stuff out , it’s a balance between a food source , bacteria , algea ,dinos. Remove the food have something to eat the sources. I’m not a expert and I’m learning as I go .
Like I said before so many good reefers here and they do help and have been trough it .

I have read lots of people have had success with adding certain pods and bacteria to the tank. What kind of bacteria and pods were you adding? I will hold off on the peroxide as a last resort.

Originally Posted by gregzz4

Don't worry right now about peroxide dosing or the fact that your chaeto is dying off.
Just keep your methods going forward.
Too many things at 1 time ...
Chaeto doesn't always live.
Stick with what you are doing for the next month.
Then make changes.
I've told you many times, slow and steady and nothing good happens fast in a reef tank :-)

The chaeto has been in the tank for a few months now. Just been slowly shrinking. I thought it would have started to really grow when I raised the nitrates and phosphates. I am trying to go slow, just looking to see what other steps I can take in the future if things aren't improving.


I have been taking pictures daily and while the rocks are doing pretty good for dinos the sand seems to be holding steady the last few days. Nitrates are still at around 15 ppm and phosphates is 0.5ppm.



I am still making my way through the giant reef2reef thread on dinos. One thing that seems to really help a lot of people once nitrates and phosphates are raised is adding more biodiversity to the tank. What is the best way of doing that? I see most people just add a bit of live rock to the tank, but that comes with it's own risks I think.

[WarDog]

Originally Posted by gregzz4

We don't need you ruining the site reputation.

This site has a reputation? Hmm.