Peter Gott Posted March 17, 2013 Share Posted March 17, 2013 Between lighting cycle adjustments, flow adjustments, and the perfect balance of cleanup crew, MY BEAUTIFUL AQUARIUM IS FINALLY FREE OF NUISANCE ALGAE!!!!!! Now I just need to find a way to take good pictures with my iPhone, which really doesn't do the amazing colours justice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted March 17, 2013 Share Posted March 17, 2013 feels gud Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Gott Posted March 17, 2013 Author Share Posted March 17, 2013 Yeah it does. I admittedly rushed this aquarium too; it's only been up and running since September now, and I've already got sps encrusting my rock. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted March 17, 2013 Share Posted March 17, 2013 Sweet! Congrats! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ct67stang Posted March 17, 2013 Share Posted March 17, 2013 ive had big nuisence algea outbreaks so i can relate to the joy of it being gone. GOOD ON YA MATE!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+KimP Posted March 17, 2013 Share Posted March 17, 2013 I'd love to see pics! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted March 17, 2013 Share Posted March 17, 2013 What a good feeling. Seems like defeating one nuisance algae just encourages another. Whenever I kill one, another shows up that I've never even seen before lol. I just tackled cyano, dinoflagellates, green spot, and now green hair is starting to recede. The battle isn't over for me yet though. Congrats to you! How did you do it? Just diligent maintenance or anything special besides light? Give us some info on what all you did? Nothing in my tank will eat the gha. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Grog Posted March 18, 2013 Share Posted March 18, 2013 That can be a long and emotionally draining battle. Grats! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckyuv Posted March 18, 2013 Share Posted March 18, 2013 Sweet man it's a good feeling! Hopefully now the work ends and the enjoyment begins! Like Kim said we want pics lol! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Gott Posted March 18, 2013 Author Share Posted March 18, 2013 Well I started off with a Cyano problem shortly after I added my second fish. I cut my feeding back a bit, for I had been feeding my acans and leptastrea a lot, but my fish were able to make do with less and less food as my Refugium took off. The cyano didn't abate though. So I added some GFO. Still nothing. I increased my flow by adding another powerhead, and in some places it vanished, but in others it persisted. I work really late; usually I get home between 9:30 and 10pm. So I have my lights on a shifted schedule; my blue LEDs don't come on til 12:30, and then my PAR30 comes on at 2:30 and my Kessil at 3:30. The Kessil remained on til 10:30, the PAR30 was going off at 11:30, and the actinic LEDs at 12:30. I didn't really want to change this as I was getting great growth from all of my coral, and I got to see my aquarium lit up for a few hours after coming home. So I blacked out the window next to my aquarium completely so that not even filtered light could get in for the few hours before the lights came on. And the cyano vanished! But then it was replaced by GHA. To combat that I took my feeding schedule down to once a week and added some turbo snails. They all died, which caused an awful nutrient bloom, so the GHA got ten times worse. So I spent a month or so doing twice weekly water changes and pickin it out by hand. I also noticed that the end where I had the real problem had the lowest flow and a lot of debris settled there, so I started siphoning it every few days as well, but it kept building and coming back. So I but the bullet and cut back my lights: the Kessil now goes off at 10, the PAR30 at 11 and the actinics stay on til 12:30 still. That showed significantly reduced growth, but in the area with low flow it still grew fast enough to trap more debris, thus fueling its faster growth. So I added several bumblebee snails, which help eat it, and thinned it significantly. But even after manual removal to help them out it would come back by about the same amount. Then I added a small sea hare (I had been waiting forever for one of these guys small enough for my 15g to come in at AquaTek!). He took care of most of it, but I still had trouble with the debris settling in that end, and he didn't eat all of it at once so I had one live rock that looked like it had mange. Ugh. Then finally I got my tax return, and with it I got an MP10. Using the short pulse mode to find the resonant frequency and create a wave keeps debris from settling in that end, which is also the end with the intake for my filter and Refugium. So the various critters' poop got sucked up and sent to the fuge like it was supposed to, and in just a week the difference in growth in my Xenia and chaeto is obvious, and my aquarium remains spotless! Now I just have to hope that there is still enough algal growth for my sea hare or I'll have to trade him out to someone. Is there any way to tell if he is starving? The best part of all this is that I don't even have to clean the glass in my DT now! Oh and I should mention that I feed once a week with I rinsed frozen food, which I know is high in phosphates, but I got gulf rock and it is loaded with filter feeders, especially tunicates and feather dusters. There was a period in November and December where I tried to stop feeding frozen food altogether, and switch to pellets, but my tunicates started dying and my feather dusters she's their crowns, so I returned to feeding once a week with the frozen food. Everybody seems to be happy with that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Gott Posted March 18, 2013 Author Share Posted March 18, 2013 What a good feeling. Seems like defeating one nuisance algae just encourages another. Whenever I kill one, another shows up that I've never even seen before lol. I just tackled cyano, dinoflagellates, green spot, and now green hair is starting to recede. The battle isn't over for me yet though. Congrats to you! How did you do it? Just diligent maintenance or anything special besides light? Give us some info on what all you did? Nothing in my tank will eat the gha. Sorry for the novel! Even when I try to condense it seems that I still fail. I am pretty sure I included everything I did though, Lwj! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
(Bio)³ Posted March 18, 2013 Share Posted March 18, 2013 I know some people supplement the seahare with nori from heb. You can get them to eat out of your hand with it Novel was an inspiring read, don't be sorry! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Gott Posted March 18, 2013 Author Share Posted March 18, 2013 Awesome sauce, thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+brian.srock Posted March 18, 2013 Share Posted March 18, 2013 Novels are needed as 50% of all our posting probably start with "HELP ALGAE!" Everyone has done different things to reduce and rid themselves of it so one person's way may or may not work for someone else so someone having options on how to deal with it is always best for the community. I really enjoy that time where everything is perfect with my tank and I can actually sit and enjoy it as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Mlaw Posted March 18, 2013 Share Posted March 18, 2013 Funny thing is that I'm getting ready to introduce hair algae to one of my tanks to give the rabbit fish something else to eat. One man's pest is another man's free fish food. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Gott Posted March 18, 2013 Author Share Posted March 18, 2013 Heh, that is funny. I get it completely though, especially trying to balance my NPS suspension feeders' needs with a lower dissolved nutrient level in the water column. I wouldn't mind the GHA if it didn't encroach on my sps, actually. The way it moves in the current is pretty...but then again, so are my clove polyps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+etannert Posted March 18, 2013 Share Posted March 18, 2013 I've had the same problem. After the tank settled in and went through its various algae phases, I feel like I almost don't have enough nutrients in the water column to keep my corals (mostly LPS and zoas) happy, and I feed daily (sometimes more than once a day). The MP10 is a lifesaver when it comes to maintaining flow! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted March 19, 2013 Share Posted March 19, 2013 Lol no problem on the novel. Out of the whole thing I got one piece of info...mp10. I feel like my flow is good, but not mp40 good. Right now my 55 gallon display has 3100 gph from 4 different sources and no dead spots to my knowledge. I also have a massive cuc. I have just rid my display of dinoflagellates. Woohoo. I share in your rejoice. I still have some gha that grows at the base of my toadstool that nothing will eat. Unfortunately chaeto is dead because the Dino all migrated to my refugium so now that serves as a Dino farm. Is Dino good for nitrate and phosphate export? If so I'll leave it lol. It grows faster than chaeto Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Gott Posted March 19, 2013 Author Share Posted March 19, 2013 If it is growing fast I would imagine it has to be doing a decent job at nutrient export. I feel like it would work better in an algal turf scrubber than in a refugium though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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