My algae tank - New thread

[GSchiemer]

I did another major scrubbing/yanking last night. This should help hold me over until I get to the next decision.

I also added 6 mexican turbo's (got lucky at a LFS).

I am not sure on whether or not to use PO4 remover. When I tried ROw-A-Phos there was no change in over a month. I have also tried Kent's Phosphate Sponge that resulted in the LPS shriveling up so I stopped that.

I do not run carbon. I have thoguht about it but it need flow through it and not just sitting in the sump.

Aside from a good skimmer, the best course of action is to remove the undesirable algae through water changes, even if that means changing 10 gallons every week for a few weeks. You'll find that the algae and water changes get to be less and less as time goes by.

Don't use an aluminum-based PO4 remover, such as the Kent Sponge. As you've noticed, it can negatively affect corals. RowaPhos is a good product and can only help you control algae.

A good activated carbon can help as well, but it must be changed regularly.

The snails are a good idea. I don't know what you have as far as Astraea snails and blue-legged hermit crabs, but these are a BIG help in controlling the re-growth of nuisance algae.

Your persistence WILL eventually pay off!

Greg

 

[Anonymous]

I got 80 astreas and no more blue-legs. The blue legs killed all my snails last time.

Whats your opinion on the Euroreef ES5-3 skimmer?
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Honda Z50J

 

[Anonymous]

I completely agree with Mr. Scheimer that aluminum based phosphate removers are very troublesome.

I will admit that I didn't read every post on this thread but just glancing through, I saw a couple of recommendations that I would also recommend. One was to remove some rocks and cook them (I.e...total darkness, frequent water changes, good circulation, siphone the detritus, etc.) That is a great idea. I've done it, and it worked awesome.

The other was to remove the rocks prior to pruning turf algaes. I usually recommend to save some water change water and do the pruning in that because most turf algaes typically reproduce via fragmentation rather than sexually or budding or sporulation (although some algaes can reproduce both ways). Pruning turf algaes in the tank will likely result in hair algae in areas where it wasn't previously. If you can't prune outside of the tank, at least keep a siphon running to suck up the fragments.

 

[GSchiemer]

I got 80 astreas and no more blue-legs. The blue legs killed all my snails last time.

Whats your opinion on the Euroreef ES5-3 skimmer?

That's odd. The blue-legged hermit crabs (Clibanarius tricolor) usually don't kill Astraea snails. They will eat dead and dying snails, which is sometimes mistaken for eating live snails. They're not powerful enough to overcome a healthy Astraea snail.

While I have no direct experience with that skimmer, I have heard good things about it. I recently put a Deltec MCE600 HOB skimmer on my 42 gallon reef aquarium and I love it. It uses similar technology. You might want to look into that one. It can hang off a tank or sump, or sit in a sump. Read more here:

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2005/8/review

Greg

 

[Anonymous]

Update. Algae has covered all the LR again. Green and red hair.

I am also noticing some nice mojano's starting on one piece of LR.

I guess I can't win. New setup or get out is my next step.
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Ferrari 212 Inter

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

Sorry Rob.

 

[GSchiemer]

Perhaps it's time to try stamp collecting.

All kidding aside, there's something else wrong here that hasn't been exposed in this thread. Keeping an algae-free reef aquarium isn't that difficult. I compare it to baking chocolate-chip cookies. There are many recipes, but they all work. I can set up a reef aquarium of virtually any size tomorrow and I know it will work. The bottom line is that you're missing something or doing something wrong.

My last suggestion is to make contact with a successful reef aquarist in your area. Check out his or her reef aquarium in person. Then copy everything he or she is doing down to the smallest detail. Don't mix and match methods or equipment.

Greg

 

[Anonymous]

I think MY LR has been loaded up from having a DSB that was never stocked and then went BB. This was probably too much of a chnage and killed off allot of life in the LR.

I have good lighting 250W HQI MH & 2 95W VHO Actinics
good flow - Blueline HD40 (790goh) return, Tunze 6020 (1850GPH), 2 Maxijet 1200's
Oceanic Tank and stand
20G all-glass sump - Euroreef ES5-3 skimmer (supposed to be great)
Precision Marine Kalk reactor fed my a Litermeter III
Bi-weekly/monthly water changes from a RO/DI/DI.
70-80lbs LR
No sand
snails
crabs

I guess this is not right then.
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Death & Dying Forum

 

[GSchiemer]

I've never believed that live rock loaded up crap. I've taken the worst looking live rock covered with algae and aiptasia, and turned it into the best looking rock. This was live rock that was destined for the trash can. I guess you can try "cooking" your rock or replacing it, but I still say something else is wrong, even though everything appears "right" on paper.

