sifuentes31 Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 Ok so i'm having some sort of algae bloom in my tank. It's driving my skimmer nutzoid and my socks are stopping up after one day. It actually holds water and is pouring out the top of the sock. What could be causing this? It's making all my coral close up. And no i havn't done a water change.. I'm moving next week so i was going to put all new water in it. I am running biopellets but i've had that since the summer with no problems and running GFO and carbon, actually just changed it the other day. Any clue why this happening? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timfish Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 "Return of the Blob!" What color are your socks (that's gotta be a strange question to any non reefer's reading this)? Like you I'm guessing some kind of algae or bacterial bloom. If doing a big water change doesn't help try a UV sterilizer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sifuentes31 Posted December 18, 2013 Author Share Posted December 18, 2013 LOL well kinda gray i guess..... Also since i'm going to do a 100% water change do i have to worry about anything like cycling or anything else harmful? IF by any chance the algae returns what else could i do to remedy this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckyuv Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 This happened to my tank when I added my bio pellet reactor. I was having to change the socks every day (luckily I have like 10) until it stopped a week or two later Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sifuentes31 Posted December 18, 2013 Author Share Posted December 18, 2013 It's been about a week and a half already and i have my skimmer on. I had raise it really high and it still foams. Have to drain the cup every day. Tank looks milky kinda. Hope the move clears it up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neon Reefer Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 Bacterial bloom probably from the bio pellet reactor. You could turn it down a bit or wait it out w/ good husbandry upkeep, but i'd think about a fast 100% water change. Could be irritating or worst to sensitive corals. If you decide to move forward w/ it, look at some solutions for doing 100% emergency changes over a period of time. There is a lot of information on the 50 50 50 water chnge over 3 days getting you to something like 87% total new water over three days. I'd also think about adding a beneficial bacterial suppliment in either case to compete with the bacteria that you are fighting. Worst case senerio is if you suffer an oxygen depletion from the bacteria bloom. Watch your fish and by all means keep that skimmer in over drive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard L Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 I'd be a little concerned that a 100% water change sounds is too drastic at this time. Except for your socks and skimmer being out of wack, I didn't see any mention of any significant negative effects to your livestock that would make me want to hit it with a big water change. A water change like that could trigger a new set of symptoms/problems to diagnose. Better to sit this one out a little longer in my opinion. Good luck and keep us posted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juiceman Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 Skim skim skim!!! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sifuentes31 Posted December 18, 2013 Author Share Posted December 18, 2013 It's been SKIMMING IT'S BUTT OFF!! So i should save alot of the water then for the move and replace the rest with fresh saltwater? Right now the fish look fine and are eating good. Just my coral are all closed up but don't look bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckyuv Posted December 19, 2013 Share Posted December 19, 2013 IMO a 100% water change is bad. It would have to be pretty darn serious for me to change all my water. It's not easy to do that without stressing inhabitants. I would turn off bio pellet reactor before I did a big water change just to see if that's the culprit. How old is the tank? Have you dosed anything out of the ordinary lately? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sifuentes31 Posted December 19, 2013 Author Share Posted December 19, 2013 Tank is about 2 years old and i'll keep most of the water when i move. As for the Culprit....sure was the Biopellets. I got home yesterday at 4 and noticed the tank was almost all white. I cleaned the skimmer again but this time i turned off the pellets. Sure enough this morning before work the tank looks clearer and the skimmer was finally pulling dark stuff instead of green water. Even the foam in the sump stopped. Why would this have happened if i had the pellets since the summer? The only thing i did different was to turn up the flow about two weeks ago. Thats when it started cloudy. Just think it's weird Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
don duncan Posted December 19, 2013 Share Posted December 19, 2013 sounds like the bio pellets. How fast are they tumbling? I had something similar when my pellets were not tumbling properly (to slow with dead space). I also have my bio pellet reactor dump directly into my skimmer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woods Posted December 19, 2013 Share Posted December 19, 2013 If you turned up your Biopellets, you increased the amount of nutrient they were giving off to bacteria and that cause the bloom. You want to do things very slowly and not adjust things quickly with the Biopellets, that is why it says to put in half the amount you need to start with and forget about it for 8 weeks... When you do make changes to it, make them in very small increments. Also if you don't have the outlet like Don says either directly connected to your skimmer, at least put the return hose close to the skimmer intake. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sifuentes31 Posted December 19, 2013 Author Share Posted December 19, 2013 I've had the skimmer for months but was tumbling slow just recently turned it up. I did start slow with less biopellets and after 2 months put in the rest. I do have the outlet placed in the inlet of the skimmer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woods Posted December 19, 2013 Share Posted December 19, 2013 Ok, I wouldn't turn the Biopellets completely off if your long-term plan is to use them. I would just turn them back down to where you had it set before, otherwise you have to start all over again and it seemed to be fine before you made the change in flow rate. Is there a specific reason you increased the flow rate on it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sifuentes31 Posted December 19, 2013 Author Share Posted December 19, 2013 The flow rate slowed down considerably and wasn't tumbling the pellets as much so i cleaned out the BRS screen and put it back on. Thats when i turned up the juice to really tumble the media because i had it so low. I'm using NPX pellets the small bag, rated up to 50 gallons. LIke i said no problems till after i cleaned and turned up the reactor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woods Posted December 19, 2013 Share Posted December 19, 2013 The higher the tumbling rate the more the pellets will shed off material and too much will cause a bacteria bloom... It sounds like you know exactly what happened and how to prevent it going forward. Good luck and enjoy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sifuentes31 Posted December 19, 2013 Author Share Posted December 19, 2013 Thanks Woods yeah live and learn....At least it wasn't a tank crash but i'm sure i came close.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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