bacteria bloom and wanted: UV sterilizer

A

adikira

New member
I've had a bacterial bloom (I guess) for several days now. It happened right after I switched from vodka dosing to sugar dosing - maybe I added too much? I didn't get the boom when I started vodka though.

I was reading that the bacterial bloom due to carbon dosing will clear in a couple of days but it didn't. I setup a canister filter (that I won at MACI last Sunday) but made little difference. I got a bottle of ... something, bacterial based that's supposed clear the water but didn't work. I'm thinking that I should try a UV sterilizer. Do you have any other suggestions?

Also, anybody has a UV sterilizer for sale? I live on the north side of Chicago.
 
Remember nothing happens over night. The biggest thing you can do is wait it out give it some time before you keep changing things sometimes these changes can take over 6weeks! What are your params and lighting sched as well pictures of your bloom!
 
Decrease your carbon dosing by half. Make sure u have a good skimmer if you are carbon dosing because the skimmer is what removes excess bacteria. I heard some corals eat them too
 
Navycook2 said:
Remember nothing happens over night. The biggest thing you can do is wait it out give it some time before you keep changing things sometimes these changes can take over 6weeks! What are your params and lighting sched as well pictures of your bloom!
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I could hardly see the fish if they were half way in the tank (it's a 2 feet wide tank). now it's a little better.

nitrates over 50 ppm (I know it's high, that's why I was dosing in the first place) - no corals yet though. I only have it setup for about 4-5 mo.

I had some traces of nitrites. Phosphates 0.02.
 
ColaAddict said:
Decrease your carbon dosing by half. Make sure u have a good skimmer if you are carbon dosing because the skimmer is what removes excess bacteria. I heard some corals eat them too
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Thanks, I've read about cutting the doing by half and did that first but since it didn't go away after a couple of days as I read then I stopped dosing altogether.

My skimmer is currently off because the flow is low and the water in my overflow is raising (I changed my setup so that water doesn't fill up my overflow but it's almost empty and I built an algae scrubber on the sides of the waterflow - I have a big waterflow 24x12x30 inch). I didn't have time to get it out to clean it (it's hard to get it out, there are several other pieces I need to get out first) but I hope I'll get to do that this weekend
 
Navycook2 said:
water change!!! what are the rest of your params?
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ph 7.97, salinity 29.6 ppt, ORP 485, temp 80.7 (since I have LEDs I didn't think I need a chiller but for the last 3 days my temp went up), ammonia has been 0 for quite a while, alkalinity is pretty good, high. calcium is low (I don't remember the last reading, i don't have the file with record with me), iodine is ok too, magnesium I don't know (I dont' have a test) - however since I don't have corals (yes, I know that much: no corals now, I got a $150 purple LTA which died) calcium & magnesium shouldn't be a big concern. I think I mentioned nitrate 54 ppm, phosphate 0.01.

I setup an automatic water change but my low water sensor is not working right so I need to take every thing apart and replace it... Maybe I should just do a plain old manual water change instead? I've never done that:) I'll have to find a big container... (I have a 187 gal tank + 52 gal. sump).
 
Here's my $0.02
You need to get your skimmer going ASAP. Other than WC's it's the best way to reduce nutrients in your tank. I'm not surprised that you have a bacterial bloom with sugar and didn't have one with vodka. The bacterial bloom means it is working. Most people don't realize it but bacteria is not all the same. Tanks have different strains of bacteria in them. That's why you here some people say that biopellets are great and others say they didn't do a thing. Some people just don't have the right bacteria in their tanks. Carbon dosing is not all the same and each type of carbon has it's own unique strain of bacteria that feed on it. It's possible that your tank didn't have the right bacteria to feed off vodka but it did have a strain that feeds off sugar. Maybe that's why you had a bloom with sugar and not with vodka. I just read an article about a guy who runs biopellets and doses vodka, vinegar and vitamen C because all 4 carbon sources utilize different bacterial.

I wouldn't wory about a UV filter. The bloom will run it's course. You really need your skimmer running, did I mention that already...? As far as water changes go, yep, they're your best bet to reduce the nitrates quickly. Realistically your other param's are irrelevant since you don't have any coral. I only test N03, PO4, temp and Sg in my fowlr. Your temp is fine too. The average ocean reef runs around 83-84 degrees so your 80.7 isn't going to harm anything. You might want to add a clip-on fan to keep it a little cooler on hot days but you shouldn't need a chiller with LED's.
 
