restoring an old reef

ckoral

ckoral

Premium Member
I had this:
http://www.youtube.com/dietguru1#p/u/3/vihsQTQANiE

But now many of the sps are dead and most other corals are not the best. My rock has a furry covering of some sort of algea all over it. I never had issues with my live rock before. Nitrite/Nitrate are zero. Phosphate is zero also. (seachem). I never tested before now so I have no basis, but everything seems good.

My rock "fur" is approx 1/4" thick and I have no idea how to get rid of it. I was thinking about setting the coral I have left on eggcrate and removing the live rock and putting it in a DARK trashcan to let the algae die off. I was also thinking about getting some pods during the dark period to sort of seed the rock.


I'm not sure why this algae forms, I use a surge device which makes it hard for hair algae to grow, but this mat algae is growing.

Is there any chemical process I can run my rock through in the dark to pull out anything from the rock?

Any suggestions on how I should restore my system?
 
It's all not lost. What do you have for clean up crew? Hermits and snails die off over time. Maybe add a bunch more clean up crew. I've also heard that Emerald Crabs clean up that type of algea....

You can also try to turn out the lights every couple of days for a day. Should help with the algea problem.

All is not lost and there are a few things you can do before taking the rock out and cleaning/killing it.

Riddler
 
I assume you took a hiatus from the tank and the downfall was a result of long term neglect? I guess that simply because I am in a very similar situation. Before you do anything drastic, such as removing rock and cooking it, you may want to consider getting back to basics first. See if the tank will recover on its own with good husbandry and maintenance.

I would start with water changes, renew your clean up crews: snails, crabs, cucumbers, reduced photo period, possibly change lights? GFO, GAC, tune up/clean skimmer
 
Can you describe this algae more? It would be helpful to know exactly what it is. Also, phosphate readings can be misleading. You could have phosphates, but the algae is consuming it. This sounds likely in this case.
 
I was wondering about my phosphate level. I never tested for anything before, I know it sounds weird, but I just looked at things and smelled the water. I never have any issues, except.... I lost interest. I have a lot going on in life, and came to the realization that my reef is always the same. After the virginity of discovery of critters and such, it just gets a little boring. Money was another aspect.

I was going to rip the entire system out and simply GIVE the entire thing to a friend for free. I got thinking about how much I love the hobby and just thinking about how to break it down and thinking about the system, I decided to hold off. I got rid of a 100gal sump/refugium and a 30gal glass cube. It has not made it a lot easier as a small sump does have some down sides to it. Let me just say I have mopped the floor a lot. One advantage of getting rid of the 100 and the 30 gal is the fact that I got rid of a lot of surface area. I now have a lot less moisture on my windows in my home and my wife is very happy about that. The problem existed before also.

Everything that went bad is attributed to my absence. I just stopped watching and tweaking my tank. I use to hang out and listen to pod casts and watch and work. Now I don't.

The algae.... It is red, felt like, and rips off in pieces. It seems to have short hairs. Another issue I am seeing is a lot of bubbles and red slime starting. I have tried very light amounts of vodka dosing but I did it with out testing and did it without ramping up. Just used it as an additive. I think that was a mistake and may have thrown off my chemistry. Anyway, life would be much better if I found a way of getting rid of the red mat algae that I have.
 
There may be a small degree cyno, but the stuff I am talking about is like felt.

Anyway, thanks for the advice all. I will just get better with the water changes and drop the photo period since I don't have as many corals anyway and the ones I have don't require as much light as the sps.
 
Tagging alaong here. I have had a 55g FOWLR tank for about 8 years that has been turned to a reef tank 2 to 3 years ago. Although the corals are doing well I too have started noticing my "sweater" covered rocks. I had a similar situation a few years back and I bought one hundred blue legged hermits and they did help a lot. Very few left so it must be time for more. I was thinking of reaquascaping so I will probably pull a lot of rock out and manually try to brush it off to give the CUC a haed start.
 
ckoral said:
I never have any issues, except.... I lost interest.
Click to expand...

