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MasonHoff

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Posts posted by MasonHoff

    Red Algae and Live Sand

    in Emergency Discussion

    Posted

    your iive rock maybe have been thru bad water conditions that have cause it to be leaching uhealty phosphates! where did you get it?

    Thanks SO much for all of your help. I believe the red gunk was there when I purchased the live rock. We simply got a pair of tweezers and really gently pulled it off. Everything looks good now. We will keep checking all levels, but for now everything is hunky-dory.

    Thanks again for all of your advice!

    Pic of my soon to be SNOWCASSO!

    in Reef Keeping

    Posted

    Bluespotjaw fish on ARC! breeder from S,A.

    Lorraine Richards (aka BSJF or Bluespotjawfish) is on the Board of Directors for MAAST and the Committee Chair for Tank of the Month. She also co-founded the Bluespot Club on Reef Sanctuary, which is dedicated to educating the hobby about this species. A friend introduced her to saltwater in the 1990’s and since he could do it, she knew she could too -- the rest is history. Lorraine is already known for the spawning attempts by her Opistognathus rosenblattii and is now rearing Amphiprion percula (Picasso X Picasso). Lorraine has been an Environmental Planner for over 30 years, and is proud to offer these tank raised clownfish to the hobby. The parents were purchased from Doni's Reef, with lineage back to ORA. Since they were born on her birthday, it was destiny from the start. Formerly from Utah, the pair moved with her to Texas in 2009 and now enjoy the comfort of her 150 gallon reef tank.

    Where'd you find that? Cool clown!

    When is it ok to add SPS?

    in Reef Keeping

    Posted

    dont use trace elements if you haveing water quality issues~ it will make algae blooms worse, and will cause it to grow. keep alk high and calcium high. and you should be ok! run some carbon media! and youll be doing great for sps! if you lighting is good! Plus one i have some sour apple birdsnest that grows crazy fast. LMKpost-1870-0-58449300-1310452316_thumb.jp

    Well my water has actually been very stable. Ammonia is consistently at .25, nitrites at 0, nitrates at about 5... I know zeros across the board are ideal, but I have had a hard time achieving that. I have had PH around 8.3-8.4 and SG around 1.024. My LPS has been flourishing, and I dose daily with alk and calcium, with Kent's Essential Elements going in once a week. I do weekly (sometimes bi-weekly) 5-10 gallon water changes on my 60 gallon tank. Water clarity has been a very small issue lately. I did 3 water changes in 5 days two weeks ago, and I still had slight clarity issues.

    I do have a thriving Superman Monti (I was under the impression this was an LPS?) that I bought from a fellow refer about 3 weeks ago. It was a bit dirty when I purchased it, but seems to be much cleaner and happier now.

    post-1870-0-58449300-1310452316_thumb.jp

    Red Algae and Live Sand

    in Emergency Discussion

    Posted · Edited by MasonHoff

    oh yeah and keeping you system running with a mix of chemi pure elite and purigen. from now on or running some rowaphos in a reactor column will and youll eventually rid you problem. do you have a skimmer? what type of tank? and how often do you do filter media changes?

    Red Algae and Live Sand

    in Emergency Discussion

    Posted · Edited by MasonHoff

    Test the water, most often sudden changes of cyanobacterial blooms occur due to water quality changes, most likely Phosphate, but in conjunction with nitrate. Even if you test your water, the phosphate may not show up, so have your LFS store test water for even small amounts of phosphate. (used crushed coral next time, there is nothing live about live sand) and you can mix up crushed coral with out a "dust cloud" like with sandbeds.

    What Makes Slime Algae Grow and Solutions For Eliminating This Problem

    We suggest that you don't try to put all of these solutions into action at one time, because if you do, when the problem subsides you'll never really know where the problem was coming from and which solution worked to fix it. Start with one solution and see what results you get, and if that one doesn't work, try another one, and so on, until the problem is resolved. Now, in order for all forms of algae to grow, they require only two things; light and nutrients.

    • Lighting: The use of improper bulbs, lack of maintenance, and extended lighting hours are contributors that can lead to all sorts of algae problems. While these organisms do well in the 665 to 680 nanometer (nm) wavelength range, they are quite active bewteen the 560 and 620 nm range as well.
      • Solutions: Only use bulbs that are designed for aquarium use, run the lights 8 to 9 hours a day, and following the basic wattage rule of thumb, try different types of bulbs to increase the intensity and the spectral qualities of the light in the aquarium, particularly when it comes to any type of full-spectrum or color enhancing tubes being used.

