I want to throw my reeftank away.........

[investigator1]

Look at it. It is a piece of sea crap!

Here is what I did to combat what is happening:

1) Lowered salinity
1a) Stopped using Catalina water and now make my own!
2) Purchased new lightbulbs in case the old one went bad
3) Bought a letttuce nudibranch
4) Left lights off for 24 hours
5) Bought a big old snail to eat the algae
6) Busted out my huge new skimmer to eliminate the bad stuff from the water.

WTF! All my tank will die if it does not get better! There is nothing I can take out to scrub.

 

[Anonymous]

Yikes. Rip out as much as you can by hand, and maybe do some large water changes. Do you know what caused this?

 

[brandon4291]

Investigator I am sooo sorry. My reefbowl is looking like this, only its over-ran with the red algae you have on the sandbed. It is easily removed at every water change, but I too am thinking of starting it over because the whole point is to have a nano with maintenance that is simpler than a standard tank.

These outbreaks are first and foremost a function of built-up nutrients. In my case, the heat shock two months ago has caused die-offs in the sandbed and in the microfauna. This combined with a little laziness on my part (too long in between wchanges) has made the sandbed and bowl eutrophic (algae producing) and it is very very hard to reset, without starting over.

Just like Matt said I would change water weekly, stop or almost reduce feeding, then Id remove fish for awhile and wait for the algae to starve which will take between 1-2 months in this condition. Its pain, and I agree its almost easier to start over. Ill post a pic of my RB when I get around to cleaning it later so you won't feel so bad, I have a red algae forest that is overtaking my SPS

When its redone, remember export export export or go much lighter on the fish and feeding regimen--our only hope for long term success.

Sorry again man,

B

 

[tinyreef]

actually, the corals look ok. they're out and not terribly shrunken or anything.

imo it looks like your nutrient levels are just too high (i.e. too much food or crappie). how's your current flow?

like matt says pull out as much as you have by hand. that will definitely help as that exports directly.

edit: brandon types faster than me. :wink:

 

[UnderGrad]

You might want to consider keeping your sun corals in a larger/different tank. With them gone you can reduce the nutrient load you have to dump into your tank to feed them. Just a thought... HTH.

-AM-

 

[investigator1]

I agree about the fish and the suncoral. I can directly relate this problem to the coral.

With that in mind.......anyone want to buy a suncoral or pseudochromis?

I am willing to trade as well.

 

[adinsxq]

...export export export...

usually i'd make fun of you accoustic, but this one is oooooowwwww. i'm betting on all the foods and poopies but just for kicks, did you test your 'fresh' catalina and whatever you're using to top-off? be careful about throwing the new-bulb-salt-sg combo at the tank all at once... the coralies already look a bit frazzled.

good luck

 

[usafresq1]

Have you tried a lawnmower blenny or a crab ummm... think its an emerald crab that eats the alage... someone else would know better than I

Keep the faith man, hang in there!!!

 

[investigator1]

Ok...My Sally Light foot crab died while I was on a short 2 day vacation. Anyhow, my skimmer is doing exceptionally well. As you can see I am missing a large purple rock. I bought it and killed it because I'm stupid and thought my water parameters were fine. All in all I think it's getting better.

 

[usafresq1]

perhaps try another sally lightfoot and when you do your water changes suck up that cyano bacteria. I will put more research into it but I think cyano develops from too much phosphate along with your algae growth. But I am completely not certain, I do know cyano is the hardest thing to over come when it comes to infestations like that. So just be patient do alot of water changes and keep plugging along. Remember this hobby is about patience and intelligence. You've identified the problem now we gotta figure out a way to beat it. I am by far not a goru at this hobby but I like to learn alot from every expierence. Keep the faith man, don't give up such a wonderful hobby.

~Kevin

 

[Anonymous]

The one small upside to cyanobacteria is that it's easy to remove...a little airline tubing is all you need to vacuum it up. All I can suggest is what I said before: manual removal with some large water changes...just make sure your water is nicely aged, and the exact same temp and SG.

I wish you the best of luck, investigator. I, along with others, really admire your tank and hope this event doesn't make you quit.

 

[UnderGrad]

Looking much better from your last pic. Keep it up!

-AM-

 

[iomegas_reef]

Get a good UV sterilizer if you dont already have one. All my algae and bacteria problems went away as soon as I got one.

 

[wetworx101]

A UV sterilizer??? Thats a little much, besides, it will only kill the algae suspended in the water...not to mention the good stuff as well. UV's are a thing of the past to me, along with wet/dry filters and skimmers. It doesnt solve the problem of there being to much nutrients. Personally, I would just give the stuff some competition, either with a fuge or with some in the tank, some fast growing macro could suck up all the extra nitrate and phosphates floating around. To prevent it from going sexual if used in a main tank use a grassilaria like species...otherwise your tank could turn to soup overnight if some sea-grape decided to go sexual overnight (the dusk/dawn thing triggers it). The other way to prevent this is to grow it in a fuge with 24/7 lighting.

 

[investigator1]

In my picture you can see my algae in the right back side of the tank. I do not think skimmers are a thing of the past. My skimmer has pulled out soooooooooooo much mucky brown crap in the past week. Also, since I put in the skimmer my tank has started to clear up!

 

[iomegas_reef]

A UV sterilizer??? Thats a little much, besides, it will only kill the algae suspended in the water...not to mention the good stuff as well. UV's are a thing of the past to me, along with wet/dry filters and skimmers. It doesnt solve the problem of there being to much nutrients. Personally, I would just give the stuff some competition, either with a fuge or with some in the tank, some fast growing macro could suck up all the extra nitrate and phosphates floating around. To prevent it from going sexual if used in a main tank use a grassilaria like species...otherwise your tank could turn to soup overnight if some sea-grape decided to go sexual overnight (the dusk/dawn thing triggers it). The other way to prevent this is to grow it in a fuge with 24/7 lighting.

They do more than you could imagine. As I said before, all my problems went away as soon as I got a good UV sterilizer. A professor at the local marine center said it would be a great addition to my tank, and guess what?It was. Its been in there for a year now and had made my tank spectacular.

 

[iomegas_reef]

In my picture you can see my algae in the right back side of the tank. I do not think skimmers are a thing of the past. My skimmer has pulled out soooooooooooo much mucky brown crap in the past week. Also, since I put in the skimmer my tank has started to clear up!

Hell yeah!Wetworks doesnt know what he/she is talking about when it comes to uv's and skimmers being a part of the past. It may work in his tank but around here I need my skimmer and uv sterilizer.

 

[mehdirah]

What is your water phosphate level ? If measurable it is too high and you can do a few big water changes. But it can also be null while you still have phophorus in water: it can be organic in water, producing slowly phosphates immediately fixed by the algae, so, there is nothing to measure. So, you can try water change, activated carbon and skimming, skimming, skimming.

You can also have phosphorus in your sand, that algae can use by contact (no life in your sand and organic matter accumulating ?). So, I would recommend to siphon out parts of your sand, wash it or replace it. Do it small portion by small portion to allow the life present in your sand bed to recolonize cleaned areas.

And of course, siphon as much as algae as you can, algae itself if a huge phosphate reservoir.

In all my aquariums, I also keep a diadema ursin. I know the big debate about them being bulldozer eating coraline algae, but I can say that they never caused any trouble and will control filamentous algae growth. And as the algae is consumed, put in ursin excrements, it becomes skimmable matter, so the physical eliminattion of nutriments became possible.

I would add that those algae seems to hate high currents. In my 80 gallon, I have two power heads of 1050 gallons/hour each at max flow rate, so a max rate of 25 times the water volume per hour (not contant of course).