Looking for system critique/advice.

[Shooter7]

I'm having a very annoying problem with my tank. Have gone to fairly considerable lengths to make the system such that I hoped to have a pretty happy reef. Something is off, though, and I can't quite get a finger on what the problem is.

System specs:
120g rr AGA 4x2x2 tank
30 gal sump/15 gal fuge with LR and chaeto
Euroreef CS 6-2 skimmer that pulls lots of gunk
2x250w 12k Reeflux bulbs on ARO electronics
Mag 12 sump return
2 x Seio 1500/2 x MJ 900 in tank flow
AC jr running lights, pumps, heater, and pH probe
HOT canister filter with PHOSaR and carbon, cleaned biweekly
Shallow sandbed, maybe inch and a half.

Water values:
Salinity 1.025
Temp controlled at 79.5 - 81 degrees
pH 8.1 - 8.25
Ca 390
Alk 10.6 dKH
Mg 1280
NO3 - undetectable
PO4 - undetectable

My problem is relating to unwanted growth in the tank. I have this "gunk" that has grown on my substrate and on much of my rock. It looks like a greenish/grayish/tan "fuzz" on much of the rock and looking closer at it on the substrate, it has globs in it too. I have not been able to get a very good pic of it as it is rather short and just doesn't show up well in pics. This stuff is particularly nasty to corals that are on or near the bottom. Zoanthid colonies I have that have looked wonderful in the past are now only partially opening and faded in color. It does get gas bubbles in it on the substrate towards the end of the light cycle. I also have some areas of cyano now showing up too. As above, I'm not showing any NO3 or PO4 on my salifert tests, my topoff water is always 0 - 1 TDS, and I have around 30x or slightly more flow. I feed pretty lightly, mostly nori and formula one flakes. My fish gobble it all up very quickly and I have never seen food settle anywhere. Speaking of fish, I have a fairly light load of 8 fish, most of them pretty small. The rock in the tank came from my previous smaller tank, some base rock from reeferrocks, and some LR from a local reefer who had a pretty large system with alot of fish. I don't have any major hair algae and have good coralline growth. System is slightly over 9 months old, as are the lights.

I just want to be rid of this gunk in the tank as it is just enough to take away from the nice look of my tank, and apparently, to affect some of them in a negative way. Seeking advice and input on what I might be dealing with here, or what I could further do to help? I feel with the steps I've taken, I've done alot to prevent just what I have going on, but here it is still. Appreciate the feedback.

 

[sir_dudeguy]

try testing for the nitrates and phosphates at night...the nutrients can be released at nighttime, so you may actually have some in there that are feeding it, just not showing up on the tests due to being in the algae.

 

[corals b 4 bills]

It sounds like the beginning of cyno.

 

[Shooter7]

Yes, I have some areas of cyano that are starting up right now and I know what that looks like. However, the rest of this stuff has been around in varying degrees for a couple of months and does not look like any cyano I've ever seen. Matter of fact, it looks completely different from cyano.

 

[Shooter7]

Of interesting note...I also have a 10g nano. It's basically a standard 10g tank with a HOB filter that is usually empty, but occasionally I'll run some carbon in there or something. Also have one MJ 600. It has 96w pc lights on it. It's on the same light cycle as the bigger tank and kept the same temp. It doesn't get water changes as often, and the water source for it is the same as the larger tank. It does not get nearly as much primping as the 120, and I'm kind of lax in changing water in the 10, even though it's much easier to do than the 120. However, I do NOT have this gunk growing in the little tank. And I can take sad zoanthids from my big tank and put them in the smaller tank and within a day they are opened up fully and colored up nicely. The significant differences between the two tanks are obviously the lighting, the flow, and the fact that there is no skimmer on the small tank. One thing that is very different is that I use different salt brands in the two. I had leftover Coralife salt that I use in the 10g and have switched over a few months back to Instant Ocean in the large tank. Not sure if this sheds any further light on things, but there ya go...

 

[Tobman]

Mind if I lurk? Anyone got any ideas?

 

[Shooter7]

Some of the rock came from a very high nutrient system...could they be leaching phosphates?

Could it have anything to do with my lights? This is my first set of MH lights so I'm a bit inexperienced with them. They are slightly over 9 months old.

 

[rdnyva]

I've got the same problem so I'd be interested in all opinions. Mine started at the 3 month mark of being setup and coincided with 3 incidents. 1. relied in color changing DI cartidge instead of TDS meter and my TDS topoff went to 15. 2. Changed 2 of my 3 MHs. 3. Bought some new LR from an LFS.

