I've Had It - Starting Over! Need your input.

[Amador]

I have been battling a brown hair algae / diatom plague for ~3-4 months now with little sign of improvement. I am starting to think my silica sand / accumulated detritus is contributing to the problem.

Also, today I noticed that my Hippo Tang has started to show signs of ich. Which means the parasite could already be breeding in my sandbed and getting ready to infect my other fish.

Right now, this is what I'm leaning towards, what are your thoughts?

1) Set up hospital tank for fish and treat with hypo.
2) Cook rocks for a month.
3) Siphon out old silica sand (and all old water) and replace with aragonite SSB.
4) Replace MH bulbs. (The bulbs I am using now are ~ 9 months old, and are the (terrible) XM 15ks.)

I have a few concerns, though.

What will I do with my snails, serpent star and conch while everything is broken down? I thought about turning my 55g sump into a "holding tank" for just inverts while the 125g display is broken down .. would that work?

What would I do with my corals? I have some "starter" corals: a few zoa rocks, GSP, Xenia, and a few shrooms, as well as an unidentified SPS frag. Unfortunately many of the rocks these frags are mounted on also contain the hair algae / diatoms. Should I try and chisel these off and keep them in yet another tank?

What should I use for filtration in the hypo tank? Should I run my skimmer on that tank, or use the skimmer for the LR tubs? Anyone who has done this successfully before PLEASE chime in and share your thoughts / methods.

 

[sherm71tank]

Just a few comments.

1)Not an expert on fish treatment.

2)If you're going to cook the rocks plan on longer than a month.

3)I'm a BB fan. Enough said?

4)I like my Phoenix 14K bulbs very much.

If the snails are nasarious, I'de find them a new home during the cook and until you get your sand bed going again if you don't want to go BB. If they are algae eaters (astrea etc) just cook them with the rock they will be fine. At least all mine survived a few months of it. I would chisel/frag anything you want to keep. Maybe a local reefer can hold them for you? I would definelty use a skimmer on the rock.

 

[Amador]

Hmm .. well most of my snails are turbos & ceriths. Wouldn't they starve as all the algae dies off of the cooked rock?

 

[sherm71tank]

I understand what you are saying. All mine made it just fine though.

 

[poppin_fresh]

Chris,
How long has the tank been setup for? What kind of skimmer are you using. Are you using RO/DI water for changes and top offs? How often do you feed and what kind of food? How often do you change water?

I honestly doubt that the sand or MH bulb is too blame for your problems. Moving your fish to QT will probably cause them more stress and might cause more deaths.

To me it sounds like you have nutrient build up, most likely phosphate and nitrate. Slowing W/C and adding a phosban reactor might help a lot. Manual removal of HA can be quite effective in nutrient export as well.

It sucks... I know...I've been there. I have won the war and so can you.

 

[Tang Salad]

Re: I've Had It - Starting Over! Need your input.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9202725#post9202725 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Amador
I have been battling a brown hair algae / diatom plague for ~3-4 months now with little sign of improvement.

Maybe I missed it, but how long (in total) has the tank been set up?
I'm leaning with poppin_fresh on this one.
I doubt a complete rebuild is going to solve all your problems any faster than addressing them individually now will.

 

[Amador]

Thanks for the advice. The tank has been running since May of last year (about 9 months). I have been using RO/DI since the start, however I had my RO membrane fail a few months ago (when the diatoms first started popping up). I have since replaced the membrane and all of the filters. I am using a CSS 220, which regularly pulls out gunk, and seems to be working fine.

I've tested each batch of water for nitrate, phosphate and silicate (all zeroes) before doing W/Cs, and still the algae remains. I have done 7-8 15% water changes, and one 50% water change last weekend. I am running a 'fuge with some chaeto in there that grows slowly (and is itself growing brown algae on it).

My hippo tang having ich is what is prompting me to hospitalize all fish and start treatment.

 

[Misled]

Just qt the hippo. These guys are ick magnets. Moving the other fish may stress them enough to get it too. If they look fine, leave them in the tank. Your not getting po readings because the algae is binding it up. Keep up water changes and pull algea by hand as much as possible. Your tank is still new. Algea should disappear as nutrient and po levels decrease and tank stabilizes

 

[poppin_fresh]

I have no doubt that your water tests good from the beginning. It probably tests good in the tank as well, but this could be a false reading. You very well could have a high level of phosphate, but it is being uptaken by the HA as food.

Most foods contain a large amount of phosphates that leach into the water feeding algae. I would cut back on feedings, run phosphate removal media and pluck out the HA. I bet in a couple weeks you will see much improvement.

 

[Amador]

All the other fish look fine, I'll pull the hippo out tomorrow. Can you run PhosBan passively (bag in sump)?

 

[sherm71tank]

I wish you luck in your battle. If pulling the HA, water changes and Phosban (cutting your photo period, cutting back on feeding, changing your food, replacing the lights, feeding less) don't get you any better then look up the how to go bare bottom thread by Sean T. Big help for me. I would have been out of the hobby if it werent for him and Bomber.

 

[poppin_fresh]

Make sure the phosban gets as much flow through it as possible. You might want to head the Chemistry forum and read Randys article on GFO (phosphate binders).

 

[Amador]

Thanks for the tips, I'll give them a try. One thing: shouldn't the chaeto be absorbing what free phosphate there is, and outcompeting the hair algae?