Chiselin time!

[bonerfortuna]

Im disappointed with CeeGees report. I just got some of the polyp labs stuff and was planning out my attack. I have been using TechM with some limited success but wanted to go another direction. I have turbos with hair algae growing on them! I think the are pretty useless. The only thing that I can positively endorse is the laborous trimming in the tank. I have been using a drill driven inline pump siphoning as much as I can every few days into a filter sock and I think once you get a little ahead or it, it tends to spread less quickly. You have to attack this from every front , and you cant let up. I would love to find an aquarium safe electric inline pump I can attach 1/2 hose to to help automate this process. Any suggestions ? It has to be pretty powerful. Thanks and keep the faith CeeGee .

 

[Santoki]

CeeGee,
do you have a sandbed?
also since beginning carbon/bac dosing,
have you noticed a change in your skimmate?
have you noticed an increase in the stench of your skimmate?

 

[CeeGee]

sandbed was removed a long long time ago as I thought that might be the problem. It wasn't.

Lots more smimmate. It is more watery and nowhere near as stinky as a matter of fact it has a faint hint of the RF Fuel that I am adding daily.

 

[CeeGee]

Week 7 of the carbon source dosing. Algae persists. It is a little better but IMO I think I should start cooking the rocks.

I am going to give it a couple more weeks and see what happens but overall I am not really impressed with the results of spending $125 on this stuff. Had I went with my gut feeling I am pretty sure I would be algae free as of now. The rock would have been fully cooked 2 weeks ago.

 

[spleen93]

How is the skimmate looking? Any difference in terms of how the frags look?

 

[CeeGee]

Skimmate is the same. Watery tea color. The frags look lighter and unhealthier than when I started. No growth. Algae is a little better not much. It is still growing full force on powerheads, and every other plastic surface that has a good amount of flow. Glass cleaning has slowed dramatically.

I have no doubts this stuff is working but it is taking it's sweet time. I think I would be even further behind if I hadn't purchased the turbo snails. I really don't think anyone really understood how messed up my rocks were. Cooking would have been the better solution. I think I will keep doing this at least until I run out of the stuff.

I really thought by tangsalads recommendation that this would be more or less a magical cure to my problems.

Another problem is IMO this skimmer sucks. I can't afford a really good one as I don't have a extra $900-$1300 lying around to plunk down on a piece of plastic at the moment. That is the worst part about this hobby is the blatant price gouging. I have bought very few pieces of equipment that worked that didn't cost me an arm and a leg. Lots of junk out there and the good stuff requires a trip to a loan department.

 

[spleen93]

I wonder if the better skimmer would have made a difference in this case? Stronger skimming might have been able to remove more organics out of the water to start off with, stunting the algae growth. And now with the PL supplements, it would have allowed removal of more bacterial sludge as well. But in your situation with the existing equipment, the cooking might have been the way to go after all, like you said.

 

[CeeGee]

The deal is though that I am running the ASM G3 which is rated for a much much larger tank than mine. You would think that it would be plenty even though they aren't the best skimmers out there. Lots of people like them and use them.

And I have been getting a fair amount of skimmate since I started dosing the carbon source.

The skimmer has been off the tank for a day and a half now as I have been doing a thorough cleaning. Hopefully it will kick into overdrive.

At this point I am very discouraged and don't even feel like messing with the tank. Having Gears of War 2 that I have barely gotten to play because I have been killing myself for the last two months with work doesn't help either. I think I will go play some gears and set the skimmer back up in a hour or so.

 

[maroun.c]

Never really tried all that dosing stuff. however from all threads on this issue a good skimmer is a must to take out the nasties.
Guess a good skimmer would be a long investment for any tnak in the future. a good skimmer does not have to cost thousands of dollars. I'm sure you can find very good skimmers at 4-5 hundreds dollars range. especially for a smaller tank.
Concerning your macro alga I always had problems with macro alga I guess its very important to acclimate your caulerpa very slowly as it seems to do bad in shipping and fast introduction. try different types of caulerpa till you find one that lives in your tank (that is after you're done with this treatment). I found Taxifolia or Racemosa caulerpa a bit more resisting than ball caulerpa... Also try to get fish famous to be alga eaters, My blue eyed kole tang known also as bristletooth tang is constantly grazing on rocks, it is not aggressive and maybe would be ok in a 40 G. also a foxface would be a very good choice. I would also increase the circulation and maybe add few powerheads blowing directly on areas with more alga.
Good luck

 

[miniwhinny]

Atlantic Deer Cowrie.

