Algae

Skim

Skim

Active Member
Joined
Jan 3, 2014
Location
Brantford, Ontario
I don't know if you want to use Carbon just right now as the Corals will be under some stress now and the additional shock of Carbon just may push them it Bleaching. If you bound and determined to use it I would cut the amount by half because once it starts its fast and you can not do a dam thing to stop it. I once notices that my SPS looked a bit stressed ( thought it may have been from Corals releasing warfare ) and put the Carbon reactor on with 1 cup of ESV Carbon in it for my 100 gal. Next morning half SPS where white sticks and some where had just spots that where white and watched them die off over a week or two. Yes Marineland Carbon is actually a good choice. Just to put some perspective on it, 1 teaspoon of carbon has the same surface area as about a NFL Football field.
 
EricTMah

EricTMah

Aquariums by Design
Joined
Mar 2, 2014
Location
Kitchener, Ontario
Website
www.aquariumsbydesign.ca
Skim said:
I don't know if you want to use Carbon just right now as the Corals will be under some stress now and the additional shock of Carbon just may push them it Bleaching. If you bound and determined to use it I would cut the amount by half because once it starts its fast and you can not do a dam thing to stop it. I once notices that my SPS looked a bit stressed ( thought it may have been from Corals releasing warfare ) and put the Carbon reactor on with 1 cup of ESV Carbon in it for my 100 gal. Next morning half SPS where white sticks and some where had just spots that where white and watched them die off over a week or two. Yes Marineland Carbon is actually a good choice. Just to put some perspective on it, 1 teaspoon of carbon has the same surface area as about a NFL Football field.
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That's odd. I've never once had an issue running carbon in any of my reef tanks.

I currently run carbon every two weeks in my system now with zero negative effects on my sps


Sony Xperia Z3
 
saltyair

saltyair

Member
Joined
Oct 29, 2014
Location
Kingston, Ontario
Skim said:
I don't know if you want to use Carbon just right now as the Corals will be under some stress now and the additional shock of Carbon just may push them it Bleaching. If you bound and determined to use it I would cut the amount by half because once it starts its fast and you can not do a dam thing to stop it. I once notices that my SPS looked a bit stressed ( thought it may have been from Corals releasing warfare ) and put the Carbon reactor on with 1 cup of ESV Carbon in it for my 100 gal. Next morning half SPS where white sticks and some where had just spots that where white and watched them die off over a week or two. Yes Marineland Carbon is actually a good choice. Just to put some perspective on it, 1 teaspoon of carbon has the same surface area as about a NFL Football field.
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I'm not sure where you got that information - carbon has been used for many years in this hobby as an effective way to lower tds, remove hard metals, Polish and to remove chemical warfare from corals and algae.
The link to health issues in fish and corals has not been proven or verified.
Carbon should NOT be tumbled it should be ether used packed tight and water forced through a reactor or put in a nylon sock and placed in the sump in a high flow area.


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Skim

Skim

Active Member
Joined
Jan 3, 2014
Location
Brantford, Ontario
You know this is why I tend not to post, you always have someone that wants to rip you a new one. I did not tell him not to put or use any Carbon all I said was maybe not right now and if you are going to use it try half as his Corals are somewhat stressed and the sudden drop in the organic load can stress them more. In my example I believe I had a low organics and adding the Carbon dropped it even lower vary quickly and stressed them that much more.
Yes Carbon does remove tds about 60 to 90%. In this hobby there is many things I learned over the years and one is, you can do the right thing at the wrong time. Tell you what put 1 cup of ROX in and see what happens or SeaChem Matrix Carbon. You know what the best thing to do is put the Carbon in and watch the Corals if they start pulling the polyps in any or any other negative pull the Carbon and reduce the amount.
I believe he is fighting Algae and the Corals seem to be OK so instead of Carbon put a half cup or full cup of GFO in the reactor to absorb the PO4 that has be released by the dying Algae, there should be lots of PO4 in the tank now and if he dose not try and get out as much as he can it will absorb back into the rock and substrate. In the end he has to read what we post in response and take it and go with what his gut tells him to.

Anyhow good luck !

Skim
 
saltyair

saltyair

Member
Joined
Oct 29, 2014
Location
Kingston, Ontario
Skim said:
You know this is why I tend not to post, you always have someone that wants to rip you a new one. I did not tell him not to put or use any Carbon all I said was maybe not right now and if you are going to use it try half as his Corals are somewhat stressed and the sudden drop in the organic load can stress them more. In my example I believe I had a low organics and adding the Carbon dropped it even lower vary quickly and stressed them that much more.
Yes Carbon does remove tds about 60 to 90%. In this hobby there is many things I learned over the years and one is, you can do the right thing at the wrong time. Tell you what put 1 cup of ROX in and see what happens or SeaChem Matrix Carbon. You know what the best thing to do is put the Carbon in and watch the Corals if they start pulling the polyps in any or any other negative pull the Carbon and reduce the amount.
I believe he is fighting Algae and the Corals seem to be OK so instead of Carbon put a half cup or full cup of GFO in the reactor to absorb the PO4 that has be released by the dying Algae, there should be lots of PO4 in the tank now and if he dose not try and get out as much as he can it will absorb back into the rock and substrate. In the end he has to read what we post in response and take it and go with what his gut tells him to.

Anyhow good luck !

Skim
Click to expand...

Skim first I want to apologize if I came across harsh or a know it all. Sharing information is key on this forum - sometimes the written word can be unemotional.

Please keep sharing


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heath

heath

Distinguished Member
Joined
Oct 2, 2012
Location
Woodstock, Ontario
Riley, I don't know why you are not trying the vodka treatment, my hairy algae was way worse than yours, it was so bad that it was suffocating all of my corals. ask Bart 84 and stevesault, they saw it.. 2 weeks and there is not a bit of algae in the tank and all of my corals have bounced back better than ever and the treatment doesn't throw your other readings out of whack.. and then run a gfo.. with mine I know that it is from my rock and I will probly have to use the vodka for quite some time to correct the issue..you have some pricey zoa's and things in your tank and it doesn't sound like they doing great, I hate to see ppl loose things in their tanks..jmho..
 
heath

heath

Distinguished Member
Joined
Oct 2, 2012
Location
Woodstock, Ontario
Ok, I will tell you my story; I had a 90 gal (3 yrs) fowlr tank and upgraded to a 125 gal still a fowlr.I have since added corals, when I had my 90 gal I used tap water with no treatment, needless to say my rock was stuffed full of phosphates. Didn't know any better..But before I set up the 125 I had an ro unit installed and started using that. Within 2-3 weeks I had the worse hair algae outbreak, it covered everything, corals, rock and substrate. I was told by a couple of members here to try the vodka treatment, you start out slow and build up to the full dose.. within 10 days to 2 weeks you could visually see the algae melting.. I personally like this method, it doesn't throw your other readings out of whack, ph, nitrates and nitrites.. During this process I did not lose any corals, if anything they have come back stronger with far more colour, to the point that some of them need to be fragged..you can google and get a lot of information and even directions.. I even reached out to Tidal Wave in Hi for help and they also suggested this treatment..In my case I know that this is going to be an ongoing thing and I 'm ok, vodka isn't that expensive and honestly I don't think that my tank has ever been this healthy..
 
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