HELP! Algae problem, corals may be dying.

Akvaristu

Member
For those who were interested, I Identified the thing that was growing on the side of my torch coral. It's a vermetid and I'll remove it ASAP. It seems to irritate the coral.
As soon as I got home, I glued the vermetid's tube. I was surprised how hard this thing was!
If I were a coral, I'd be irritated too!


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Akvaristu

Member
Little update:

As I said in my last messages, I did a water change last weekend of about 10%.
The following day, algaes were blooming again. So, the problem is in the new water I put in the aquarium every week.
Could the salt (Instant Ocean) be the culprit? Or my RO/DI filters?

I am disappointed.
 

Varga

Well-Known Member
If water changes are fueling the bloom then u may want to look into dinoflagellates
 

Akvaristu

Member
I doubt it's Dinoflagellates if I compare with photos from Google.

Now, it's a more like a green moss algae that is taking over. I also observed a piece of bubble algae.

Next water change I'll use another salt mix. I have no choice but eliminating one variable at a time to finally find the source of the problem.

Thanks again for all your hints and suggestions.

Envoyé de mon SM-N900W8 en utilisant Tapatalk
 

Akvaristu

Member
24 hours after the water change with Reef Crystals, the water is crystal clear (pun intended) as opposed to a bit of cloudiness with Instant Ocean Basic. However, the anemone was hidden again and the skimmer cup was full (in 1 day!).
I'll keep you updated.
 

Akvaristu

Member
Following up about my algae problem.

Two weeks ago, I added a pouch of Chemi-Pure Blue and couldn't see any difference in algae growth.
Then I tried to do a big water change (5 gallon). The result was, again, an algae bloom of cyano and green algae (on rocks, sand and even on the top of the water!)

I really don't understand what's going on... Even the Chemi-Pure Blue has no effect.
 

DaveK

Well-Known Member
If your getting an algae bloom from doing a water change, you should be looking at your water source. You want to be testing your RO/DI water for nitrates and phosphates before you mix salt with it, and after you mix your SW.

If your problem is not there, it's possible you have a lot of nitrates and phosphates in your tank. This is were it gets tricky. Algaes consume nitrates and phosphates in massive quantities, so your water can read 0 with the test kits and still have notrate and phosphate issues.

In my opinion, Chemi-Pure Blue is just about a complete waste of money in SW. It's a combo of carbon and ion exchange resins. Because of the salts in SW ion exchange resins get saturated with the various salts, making them ineffective.

For algae issues, usually the best media is GFO (granular ferric oxide). You can buy it packaged as Phosban, or buy it in bulk as GFO. The bulk material is often better quality and a lot less expensive.

You could also consider the use of an algae scrubber, where you take advantage of algae to remove nitrates and phosphates.
 

Therapy

Active Member
The Instant Ocean is/was not the problem especially if you let it set for 24 hours b4 adding to tank. Assuming you had a circulation pump in the said water batch tank.. Nitrites and Nitrates are. You mention not being comfortable with you test kits. API and Salifert seem to be noted as trustworthy but Salifert has gone downhill lately. Also check you expiration date on kits.

I would question your RO/DI system. This seems to be the base of your issues judging from your observations. Chloramines should be removed by your RO/DI. GFO or GAC should also help tremendously. More info on Chloramine can be found here. http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-11/rhf/feature/

Lastly and most important, you said your skimmer is going crazy. This says a lot. What are you feeding the tanks fish and corals? Sounds like too much. Lastly, is there any dying coral or fish you haven't discovered? Take inventory. You skimmer is a tell all here as the water alone even with nitrite, nitrate, chloromine or whatever will not cause this. Focus here.
 

Oxylebius

Well-Known Member
@Akvaristu @Squatch XXL @cracker

For some reason I hadn't seen this thread previously.

There was some discussion early on in the thread about chloramines. Washington D.C. water district using chloramines. Here is a nice little bit of info on the D.C. website about it.
https://www.dcwater.com/waterquality/faqs.cfm
-- They even mention that water treated with chloramine can be harmful to critters in aquariums.
https://www.dcwater.com/waterquality/chlorine.cfm

I've been monitoring it since I moved to the city a while back. There are some products on the market that you can buy that eliminate chloramines, like PRIME, which I always have on hand but usually only use in the QT as needed if high levels of ammonia pop up.

There is a filter you can buy from BRS to help to take cholamines out of the water. I'd advice everyone to buy it (or contact your water district to find out if chloramines are added to your water.
http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/brs-5-stage-chloramines-upgrade-kit.html
-- Always research to make sure such products are adaptable to the RODI unit you have before purchasing.
 

Therapy

Active Member
While I totally agree that Chloramines are harmful and should be watched, IMO it is throwing this thread off topic of his root problem.
Let me quote Boomer. "The pre-carbon filter, before the RO, will convert the chloramine to chlorine and ammonia. The carbon will then convert that chlorine to chloride, which the RO will remove. The ammonia will make it through the RO but not the DI. So, nothing much to worry about."
Going back to my previous link, an old DI cartridge shows that "old" can mean as early as 11 months needing replacement. Inserted again here. http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-11/rhf/feature/
 

chipmunkofdoom2

Well-Known Member
Honestly I never analyzed Magnesium, Alkalinity and Calcium levels. I thought the regular addition of salt would keep those parameters stable. I guess I'll need to pull the trigger and buy a "master" test kit of some reputed brand to get to the bottom of this water problem.

