Oh boy, has this tank turned into a fun ride. So whilst the 1200, 45F and terrarium have all been trucking along gracefully… this system has taxed the ol’ noggin.
Hair algae a week ago:
Turns out I just can’t stand to have a tank without plants in it 😂
Photo today (with filter to remove blue):
In order to turn the tank around, a lot of the standard advice has had to be ignored. Cutting to the chase, the hair algae was so significant that nitrates and phosphates were bottomed out, both zero at all times. Folks say this happens, even state it as a good thing, but it appears they neglect to talk about the next bit.
Then cloudy water… To the best of my knowledge the nitrifying bacteria were starved, as ammonia was potentially being preferentially uptaken by the new ‘in-tank refugium’ before anything in the sump could get a bite at the cherry.
Simple test, pour some Dr. Tim’s bacterial starter into the sump just after feeding the tank and wait. Eight hours later, clear water again. Seemed to readdress the balance of nitrifying bacteria to hair algae. Put the sump back in the game so to speak and has continued since.
Next… Second set of evidence that bottomed out N and P is a bad idea was poor polyp extension on the corals (now placed on a frag rack to keep them clean). Do not think bottoming out nutrients is a good thing in any system. You want inputs and you want them going somewhere, but no availability is a slow slope towards failure.
Decided to dose some potassium nitrate and potassium phosphate, bringing NO3 to 5ppm and PO4 to 0.03ppm. Pretty immediately the Goniopora extended itself and everything else thereafter. The nem’s brightened up too. To control where the inputs are going, decided to run the refugium during the photoperiod for competition. Corals and chaetomorpha versus hair algae.
Most suggest running the refugium opposite to the photoperiod at night to control Co2 levels but… wet dry system in the sump so no point. Stayed up to take hourly pH and dKH readings and they both remained stable across 24 hours.
Wet/dry doesn’t appear to be as detrimental in marine as is made out. Gassing off to atmospheric equilibrium, dissolving gases to atmospheric equilibrium… can’t really understand why they get such bad press, as the evidence so far is following the wet/dry system with a refugium is very efficient at nutrient export. Stable o2 and Co2 for the macroalgae in the refugium over 24 hours.
Few improvements to the simple sump design:
Wet/dry component:
Small but fast growing refugium with chaetomorpha:
Lid off the drip plate box so floss can be changed in seconds:
The quick floss exchange has become important due to the amount of hair algae die off. If at all possible, want to keep the sump as simple as it already is. No carbon or Rowaphos running at the moment, want unfettered feedback from the system whilst getting to grips with it.
As for the hair algae, hoping to keep its decline going. Treated with Fluconazole to weaken it further and hopefully evict it completely. The remainder looks manageable now the root cause has been addressed:
All things willing, will be back with good news on the next post, or a new problem 😂