I bought a 1 inch grazer 3 weeks ago and now I'm begging for an algae outbreak just to feed her.

I had red bubble and hair algae devastating me. NOTHING got rid of the stuff. Then I got my ADC. It's been 3 weeks and my tank is totally 100% devoid of ANY type of algae. She's removed ALL of the hair, bubble and everything.

They are herbies and won't hurt corals. I bought her just because she's cute looking and had no idea how she'd help my tank.

I'm 100% algae free.

This pic is her finishing off the red bubble algae a couple of weeks ago.

My tank already had hermits, turbo's, ceriths and 100's of stomatellas and they did nothing to stop the nasty outbreaks. It only changed when I added my ADC.

 

[Santoki]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13753260#post13753260 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by CeeGee
Skimmate is the same. Watery tea color. The frags look lighter and unhealthier than when I started. No growth. Algae is a little better not much. It is still growing full force on powerheads, and every other plastic surface that has a good amount of flow. Glass cleaning has slowed dramatically.

I have no doubts this stuff is working but it is taking it's sweet time. I think I would be even further behind if I hadn't purchased the turbo snails. I really don't think anyone really understood how messed up my rocks were. Cooking would have been the better solution. I think I will keep doing this at least until I run out of the stuff.

I really thought by tangsalads recommendation that this would be more or less a magical cure to my problems.

Another problem is IMO this skimmer sucks. I can't afford a really good one as I don't have a extra $900-$1300 lying around to plunk down on a piece of plastic at the moment. That is the worst part about this hobby is the blatant price gouging. I have bought very few pieces of equipment that worked that didn't cost me an arm and a leg. Lots of junk out there and the good stuff requires a trip to a loan department.

This thread has gone a little of topic. oh well...
If your corals are lightening and looking "unhealthy" the nutrients are being removed too fast. Your corals will react to the fast change more so than algae. Algae will take a while to recede. I mean in the order of months. Even then, they won't just disappear. You should manually remove as much as you can and make sure you have organisms in there that can clean up the rest. IME, corals can adapt to different nutrient environments but it takes them a while to "figure out" how to calibrate. If the environment changes too fast, it takes longer to acclimate to the new environment due to the shock. I would cut back your dose and keep it steady for a couple weeks and just observe...

 

[maroun.c]

miniwhinny

Cowries are just great with alga that's true. I used to have a Tiger cowrie which as you describe would even consume cyano on the sand bed like crazy. only problem is that they grow very big and heavy and can knock over even large corals and maybe brake some others. That is one rerason I did not feel very sorry I lost mine. might be getting a couple of much smaller ones if I find any in the future though.

 

[CeeGee]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13761691#post13761691 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Santoki
This thread has gone a little of topic. oh well...
If your corals are lightening and looking "unhealthy" the nutrients are being removed too fast. Your corals will react to the fast change more so than algae. Algae will take a while to recede. I mean in the order of months. Even then, they won't just disappear. You should manually remove as much as you can and make sure you have organisms in there that can clean up the rest. IME, corals can adapt to different nutrient environments but it takes them a while to "figure out" how to calibrate. If the environment changes too fast, it takes longer to acclimate to the new environment due to the shock. I would cut back your dose and keep it steady for a couple weeks and just observe...

Not quite sure how you figure that this thread has gone off topic. It started out with severe algae issues and I was going to cook the rock. It has ended up with less severe algae issues and dreading that I went another route instead of cooking the rock.

The corals in my tank have always been light in color but are more so now as a result of using a carbon source which is known to happen. The dose is at the maximum level recommended by the manufacturer which is steadily built up for a period of 6 weeks. The person that recommended this method of dealing with the problems stated that the algae will turn white and disappear after several weeks. I have just posted back that has not been my experience. As far as I can see the topic is right on course and I am updating with information for those that may care.

Once again this method does seem to be working just very very slowly. I should have cooked the rock and then started this method to help keep nutrients at bay.

