Left for 10 days and GHA took over...why?

[allendehl]

Hello guys,

Left for vacation for 10 days and left my father in law in charge of feeding and topping off my RO/DI deposit. Made a WC the day before leaving.

Came back home to no loses but a green field of hair algae all over my sand. Just checked for Phosphates and they are in check, at about 0.03.

Pic is attached.

I am now making enough RODI water to siphon all that algae and detritus out and do a good WC.

Lights were on the same schedule I normally have it.

Any ideas what could have caused the bloom?

Thanks!

 

[Reef noob_]

Left for 10 days and GHA took over...why?

Probably due to your tank sitter over-feeding


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[jrill]

Yep, over feeding. Best to not feed while away.

 

[Sk8r]

Water changes. If it gets really bad, ask again:there are things that can be done.

 

[mcgyvr]

While some overfeeding "may" have been at play that kind of growth doesn't just sprout up in 10 days..
That was likely just a coincidence and it was gonna be like that if you were away or not IMO...

 

[allendehl]

Thank yo all. I checked Phosphates and Nitrates and they are in good range. Sucked all that crap out and did a WC.
Lets see now how it behaves.

If overfeeding was a factor, wouldn't it show up in the phosphates?

@mc, that is a big coincidence. I never had a single indication of that kind of bloom until now. What could cause it then?

 

[mcgyvr]

If overfeeding was a factor, wouldn't it show up in the phosphates?

@mc, that is a big coincidence. I never had a single indication of that kind of bloom until now. What could cause it then?

It won't show up if the algae was consuming it..

Algae happens.. It can take months and all of a sudden just show up..

 

[allendehl]

Ok, still battling it. It is not as aggressive as when I came back but it keeps popping up mostly on the sand bed and on a couple of more rocks, always the same rocks. I've siphoned it out a few times along with the clot of sand/gunk it attaches to but it comes back and I'm afraid that at some point I'll have to replace the sand I am taking out.
The ones in the rock I can never get all, it is really hard to scrape it out. [MENTION=116634]Sk8r[/MENTION] here I am asking again, as you said

As a side note, in case this makes any solution available, I will be going fishless in the next few days thanks to the dreaded ich.

 

[Uncle99]

Any sunlight hit those spots?
That's a big clump

 

[allendehl]

Sometimes. But its not new. The spots are not located in a specific side of the tank. They are random.

Any sunlight hit those spots?
That's a big clump

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[Uncle99]

I had a small band of sunlight cross my tank.
I gave removed the sunlight, it's just an algae maker.
A month later, green was gone.