String green algae question

[dleute]

I am leaving my tank fallow due to what may have been a marine velvet infection. Only life in it is 5 nassarius snails, and I am not sure they are still alive.

On Saturday morning, I checked my tank before leaving for the night, it looked fine, except the ATO was low. So I put the cover on and turned down my gyre and wav (turned the wav off). I didn't want the ATO to run out over night and didn't have time to fill it before leaving. I changed a grimy filter sock (actually a media bag) and the water got a bit cloudy.

I returned the following day to find stringy green algae growing everywhere. One night. These are the things I identified that would have changed:

1. A fraction of the flow. (done to make sure the ATO wouldn't run dry).
2. Less kalk and vinegar put in the tank due to the above.
3. Overflowing filter sock (again, media bag).

I stupidly didn't take any pictures. But the algae was really long and stringy. Hair algae I see in pictures looks thicker and more covering. This seemed delicate and fragile. It comes off really easily (my wav could easily blow it off).

What I've done:

1. Turned off all lighting. Don't need it anyway, and have 70+ days of fallow time remaining.
2. Refilled ATO without kalk or vinegar. I figured I'd let the ecosystem balance itself as it wants while it is empty. Manually dosing smaller amounts of vinegar so it's not complete system shock.
3. Scraped and blew out the tank changing filter socks repeatedly to catch as much as I can. Even the sump has a lot of junk build up. I plan to clean that once I get nitrates closer to 0.

So, my question, is an overnight growth of string like algae something that happens? Did I trigger it with my low flow and kalk/vinegar change?

Last check, nitrates were still around 25 and phosphates at 0. I will get current numbers soon.

I'm not running any GFO or Carbon.

Either way, I can blackout the tank for weeks if necessary.

Thoughts?

Thanks!

 

[scooter31707]

I would run some GFO and maybe get 1-2 turbo snails to combat the green hair algae. You are probably getting a reading of 0 for phosphates b/c the algae is consuming it.

 

[nursedude]

Have you watched this? A lot of good info.
http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/video/view/Week-48-Solving-your-reef-tanks-algae-problems-forever/

 

[ajoe]

I would simply turn the aquarium lights off for the remainder of the cycle. They are not needed for the cycling phase and only add to the issue at hand. Ambiant light is plenty for the purpose of cycling.

luck

 

[dleute]

I would simply turn the aquarium lights off for the remainder of the cycle. They are not needed for the cycling phase and only add to the issue at hand. Ambiant light is plenty for the purpose of cycling.

luck

Sorry, notifications were not on, so I didn't know people replied.

I am turning the lights off, but it's not a cycle. The tank is cycled. It's a fallow period. Either way, I turned off the lights. But I may turn them back on as all the algae I'm removing is pulling nitrates. Effectively the entire tank is a refugium lowering my nitrates. Since I have plenty of time until the fallow period is over, this may be a reasonable way to reduce nitrates.

No other nitrates except a few pellets of food are being added to the tank a couple times a week. Not sure that's necessary for a fallow period.

--Derrek

 

[dleute]

Have you watched this? A lot of good info.
http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/video/view/Week-48-Solving-your-reef-tanks-algae-problems-forever/

I have. And since I have 60+ days of fallow period, I'm just removing algae as best I can. I may even turn the lights back on to encourage the algae absorbing nitrate. The rocks cleared up significantly once I turned the lights off for a few days.

So far it's not really much of an issue. Just need to blow out the rocks and gravel periodically with my wav, catch most of it in a sock and repeat.

I'm just curious about why such a sudden algae growth. It was crazy how fast it happened.

My assumption is the vinegar dosing was doing a fair amount of nitrate processing before the algae could grow. When that stopped from the ATO, it just bloomed like crazy.

Anyway, I have plenty of time to get the tank in better shape for the next fish.

--Derrek

 

[dleute]

I would run some GFO and maybe get 1-2 turbo snails to combat the green hair algae. You are probably getting a reading of 0 for phosphates b/c the algae is consuming it.

I'm not putting new life in the tank because there is a possibility we might move. That's one reason why a long fallow period is ok with me right now.

There are some nassarius snails, but I haven't seen them in weeks. They are either fat and happy, or dead. ;P

Once I know I'm not moving, I'll get some more clean up crew in there that don't transmit any of the fish diseases I may have had. But first, I'll let nitrates continue to fall on their own.

--Derrek

 

[ajoe]

I'm not putting new life in the tank because there is a possibility we might move. That's one reason why a long fallow period is ok with me right now.

There are some nassarius snails, but I haven't seen them in weeks. They are either fat and happy, or dead. ;P

Once I know I'm not moving, I'll get some more clean up crew in there that don't transmit any of the fish diseases I may have had. But first, I'll let nitrates continue to fall on their own.

--Derrek

Smart decision. I think lights off and some patients and routine care will resolve this in time.