I'll start from the beginning (pics)

Bonsai- I was told that not only blue lighting would kill chaeto but my tang and coral beauty would eat it in a matter of no time. I am cleaning the sponges more often now but not everyday or every other day. More like once a week. This is the type of thing I have to side with though because I cant get a real refugium at this point because I'm sumpless and I told you my thoughts and the guy at my LFS' thoughts about hob refugiums...

aaronc- I do have plenty of snails in my tank just not a lot of them in the pics. Every 2 weeks or so I've been picking up small amounts of snails. At this point I would say i have a head count of about 30 snails or so. Probably gonna pick up more this week though.

Feederfish- My store only sells ro water not ro/di and I'm willing to deal with that because It's much better then tap and spring. I'm thinking about changing the koralia 3 I have in the tank to a koralia 4. I presently own a koralia 4 but its packed away. I guess It couldnt hurt if i replaced the 3 for the 4. Like you said the more flow the better.

The lights have been off all day and will be off until thursday when its only actinics. So far even though the tank is dark it looks real good. Hopefully it will stay this way. I am going to do a water change friday. Another 10 or so gallons of RO, get some snails, crabs, and hopefully this will all resolve itself given some time.

thanks- Any more info/ help for me is greatly appreciated!!!
 
What and how much do you feed your fish? When i first got my tank it was about 6 months old and no fish. I never got any cyano or diatom growth until I added fish and started feeding a few weeks later. Even though my phosphates would read 0 i'd still get it, even with mild feedings.

This is how i got rid of mine: Making my own food.
SINCE i've started making my own food from fresh seafood/nori/selcon etc my cyano and diatoms have all but disappeared. I soaked all the food in fresh water and rinsed it well before blending and making cubes of it an freezing it. So far this has worked great. It seems the SF Bay brand frozen food i was using had quite a bit of phosphates that was feeding undesirables.

BTW I dont understand why you'd go dark for days. While this might slow the growth of the algae how does it attack the source? Surely your corals would not appreciate such a dark period.
 
you need to find a new LFS.. the person your dealing with seems to be as helpfull as
a walmart pet department.. i dont know of any Real Reef and Fish stores that would for 1 sell you a prism skimmer and 2 only sell ro water. ro\di is a standard in reefing. and a small hob fuge with mangroves or chaeto would do wunders for you.. and as far as the macro... i have 3 tangs in my tank and i wish they could keep up with the growth of the macro.. i still farm it out and give it away once a month.. and you shouldnt swap out power heads.. if you have a k4 add it to the tank along with the k3. have one pushing flow behind your rocks to prevent buildup and one across the front. . your not even close to having too much flow..
 
what part of NY, there is a really good place on LI, called Country Critters, those guys know there stuff
 
well this store is actually local and is about 5 minutes away. The other store is very very big and popular and have very knowledgable people there and is called aquarium adventure but is about 30 minutes there and 30 min back so its been bustin my chops. I go there a lot but I've slowed down with going there because both LFS' were telling me the same thing about what I asked. So why not go to the local one. I was using a frozen food called formula variety pack but I stopped because the guy at aquarium adventure said this food was causing my surface slime problems (which was way long back) so I stopped using it. I switched to piscine energy mysis shrimp and the saltwater multi pack which is basically brine shrimp, squid, plankton, krill, Spirulina algae and more.

Jthomps: I am going dark for a few days because thats what I was told to do on this thread. Supposedly this will help cut down on the algae I am getting. I am going to do a water change friday to take out whatever algae that decayed during the no light period.

frankrip: I dont really maintain my sandbed. When I didnt have algae I didnt do anything to it. I have a sandsifting goby but ever since the algae started forming on the sand I've been cleaning the surface of the sand during water changes.

