5 months algae

pyton

pyton

New member
After 5 years I started over.
Something with the tank has always been off and I never knew what it was until after to took the tank down. So I decided to get back in but using a glass tank.

It has been 5 months and their have been issues along the way.

I killed all the live rock due to an algae issue I was having and it was just spreading. So I chipped off all the super glue epoxy and soaked in fresh water for a week. Then I baked the rock in the oven. Pressure washed it.

I added rock
I filled with RO/DI water
Mixed salt in tank
Added bacteria
Added mollies (16)
After three weeks had 10 left
Added pods and Plankton
Added a piece of two clowns and a yellow tang.
a few days later saw ich on the clowns and mollies
Local shop gave me something for the ich but it did not help and was too expensive to keep treating.
Before I could get the fish out Clowns died and 7 of the mollies went back to store. Could never catch Yellow tang.
Over a week I changed out 40% of the water, I was told my PO4 were high. Since I have Marco rock new and old) we thought it could be leeching from that. So we have been using PO4 remover and a carbon reactor.

I have let the tank sit like this for the last 3 months. Dosing the PO4 remover once a week. Just a yellow tang, 3 shrimp, 20 snails and two tux urchins. I added the shrimp, snails and urchins to help keep the tank clean.

My skimmer has been going NUTS for the last three months. DARK green skimmate. I quit dosing the PO4 remover and removed the carbon reactor two weeks ago. Honestly I have never seen this skimmer pull so much out of the tank even when it was fully stocked.

Now here is my issue, I still have green algae and the one SPS coral is turning brown.

No water changes since the last 40% over a week.

Total volume is about 400 gallons

Here is a video of the algae that I have.
http://youtu.be/Xk3e7gYYVxw


How do I get rid of this? Will tangs take care of this or is there something else I can naturally put in to take care of this?
Thanks for your help
 
I think you have a nutrient problem and you need to fix it quick, if you have a sump I would suggest looking into a device that utilizes pest algae growth in a controlled way to eliminate Nitrates and Phosphates by encouraging this algae to grow in scrubber and thus not in your tank, the thing I am talking about is an Algae Turf Scrubber see my build thread here to give you some idea:

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2261943

Scrubber Basics Tutorial:

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1977420
 
Do you have test kits? Really vital in my opinion, so you know what is actually going on in your tank, and to learn how actions you take can affect it.
 
I do have test kits but they do not help me as I am color blind. I have to rely on what people tell me.

I don't understand a nutrient when I have not had anything in this tank long enough and I never feed.

Will water changes help or will that just prolong the problem that will come back?
 
You can have organic "DIE OFF" from your Liverock if it is not cured, causing a mini spike or in your case a major spike since you have hair algae growing everywhere or it maybe your water source, are you using RO/DI Water or tap water to fill your tank?

Whatever the source of your nutrients fact is you do have a nutrient problem in the name of nitrates and phosphates! No amount of water changes will have long term effects on these nutrient levels. You need to have some kind of nutrient export!

What skimmer / reactors do you have on this 400 G system?
 
If you have PO4 issues but are color blind you could pick up a Hanna phosphate checker that will give you a digital reading. They aren't expensive and it will help you get a handle on the PO4. You mentioned that you have a reactor, but were running carbon only in it? Carbon will remove impurities but you need to run GFO in it to remove phosphate.

If you have good test kits you can perform the tests, take a picture of the results next to the card, and post it up. We'll gladly read them for you whenever you'd like to test. :)
 
blackwidow said:
You can have organic "DIE OFF" from your Liverock if it is not cured, causing a mini spike or in your case a major spike since you have hair algae growing everywhere or it maybe your water source, are you using RO/DI Water or tap water to fill your tank?

Whatever the source of your nutrients fact is you do have a nutrient problem in the name of nitrates and phosphates! No amount of water changes will have long term effects on these nutrient levels. You need to have some kind of nutrient export!

What skimmer / reactors do you have on this 400 G system?
Click to expand...

I was using PO4 remover
Running Avast Marine 16 cup Carbon reactor
Trigger System Titan Skimmer rated for 450g heavy bio load.

I have two RO/DI units, one for ATO and one for mixing. Also I changed all filters and membranes last month as a just in case. I have a inline (in and out) TDS meter on both. TDS in is 95 to 103 and out is 0 on both units.

So what is the best, fastest and safest way to get this out of my system?
 
The algae is being fueled by the Marco rock, it is common with dry terrestrial based rock. I see you baked it, what were you trying to accomplish by baking it?

Rock mined from the ground typically has po4 bound to the outer layers of the rock, you will eventually get it all out with GFO but it will take a long time and a lot of GFO. There are a couple of other methods that works very well. An acid bath is by far the easiest way to remove the po4 laden outer layers of the rock. You can also use Lanthanum Chloride, which also works great but takes a lot longer than the acid.

