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07/20/2018, 02:41 PM | #1 |
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Debating between NOPOX and GFO
3 month old tank.. have couple clowns and a tang.. couple soft frags no biggie...
getting hair algae and that nasties coating on the glass lately.. I know this might be part of ugly stage so should I leave it alone and continue weekly water changes 10% or try attacking it with nopox or GFO? I will be testing my phophate levels later today for the first time with my salifert kit. specs.. 90 gal 20 gal sump great skimmer etc.. running carbon in duel reactor atm.. |
07/20/2018, 02:54 PM | #2 |
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It's probably all part of the aging process. Think of a tank as moving from infant to toddler to child to teenager All stages present some sort of problem until adulthood when it finally learns to take care of itself, if you treat it right.
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07/20/2018, 03:09 PM | #3 |
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or Flukanazole?
or maybe ill just be more patient and not do anything since the algae isnt overwhelming |
07/20/2018, 03:27 PM | #4 | |
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John, Current Tank Info: In-process, 90 Gallon SPS Reef |
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07/20/2018, 03:41 PM | #5 |
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Yes to the clean up crew and you. When you start adding chemicals to fix one thing you end up with another, in a new tank. 90% of the time when I run GFO in a new tank I get cyano. Not a bad thing, but you may not want it.
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Tank sizes, 2-10's a 55 and one that's about 500gal Current Tank Info: Interior decorating happening |
07/20/2018, 03:51 PM | #6 |
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What are your nitrate/phosphate levels?
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07/20/2018, 04:03 PM | #7 |
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07/20/2018, 04:26 PM | #8 |
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Nitrates are low enough to resist adding NoPox. Phosphate level will determine if GFO may be an option.
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2x 65g displays with a 30g cryptic refugium and 30g sump - 55g reef 30g Bio-cube reef - I.M. 30g reef - 45g freshwater |
07/20/2018, 04:32 PM | #9 |
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07/20/2018, 06:01 PM | #10 |
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07/20/2018, 06:09 PM | #11 |
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IMO, too high at .25, shoot for .02-.04 if you keep corals, you can achieve that level with a GFO.
I do not reccomend Phosguard but highly reccomend ROWAPHOS. Took my phosphate from .12 or so to .05 in a couple of days, .02 by weeks end, now I am going to take out the bag so I don't go any lower... Also consider light, the amount, the intensity, the colour, it's also a big contributor to algae.. NoPox is an option if your nitrate starts to creep higher, I use NOPox to manage my nitrate between 5-10ppm, that's seems like the sweet spot for my corals |
07/20/2018, 06:21 PM | #12 |
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.25 is higher than I like. It would be nice to find the source. Test both your R/O and saltwater for Phosphate.
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07/20/2018, 07:03 PM | #13 | |
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07/20/2018, 07:10 PM | #14 |
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Well probably not a bad idea to start running some GFO or equivalent. Start slow
Cheers! Mark
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2x 65g displays with a 30g cryptic refugium and 30g sump - 55g reef 30g Bio-cube reef - I.M. 30g reef - 45g freshwater |
07/21/2018, 01:45 PM | #15 |
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I agree that phosphate at 0.25 ppm is a bit high, and might encourage a lot of algal growth. I suspect that the source is food, but some people get contaminated live rock. Those are the more common sources.
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07/21/2018, 02:50 PM | #16 | |
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07/21/2018, 05:23 PM | #17 |
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If you use a reactor, you want a slow tumble.
Comes with great instructs, have a read, keep an eye of the levels, I am going to have to stop mine soon before its strips all the phosphate, I do want to keep .02-.04 ish for my corals. The small amount of algae I had disappeared in two weeks, my skimmer when unusually dark green, almost black. It's benefit is is absorbs phosphate fast.....it's bad is it can strip all the phosphate fast... Good luck! Last edited by Uncle99; 07/21/2018 at 05:29 PM. |
07/21/2018, 05:44 PM | #18 | |
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so running it 24/7 is bad idea . check Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk |
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07/21/2018, 06:11 PM | #19 |
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Good Luck!
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07/21/2018, 06:59 PM | #20 |
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07/22/2018, 08:00 AM | #21 |
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Nothing wrong with Nitrates under 10 in a reef tank.
Phosphate should be lower. There is a well known 20.000 reef tank here on LI that runs extremely well with phosphate around .16
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07/23/2018, 10:40 AM | #22 | |
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I have 100 ml container coming today.. again my phosphates are at 0.25 and tank is 90 gallons with 15 gallon sump Thanks |
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07/23/2018, 11:18 AM | #23 |
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I'm still going to go back to "this is part of the ugly stage" since I was just there a few months ago and it's still fresh in my mind. I did a big water change, siphoning out as much of the algae as possible, and tripled my clean-up crew (went from 10 snails to 30), as well as added a conch for my own entertainment.
Between the siphoning, the developing maturity of the tank, and the herbivores, the algae was gone within 2 weeks. And once it's gone, it doesn't come back as long as you have a healthy clean-up crew. I was trying to feed these damn anthias enough for them to stay alive, feeding 3-4 times a day of a mix of frozen and pellets, and my nitrates started going up, but not the algae. I've reduced it down since then, however really once your clean up crew is rock solid, you won't have to worry (as long as it's an edible form of algae; if you get inedible algae like bubble algae, you're toast). Remember, whatever you do (other than siphoning out algae), go slowly. Rowaphos can strip phosphates very quickly that could harm corals. Other rapid phosphate reducers can harm fishes (lanthanum chloride drops). It's a general rule to do things slowly. Good things take time, only bad things happen quickly. Good luck, I hope you find a solution to your algae issue. Remember it takes time! |
07/23/2018, 11:27 AM | #24 | |
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07/23/2018, 11:32 AM | #25 |
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Manual removal is always key for large algaes. After that, yes, the snails helped. I didn't think they would, but I didn't get all of the thick algae, someone must have eaten it (before I put tangs in my tank).
My snails were all banded trochus snails. A departure from the astrea snails that I had always had in my reefing career. Needless to say, I'm a big fan of banded trochus snails now. |
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