I'd encourage you to at the very least test for Alk, if not Ca and Mg as well.

The problem with not testing for Alk is that your pH is determined in part by your Alk. You said in your original post that your pH was around 7.4. I wouldn't be worried about an acute swing to that level if it recovered quickly, but if you're having a chronic low pH issue, I'd be willing to gamble that your Alk is low. Mg is important because it prevents Alk and Ca from precipitating out. If you find yourself dosing lots and lots of Ca and Alk and getting no results, your Mg is likely low and the Ca/Alk is simply precipitating out upon addition. Ca isn't as vital as Alk, but if you're testing for Alk and potentially Mg, testing for Ca is an easy extra step that should be undertaken, IMO.

Chloramines are definitely bad news, but I feel like something else is going on here. I wouldn't attribute a pH of 7.4 and algae outbreaks after water changes to chloramines.
 

Akvaristu

Member
Thanks for all your replies, I appreciate it!

@DaveK I already tested my RO/DI water. It was showing 0 ppm and 0 nitrates, phosphates and nitrites.
I may have those pollutants in my main tank but like you said, it's showing almost 0 because algae consume them.

Before buying a pouch of ChemiPure Blue I researched a lot on the web. I remember a lot of people stating it was a mix of GFO and ChemiPure Elite (this one being a mix of Carbon and Phosphate remover). Are they wrong?

@Therapy All my fish, snails and corals are doing well now; no one's missing.
Because of this algae problem I started to slow down the feeding. Fish eat every pellet I throw in the aquarium. I feed them every 3 days. The anemone is fed with mysis shrimps in small quantities, one time a week.

My RO/DI unit is about 7-month-old now. It's coming from AquaSafe Canada (never heard it wasn't good for aquariums). Could my resin or filter be "malfunctioning"?
Would it be worthwhile to try dechlorinated tap water for my next water change?

@chipmunkofdoom2 I didn't realise Alk had a direct effect on PH but now you explained it, that seems obvious! I will buy a test kit for Alk, Ca and Mg to be certain and post my results ASAP.

@Oxylebius I heard a lot of theories about chloramines. My city is not even sure about the levels of chloramines in our water as it can very from day to day.
I'm not sure it's really the cause of my algae problem, though. If my tank was full of chloramines, I presume fish and corals would show, at least, some signs of discomfort.

Thanks again.
 

Therapy

Active Member
Good job! You're on your way to figuring this out.

If you show no nitrites/nitrates/ammonia, then I would assume that your water and RO/DI sys is ok. Chloramines would leave an Ammonia presence. Think about a TDS meter. About 20 bucks.

"If my tank was full of chloramines, I presume fish and corals would show, at least, some signs of discomfort."
So I presume that your corals are now not showing stress? I hope so.

With the age of your tank, I would have to say it sounds like a cycle that all new reef aquariums go through at about this time period. (We sometimes forget that we went through this stage) Assuming that your corals do not show the stress they did. Keep your levels up and stable and by all means get those test kits. Keep it clean. They won't starve. Yet. lol.

You're doing well. Keep us updated.
 

DaveK

Well-Known Member
...
Before buying a pouch of ChemiPure Blue I researched a lot on the web. I remember a lot of people stating it was a mix of GFO and ChemiPure Elite (this one being a mix of Carbon and Phosphate remover). Are they wrong?
[...

Yes, I would call them wrong, at least according to Boyd Enterprises own web pages. You can read their own description here (offsite) - http://boyd--enterprises.com/chemipure-blue/

Both ChemiPure and ChemiPure Elite are different products from ChemiPure Blue and from each other.

While I know a lot of people are big fans of these products, I am not. I feel they are way over priced and that generally chemical medias should not be mixed together. I think your better off buying the various single media you need from someone like BRS.
 

chipmunkofdoom2

Well-Known Member
^ Good advice from DaveK here.

Hope you can get things figured out. If you're looking for reliable test kits for Ca/Alk/Mg, the Salifert are personal favorites. They're a good balance of price and accuracy.
 

mtsully71

Well-Known Member
Just love a good post, with many high knowledge peeps offering great solutions and troubleshooting. Just throwing this out there but, can you give more info on your RODI system, how many stages and what types of filters are you using within it? I would assume pre, carbon and Di minimum? as well as RO membrane? Is your pressure good? etc. If you can absolutely rule out your RODI, then as many have said, cut back food, if you are dosing something stop, a new 130 should not need additives (maybe buffer). Are you adding food for corals? Also, how long your lights running.

^ Good advice from DaveK here.

Hope you can get things figured out. If you're looking for reliable test kits for Ca/Alk/Mg, the Salifert are personal favorites. They're a good balance of price and accuracy.

Lastly and most important, you said your skimmer is going crazy. This says a lot. What are you feeding the tanks fish and corals? Sounds like too much. Lastly, is there any dying coral or fish you haven't discovered? Take inventory. You skimmer is a tell all here as the water alone even with nitrite, nitrate, chloromine or whatever will not cause this. Focus here.

great advice^

GL and take your time, you'll pull through, just go with basics and keep up good housekeeping. You definitely have enough info here to fix your issue :coffee2:

Oh and when ya replace your T5's ya might do both, that way your getting the same strenght light from whichever bulbs you replace. My minds as sharp as a marble, I would forget which one I replaced, not critical no, but KISS method buddy :winky:

Sully
 
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