Thinking of Taking It Down...Again.

[64Ivy]

Wanna hear bad luck? I can't use the Turbos because my copper levels are just high enough to kill' em. What I HAVE found however are Diadema setosumi (Black Longspined Sea Urchins). Apparently, their tolerance for copper is a little higher than snails and they seem to do a pretty effective job on whatever type of algae this is. But the problem is that they eat very slowly and in a 500g tank, that wont work unless you cut loose a couple hundred of them So why don't I? Ever brushed up against one?

That.

In the meantime, the half dozen I have are working steadily at the LR I still do have in the tank. And as I mentioned before, I have a couple water samples at the lab and waiting for this months' results. I'll let you know when I know.

 

[mayjong]

curios on the copper-
1. did you/ have you change the live rock out, or where you trying to keep the old (used "copper" rock)
2. did you run cuprisorb in a reactor?
3. have you actually tried a snail to see if it dies?

just wondering because i'm trying to rid a tank of copper also...
thanks!

 

[64Ivy]

curios on the copper-
1. did you/ have you change the live rock out, or where you trying to keep the old (used "copper" rock)
2. did you run cuprisorb in a reactor?
3. have you actually tried a snail to see if it dies?

just wondering because i'm trying to rid a tank of copper also...
thanks!

1. I am going to re-use the old live rock but treating it first with lanthanum to knock down any PO4 that may be leaching from it. I am also in the process of determining whether the source of the copper is the rock by running a Polypad in the holding bucket before I treat. If it is determined that the rock IS the problem, I will then most likely ditch it.

2. No, I have it in a filter sock.
3. Several times, especially before I knew the issue. Turbos and Ceriths can't handle it at all. Ceriths fare a little better.

Good luck in overcoming your issues.

 

[JokerGirl]

I dealt with that exact same algae problem with my tank YEARS ago.

The only thing that ended up fixing it was heavy filtering with a GFO reactor. The mats of algae would die in waves, and to help get the PO4 out further, I would go in and spend an hour or so peeling the dying algae off in large strips. It took several months of this, but I eventually eradicated it, although it did kill my clam, starfish (and spawned leg) and Goniopora in the process.

You can see it here:

What it would look like as it died... sort of a melting effect

Bucket o' crp

 

[speedo2wet]

It certainly gets tough. I think people state the lights out to find out if the algae is photosynthetic by nature or nutrient driven. Then you can at least rule out certain algae and go from there.
My recommendation and I'm in the process of adding one to my tank is to start up an algae turf scrubber. These can take weeks to get started but once matured it can be super beneficial on more than one level. I'm trying to design and fit one in my sump, the biggest issue is space, lights mainly. We spend so much money on minerals and chemicals to keep our water clean (low nutrient) that algae if promotes to grow in a confined space will do all the work for us.

 

[64Ivy]

This months Copper test results were 0.04 mg/L (40ppb), actually UP a little from last months 0.03 mg/L despite the use of Cuprisorb. Even more interestingly however, I also sent a sample of my make-up water, even though my home kits and a Polypad already tested it 'clean'. The result? 0.04 mg/L (40ppb)!

Looks like I may be honing in on the problem.

Question: For those running Cuprisorb through a reactor, any tips? Flow rate? Would Cuprisorb even be effective at levels this 'low'. This reactor would be on a 125g, btw.

 

[Lincutis]

Okay, I just saw this thread and I had this exact problem a month age. I did a lot of research before acting on it. What I finally decided to try what low flow and darkness. I did a light blackout on the tank for 5 days then blue lights only for a week. After the 5 dyas it was 80% gone and after the 12 days it was completely gone. Light back up and flow back up for a month and not a sight of that crap. Oh and I cut to minimal feeding every other day. Hope this is helpful, it truly worked for me and my corals are actually much happier.

 

[xtlosx]

I dealt with that exact same algae problem with my tank YEARS ago.

The only thing that ended up fixing it was heavy filtering with a GFO reactor. The mats of algae would die in waves, and to help get the PO4 out further, I would go in and spend an hour or so peeling the dying algae off in large strips. It took several months of this, but I eventually eradicated it, although it did kill my clam, starfish (and spawned leg) and Goniopora in the process.

You can see it here:

What it would look like as it died... sort of a melting effect

Bucket o' crp

Holy crap... i have been dealing with this for almost 2.5 months now... To read your description of peeling it off is exactly my experience. I could go to one side of the sand, peel like tape and just get 2-6" of this crap.. it's heavy, smells awful, and I would have a bucket just like yours..

To the OP... I have waited, waited, and noticed that doing weekly water changes actually made it worse. So I have stopped and haven't done a WC in almost 5 weeks now. It got so bad, all my feather caulerpa in the fuge was choked out and basically couldn't even grow. What helped....

Not sure 100%, but I dosed a full bottle of Microbact7. Part of my sand after the bottle was done became white... I tried Seachem's Stability which took care of another part of my sand. I spent days in a row (in the morning or late evening when lights were going down) and peeled this crap off of my sand, and rock, wherever I saw it rotting and just dying. I literally pulled out lbs of this garbage... It started not coming back from my sand, and more of my sand was white... finally! I let my skimmer crank away and rip out nasty gunk constantly.

For this period of time, i ran GFO & Carbon in a BRS reactor constantly, changing it religiously and spending a bunch of money along the way. It didn't help.... at all. I tried purigen in the sump to keep nitrates down, and even chemipure elite. I was at my whits end.

The last straw, and I think it's getting to the final stretches of this, but I built this cage of eggcrate and actually added a small koralia into the fuge. I got some chaeto from a local reefer, but it into this elevated cage, and pointed the powerhead at it.. In the past, when I tried chaeto it would just get choked out by cyano it was so bad... it died.... it was that bad.

I have had the chaeto in there since last night around 5PM, and I woke up to seeing a part of one of my rocks that i haven't literally seen in 2.5 months... it's starting to recede in a bunch of spots, so my guess and observation is the chaeto might just be soaking up these phosphates..

So at the end of the day, don't give up, keep fighting the good fight, and you will be rewarded... This is my dream 150G tank, and I have lost some fish, SPS along the way.. Don't give up, fight it, and just remove as much of it as possible. As much as I think GFO\Carbon are great, physically ripping this crap out is huge.. There are spots way in the back that I just can't get to, so it's sitting there, but this morning I noticed it receding. Good luck...

 

[stocker]

Ivy, don't give up. Your first tank was a thing of beauty. (Former TOTM) I know you can get it back.

 

[64Ivy]

No worries, my friend.

 

[ridetheducati]

If it were me, I would discard ALL live rock. Clean the tank, obtain new rock, develop a great aquascape and enjoy the journey back to a great reef.