algae issue

[jjakes24]

I want to see someone else take on this situation. My tank recently had become overran with red slime and bubble algae. When I noticed this problem coming on, I initiated some large water changes hoping this would reverse or halt it. Well, to my surprise, it just exploded after this. Saying it was horrible was an understatement. In trying to figure this out, I tested my RO/DI water and found it to be 8 TDS. Which is fine knowing my tap tests around 360 TDS. Then I tested for phosphate, I found 0 in the RO water and 0 in the tank water. I then broke down and created 30 gallons of water. I drained five into a bucket and proceeded to pull each rock out one by one to pull all the bubbles off and scrub the rock of algae with a tooth brush where I could. You couldn't imagine how dirty the water looked in this bucket. After each rock was done, I put them into the bin with the freshly made water which was matched with temp, salinity, etc. I then drained the main tank out some while trying to vacuum out the very top layer of sand to get all the junk out while trying not to disturb it too much. I finally got everything back in the tank and it almost looks normal again. Problem is, I think it might be coming back and I can;t figure out why. In the sump, I have sand, some rocke, chaeto and the protein skimmer. I also have two sponges which I regularly clean. I just started running some carbon in as well after I cleaned all the rocks to see if that would help.

Tank is 55 gal with a 20 gal sump w/ chaeto.

about 65lbs rock

My tests on the current water are:
temp 80 degrees
PH 8.2
Alk/Dh 6.8 (A little low)
Calcium 380
phos 0
nitrates 0
nitrites 0
ammonia 0

My lighting is two 10k T-5's and two acentic VHO. the T-5 bulbs are fairly new, maybe 4 months? VHO's are over a year, but can old acintic bulbs be contributing to this problem? I am running out of ideas why this might be happening?

And my livestock includes: 1 baby yellow tang, 2 clown fish, RBTA, cleaner shrimp, 10-15 snails, 20 or so hermits, Mandeiran goby, some xenia, some polyps, and a finger leather.

 

[jjakes24]

I want to add this in too, just to cover all corners. Flow is a mag 7 return, about 3 feet from the sump into a Y adapter which pushes water to left and right from the center of tank. There are also two 401 powerheads running.

 

[jjakes24]

here is a current pic. Quality is not that good since it was taken with my phone but it was all I had on me.

You can see the anenome and the clowns. Since then the anenome has expanded out and looks great. You can see the brown algae. All the stuff on the back is coralline algae that I never scrapped off. You can see some of the polyps on the right

 

[demonsp]

I dont see any red slime. But assuming you do use RO/DI water and the filters are changed out regularly and test kits work properly then more cross flow would be a good start. It could have showed from 1 bad batch of water.
How often do you change the water and how much.
This problem has been around and broke out whene conditions where right.

 

[jjakes24]

This picture was taken after the massive cleanup. There is little red slime now but green hair algae too which you can see on the rocks to the right crowding the polyps. I have recently started changing the water every two weeks, about 15 gallons each time. I'll try more of a cross flow and move my powerheads. Any word if they VHO lights, which are over a year old could be causing a problem? I only use them for acentics though.

 

[jjakes24]

Oh, I have had some massive die off with my snails too. But, this could be the accident I had when acclimating them. I bought about 10 of them about 4 weeks ago hoping they would help some and when floating them, my tank water got in the bag somehow and sunk it to the bottom before I could notice. So I had no choice but to drop them in. I have about maybe 8-10 snails left.

 

[sanclementereef]

I'm having the same problem with green hair algae all over my rocks. I will be watching this thread to see if I can cure mine. I was going to take out my rocks like you and try to clean them. A toothbrush works to clean the rocks?

 

[BrokeColoReefer]

I would look at Alk and salinity.. when i keep both high (alk 10.8+ , salinty 1.025 or better) i have very very few problems. I think the cynobacterias like low flow areas that are nutrient rich.. so that might be part of the problem too.

So if it where me, i would get good flow to the bottom of the tank
feed no more then once a day
get my ALK way up
make sure my salinity is stable at 1.025 or better.

Are you running a skimmer?

Good luck!