Here is a good thread on how to do an acid bath...
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1914426

Here is one on Lanthanum Chloride...
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2145395

Most of us with Marco, BRS or other mined dry rock have had to deal with this. The rock is fantastic once you remove the po4 that is feeding the algae.
 
I started Vodka dosing as the PO4 remover was getting so expensive. It is efficient but will pretty much double your skim. I brought my phosphates down from 6 to .25 in about 3 months. I was re-using rock as well from a previous build.

I would say not to waste the GFO until you get the phosphates down to a level that it can keep it in check. Just my opinion on that one. The size tank you have would take a lot of "rust" to reduce the levels IMO.

Stay away from Caulerpa in the sump if you do start using a macroalgae to help. Chaetomorpha would seem to be the best to provide nutrient control without the possibility of infesting the tank.

Good luck.
 
blackwidow said:
What are your latest nutrient levels?

PO4 ? NO3 ?
Click to expand...

Paid a local tank service company to come test this morning and this is what he gave me. He used Salifert and RedSea test kits, two test per reading. Both were exactly the same. He is still testing ALK MG and CA but for what we are after here you go

PO4 - 0 to 0.03 Not clear on the chart but can still see 0.03
NO2 - < 0.01
NO3 - 2
NH4 - < 0.25

I did read the post about Marco Rock and using Lanthanum Chloride. The longest dated one said to use SeaKlear PO4 remover so I was doing that using a 10 micron sock as described. Wife works at local hospital so we used medical grade.
 
sirreal63 said:
The algae is being fueled by the Marco rock, it is common with dry terrestrial based rock. I see you baked it, what were you trying to accomplish by baking it?

Rock mined from the ground typically has po4 bound to the outer layers of the rock, you will eventually get it all out with GFO but it will take a long time and a lot of GFO. There are a couple of other methods that works very well. An acid bath is by far the easiest way to remove the po4 laden outer layers of the rock. You can also use Lanthanum Chloride, which also works great but takes a lot longer than the acid.

Here is a good thread on how to do an acid bath...
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1914426

Here is one on Lanthanum Chloride...
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2145395

Most of us with Marco, BRS or other mined dry rock have had to deal with this. The rock is fantastic once you remove the po4 that is feeding the algae.
Click to expand...

Thanks Jack,

I was going to get out of the hobby, so I baked the rock just trying to kill everything off. Seems around here no one cares if they have Acro Eating Flat worms, red bugs, and other pests that tend to take over a SPS tank. I have only been in the hobby about 5 years now so I did not know better when it came to trading and such. Over the last few years I have been watching everyone crash their tank over and over from trying to treat for all these pests.

A friend gave me a dream tank that he bought and never set up. I was out of the hobby for a total of 3 weeks....

Well it looks like my ALK CA and Mag are all out of whack! After reading some more I guess this happens from the PO4 remover dropping the ALK too low.

10% water change and turning on my CA reactor with NeoMag. Thanks for your time and thoughts. Hopefully I get this under control before I give up and go to fresh water... (ha ha)
 
Well never got the CA reactor online but I dripped ALK for 12 hours yesterday, dropped the temp to 76.8 and dripped Mag for 12 hours today. Now I get the following readings

Alk 9.8
Mag 1450
CA 480
PO4 - 0 to 0.03
NO2 - < 0.01
NO3 - 2
NH4 - < 0.25

Took out the filter socks and ran them through a bleach bath today, double rinse and soaking in Vinegar now. I will rinse them one more time and let them air dry for a day before putting back in place.

I will try and post a video in a week so you can see the progress.

Thank you everyone for your help
 
That looks good. Refuse to surrender, virtually everyone in this hobby has had to deal with issues, it is how we handle it and overcome it that matters. Giving up is not an option because everything has a solution. If you have enough demand for the calcium reactor it really keeps the parameters on track. If you don't then dripping kalk is a great way to keep things rock solid. I am back to dripping kalk for a little while, a simple peristaltic pump set to my daily evap rate has kept the parameters perfect.
 
Thanks!

So far since there is nothing in the tank I am not going to hook up the CA reactor just yet. However once some stock goes in I will add it to the system.

For now keep the cycling going and a clean up crew. Would like another month or two of the cycling. Go slow and let it pay.....

Thanks Again
 
After weekly water changes I still has same problem. Added more snails of each kind and they are eating most of it but it is still growing.
Added Bio-Pellets last week and from what I am reading it takes a couple weeks for them to start working....? Is that correct understanding of it?

Cut my LED lights down to 60% for 8 hours a day.
This weekend I am leaving them off for four days.

Still no readings of the PO4, NO2, NO3, NH4

I just dont get it and honestly I am about to take it all out and bleach / acid bath the rock. Never has an issue like this before.

Before I go to this extreme is there anything else I should look at?
 
sounds like you are on the right track. manual removal of GHA is a pain but will help you get over this coupled with large or frequent water changes
 
Like I said I never had this issue before so I would rather not buy an algae scrubber. I will give it a few more weeks and see what happens.

I guess I am looking for anyone that is seeing something I am missing.
 
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