So I'm not really sure what caused this outbreak but it sure is ugly. It's like a brown fuzzy algae. My YT loves it and he's nice and fat but there is so much he can't put a dent in it.

 

[poppin_fresh]

Interesting... I have the same crap. I have been siphoning it off, but its like semi-hard snot. I also get a ton of bubbles on the surface of everything... a lot like diatoms. I'm thinking thats what it is, but I'm not sure what is feeding them.

I also am using IO salt. I'm not quite sure what my TDS is because I haven't checked lately. It seems like the more I do W/C the worse it gets.

 

[Shooter7]

bump for the morning crew

Any ideas, thoughts?

 

[iantoh]

hi there guys,

i had the same problem a while back, though im not sure of the cause of the elevated nutrients. my system is predominantly geared for SPS type corals, so the hair algae really disturbed me as it was all over the place.

anyhows, what i did was, over the period of a week, i used a hard bristled tooth brush, and brushed all my rocks in the tank. It made the tank cloudy with flying bits of algae strands, but i added a piece of filter wool where the overflow drains into my sump, and washed this wool out an hour after doing this brushing exercise. i did this everyday for a week, and this was about a month ago, and things have been alot better. maybe its exporting the algae rather than letting it flourish, then die to feed another generation of algae. alot of what wasnt picked up by the wool was also skimmed out as skimmate during that period had quite alot of large algae particles.

of course, my tank isnt algae free in any sense, but its alot healthier now, and the hair algae that grew over my coralline looks to be receding.

cheers,
ian

 

[Trigeek]

Maybe some type off die off in the rock or bacteria that could be releasing some stuff that we don't test for?? Just a guess, as everything else seems o.k. (skimmer, flow etc.). The activated carbon should help take this kind of thing out of the water. Shooter7, since you have a shallow sand bed, maybe vacuum it out and replace with some new sand bit by bit.

 

[rdnyva]

Same here, when I brush the rocks, scrape the glass, siphon off the sand bed it really helps. And the growback really slowed when I did water changes. The dieoff theory makes sense to me also, so i'll be puting some filter wool in my overflow drain and adding more carbon. I think we can eliminate the salt we're using as the source, as I used TM.

I see Dr Mac is having a sale on Algae Cowries and sea hares. Anybody think they will help with this type of algae?

 

[Shooter7]

I dunno...I had a fighting conch in there to help keep the sandbed turned, him and a bunch of cerith snails, but I stopped seeing him when this stuff started growing. Also don't see any ceriths working the substrate either. Trying to figure out what this stuff is that would be so nasty as to possibly kill my conch and ceriths, as well as really put a hurt on my zoanthids and other lower tank dwelling corals. I think this weekend I'm going to make more space in my 10g and move all my zoas over there.

 

[The_Alchemist]

i have the same problem,

would loveo to know what it is and how to combat it in the long run..

i have removed some rock to another bucket and brushed the stuff off only to see it grow back (with little bubbles) in a couple of days!

 

[Shooter7]

geez...we're coming out of the woodwork here. May have to start a support group. :lol:

I tried taking pics of it again last night to no avail. I just can't get a good enough close up of it with my camera/picture taking skills. Otherwise it just comes out looking like some colored stuff on my sand. :rolleye1:

 

[millstreetzoo]

I had the same problem a few months ago. I cut my lighting period (MH) back to just 5 hours a day for about 4 - 6 weeks and the problem went away on it's own. I have slowly increased my lighting time to 9 hours per day and the problem has not returned.

 

[weekendplayer]

Might try swithing salt brands. I've read on another thread that IO salt for some reason or another has a lot of problems with algea. Just a thought especially since your 10g tank has a different salt mix and no agea problem. Could also be your lights, might try putting new bulbs in. HTH

 

[Shooter7]

Well, that's what I was wondering as I didn't have these problems until I did the salt switch. But there are so many people using IO without problems that I just kind of figured I must be doing something wrong somewhere else. Still, it's true, only prob I get in the 10g is if I go too long between changes I'll start to get a small patch of cyano, I'll clean that out and change the water (coralife salt) and everything's happy again.

And yeah, I probably need to order new bulbs as these are 9+ months old at 9 hours a day light cycle.

 

[Craig Lambert]

Shooter7,

Does the brown stuff on your substrate look like this?