Everything was going so good... and then...

[therealkilo]

OMGOSH!!!!!!

What is this stuff?

Not sure what is going on, everything was going perfect...

Smails keep dying, tried buying sea hares, they didnt eat it and ended up dying... abalone wouldnt eat it and ended up dying.

I've lost 50% of my corals, the ones that remain are doing great.

All my fish are doing amazing...

Not all snails are affected it seems. Crabs are also doing well.

Anemone is doing great.

SO CONFUSED!!!

 

[therealkilo]

Picture looks green... but its red under blues.

 

[Kevin Guthrie]

Looks like Bryopsis, and verdant at that. Cut the nutrient load. A zebrasomas tang or foxface might help.

 

[mcgyvr]

Thats just regular hair algae that you let get out of control likely due to elevated nutrient level and lack of proper tank maintenance over time..

A tank doesn't just get like that overnight and it won't go away overnight either..
Very little will eat it at this stage and thats not going to fix the problem either so don't waste your time there..

Lets start by getting you to post your nitrate and phosphate levels..

A full tank shot as well as details about your tank (size,etc...) would be helpful.. Do you have a skimmer? sump,etc...?
I'm likely to recommend that you remove rocks a few at a time and manually scrub them in a bucket of 50% old tank water and 50% hydrogen peroxide then rinse in more old tank water and put them back into the tank which will help kill/remove the algae but isn't solving the problem yet..
Large water changes are possibly the best solution there.. maybe run GFO..maybe carbon dosing.. But lets get your nitrate/phosphate levels checked (which can sometimes be masked by all that algae)..

 

[NO3]

Overfeeding the tank + light = algae

Reduce feeding by half

Do waterchanges every 2 weeks

Make sure your Skimmer is running at peak skimmimg

May want to consider reducing your light cycle to 6hrs....during the time you know you sit and watch the tank. My tank is dark all of 17-18hrs a day. Anything over a 6-8 lighting peroid, imo, youre just growing algae

Good luck....keep researching

 

[Tripod1404]

If they really appear red under blue light, you need to turn down your blue light intensity. Chlorophyll fluores red under strong actinic light. If they appear red all the time, there probably is too much light.

 

[eastlake]

manual removal, weekly water changes, repeat. A skimmer will help as will a phosphate reactor. But unfortunately it's going to take time, persistence, and patience to clean up

 

[therealkilo]

Cut way back on feeding. Down to two times per week. Fish are looking thin. Also, I have been slowly cutting back on lighting. 6hr light schedule eh? I will cut back more. Running reef breeders 48" LED

I have a skimmer, just cleaned it a couple weeks ago to make sure it was working.

I will check water params again tonight and post...

I hate to use drugs but... fluconazole??????

 

[mcgyvr]

Yes you can also use fluconazole..

Poor water parameters allowed it to get that bad so make sure you address that.. water changes...water changes..water changes..

 

[vanbro1]

Are you buying fresh water for top off or are you making your own? Most LFS claim 0 TDS most are not being honest with the statement

 

[rhdoug]

That's what my tank looked like for the first couple of years, and constant invert die-off until I finally got it thru my thick head that I did actually need RO/DI water!

Not saying that is your issue but it is a water quality issue of some kind I would bet.

My TDS meter had failed one time and I was beginning to slip back into algae problems a couple of years ago...

 

[Bent]

How old is the tank?

 

[tthouston]

Vibrant may help. Double dose on first couple weeks, then one dose per week after that.
Skimming wet can help this time. imo

 

[FoxyFace]

I had a lot of algae awhile back. I sent a water sample off for evaluation and the report from Triton told me to increase phosphate and nitrate! I just about died!

I'm not playing the "œhigh nutrient" blame game. I think lighting is the biggest culprit.

If I were you, I'd treat with fluconozole till gone, then maintain a refugium. You have the get that algae out of there before it smothers your coral.

Hang in there!

 

[eastlake]

I had a lot of algae awhile back. I sent a water sample off for evaluation and the report from Triton told me to increase phosphate and nitrate! I just about died!

I'm not playing the "œhigh nutrient" blame game. I think lighting is the biggest culprit.

If I were you, I'd treat with fluconozole till gone, then maintain a refugium. You have the get that algae out of there before it smothers your coral.

Hang in there!

Having that much algae in the tank though will give you false readings because of how quickly the algae is eating it up so I wouldn't be surprised if the triton test showed that those two probably came back zero or just above. But lighting in addition to nitrate and phosphate will make this happen. I had the same problem in my tank and the only way that I was able to get rid of it was water changes, manual removal, and time. But a fuge with chaeto or calurpa certainly would eat up those nutrients and hopefully start to out compete the hair algae. But, you also have to hope that the hair algae doesn't over take the good algae in the fuge and choke it out.

 

[therealkilo]

Thanks VanBro1 and RHDoug, typically I buy all my water from a LFS in town called WorldOfFish. Salt and RO water (top off). I have also used RO water from the local grocery stores a few times, here in MN there is a green (color) company that has installs at all the grocery markets.

I modified my lighting schedule last night. I will post in new message.

 

[therealkilo]

New lighting schedule

New lighting schedule

Thoughts on new lighting schedule?

Rocking at reef breeders photon 48

 

[mcgyvr]

IMO don't waste your time messing with lighting schedule..
Its NOT going to make this problem go away or get better by any means.
All you are going to do is penalize your corals...

 

[Bent]

Thanks VanBro1 and RHDoug, typically I buy all my water from a LFS in town called WorldOfFish. Salt and RO water (top off). I have also used RO water from the local grocery stores a few times, here in MN there is a green (color) company that has installs at all the grocery markets.

I modified my lighting schedule last night. I will post in new message.

I'd bet this is your problem.

 

[therealkilo]

Bent - which part; grocery store I am assuming...

Tank is also over 2 years old. There are a lot of dead zones behind everything wall of LR.

I've been putting it off since we are building a new house and my wife gets her dream kitchen and I am planning my dream tank.