Greg

 

[Anonymous]

How did you achieve that? Was that done in an active tank? With certain methods? Or did you re-cure or cook the LR?
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Ion

 

[GSchiemer]

How did you achieve that? Was that done in an active tank? With certain methods? Or did you re-cure or cook the LR?

The most recent example was a friend, not unlike you, that decided to throw out about 80 pounds of live rock because he let majano anemones, aiptasia anemones, and various algae get out of hand. He planned to replace it with new live rock. I told him that I would take the "old" live rock.

I scrubbed off the visible algae with a scrub brush and rinsed each piece. I placed all the rock in a 40 gallon aquarium with 150 watts of light and newly made salt water, along with an MTC HOB skimmer. I also dosed kalkwasser to replace all the evaporated water. After a few days I added a mess of blue-legged hermit crabs and Astraea snails. After 10 days I added a Chaetodon ulietensis butterfly to eat the nuisance anemones. In a month's time the rock looked great again; you would have never known about the anemones or algae.

 

[Anonymous]

Hmmm - sounds good but I am not that lucky.

Maybe its still something in my water that the RO/DI/DI is not removing. Or its the air in my house, I dont feed the tank since there is no fish left in months.
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Home insurance Forum

 

[Anonymous]

I do notice the LR constantly has allot of detritus build up. Even in areas where the Stream blows across constantly.
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BMW C1

 

[Anonymous]

What I don't get is how your still having so many problems, when I did what was suggested for you and my algea problems are going away, albeit slowly, but going away none the less.

My schedule was week one 10% water changes every other day. Week 2 2x 10% and 1x 30%, and week 3, 2x 10% and 1x 50%, all done every other day (Tues, Thurs and Sat). That so reduced the amount of hair algea (and dinos) that I was able to reduce the amount of changes to 30% once a week. I don't think my ro/di water is any better than yours, or that I'm any luckier than you.

 

[Anonymous]

I just dont know. The only thing left is the LR, water or the glass tank. Change all 3 and I should be fine right?

I should just try the new LR but I am terrified that this problem will come right back since everything else has failed so far.
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Insurance Forums

 

[Anonymous]

Well this tank has caused too many headaches and problems. I am going to just get out of reefing for a while.

Take care.

Rob
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Paintball

 

[mmilan]

1 of my tanks has a similar syndrome.It's frustrating!
Can anything be done to the rock to make it useful or even "live" again?
Do ya fill your trunk and drive to Florida,fill a few crab traps full and come back in a month or two????
Patience is hard to stomach in your living room!
Especially when we fill our tanks with the choicest LR we can get our hands on.

 

[melas]

Sorry to hear that Rob! There is no convincing you to try the new rock? what you should do is find someone on here who has a similar sized tank with a reef that looks the way you want yours to look. Then follow their routine exactly. i think the danger of these boards sometimes is how helpful people can be. getting advice from 12 people all at once can be dangerous and often leads to more problems. with so many different philosphies and setups it's possible that you end up trying methods intended for a dsb on a ssb with poor results. i've always told people to find someone who does it the way you like and listen to them and only them. then figure what works for you based on your own success. either way good luck in all you do!

 

[Anonymous]

Wow....Quitting. don't do that.

I have to disagree with Mr. Scheimer about live rock loading. Like I previously mentioned, I have cooked LR before and it works. You wouldn't believe the junk that spits out of the LR. Unfortunately, it's very labor intensive and takes a while.

I haven't bought new LR in ages. If I help someone else set up a tank, I do the same thing for them that I do for myself. I wait until someone like you is frustrated and I buy their rock for pennies on the dollar of what it's worth. If I think that I'm setting up a tank within a month or two, I'll cook it. If not, I just let it dry out and let it become base rock. Then when I need it, I'll scrub it real well, then boil it (not cook it, boil it). I kill every living thing on it, bacteria, algae spores, etc.. It become the basiest of all base rock. It is almost pure white at this point. Drop it in a tank and let the bacteria colonize.

PS....if you find a nice looking LPS skeleton in a LFS, you can usually buy them pretty cheap. If you boil it and drop it in a tank that has a good coralline algae population, this skeleton will grow coralline VERY quick because it doesn't have to outcompete bacterial biofilms. I typically let them bleach out in the sunshine for a week or two first though. I doubt this is necessary but I'm a creature of habit.

 

[Newbler]

hmmmm.....

http://www.hawkfish.org/infoctr/probalgae.htm

Water Holding Containers - There has been some recent issues involving certain types of Rubbermaid trash cans that are leaching phosphate in to both top-off water and freshly made saltwater. If you are still having algae problems along with high levels of phosphate in your water use a phosphate test kit and check the phosphate levels of the water in your container.