 

[maroun.c]

did you try spot feeing your corals with stopping your water circulation for around 30 min this could help your corals selectively. ye sthis would also feed the alga but if your skimming that wet and if you only feed 1time every 1-2 weeks that could still be a minimal addition?
Sorry if I missed it but are your corals only SPS?

 

[Santoki]

Re: Chiselin time!

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13390052#post13390052 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by CeeGee
I am in the process of cooking rocks due to some form of algae that has driven me crazy for over a year now.

I have a couple of rocks that are a problem. One has some SPS colonies that aren't exactly frags but aren't exactly extra large either. I need to get them off of the rock and attached to some plugs.

What type of chisel does one use to accomplish this?

I also have a rock with some yumas and shrooms on it. What is the best way to remove those guys.

Thanks for your suggestions and if you know what kind of chisel could you attach a pic?

I figure this thread has gone off topic based on your subject title and your first post in this thread.

 

[CeeGee]

Re: Re: Chiselin time!

Re: Re: Chiselin time!

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13762603#post13762603 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Santoki
I figure this thread has gone off topic based on your subject title and your first post in this thread.

if you are looking at it from that angle I guess it has gone off topic. I was talked out of cooking the rock and talked into trying a bac/carbon method.

maroun.c,

No I have a couple of toadstool leathers, some Yuma ricordia, several LPS and a couple SPS.

One thing that I have noticed is that I have a lot of detritus that I am vacuuming out since I have started this carbon dosing. I am not sure if that is normal or not. I am taking out a huge pile every 2-3 days.

 

[dkh0331]

I guess there are two upsides of dosing vodka vs PL -
1) A lot cheaper
2) If vodka dosing doesn't work, at least you should have enough vodka left to make yourself several cocktails.

 

[miniwhinny]

maroun.c - growing big isn't really an issue for me (ADC's get 6 inches) they don't grow that big overnight and in 3 weeks she's cleared my entire tank of every type of algae that she came across . My LFS said they'd take her back anytime, but I may set up a cowrie tank just for her in a few years. My tank params are perfect but these rocks came from a softie tank with sand and it was less than perfect - hence they came with algae.

 

[maroun.c]

One thing that I have noticed is that I have a lot of detritus that I am vacuuming out since I have started this carbon dosing. I am not sure if that is normal or not. I am taking out a huge pile every 2-3 days.

I guess the ideal thing is to have much flow to keep it in the watercolumn so that your skimmer would pick it up. If that's not happening then it will affect the carbon dosing efficiency. Siphoning those out would sure help.

miniwhinny
My tiger cowrie was a bit bigger. I really likedit despite the fact that it was bumping all my frags (may be it was my mistake for not securing those better anyway) everyone who would see it would be amazed by it more than corals and fish anyway this is why i would get another 1-2 if I find some that are really small.
Yes it was very effective at alga removal and would even eat a large piece of Nori that I would put it on when I would feel it's not getting enough to eat especially when my tnak started clearing out. LAtely all Cyano and alga I had in the tank including my Macro started receeding and that's the same time it died so I'm guessing it did starve.

 

[CeeGee]

Where in the world is tang salad?

He talked me into buying the Bac/Carb system and really hasn't been around since and it is about time to buy a chisel.

Basically I am at week 10 of using this product and although my algae issue is better this stuff isn't working. The improvement in the algae I will attribute to the 3 turbos that I bought as the places they can't get to (too large) have seen no improvement in algae.

The sticky gummy "ghost-light tan" hair algae hasn't improved in the slightest. It looks like I could take the rocks out and brush them off and it would come right off but that isn't the case. I just tried with a stainless steel grill brush on one of the worst rocks and it is still a sticky gummy mess that refuses to budge. I can actually use a screw driver and rake off a thick layer of sludge off the rocks but I can't get to the nooks and crannies and would take forever anyway.

I contacted polyp labs and they thought it would be wise to use more than the recommended dosage of the rf-fuel but I don't think it would do anything but waste more money. The corals are going to have to come off the rock and the rock is going to have to be cooked. The rocks that I started cooking about 3 months ago are in great shape now and are ready to go into the new tank.

I think I will get the new tank going asap and move the cooked rocks over and after the tank is going good wait a few weeks and start the bac/Carb on that tank to prevent this situation from arising again.

I can't for the life of me figure out how things ever got to this point to start with. I have never neglected the tank.