Tank is slipping into algae hell - help

[Myka]

Originally Posted by Roskoreef

K-balance
strontium
coral booster <----
zeostart3
pols xtra <----
macroelements <---- not sure about this one
sponge power
flouride/iodine complex <----
coral vitalizer <----
zeospur once a month
b-balance at daily doseage per week instead <----

lately have been trying zeo's cyano mixes (bio mate and zeozym, also coral snow with zeobac) because i ran out of cyanoclean.


all at recommended dosage, which ones are particularly algae fueling?

I pointed arrows are them above.

FWIW, I've had better luck using Prodibio BioClean for algae issues than any zeovit additives, but if you're wanting to stay committed then maybe Warren has some ideas for you. I agree that you're breaking the Zeo "rules", which is working against you rather than for you.

[Roskoreef]

ok update, what i did in the last few days,

first thing, put on socks....later in the day put on filter socks,

-took all the branch out that was holding up the eggcrate, stuff collecting around it..put some magnets from frag racks underneath the corners, works ok..

-turned up flow on gyre 130 in frag tank to 100%

-manually removed as much algae as possible, blew off any cyano, and left bubble algae alone in both tanks

-30hr blackout in frag tank

-then reduced light in frag tank to 6hrs T5 - 7 Bulb

- feeding way less, target feeding corals without flow...have been feeding less cyclopeeze and am considering not feeding it a all. Im pretty sure all the deitrus in both tanks is moestly cyclop...

-halved feeding amout in main tank

-after feeding i have been doing daily 10 gallon water changes and vacuuming up anything.

-halved additive dosing for this week, will stop most completly for a bit... it doesnt feel right to cut off most of what i was dosing for the last while, Ithing the corals would probably be better tapering off everything.

results -

Brown slimy stuff in frag tank pretty much gone, i think the eggcrate is "new" maybe could be the reason of the brown stuff.

cyano has come back a little bit here and there, i just keep blasting it whenever i have time, seems to be under control-ish.

bubble algae remains the same..all over in small batches, not really growing but it would take another 5- 10 crabs to get it done i think.


As for possibly considering dropping UV, i dont have a sand bed at all anymore, what else would be anti-zeo?

[WarDog]

At this point I would recommend you solicit some advice from G. Alexander on the Zeovit forum. Your case is very specific and I wouldn't want to give you the wrong advice.

You should not be running uv, gfo, or any aggressive carbon like ROX. Until you reach ULNS, you should only be using Start, Bak, sponge power and the stones. Nothing else.

Zeovit is a very finicky system, where changes should be made over weeks or months, not days. Plus, the use of dry rock is going to slow the process of reaching ULNS considerably.

[Myka]

Originally Posted by Roskoreef

As for possibly considering dropping UV, i dont have a sand bed at all anymore, what else would be anti-zeo?

This:

Originally Posted by WarDog

You should not be running uv, gfo, or any aggressive carbon like ROX. Until you reach ULNS, you should only be using Start, Bak, sponge power and the stones. Nothing else.

Also, if that was my tank, I wouldn't be adding any Cyclopeeze or any other type of water column feeding. I'd feed the fish, and dose the basic Zeo additives that Warren mentioned, and maybe K-Balance because the Zeolites are going to pull the K out. The point of all the algae-fueling additives is to feed the corals after the system has become an ULNS. Using those additives beforehand is working against you.

[kien]

I skimmed through this but didn't read what light spectrum you were running. I'm sure it's in your build thread somewhere but I'm too lazy to go check so maybe you can remind us? I saw you were running Radeons and T5s for 8 hours?? What bulbs are in the T5s that you're running and what spectrum out of the Radeons (sorry I don't know much a bout the LEDs).

[hfp75]

Why use egg crate on a bare bottom 2" up?

[Roskoreef]

Originally Posted by hfp75

Why use egg crate on a bare bottom 2" up?

to organize my frags so they dont bother each other, why not? am i missing something???

[Roskoreef]

Originally Posted by kien

I skimmed through this but didn't read what light spectrum you were running. I'm sure it's in your build thread somewhere but I'm too lazy to go check so maybe you can remind us? I saw you were running Radeons and T5s for 8 hours?? What bulbs are in the T5s that you're running and what spectrum out of the Radeons (sorry I don't know much a bout the LEDs).

T5 were running for 8hrs - korallen bulbs fiji purple and superblues

leds for 10hrs with 1hr ramp up to full blue for 1 hr, then 8hrs at 30% full everything exept red and green channels.

[Myka]

Originally Posted by Roskoreef

T5 were running for 8hrs - korallen bulbs fiji purple and superblues

Do you have something you could swap out the Fiji Purple with for now? Purple/Pink bulbs are excellent algae growers for tanks with this weakness.

Originally Posted by Roskoreef

removed uv, am going to stop dosing all but zeobac, zeostart and sponge power, and maybe coral snow in a month if anyting looks hungry...ordered an avast marine zeovibe reactor, planning on dosing directly into reactor from doser(zeobac and start). Also got a magnificent foxface to hopefully help with algae... tank already looks "dirty" without uv, this normal for a bit?

Sounds like a good plan! Fwiw, Coral Snow is not a food - using it now is fine. The pics of your Foxface that shows corals in the background - they do not look hungry in any shape, way, or form. Imo, you have a long way to go before the corals will be hungry looking.