OgreMkV Posted January 1, 2011 Share Posted January 1, 2011 Hi guys, I need a second opinion. First, I've been really bad and not checked my chemistry in a couple of months. Current parameters Nitrites < .3 (test only has that as lowest) Nitrates 0 Calcium between 250-300 Magnesium 1300ppm kH = 9 pH = 8.1 PO4 = 0 Currently, I've got the koralia, an aquaclear powerhead, and an aquaclear 70 HIB filter with two phosphate absorbing pads in it. I have a skimmer, a Tunze, but it rarely collects very much, I think the tank is just too clean for skimmate to form. What else, Oh, I've got LEDs that are less than a year old. 160W worth, 2-30 watt LED spots, 13 3W whites and 13 3W actinic bulbs. The spots are about 15,000K and the 3W whites are about 8000K. Dosing is, I use two tablespoons of Seachem reefbuilder alkalinty (not the 8.3 version) mixed into a gallon of RO, that gets used up in about two days worth of top off. I top-off at night and then add 5ml of calcium (Kent Marine Liquid Calcium) in the morning. I occasionally replace the calcium with 5ml of Kent Essential Elements when the magnesium gets low. I'm having major algae issues. My koralia and pump intake will clog in a few days if I don't keep on them. I'm getting a little bit of the nasty slimy hair algae, but only in the outflow of the koralia. I've got green puffy algae (like cotton balls) all over the koralia, the other powerhead and on the glass near the other powerhead. I was trying to keep some pretty macro algae to consume nutrients from the other algae, but it's turning white and dying off (I suspect lack of calcium, which, for some reason is a stone ***** to maintain in my tank). I have lost a yellow clown goby recently. I don't know if he's just hiding or dead, never found a body, but that's not too surprising with the tank. The other fish are healthy, though the tail-spot blenny seems to be hiding some as well and not coming out to eat, though I see him peck at the algae wall. I've got SPS that are doing very well, zoas and softies are doing very well, everything appears healthy. I don't even want to talk about the bubble algae. Any advice? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+dapettit Posted January 1, 2011 Share Posted January 1, 2011 Sounds like bryopsis (I have been battling for months!). I could be wrong. Can you post a pic? I can pm you a pdf I put together on the subject if you like. It was compiled doing an exhaustive search on the subject. JLMK. Dave- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Alvarado Posted January 1, 2011 Share Posted January 1, 2011 I have a little algae growing, I would like to see that PDF. Might be nice to see info like that attached to the FAQ section as well. thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OgreMkV Posted January 1, 2011 Author Share Posted January 1, 2011 Yeah, count me in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
offroadodge Posted January 2, 2011 Share Posted January 2, 2011 clean up crew, regular tank husbandry, is the water RO/DI and are the TDS 0?, excess nutrience and no way to export them IS the cause. figure that out and ur algae will go away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OgreMkV Posted January 2, 2011 Author Share Posted January 2, 2011 Well, I'm pulling the algae as fast as I can. The RO is from Aquatek, i am probably a little low in CUC. Anyone have an emerald crab that is known to eat bubble algae? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+dapettit Posted January 2, 2011 Share Posted January 2, 2011 Jeremy is right to certain point. My research indicates that bryopsis is a different animal all together. Pulling it out is helpful as well as harmful. If any of the cells from the pulling get loose it will help to spread it. And it spreads like wild fire! The only solution to this invasion is to attack it with chemical warfare and large water changes. Using Kent's Tech M to raise your mag levels to 1600-1800 ppm or I have seen higher is the only thing that will kill it. And it's not the magnesium that kills it but a by-product in their mix. Like I said before I have researched this extensively. This is a slow process so don't expect overnight results. You still need the advice Jeremy posted to keep the other problems at bay. I will post the article in the Resources forum under Saltwater 101. If you would like it in pdf format please send me a pm. Dave- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Hydro Posted January 2, 2011 Share Posted January 2, 2011 Oh man its got to be those LEDs , kidding You guys are missing it! His skimmer doesn't produce foam therfore it isn't working. Trust me your tank isn't too clean to produce foam, something is wrong and IMO that is what is feeding the algae. Take the skimmer apart completely and clean it, including the pump. Replace the intake tube in case there is some salt build up inside. Make sure the pump for the skimmer is the correct one for it, and make sure its at the proper height in the water (very important.). Make sure the pump impeller is worn or has broken splines too. IMO fix your skimmer and you will fix your problem. 3 days of darkness helps too. Algae needs nutrient in the water to live, elimiate the nutrient and elimate the algae. The only way to do this efficiently is a working skimmer and/or a healthy refugium. Sounds like your macro is going sexual, which means it turs white and dissolves to reproduce. When this happens it releases all of its stored nutrient in to the water causing all other algae to feed. If this happens on a large scale at one time it can crash your tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Hydro Posted January 2, 2011 Share Posted January 2, 2011 Something else that I have learned about hair algae and bryopsis is that grazing fish and CUC are more likely to eat it if its short. So keep it as short as possible for the best resuslts. You can use a siphon hose to suck it out sometimes too, try 3/4" for the most suction. Also if you do have to tear it off the using a siphon will keep most of the lose pieces out of you tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OgreMkV Posted January 2, 2011 Author Share Posted January 2, 2011 Thanks Hydro. I just did a deep claen for the skimmer. I hope that takes care of it. No damage on the impeller and the pump is blowing pretty good. I also may have inadverntedly fixed the airline that I didn't know wasn't open fully. We'll see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will Posted January 2, 2011 Share Posted January 2, 2011 try vodka dosing, that should help to strip your water of nitrate and po4 what kind of skimmer do you have? how deep is your sand bed? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OgreMkV Posted January 2, 2011 Author Share Posted January 2, 2011 I've got a Tunze 9002 skimmer and my sand bed is about 3 inches worth of aragonite sand. I read about the vodka dosing and I want to make sure the skimmer is working properly before I try that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaJMasta Posted January 2, 2011 Share Posted January 2, 2011 Yeah, massive algae growth and no skimmate points to a skimmer problem. I would ammonia and nitrate check the RO, just to be sure. I'm sure they do a good job with it, but if there's something in the buckets or a bad batch or something, it would certainly contribute. In the mean time I would do this: Reduce the photoperiod by a couple of hours Reduce feeding by at least 1/3 Get more CUC - especially crabs or an urchin or a lettuce nudi or something else that is known to work on algae. Maybe large turbos would be a good choice. What do you mean by added macros turn white? Is it only at night? It is normal for many macros to turn white without light and green when lit. Do you have a refugium or other place with macroalgae as a nutrient sponge that is lit 24 hours a day? If you have the space it will help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OgreMkV Posted January 2, 2011 Author Share Posted January 2, 2011 OK, the skimmer is back up and it looks way better. As I mentioned, it appears the good cleaning fixed a problem I wasn't aware of. We'll see how it goes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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