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04/12/2020, 04:40 PM | #1 |
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Brown Algae Forming in Sand (again)
Long story: this has been an issue for me for about 12 months. I usually pull out what I can at water changes things look good but always seems to return. Earlier this month I replaced my entire sand bed with fresh sand. I'm showing zero nitrates and around .05-.03 phosphates. Tank only has 6 small fish and a few coral frags (Duncan, frogspawn, gsp).
I've been doing weekly water changes and dosing red sea nopox. This seems to slow algae but doesn't eliminate it completely. I have 2 powerheads, an 850 gph koralia and a 1500 gph koralia. The 850 is inline with the return and the 1500 going against it. I'm a little lost with what to do next. Do I need better powerheads and flow? Is there not enough space around rocks at the bottom to allow flow through? Do I need more clean up crew buddies? I have several snails in the sand but no algae eating cuc as far as I know. I also have a few hermit crabs. I tried an urchin but he hid and never came out. Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk
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Tunze 9410 Skimmer, Syncra Silent 4.0, Herbie method (Bottom Drilled), 30 gallon sump. Anyone know about assessor fish? Seems cool but I haven't seen much about them on the forum Current Tank Info: 80 gallon simple set up with sump filtration |
04/12/2020, 08:41 PM | #2 |
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take a picture with blue lights off and white lights on
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04/14/2020, 03:57 PM | #3 |
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See below. Hopefully better pics. I feel like if I had 2 more powerheads it's wouldn't happen but I don't have enough experience to know that. I also don't want to blast my tank as it's planned to be an lps tank primarily.
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Tunze 9410 Skimmer, Syncra Silent 4.0, Herbie method (Bottom Drilled), 30 gallon sump. Anyone know about assessor fish? Seems cool but I haven't seen much about them on the forum Current Tank Info: 80 gallon simple set up with sump filtration |
04/14/2020, 04:30 PM | #4 |
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Looks OK to me.
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250 gallon mixed reef, 2 Reefbreeder's Photon V 2, Deepwater BLDC 12, DAS EX-3 Skimmer, MTC mini cal, 2-3/4" Sea Swirls, Aquacontroller & 6 Tunze pumps. |
04/14/2020, 05:55 PM | #5 |
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Maybe diatoms,but if phosphates dropped to undetectable levels may have given way for dinosaurs to thrive
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Reefing is about finding consistency through trial and error. Current Tank Info: IM 30L , AI 52HD, Jebao rw-4 |
04/15/2020, 07:08 PM | #6 |
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Simple diatoms. reduce the white light intensity a little, add some sand sifting blue leg hermits and for the next week, add 1ml per 10 gallon of Hydrogen Peroxide. Should dissolve this for you
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04/15/2020, 10:04 PM | #7 | |
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Quote:
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Tunze 9410 Skimmer, Syncra Silent 4.0, Herbie method (Bottom Drilled), 30 gallon sump. Anyone know about assessor fish? Seems cool but I haven't seen much about them on the forum Current Tank Info: 80 gallon simple set up with sump filtration |
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04/15/2020, 10:19 PM | #8 |
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04/23/2020, 02:03 PM | #9 |
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Get some nassarius snails as well. They'll help turn the sand over.
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04/23/2020, 02:33 PM | #10 | |
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Quote:
I'm going to pull what I can out and see how it goes. Also got a new powerhead (Tunze 6105) that is definitely keeping stuff more suspended. I didn't dose hydrogen peroxide as I read some things about some possible detrimental effects of dosing it right into the tank. After I do all this though, it does always seem to come back. Which is frustrating. I feed half a cube a day. zero TDS in RODI. Zero nitrates and phosphates in water change water. I've even tried alternate tests to verify. I'm wondering if replacing the sand bed (even though I rinsed it out really well) it's still leaching some silica.
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Tunze 9410 Skimmer, Syncra Silent 4.0, Herbie method (Bottom Drilled), 30 gallon sump. Anyone know about assessor fish? Seems cool but I haven't seen much about them on the forum Current Tank Info: 80 gallon simple set up with sump filtration |
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04/23/2020, 08:44 PM | #11 |
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Could try phosphate minus from BRS? Maybe that will be the kick you need.