An honest statement and probably the cause of your concern. I've certainly been there more than once since my first salwatwater tank in '86. Every time I lost interest, I've suffered a similar version of what you describe. I agree with the advice above that recommends more attention to your system, if you have the desire. If not, take a break from the hobby.

I've noticed over the years reading on this and other forums, along with visiting fellow hobbiests homes and seeing their tanks, that we always want to know what the water parameters are at a given moment. You've been asked for yours in this thread. But your parameters today are virtually meaningless. What have they been over the last several months and how consistent have they been is the real question, IME.

Your assertion that you have paid less than optimal attention to your tank probably means that the water has been out of whack for a while. It's no stretch to imagine Ca, Alk, and Mg have been extremely low for some time. Lack of regular water changes has failed to dilute harmful additions to the water over time. That's a sure way to have problems. I know - I've been there.

I was at a young fellow's place the other day buying some frags. He had a nice system and some beautiful corals. I always ask folks what their secret is. They always tell me they don't have one. Instead, what I always hear about is their attention to detail and a love for their tank and the hobby. Much of what I'm sure you had when you shot your video and posted it on Youtube - your tank looked great then.

Good luck with whatever you decide. This certainly isn't a hobby for half measures. S.P.S. :)
 
Buy some Mexican Turbo snails, they are the only thing I have found that will eat that red algae, and they will eat every bit of it they can get to. In really thick areas I would remove as much as I could by hand while using a filter sock to catch and of the stray pieces that float around. In hard to reach, heavily overgrown areas I squirted boiling hot ro water on it with a large syringe, that killed it off in those areas, you just have to be carefule not to get too close to any livestock.
 
well you guys are right that I don't have a clean up crew. I have determined long ago that they were not necessary (oh I'm gonna hear it now). They are expensive considering how long they live. I have a 65. I will buy 20 blue legs and 20 astria's and 6 months later I will have 3 of each.
 
If you are talking red hair algea, turbos will really do the trick. Turbo's are awesome rock scrubbers. I have seen them eat scrub rocks completely clean of various algeas, and various frags as well. Thats their big downside, they are like bulldozer and plow everything in their path
 
they are expensive, and they tend to dwindle down over time. especially at first as they equilize their population to the tank load.

but, ime, its totally worth it. whenever I look at the cost of renewing my CUC, I ask myself, would I pay someone $75 to clean rocks, and all the various algeas and wake up to a clean healthy tank? in the grand scheme of things, its really not that much money when you consider the time, effort, chemicals, equipment and stress of having a dirty tank.
 
The LFS I work at has a 540 fish only with a large puffer and other invert eating fish and everything in that tank has that red velvet fuzz. It's a type of algea from the coast of Australia that comes in on live rock and coral. We just let ours grow because it doesn't pay to put 10 turbos in there a day to have them eaten by tomorrow. The only way to kill it is with a clean up crew, dark days, or manual removal.
 
I guessed cyano because I have some blue-green velvety stuff with a little bit of maroon velvety stuff in my refugium (along with regular old cyano), and in my searches for velvety algae, cyano was the only answer I kept getting LOL. Thought maybe it was cyano gone too far or something!

Drewbaby, would you (or they) have any idea what the algae is called? My live rock is from Vanuatu, which is near Australia. Fortunately, it is limited to some live rock rubble in my refugium and nothing in the DT! It's definitely like velvet, and not like red hair algae. I can't do the dark tank thing in my refugium, it's 24/7 for the chaeto & I'm not going to bomb my chaeto for a small algae outbreak hidden in the stand!
 
ckoral said:
well you guys are right that I don't have a clean up crew. I have determined long ago that they were not necessary (oh I'm gonna hear it now). They are expensive considering how long they live. I have a 65. I will buy 20 blue legs and 20 astria's and 6 months later I will have 3 of each.
Click to expand...

Quit buying the hermits, your snails will thank you for it, unless you have a hidden large mollusk eating flatworm like I did.
 
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