LR & Aglae Question.

[SeanCallan]

If I have a tank with very little LR and I'm having a lot of brown algae on the glass, even after numerous water changes, would inceasing the amount of LR reduce this or no?

This is my 12g JBJ DX nano; so a skimmer is not an option.

[Orion76]

Whats the silicate content of your source water?

[SeanCallan]

0. It's RODI and theres very little sand in the tank as well which has none in it.

I thought my RODI filters were bad but theres only like 1-2ppm down from a couple hundred.

[bogg]

are you overdosing zeo products?

[SeanCallan]

Don't use ZEO yet.

[Orion76]

In that case probably nutrients from your liverock. It's a normal process, all new tanks have brown slime algae during the stabilization period. It will pass after a few weeks. Best to keep lighting very low during this period.

Hair algae is next!

[Diesel3443]

You just set that tank up right? If so its just a cycle it will go away. Orion, I was lucky the hair algae never came to mine But even on Zeo im still battleing macros

[Orion76]

Oh BTW RODI does not mean zero silicates if your source water is very high in silicates. Have you tested for them?

[SeanCallan]

Yeah, I tested 0 silicates.

Actually, the LR is from another established tank, but I guess it's having a mini cycle.

No fish no nothing but 2 snails and about 2000 pods.

[mesocosm]

Greetings All !

Welcome to the Land of the JBJ 12G Nano DX ... I've experienced the same thing with both a JBJ 12G DX FOWLR, and a JBJ 12G DX "Mini-Reef".

While I consider this type of "outbreak" to be "normal", the circulation and turnover limitations inherent to the tank's design do not help things.

I did four things which seemed to help significantly:

1. Used a "turkey baster" to blast the LR to "free" the accumulated detritous. Waited 10 minutes for the detritous to settle. Siphoned it out as part of the water change process.

2. Added 1/2 of a small (6" X 12") polyfilter of the middle filtration compartment in the back (replaced weekly).

3. Added 6 Nassarius snails to keep the substrate "moving" and to consume uneated food.

4. Added 6 reef hermitsto help keep the surface of the LR "clean."

There was a noticeable reduction in the brown algae/diatom/dinoflagellate blooms after two weeks.

Also, I'm using ZeoLive in the mini-reef. While there appeared to be a significant increase in the amount of mulm that the LR produces, the duration and intensity of the brown algae/diatom/dinoflagellate blooms were significantly lower than in the FOWLR tank ... FWIW.

HTH

[SeanCallan]

Wow thanks!

I want to get about 15lbs of LR into the tank and then run a low dose of ZEO. I have the tools to go ahead and install bulkheads to take water to a skimmer, but I'd rather not and keep the clean JBJ cube look.

I'm actually trying to have one of the guys on nano-reef.com build me a surface skimmer to install in front of the intake grant to help break surface tension.

I use some polyfoam in the back of the tank and clean it out once a week in hot RODI water.

Right now, I've got 295gph of flow through the tank but because of the maxijet 1200 I also have a steady temp. I want to try and get 2 new 60mm fans into the hood to cool the lights and also some to cool the water to help keep the temp lower.

I'd like to find a way to build a mini skimmer for the back of that tank that would sit inside the compartment but that sure would take some effort.