Jmikitz: I will add the other powerhead and call both my lfs' tomorrow, one to see if one of them has chaeto and the other I already called for chaeto and they said they have been out of it for months. The more professional store (aquarium adventure) that is far out I will call and ask if they sell ro/di water for my water changes. Honestly though, wouldnt ro water be at minimal acceptance for this instead of me using tap or spring. I will try for the ro/di but i think getting ro is pretty good as well.

thanks...
 
well ro is better then what you have been doing. ro doesnt remove all the nutrients in the water.. so you will over time have a build up of nutrients you dont want.. which will put you right back to where you are now. light s out and scramble'n for a quick fix..there are no quick fixes in reefing.. thats why prevention is the best bet.
if you dont know what your putting in your tank dont do it. that goes for water, food, chemicals.... if you cant test for it you dont add it.. im sure everyone will agree on that.
 
Ok, so what I was told in one of my first replies on this thread is not true about turning off the lights? I think that every time I ask a question I get a million different answer/ opinions. You may say that lights out is "scrable'n for a quick fix" but I am going to try every different method I can to stop the algae from coming back. If one method works, I'll stick with it but there could be several different things I am doing wrong so eventually I will experiment with a method to rid my tank of algae and it will work, just I haven't found it yet.
This thread has helped me pull out many ideas like adding chaeto to my tank, clean the frozen food I am feeding, us ro/di water, and I will keep trying out new methods...

thanks
 
lights out is not a soulution for the nutrient levels in your tank.

It is a soulution for the algae in your tank currently.

Nutrient levels is what is feeding your algae and causing it to grow in the first place.

As part of an overall solution, the lights out is a great way to get rid of unsightly algae. The next step is to use one or more of the nutrient reducing methods to prevent the algae from returning in a short period of time.

Good methods of nutrient removal include heavy skimming, water changes, macroalgae refugiums (chaetomorpha) phosphate reactors and denitrator units.

This is not a simple type thing to fix. You need a multi-pronged assault against the algae to first knock it back to tolerable levels and then to remove the excess nutrients and dead algae (it doesnt just disintergrate).

And dont forget about a good clean up crew. Snails and hermit crabs are another good way of maintaining a clean tank, but they are not likely to eliminate a serious outbreak of algae all by themselves.

And the most effective way to remove algae still remains
90px-Humanpalm.jpg

This is the only way I know of to remove algae and reduce nutrient levels at the same time.
 
Does anyone else think those could be dinoflagellates? The first pic I saw reminded me of them. The color. The bubbles. Kinda stringy. I swear they look like dinos, not algae.

If it's more slimy-looking than algae-looking, has some stringy stuff, and is forming bubbles, I'd say they're dinos. They're a whoooooole different issue. And lights-out conditions won't usually correct the problem.

This article may help to understand how to get rid of them:
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-11/rhf/index.php
 
I'm in the same boat.. I used Chemi-clean to kill the cyano then I got brown diatoms on my sandbed. I use RO/DI and my TDS is 0. I use Phosban, have a refugium and plenty of flow in my tank.. 50x.

Replaced the Phosban and the RO filters
Replaced Carbon
Cleaned skimmer
Increased Flow in my tank
Changed bulbs on TEK 6x54W T5 bulbs
Turned off lights for 3 days 3x and no change. The algea returns in a couple days.

I am conviced that the problem lies with Chemi-Pure which contains erythromycin an antibiotic. I believe that when it killed my cyano that it also destroyed some good bacteria. The problem is I thought it would have recovered by now. This problem has been going on for 3 months. Please forgive me for hi-jacking your thread but I have the exact same symptoms and/or problem as you.

Can I do a 100% waterchange?
 
Nah, The first couple pictures look like red slime and diatoms. Dont be scaring the OP by saying dinos. LoL.

Yeah, dinos are a whole different issue. Make you wish for the days when you just had cyano and diatoms everywhere.

Easy way to tell if you have dinos. if the stuff is like blonde colored snot smeared across your rocks or sand, you have dinos. Bubbles only show up after the lights have been on for a while.

Manz, you sterilized your tank when you used the chemi-Pure. Have you added any new rock to your tank to restart your bacterial load?

consider your tanks to be no more live than man made live rocks.

Cause you killed all the bacteria when you dosed the erythromyacin. Which is okay, because I have done the same thing (and all my rockwork is man made live rock).

