Mass algae death

[wvned]

Over the weekend all of the algae died in my tank. It is a grey blizzard in the tanks. I have no idea why. I did nothing new, Jill swears she used nothing cleaning in the basement. I didn't recognize what was happening and was gone yesterday on a road trip some of the day to take Lucky to Jeanna. Then we got company. Nobody was even in the basement most of the day yesterday.

The 75 that I let algae go wild in is a grey desert. The Coraline is gone. The large humps of chaeto have dissolved. The poor filefish are living on the moon now.


The only thing different I can think of was a switch to Aquaforest salt. I have been removing some of the crushed coral on the 240 because I thought I had too much. Maybe 40 gallons of water made with it has gone into the system replacing what went into the trashcan while I siphoned the sand out. I can't see that doing anything.
I put some carbon in last night. The only thing I could think of. Too little too late at this point.

Have you ever seen this before? I am not sure what I am going to do at this point.

even the glass is easily cleaned now except for a few small spots

 

[Reefing102]

Did you dose anything to this tank? What salt did you use before?

Also which aqua forest salt did you use?

The sea salt seems a little low in Ca

Sea Salt Mix

Aquaforest Sea Salt mix is ideal for marine aquariums containing fish and less delicate corals and invertebrates. AF salt mixes are prepared from carefully selected raw components in quantities and tested to ensure consistent composition. Synthetic marine salt for saltwater fish, hardy corals...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

The reef salt seems a little low on alk

Aquaforest Reef Salt

Fully synthetic marine salt Mixes quickly for immediate use Nitrate, phosphate and bromide free Micronutrients and macronutrients Stable pH

www.coralvue.com

The hybrid pro salt looks pretty stable parameter wise

Hybrid Pro Salt Mix

Natural Seawater vs Manmade Salts.. Get the best of both worlds! Chemically pure, lab-made salt combined with natural sea salt flakes Proprietary blend of probiotic bacteria Natural nitrate and phosphate reduction Icreases coral color and growth Micro and macro trace elements enriched with...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

The Reef Salt + looks to be where I like my levels

Reef Salt+ Mix

For Fully Stocked LPS & SPS Coral Reef Tanks Ionically balanced salt mix Increased levels of key macronutrients (alkalinity, calcium, & magnesium) Aids in coral growth, coloration, and health For systems with high nutrient demands and large coral colonies Aquaforest Reef Salt+ is a...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

Also I know many acros use iron. Do you have the ability to test that?

 

[JohnL]

This is very strange

 

[griss]

That is weird.

 

[wvned]

Did you dose anything to this tank? What salt did you use before?

Also which aqua forest salt did you use?

The sea salt seems a little low in Ca

Sea Salt Mix

Aquaforest Sea Salt mix is ideal for marine aquariums containing fish and less delicate corals and invertebrates. AF salt mixes are prepared from carefully selected raw components in quantities and tested to ensure consistent composition. Synthetic marine salt for saltwater fish, hardy corals...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

The reef salt seems a little low on alk

Aquaforest Reef Salt

Fully synthetic marine salt Mixes quickly for immediate use Nitrate, phosphate and bromide free Micronutrients and macronutrients Stable pH

www.coralvue.com

The hybrid pro salt looks pretty stable parameter wise

Hybrid Pro Salt Mix

Natural Seawater vs Manmade Salts.. Get the best of both worlds! Chemically pure, lab-made salt combined with natural sea salt flakes Proprietary blend of probiotic bacteria Natural nitrate and phosphate reduction Icreases coral color and growth Micro and macro trace elements enriched with...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

The Reef Salt + looks to be where I like my levels

Reef Salt+ Mix

For Fully Stocked LPS & SPS Coral Reef Tanks Ionically balanced salt mix Increased levels of key macronutrients (alkalinity, calcium, & magnesium) Aids in coral growth, coloration, and health For systems with high nutrient demands and large coral colonies Aquaforest Reef Salt+ is a...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

Also I know many acros use iron. Do you have the ability to test that?

No dosing of anything new.
Red Sea Blue Bucket.
Aquaforest Reef Salt.
I do not think replacing 40 of 650 gallons during some siphoning is going to make much of a difference though.
My parameters come from dosing. I do not do water changes. I simply use NSW to replace tank volume when I do anything that is going to lower the water level a lot.
I have a RODI vat and a NSW vat. I plug the pump into the vat I select into a Hydros outlet and let it fill the tank while I work.
I let the dirt settle and pump the water back to the vat. I lose a little, a few inches in the vat.
I have used 10 brands of salt in my system. I never had it make much of a difference.
I add Ferrion to my tank. My iron always tests high.

I once used fluconazole on my tank long ago. This die off is similar to the one that caused.
A few clumps of chaeto ( it's really pretty growing in mounds on the bottom) and halmadea are left. They look sick but might survive.
No animals appear to be affected.
Go Rox .8 carbon. I do not have the ability to do a large enough water change to matter anymore. 160 gallons or so. ~20-25%

I am sticking extra wave makers in the tanks to raise the stuff and get it to go down the overflows. The skimmer is removing it. I put a mesh filter sock in but it isn't catching it.

 

[JohnL]

Good luck

 

[Timfish]

Many algae have similar reporductive modes like the calurpa you had reproduce last month. (If I'm not mistaken, Halimeda is also a single multinucleated cell like calurpa.) It sucks they all did it at once though.

