Algae every where

[allahs_camel]

So I went away for about 2 months, and yesterday was my first day back home. Had my parents take care of the tank and now it's in shambles. They used well water instead of ro to do water changes... My rocks are all covered with a green coating, and luckily my sea hare was eating the hair algae off the rocks. My whole tank is filled with algae, and the tank looks terrible. Should I slowly start reintroducing ro water or just do a 50% change today and then 50% next week? Has this ever happened to anyone else? Luckily none of my fish died, but one of my zoa colonies is almost gone, it has 2 closed heads that hopefully survive. Any other tips or suggestions? thanks everyone

 

[Bogue Chitto]

You could probably do a water change and cut back on the lights some to get it back into check.

 

[scubadan206]

If you only have a few corals that seem to be OK for the most part, then do lights out. Start with three days and see how that effects the green stuff. If it has a large positive effect stick with that for a few rounds. The algae die-off should release large amounts of nutrients back into the water. If it's a larger tank your nitrates might spike into the 100's. If it has little effect, then you can do up to a week or maybe two with lights out. That should really knock it out.
After each darkness period do as large a water change as possible. With well water, you will probably have large amounts of semi-toxic metals, and other nasties that you will want to remove as efficiently/completely as possible. The algae has been soaking up the bad stuff for you. When it dies you don't want that concentration free in your water column.
If you're worried about the corals being deprived of light, then move any of them that are mobile to a separate tank. put the lights on that one and provide a little water movement for oxygen exchange.
Good luck whatever you do.
Daniel.:wavehand:

 

[Dkuhlmann]

If its GHA drop a handful of turbo snails in, they love GHA and eat tons of it rather quickly

 

[allahs_camel]

just moved em into the frag tank. gonna cut off the lights for a few days and hopefully it works. thanks man

 

[krzyphsygy]

As old as I get in this hobby, I sometimes have to remind my self that water changes cure all.
I would do a 50 percent change with rodi, then a day or two later another 50 percent. Then start 20 percent changes weekly until its gone. Run gfo. If corals are brown to begin with, no lights out. I have done this only to turn my corals brown. Water changes with correct ridi will fix the issue. Just stay vigilant.