EricTheRed said:
Here's my $0.02
You need to get your skimmer going ASAP. Other than WC's it's the best way to reduce nutrients in your tank. I'm not surprised that you have a bacterial bloom with sugar and didn't have one with vodka. The bacterial bloom means it is working. Most people don't realize it but bacteria is not all the same. Tanks have different strains of bacteria in them. That's why you here some people say that biopellets are great and others say they didn't do a thing. Some people just don't have the right bacteria in their tanks. Carbon dosing is not all the same and each type of carbon has it's own unique strain of bacteria that feed on it. It's possible that your tank didn't have the right bacteria to feed off vodka but it did have a strain that feeds off sugar. Maybe that's why you had a bloom with sugar and not with vodka. I just read an article about a guy who runs biopellets and doses vodka, vinegar and vitamen C because all 4 carbon sources utilize different bacterial.

I wouldn't wory about a UV filter. The bloom will run it's course. You really need your skimmer running, did I mention that already...? As far as water changes go, yep, they're your best bet to reduce the nitrates quickly. Realistically your other param's are irrelevant since you don't have any coral. I only test N03, PO4, temp and Sg in my fowlr. Your temp is fine too. The average ocean reef runs around 83-84 degrees so your 80.7 isn't going to harm anything. You might want to add a clip-on fan to keep it a little cooler on hot days but you shouldn't need a chiller with LED's.
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Thanks, it's worth more than $0.02 :).

From sources outside the aquarium world my knowledge is that sugar is first transformed in alcohol by some bacteria and at that point strains that are compatible with vodka kick in. But ... who knows:) If sugar it's working ... that's great... I just need to get over this bloom bump.

I just finished cleaning my aquarium and sump (I sue the magnum 350 similar to a vacuum clenaer) and found lots of dirt which would be sources nitrates and now I got a dirt "bloom".... hopefully it will clear soon. I don't have salt ready... I'll have to get soon to do water change.
 
she meant to write "without" not "with" but basically, she's saying you shouldn't carbon dose without a good skimmer.
 
Oops, that was pretty late... CA is correct. I've seen really bad things happen (total tank crash) when dosing a carbon source withOUT nutrient export. I'm not sure your reason for dosing in a FO tank. Is it just to lessen water changes?
 
Pufferpunk said:
Oops, that was pretty late... CA is correct. I've seen really bad things happen (total tank crash) when dosing a carbon source withOUT nutrient export. I'm not sure your reason for dosing in a FO tank. Is it just to lessen water changes?
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I run biopellets and GFO in my FOWLR becasue I keep adding softies to see what my "non-reef-safe" fish won't eat :)

So far I have 3 types of mushrroms, xenia, GSP and some yellow polyps. I wonder at what point do I stop calling it a FOWLR and start calling it a softie tank with lots of non-reef-safe fish :lol:
 
Pufferpunk said:
Oops, that was pretty late... CA is correct. I've seen really bad things happen (total tank crash) when dosing a carbon source withOUT nutrient export. I'm not sure your reason for dosing in a FO tank. Is it just to lessen water changes?
Click to expand...

Primarily lower nitrates but that's related to the water change too. I would like to start adding corals when I get the nitrates under control.
 
EricTheRed said:
I run biopellets and GFO in my FOWLR becasue I keep adding softies to see what my "non-reef-safe" fish won't eat :)

So far I have 3 types of mushrroms, xenia, GSP and some yellow polyps. I wonder at what point do I stop calling it a FOWLR and start calling it a softie tank with lots of non-reef-safe fish :lol:
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interesting experiment:)
 
EricTheRed said:
I run biopellets and GFO in my FOWLR becasue I keep adding softies to see what my "non-reef-safe" fish won't eat :)

So far I have 3 types of mushrroms, xenia, GSP and some yellow polyps. I wonder at what point do I stop calling it a FOWLR and start calling it a softie tank with lots of non-reef-safe fish :lol:
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Xenia were eaten today. I haven't added any new fish in several weeks but I'm assuming that one of my butterflies did it. They're the newest fish and seem to be getting bolder. I did add a piece of orange monti cap yesterday and the butterflies picked at it for a few hours but seem to be leaving it alone today ;)
 
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