Just add some new live rock and let that seed your existing rockwork.

Here is a link to some information I wrote about what happens to sterile rock as it matures (and a little about live rock for comparison).
Skip down about halfway through the article.
http://www.airinheresreef.com/Aragocrete Rock.html
 
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I didn't mean to scare him. :p I just usually associate light-brown color and bubbles with dinos. Although... it would be kinda scary to me if I had them.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11948594#post11948594 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by airinhere
Nah, The first couple pictures look like red slime and diatoms. Dont be scaring the OP by saying dinos. LoL.

Yeah, dinos are a whole different issue. Make you wish for the days when you just had cyano and diatoms everywhere.

Easy way to tell if you have dinos. if the stuff is like blonde colored snot smeared across your rocks or sand, you have dinos. Bubbles only show up after the lights have been on for a while.

Manz, you sterilized your tank when you used the chemi-Pure. Have you added any new rock to your tank to restart your bacterial load?

consider your tanks to be no more live than man made live rocks.

Cause you killed all the bacteria when you dosed the erythromyacin. Which is okay, because I have done the same thing (and all my rockwork is man made live rock).

Just add some new live rock and let that seed your existing rockwork.

Here is a link to some information I wrote about what happens to sterile rock as it matures (and a little about live rock for comparison).
Skip down about halfway through the article.
http://www.airinheresreef.com/Aragocrete Rock.html
Click to expand...

Actually I did add new LR.. I added 10 lbs or LR rubble that had cycled 4 weeks in a tub prior to being added to the tank. This problem has been going on for 3 months and I think the LR would have cycled by now.

I think its my sand thats dead though... I agree with everything you say though. I just can't seem to find a solution to my problem.
 
Three months is about right to still be getting some diatom and a little green algae buildup still. By now, coraline should be appearing if you are keeping your calcium and dKH levels good (420ppm ca, 8-11 dKH)

Nutrient levels are still going to be your biggest obstacle to getting your rockwork clean. Just keep up the proper maintenance and dont let all the guys who have been doing this for years get you down. Almost all of us went through the same things when we first started.

But now since our tanks are fully cycled and matured quite a bit more, its much easier to limit nutrients and keep nuisance algae down to tolerable levels in our tanks.

One day, the algae just seems to dissapear.

I have waited over a year getting these two tanks to the point where I feel comfortable putting SPS colonies in them.
http://www.airinheresreef.com/Australian Biotope Reefs.html

Then you get valonia or dinos and wish you just had to deal with diatoms and hair algae.
 
Should I get rid of my pincushion urchin? He eats a lot of corraline. I'm sorry to hear that you are in the same boat as me nanz! this stuff gets my tank looking so ugly I just wanna take the tank apart sometimes and forget I even was in this hobby.

On friday I'm going to do another 10 gallon water change with ro water. I spoke to both my LFS' and they only sell ro not ro/do... I dont understand why but thats what they do. Also neither of my LFS' have chaetomorpha.

Seeing as I have a fluval should I make the best of it? I've been searching up on this crap for hours and how to get rid of it and more.
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produ...al&Ntk=All&pc=1&N=0&Ntt=phosphate magnet&Np=1

Also I'm thinking of getting a new protein skimmer to replace my prism but the problem is I need an hob. If anyone has any ideas for me (airinhere, bec. you sound very knowledgeable on this topic) it would help me out a lot. Jmikitz mentioned a bermuda aquatics skimmer and I have looked at the rogue but its got those bio balls in it.

I also forgot to mention that after I dosed the chemi clean red slime remover the diatoms immediately took the red slime's place. It might have been the red slime remover that contributed to this but then I used erithromycin bec. I was told I have too many nutrients in the tank and it didnt work. I only dosed it once. I've added a couple live rubble rocks in the tank since then but they all get covered in algae as well...

Other then increasing flow and a new skimmer, should I replace my bulbs as well or no?

thanks a lot
 
I'd be hesitant to put a HOB skimmer on a 75. But if I had to, I'd probably go with the AquaC Remora Pro with the Mag 3 pump. (Not the Remora. The Remora Pro.)