 

[mellotang]

Temp swing?

 

[kfisc]

Bummer! If you have any snails, how are they doing? Baffling.

 

[wvned]

Temp swing?

None according to the Hydros graph

 

[wvned]

Bummer! If you have any snails, how are they doing? Baffling.

I saw the normal ones around the top of the tank this morning.

 

[jason2459]

Never seen that before. Especially effecting the coraline too.

 

[wvned]

What ever it is. It settles to the bottom. Jill is helping me and we were siphoning it out of the 240 with a gravel tube. Less gook is always good. We filled a brut can again. Tomorrow I will pump it back. It plugs felt socks fast and passes mesh ones.
The 75 I can siphon into a sock in the sump.
I have a Maxijet I fitted an 8 inch CPVC pipe too and I am blowing it off the corals. The coralline may recover. There is still a pale purple color to it under then gook though it is gone in places. Even the coralline on the glass scrapes of easily.The band I couldnt get off along the bottom came off.
It has stopped getting worse and I even found some caulerpa that looks alive in the back with a ball of chaeto.
Perhaps new carbon tomorrow.

 

[kharmaguru]

You accidentally discovered the bacteria based algaecide that Vibrant pretended to be.

 

[griss]

You accidentally discovered the bacteria based algaecide that Vibrant pretended to be.

That stuff is horrible. I believed the hype years ago and the negative affects on corals was depressing.

 

[kharmaguru]

That stuff is horrible. I believed the hype years ago and the negative affects on corals was depressing.

Yep there was a big Algaefix thread on here which I remember contributing to. Taricha on R2R proved Vibrant is the same algaecide as Algaefix. Scumbags.

 

[griss]

Yep there was a big Algaefix thread on here which I remember contributing to. Taricha on R2R proved Vibrant is the same algaecide as Algaefix. Scumbags.

Hmmm, I used Algaefix and did not have a negative affect on my corals???? Different dosages maybe? It was so long ago I don’t remember the dosages.

 

[wvned]

I used Vibrant a long time ago. It did what it was supposed too. I never used it regularly though long term.
There are so many threads in forums about reefing where 2 people do the same thing and get opposite results. I no longer have extra brain capacity to wonder about such things.

I just put up an extra pump blowing on the rocks in the 75. I changed the carbon too. This too shall pass.
The snails came out when the light went off.
The extra pump blew the chaeto ball out from behind the rock and the file fish was hiding by it as it moved around the tank. I love watching them.

 

[kharmaguru]

I used Vibrant a long time ago. It did what it was supposed too. I never used it regularly though long term.
There are so many threads in forums about reefing where 2 people do the same thing and get opposite results. I no longer have extra brain capacity to wonder about such things.

I just put up an extra pump blowing on the rocks in the 75. I changed the carbon too. This too shall pass.
The snails came out when the light went off.
The extra pump blew the chaeto ball out from behind the rock and the file fish was hiding by it as it moved around the tank. I love watching them.

After using Algaefix, I never got any film algae on my glass for more than 5 yrs. I've used Vibrant as well (still have both bottles), but neither hurt my corals that I'm aware of.

Back to you, do you happen to dose hydrogen peroxide in any way? Your algae wasteland picture reminds of when I used to lower the water in my 20 gallon and spray all the algae with H2O2.

 

[wvned]

After using Algaefix, I never got any film algae on my glass for more than 5 yrs. I've used Vibrant as well (still have both bottles), but neither hurt my corals that I'm aware of.

Back to you, do you happen to dose hydrogen peroxide in any way? Your algae wasteland picture reminds of when I used to lower the water in my 20 gallon and spray all the algae with H2O2.

No
I dose the alk component of 2 part, Mag, Tropic Marin A+, K- and LaCl (Phosban) plus kalk.
I have recently been reducing the LaCl. It's on 5ml/day now I think.
I am down to
I had something on my hands when I was siphoning out the tank Saturday. I have no idea what.
or
Jill hit the trigger on the Swiffer Wetjet while it was pointing in the air accidentally.
or
It's something that is growing in the tank I have never seen.
The amount of goo seems to exceed the amount of algae that was in the tanks to start with. The algae has died way back. It was not as complete an obliteration as it first seemed. I have been able to clean the glass in places that was very difficult to remove though. There are pieces of Macro in the 75 that will live I think. They seem to have been in the back
of the tank where it was shaded.
I found them after cleaning the ends of the 75 which I normally don't do. They were thick with algae.
Again reminiscent of Vibrant or fluconazole that kills actively growing algae faster.

It is heavy and won't lift into the water with flow and is difficult to siphon out. It forms little piles in the bottom that move around in the flow.
After sucking out 40 gallons of dirty water the next day it has all settled to the bottom and the water is completely clear. I pump it back to the mixed water tank.
It looks like the Coraline decolorized but may be coming back. Sunday night the rocks were rock colored but last night they are pale purple again. Same in the 75.
The 180 does not seem as greatly affected but the goo is hiding under the xenia. The eels stir it up. No Idea how I will get to that.
The goo does not seem to really bother anything but I have to clean it off the gorgonian and the long spine urchin looks like he has flags all over him.

It seems like the carbon I used has worked. I am not sure it really did anything at all though. There are times when you just guess and hope in this hobby.