help cloudy tank!!

[Theo]

O.K I did the post earlier about the caluerpa going sexual. I've never experienced this before if this is what it is. I woke up this morning to find my tank all clouded up like someone dumped a bucket of mud in my tank. It's been like this since at least eight and it is now 9:43. All peramiters are good. Like amonia, nitrite, nitrate, ph, kh, and calcium. I have been adding iron and phytoplankton to my tank and I've been away for the last three days and did not add these. It can't be a build up of phyto since I have only been adding it for a week and I've added three tsp every other day in a 75 gallon with a 35 gallon sump/refugium. I have been adding iron to avoid the plants going sxual and then with none for three days maybe this made them go but it doesn't seem likely. Sooooooooooo I guess a big fat water change is in order. My only problem is I have no salt mixed. I usually like to let it sit for a few days but in this case hours will have to do. Any ideas anyone

[Theo]

There is no white looking caluerpa in my refugium so that cancels the sexual part.

[Theo]

^

[Bubafat]

1. Why are you dosing iron?! There is NO need to. You are just slowly poisoning your tank. Iron is good for Freshwater plant tanks, not reeftanks. STOP!

2. IF you are reading zero on NH4 (ammonia) then it is one of two things. It is either a phytoplankton bloom (which can and does happen, doesn't matter if you didn't dose it, you had the live culture in your tank, and now because your caulerpa went sexual, your tank is now full of nutrients and it is blooming using these nutrients) or it also could be a nitrobacter/zomas bacteria bloom.

What kinda skimmer do you have going? If you don't have one, I would HIGHLY recommend you go buy one today and hook it up cause you need to start pulling this stuff out before it gets broken down to ammonia.

I would get a big fat water change in order, just in case.

AND STOP WITH THE IRON!

What are your temp's like? How much does it change in one day? Are you harvesting it on a regular basis? If you aren't harvesting it A LOT and your temp is fluctuating, this is the probable cause for the going sexual.

Don't add any more phyto to your system for a week or two and if you know anyone in your area with rotifer cultures, add them. They will help bind up all that microalgae. Keep very close tabs on your ammonia!

And no more iron!

Buba

[Theo]

I have a Berlin hang on that works really well for me. Caleurpa can go sexual due to depletion of iron and that is why I occasionaly dose. Temerature is stable at about 82 and stays there very constantly. The plant material did not go sexual, I believe the problem is either the Phyto culter or my Kh. I am dripping kalkwasser and my kh is low and the water is unable to disolve...if this is possible. I did do a 30% water change and this did clear things up quite a bit. If you go to thereefweb.com, people whom I do have a lot of faith in, they do recomend iron additive to avoid the caluerpa going sexual. Thanks for the reply, but just out of curiosity, why would you assume I don't have a skimmer?

[slash7]

This from "The Reef Aquarium" by C. Delbeek and J. Sprung:
"The addition of chelated iron to marine aquariums is beneficial to both plants and photosynthetic invertebrates.....
Additions of iron to reef aquariums achieve a number of qualitative and quantitative effects. For the corals, anemones and other photosynthetic animals, it appears to benefit their photosynthetic partners primarily, and the result is improved colouring, growth and expansion in the host animal. The free-living algae and seaweeds also benefit, and their growth is enhanced by the addition of iron....."

I've been adding iron for over 1 year and have seen no harmful effects whatsoever. Since iron does benefit algaes though, using too much can certainly cause an algae bloom. If you just started using the iron and had this happen, it may be that you are adding too much. You seem to imply that you are dosing daily and this does concern me. As with all "trace" elements, if you decide to use them, use them sparingly. I don't know what caused your caulerpa to go, but IMHO adding SMALL doses of iron is not harming your inhabitants.



[Edited by slash7 on 05-22-2001 at 03:35 AM]

[Theo]

Well thank you very much for that. I'm not dosing daily though its about three times a week. I will take your advice though and pull back a bit. I did a 30% water change and this seems to have cleared things up. My caluerpa did not go sexual and I'm still in the dark as to what happened. As in life, I will wait and see what happens, pull back on the additives and see if that makes a difference. Thanks again for everyones help.

Cheers
Joe