Has My Established Tank Just Re-Cycled?

[woody88]

My tank has been running for just over 3 years but has only been in my possession for the past 4 months, so imo its well established.

I have introduced new 'cured' lr from an on line supplier into my tank and after a few days i have noticed what looks like diatoms all over the new rock [which my cuc are loving by the way] as well as a slight algae bloom which I will be taking care of this weekend [rowaphos in converted skimmer].

Has this rock just thrown my tank into a mini cycle?

I haven't tested the water yet [afraid of the outcome lol] but could this rock have caused this?

I have had cured lr off this supplier before with no probs.

The rock was dispatched and transported to mine within 16hrs and the rock was well packaged in a sealable box with water.

Is my slight algae bloom the result of this or just coincidence as I have had a prob with algae before but managed to get rid of it by increasing my cuc, reducing my lighting period and adding nitrate and phosphate removers.


Can anyone shed any light please?
Anyone

 

[Donya]

Could be that the rock came with some extra silicates or phosphates (particularly phosphates) and that's what the algae is responding to. If the CUC is taking care of it, I would say give it a while and it will probably go back to normal. Testing the water is still a good idea though, since rock that is good quality can easily have animals inside that might die from transport-related stress and cause a spike in something, although it might not be a detectable one if the amount of new rock is pretty small compared to existing rock.

 

[woody88]

Thanks donya, I added around 5kg to my existing 20/25 kg but luckily that's the last of it now.
Like you said it might have been covered in phosphates or it had quite a bit of die off during transportation.
When I said the rock was in water I didn't mean fully submerged some rock was out but soaking wet.

The rock has gone brown and now slowly turning into green hair algae.

 

[woody88]

This algae is definatley growing but only on the rock that I recently added.

I tested for phos and nitrate and I had a reading for both.

trate - 10
phos - 0.25

Not good at all.

I've just re fitted my slighty modified skimmer/filter with a bag of fresh rowaphos so hopefully that will do the trick.

Will do another water change this weekend.

Not sure now if i should actually bother running a skimmer as at the moment my only form of mechanical filtration is filter sponge which has'nt really collected anything tbh [my new skimmer arrives on tue] + sorgan and happy george run skimmer less and have good readings.

 

[seffieuk]

sorgan and happy george run skimmer less and have good readings.

As do I, but I am fairly lightly stocked and Sorgan wants nutrients in his tank for his filter feeders

Seffie x

 

[sorgan]

aye mate i run a totally differnet kind of set up than yours and i am actually promoting crappy water quality, please do not follow my example in an average tank as it will not go well.

 

[Uriel]

I thought you ran mce 600 on your tank seffie.

 

[seffieuk]

I thought you ran mce 600 on your tank seffie.

I do have an mce 600, but have not run it in some months, probably at least six - I lost my euphyllias to brown jelly and whilst removing and cleaning up I turned the skimmer off and forgot to turn it back on, a week later I noticed and thought, as I am low stocked would see what difference it makes running skimmerless. And now I'm thinking about putting some azooxs in, so .......


Seffie x

 

[woody88]

Ok, MY new skimmer arrived first thing this morning along with a large tub of phosban, which i wont use just yet as I only added rowaphos a couple of days ago in my old skimmer, I have now removed the flow regulating valve from the old one also and used the sponge from the outlet of the new skimmer and have placed it around the old one.

But I think I may have found the source of my problem. When I put the new skimmer in, I noticed a piece of sponge below [don't know why i never spotted it before] and as it was clogged up with crap I decided to pull it out and have a look.

The sponge is bl00dy huge [around 12" long] and was absolutley plastered in crap [the smell has made my nose drop off! lol!]

Unfortunatley tho as it was disturbed while i was removing it, some of the crap has got into the water so the tank is now slightly cloudy.

Could this have been contributing to my problems [Nitrate farm]?

25% wc tommorow!

 

[woody88]

I hope your not eating!....

I bet my nitrates are sky high at the mo after this was pulled out!

At least its clearing!....Slowly!..

My green hair algae is increasing....Panic, panic!

 

[sorgan]

YUMMY! I love the way the brown stuff has been spread out, very artistic.

 

[woody88]

YUMMY! I love the way the brown stuff has been spread out, very artistic.

Yeah! picasso, eat your heart out! lol

My tank is a right mess now, all the rock is covered in crap, as well as green hair algae.

When I do my change tommorow i'm gonna shove the powerhead on the rock at point blank range to blow it all off.

Might do a 50% change i think, over 2 days just to help freshen it up and then test over the following days for any naughties!

I am getting worried tho about it tbh

 

[HappyGeorge]

You should see the FX5 on my Malawi tank when I clean that out, I use it to water the garden, fresh water full of Nitrates..........lovely. Even with the stir up from that when I switch the thing back on and it blows the pipes out it still doesn't effect the nitrates. If I were you I would keep the powerheads moved about to make sure none of it settles, keep it in the water column and it will filter out, maybe some floss over the intake vent might help lift more out?

 

[woody88]

Thanks HG I might try that.

I've just done a 25% wc and have the tank a good clean aswell as replace the media so hopefully after the next change in a couple of days time I should be back on track.

I'm hoping the clean up will sort out my outbreak of algae along with the fresh rowaphos.

Patience now I think like donya suggested.