 

[jjakes24]

In the process of getting my ALK up right now. I'm adding part 1 of ESV B-Ionic Calcium Buffer to try and raise it slowly each day. my salinity is at 1.024 so that is probably high enough but I could raise it a bit on next water change if you think that will help.
And for flow, I have found my red slime grow even in high flow areas. I would have my return blow directly on rocks with great force and still find red slime.
I do run a skimmer and have been trying to run it wet these past couple of days.

As for the toothbrush, it helped get rid of the red slime, but as you can see, I have green hair also. I am hoping whats left of the green hair will be taken care of by my hermits, snails, and or tang.

 

[jjakes24]

Another note, I have only been feeding every other day too, at small amounts. I have a ton of pods from the tank that make it into the fuge, so I don't think skipping a day here and there will affect much for their diet.

 

[seapug]

I dealt with this last summer. It was also accompanied by a massive RTN incident with all my acros. Quite a joy. I battled it with everything I could possibly think of for months. Just when I was on the verge of breaking down the tank and starting over, it suddenly disappeared.

Bubble algae just happens. Once you get "infected" it can spread out of control very quickly depsite all efforts to maintain a clean system, but it's still not as bad as bryopsis or derbesia. It looks like a lot of your coralline algae on the back walls has died-- probably an alkalinity issue.

It seems your initial "knockdown" worked quite well. Gaining the upper hand is an important first step. Try doing a Kalk drip at night. I found that to be very helpful in keeping slime in check. Something about elevated pH seems to keep it under control.

Also look into getting a PhosBan Reactor. They are pretty cheap and easy to set up and are excellent for running PhosBan, Purigen, or Carbon to remove nutrients that fuel these outbreaks. Don't give up!

 

[flyguy7150]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11097086#post11097086 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by seapug
I dealt with this last summer. It was also accompanied by a massive RTN incident with all my acros. Quite a joy. I battled it with everything I could possibly think of for months. Just when I was on the verge of breaking down the tank and starting over, it suddenly disappeared.

Bubble algae just happens. Once you get "infected" it can spread out of control very quickly depsite all efforts to maintain a clean system, but it's still not as bad as bryopsis or derbesia. It looks like a lot of your coralline algae on the back walls has died-- probably an alkalinity issue.

It seems your initial "knockdown" worked quite well. Gaining the upper hand is an important first step. Try doing a Kalk drip at night. I found that to be very helpful in keeping slime in check. Something about elevated pH seems to keep it under control.

Also look into getting a PhosBan Reactor. They are pretty cheap and easy to set up and are excellent for running PhosBan, Purigen, or Carbon to remove nutrients that fuel these outbreaks. Don't give up!

Yea try dripping kalk, i'm like 90% sure thats what cleared my cyano/hair problems.

 

[jjakes24]

I was actually going to get a phosban reactor today. Read a lot about them. Once thing that frustrates me is that 0 always shows up for nitrates and phosphates on the test. But how is that true with all my problems? I just scraped a bunch of algae too off the glass again. What should I do with the dead coralline, leave it or scrap it off? And if I do have to scrap it, is there any easy way?
whats RTN?
Anyway, How would I go about dripping kalk? Is that added to my freshwater top off? I could probably search it but I'll be lazy for a sec and see if you guys can give me a quick answer

 

[jjakes24]

bump

 

[whosinpower]

From what I have read, your phosphates and nitrates will read 0 because the algae is using it up before you get a reading.

If you have hair algae - you have nitrates and phosphates. Course, I am just a beginner - so take what I say with a big grain of salt!

If it was my tank (and keep in mind I know very little), I'd start a more aggressive regimen of reducing nutrients in your tank. Feed less. Change water more. Get a phosban reactor. Reduce your light period.

I'm sure other experts will chime in with info.

 

[gsxunv04]

im fairly new to RC and can someone please explain 'bump' ?

second how would you do a kalk drip? is this kalkwasser/limewater or what? also do you need a doser or pump or what equp. is needed to drip kalk. i daily add 2 part a&b calc/alk buffer, does this not do the same thing

 

[jjakes24]

bump is just to get it to the top so people see the problem again. Good question on the kalk, I'm not sure. I am going to get a phosban reactor today. The only other answer I am looking for is if I have to replace my acentics because they are a year old. Can acentics be fueling algae also?