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04/23/2020, 10:31 PM | #12 | |
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Quote:
Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk
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Tunze 9410 Skimmer, Syncra Silent 4.0, Herbie method (Bottom Drilled), 30 gallon sump. Anyone know about assessor fish? Seems cool but I haven't seen much about them on the forum Current Tank Info: 80 gallon simple set up with sump filtration |
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04/24/2020, 08:29 AM | #13 |
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Says it removes silica as well. Haven't tried myself though
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04/24/2020, 10:27 AM | #14 |
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Oh that's a good shout. Maybe I will give it a try. i'll have a look online at it.
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Tunze 9410 Skimmer, Syncra Silent 4.0, Herbie method (Bottom Drilled), 30 gallon sump. Anyone know about assessor fish? Seems cool but I haven't seen much about them on the forum Current Tank Info: 80 gallon simple set up with sump filtration |
04/24/2020, 12:23 PM | #15 |
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Hope it works out for you. These things can be so frustrating.
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04/24/2020, 01:09 PM | #16 | |
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Quote:
I do 20% water changes every 2 weeks. Hardly feed my fish. Clean rocks and sand monthly and the stuff always creeps back. I'm hoping it's just from some weird ugly cycle from moving my tank 10 months back but who knows.
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Tunze 9410 Skimmer, Syncra Silent 4.0, Herbie method (Bottom Drilled), 30 gallon sump. Anyone know about assessor fish? Seems cool but I haven't seen much about them on the forum Current Tank Info: 80 gallon simple set up with sump filtration |
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05/02/2020, 01:04 AM | #17 |
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Not sure if anyone mentioned it but I think the grain size of your sand is too big.
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05/03/2020, 08:41 AM | #18 | |
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Quote:
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Tunze 9410 Skimmer, Syncra Silent 4.0, Herbie method (Bottom Drilled), 30 gallon sump. Anyone know about assessor fish? Seems cool but I haven't seen much about them on the forum Current Tank Info: 80 gallon simple set up with sump filtration |
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05/24/2020, 08:42 PM | #19 |
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Did you happen to try that phosphate minus?
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05/25/2020, 08:41 AM | #20 |
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Tropic Eden sand from Premium Aquatics
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250 gallon mixed reef, 2 Reefbreeder's Photon V 2, Deepwater BLDC 12, DAS EX-3 Skimmer, MTC mini cal, 2-3/4" Sea Swirls, Aquacontroller & 6 Tunze pumps. |
05/26/2020, 11:02 AM | #21 |
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I have tried phosphate E as well as turning up the flow. Nothing seems to help. Phosphates bounce between .06 and .03 currently. Removing algae in the sand by hand until I don't have any sand left basically.
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Tunze 9410 Skimmer, Syncra Silent 4.0, Herbie method (Bottom Drilled), 30 gallon sump. Anyone know about assessor fish? Seems cool but I haven't seen much about them on the forum Current Tank Info: 80 gallon simple set up with sump filtration |
05/26/2020, 11:03 AM | #22 |
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Not sure I understand this post, could you elaborate?
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Tunze 9410 Skimmer, Syncra Silent 4.0, Herbie method (Bottom Drilled), 30 gallon sump. Anyone know about assessor fish? Seems cool but I haven't seen much about them on the forum Current Tank Info: 80 gallon simple set up with sump filtration |
05/26/2020, 11:48 AM | #23 |
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You asked what sand to replace the current one with.
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250 gallon mixed reef, 2 Reefbreeder's Photon V 2, Deepwater BLDC 12, DAS EX-3 Skimmer, MTC mini cal, 2-3/4" Sea Swirls, Aquacontroller & 6 Tunze pumps. |
05/27/2020, 02:30 AM | #24 |
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Following
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05/27/2020, 08:14 AM | #25 |
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There's a lot of options, which would be better and how would this stop the algae issues?
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Tunze 9410 Skimmer, Syncra Silent 4.0, Herbie method (Bottom Drilled), 30 gallon sump. Anyone know about assessor fish? Seems cool but I haven't seen much about them on the forum Current Tank Info: 80 gallon simple set up with sump filtration |
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