If you don't mind a bit of plumbing/DIY work, you could always try your hand at adding an overflow box (even an internal/external glass one, if you're really ambitious, but drilling is probably a bit risky with a half-full tank) and a sump to give you room for an in-sump skimmer, which will out-perform HOB's by far. But again, that's going to take some planning and work to do.
 
I have Tuxedo urchins in each of the sumps of my 90 gallon tanks.
I took them out because they were collecting little frags from my rockwork
and knocking other ones over. So if yours get annoying, yank them out.

Eventually you are going to hate coraline algae as much as you do the diatoms right now.
At least diatoms wipe away easily. Coraline algae takes serious elbow grease to remove.
And you can not see through it. So it has to be scraped off regularly.

This is about two months of not scraping the side glass of my Vietnamese tank.
This is also why I would never buy an acrylic tank.
At least with glass you can use a razor. acrylic needs a credit card or other plastic scraper.
And even then, the acrylic gets scratches.
IMG_0740.jpg


As for the water changes, just get into the habit of 10-20% water changes weekly.
Dont kill yourself with water changes.

Water changes and refilling the tank when you siphon stuff up are not the same thing.
Make sure you siphon out any detrius and then replace the water.
The water changes are in addition to the cleaning.

Fluval....If you are dead set on using this, I would strip the interior of everything and put some carbon in it,
some GFO (Granular ferric oxide, phosban is one variety of this) and then I would expect
to have to replace the carbon every two weeks and the phosban every month.
Make sure you rinse the phosban very carefully before putting it into your Fluval.
And you should try timing your changes to when you have lots of excess water handy.
Run about 5 gallons of water through the fluval before you hook it up to your tank.
Old tankwater is fine to use.
You really do not want any carbon or phosban dust floating around your tank.

Honestly, I would ditch the Fluval.
Like the urchins, it becomes more a nuisance than a benefit.

Look at the CPR backpack model skimmers.
They are reliable, halfway decent and are not wildly expensive.
Dont be afraid of bio balls. They are great at reducing ammonia and nitrite in a tank.
And if kept clean, they are not bad about raising nitrates.
But let them get all dirty and nasty....Well what do you think nitrate looks like?

The way I have my two 55 gallon tanks set up is with macroalgae nutrient export only.
You might want to consider using this concept as well.

Do not misunderstand me. You should still use a skimmer.
(CPR are great, and the bermuda one looks fine as well).
But you should supplement with a refugium setup.
You would be amazed at how much a refugium helps improve the health of a home reef.

Look at any of the models of hang on back refugiums and once you have one,
I can send you a chunk of chaetomorpha if you cant find any locally.
(I have tons of the stuff).

Some people just use some of the larger models of hang on back filters for a cheap refugium.
(I have done this as well)

Increasing flow is always a good idea. I am up to just over 50X flow in my 90 gallon tanks right now
and would like more. (loose frags blow around the bottom of my tanks now).
I have been diving in areas with such strong tides I could barely hold onto the ground.
10X or 20X flow is nothing.

But understand the reason for more flow is to suspend the detrius that is loose in your tank
so it can be caught by your skimmer and filtered out.
(It is also to improve oxygenation of the water and to allow your corals to respirate easier).
It doesnt magically dissolve nitrates.
There is a mechanical function going on here that you can observe.

Erythromyacin... At least the red slime is gone. I had to do the same thing about a year and a half ago.
Your tanks bacterial load will recover.

Just keep doing good maintenance and remember that everyone goes through what you are experiencing.

Start reading the reefkeeping magazine articles.
(RC's online magazine)
Look up past articles and you can browse by subject.
There is so much good information there, I couldnt begin to describe it all.
And someday, I might have it all memorized because I am always reading those articles.

Soon you will learn all about alkalinity and calcium ionic balance.
And the suppresive influence of phosphates and the
spectral analysis of M58 and M80 halide ballasts........

A year from now this will all seem really funny and simple. Maybe two....
 
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