    • Nutrients: Phosphates (PO4), DOCs (Dissolved Organic Compounds), and nitrates (NO3) are primary nutrient food sources for red and other slime algae.
      • Phosphates (PO 4 ) are commonly introduced into aquariums by means of using unfiltered fresh tap water, and through many aquarium products that may contain higher than normal concentrations of this element, such as sea salt mixes, activated carbon, KH buffers, foods, and many other sources. Also, for established reef tanks the long-term use of kalkwasser precipitates phosphates out of the water, and these phosphate based compounds can settle on and in the live rock and substrate.
        • Solutions: Use RO/DI filtered make-up water, a high quality sea salt mix, and be aware of the elements contained in other common aquarium products you may be using. For solutions to problems that can arise from using kalkwasser, refer to The Fishline's Microalgae article.

              • Allowing excess DOCs to accumulate in an aquarium in turn gives rise to nitrate (NO3) problems. However, nitrates can also be introduced in the same manner as phosphates, and because it is the final byproduct produced in the nitrogen cycling process, it can naturally build to high levels due the lack of proper aquarium maintenance care. Another contributor to DOC/nitrate problems is when new live rock is introduced, as the curing process can add nutrients when some organisms on the rock dies off.

            • Solutions: Practice good aquarium maintenance care routines! This includes keeping the substrate clean, cutting back on feedings, regularly rinsing, rejuvenating or changing any type of filtering or adsorbing materials (such as filter flosses, cartridges, bio wheels, sponges and carbon), performing regular partial water changes, and for DOCs in particular, adding a protein skimmer (read reviews & compare prices). For those with systems that have been running for some time and use wet/dry trickle type filters, the bio media in them, especially bio balls, are real nitrate factories, and therefore should be carefully rinsed and cleaned periodically.
            • While most hermit crab and snails won't eat this type of algae, the Left-Handed or Dwarf Zebra Hermit Crab has been known to peck away at it in an aquarium. To help keep the aquarium bottom clean and tidy add some tank friendly algae/detritus eating hermit crabs, one or two true crabs, shrimps, or other good substrate sifting tank janitors, or a fish. Scott Michael recommends the Orange-Spotted Sleeper Goby (Valenciennia puellaris) as being the best.
            • When adding live rock, take the time to cure it properly.
            • Important Note: If your tank is still cycling, DO NOT add any new animals, do ANY water changes, or perform ANY MAJOR substrate or filter cleaning tasks, other than to change dirty pre-filtering materials and/or to QUICK siphon stuff off the bottom, until the tank has COMPLETELY FINISHED cycling. Because this type of algae does not attach well, it can easily be peeled off and removed by light siphoning, with larger floating pieces being removed with a net, or turkey baster.

              [*]

              By putting into action any of these solutions, as the growth sources are being eliminated you should see a gradual decrease in the growth of the slime algae. In the meantime, while you determine and correct the actual cause underlying the problem, the unsightly algae can manually be removed as mentioned above.

              One final interesting note is that because slime algae consume nitrates, often when aquarists perform nitrate tests, the readings come up as normal. Don't be deceived. If you were to remove the algae temporarily before putting into action any of the above solutions, in all likelihood you will see a rise in the nitrate levels in the aquarium. It's like a Catch 22. The nitrates have actually been there all along, but unreadable as the algae is feeding on it, therefore the nitrates appear to be in check. This applies to many other forms of algae as well!

            • [*]

        What is my Teal CandyCane up to?

        in Reef Keeping

        Posted

        i have seen you have adopted a sun coral! have you dipped or quarantined all new incoming corals before putting them in your tank? big way to keep you mind at ease. especially if you are planning to have reef with the least amount of problems over the years

        Glass cages build Quality

        in Reef Keeping

        Posted

        I was really impressed with MEDI's tank! what i want when i go big! worth going to go look at!

        My rimless tank is from GC, and the general consensus is correct. Pretty horrible customer service, and sloppy silicone work, but for the price they are tough to beat. My tank was half the price from GC then from anyone else. Feel free to come by and take a look if you want to see an example.

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