Algae blooms and dieing coral.

rmoore89

rmoore89

Member
I did 10 gallons the other day and that pretty much is half my water. With all the rock in my tank I think the tank only holds like 22gallons. I don't want to change ALL of it and have anything else die in there that isn't already, but if that would help than I might have to. My tank has almost gotten to the point where I can't even see in it today, and the lights haven't even been on for 6 hours, so I'm not sure if I should just shut them off and let the zoas die with the algae blooms, or just let the blooms take over the tank until I can do a huge water change and get the chaetos and chemipure.
 
S

shrimpy brains

Guest
Something is feeding this algae. You have got to find the source. Could you please test and post your actual parameters?
Also, if you have it, test for alkalinity.
Is the algae in the water or does it stick to surfaces, glass, rock etc?
With your limited amount of livestock, they should be able to live off the live rock. I would not feed for 3 or 4 days, along with daily water changes of about 5g removing as much algae as possible, and see what happens.
 
rmoore89

rmoore89

Member
I get normal algae build-up on the glass, I even have some of the purple spots growing on the glass, and also on my rock. N02 was <.3mg/l , PH is 8.6. Will see if I can borrow a friends master kit tomorrow to do alkalinity. Salinity is 1.024.
 
luvmyreef

luvmyreef

Active Member
Your PH is a little high. Anyways, if you stop feeding the flakes, that wil def. help. I still cant help but wonder if it is your source water. If you have any water that you have recently purchased from your lfs, test it for phos and see what you get. And if it shows Phos, you could actually buy distilled water and try that until you get your own RO/DI unit.
 
rmoore89

rmoore89

Member
I found a cheap RO unit for 147$ at lowes. Comes with the filters and says they last 6 months, and I think produces 25 GPD. I'll probably try to pick that up friday along with the chemipure. I'm still trying to find somewhere close that sells Chaetos so I don't have to order offline and put a silly 20~$ on my credit card. If I have to use the LFS's R0 water I'll test it also. I used to buy premixed from *****, but switched to R0 and mixed my own from this other place called Denises. I haven't fed any flakes in 2 days now, and I'm at work at the moment but before I left, I wasn't even able to see into my tank that's how fast these blooms are coming. Not sure if I should let it go, if it'll kill my inverts or not, I know my coral is pretty much done for :-(. I also have well water at my home, if I let it sit, it supposingly seperates metals and stuff in the water, could I possibly let my well water sit and use that? If I use distilled can it be like poland springs or dasani, things like that, or does it have to be labeled specificly distilled water?
 
luvmyreef

luvmyreef

Active Member
You can get a RO/DI unit from the doctors site for less than that! And it is a coralife 50gpd. It is probably cheaper on this site too, but I havent looked. The only type of distilled water you can use is the kind that is distilled by reverse osmosis. It will tell you on the jug how it was done. Did this algae start after you switched places where you get your water? The algae might be bad at the moment, but once it uses up all the nutrients, phos, etc. it will starve. You cannot use well water. It contains all sorts of things that is harmful to your tank. And if you have any of the water that you have been using, test it.
 
S

shrimpy brains

Guest
NO2 is nitrite and should be 0. That combined with a PH of 8.6. I'd be willing to bet you have ammonia also. Are you sure nothing has died? Did you recently add live rock that wasn't cured?
Have you treated with anything?
Can you test for ammonia and nitrate?
Also, can you test for calcium, magnesium and phosphate?
 
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shrimpy brains

Guest
Oh, check "that auction site" for ro/di. You can get one at a good price, new. When you get it, pull all the connections apart and add plumbers tape or silicon them. They are notorious for leaking(this will fix that). Other than that, they work well.
 
luvmyreef

luvmyreef

Active Member
Originally Posted by Shrimpy Brains
http:///forum/post/3286587
NO2 is nitrite and should be 0. That combined with a PH of 8.6. I'd be willing to bet you have ammonia also. Are you sure nothing has died? Did you recently add live rock that wasn't cured?
Have you treated with anything?
Can you test for ammonia and nitrate?
Also, can you test for calcium, magnesium and phosphate?
I assumed that he was using the Tetra Test for no2 because it lists <0.3 for the lowest reading.
 
luvmyreef

luvmyreef

Active Member
Flower;3286592 said:

I have been running my little in tank refugium for a month now...The cheato seems to be melting away but lots of little pieces are on the power heads..My nitrates are at 20 and have been at 20 for 3 years..

Any idea what I am doing wrong? Tests today show Phosphates at 0.5..it was a 0 when I first strated the refugium.[/QUOT
Is the chaeto located to where it gets light? or too much light? I really dont know, when I placed mine in the tank, it just took off and grows like a weed! Nor does it tumble as everyone says it should.
Click to expand...
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member
Originally Posted by luvmyreef
http:///forum/post/3286594
Is the chaeto located to where it gets light? or too much light? I really dont know, when I placed mine in the tank, it just took off and grows like a weed!

LOL..You type fast, I was in the wrong place...But anyway since you answered..it is at the top by the MH lights, so you think too much light? I can shade it
 
rmoore89

rmoore89

Member
I am using the Tetra Test, and I don't have anything to test calcium, magnesium, and phosphates. They were checked last week, but my calcium was a little low, and my friend told me my phosphate, n02, and ammonia levels were all fine, and he wished he had my water quality. I went to his house and his tanks crystal clear, with higher levels than mine =[. I haven't added any live rock that wasn't cured. Last time I added rock was over a month ago, and this didn't happen. = I have a picture of my tank after the lights being on for just today.
Pictures a little big >.>, but you guys can kinda see how bad it gets after one day of lights on. I'm just out of ideas and what to do with it. I might just change 100% of my water and transfer everything to a new tank to see if the same thing happens. I'm just not sure what to do >.> nothing has died except for 2 mexican turbo snails, but my other stuff has eaten those right up within a few hours.
 
S

shrimpy brains

Guest
Wow! That really sucks! I don't know what else to recommend, except, I have heard you can get rid of hair algae by raising your magnesium levels really high!
I don't know if it works or if it would help with what you have. Maybe, at this point, it is worth a shot!
 
rmoore89

rmoore89

Member
I don't think that's green hair algae? It has no strands and it doesn't really clump. It's all free floating in my water. I'm going to set up the 20gallon tank I have sitting outside, use new sand and see if the same thing happens. My sand right now is black, I don't think that matters, but I'll setup the 20gallon and get some chemipure to put in there and hopefully no outbreaks like this tank had.
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
No, that is not Hair algae....do you run carbon??? You may need to run more, and change it more often
How long do you run your lights for???
 
S

shrimpy brains

Guest
I know it's not hair algae. I was saying that it is possible tha, if it worked for hair, it may work for all nuisance alge!
Good luck. I wish someone would have come on here that could have helped you more!
 
spanko

spanko

Active Member
Okay green water is an algae bloom, says captain obvious.
How is you gas exchange, in other words do the water surface of the tank ripple, do you have a top on the tank? The reason I ask is that an bloom like the one pictured can be caused by excess Co2 in the water.
Another cause of a bloom like that is direct sunlight. Do you have your tank near a window where sunlight is hitting it or is the room it in very bright from a lot of sunlight? If you you may need to relocate the tank. Or it could be the light bulbs in your fixture. Are they older than 1 year? Are they bulbs specifically designed to grow algae?
Of course you need to find the cause of the excess nutrient in the water. I don't care what your tests say, there are nutrients in the water for these single celled algae to feed on and they must be controlledeliminated. Skimming, filter padfloss changingcleaning daily is a must. Water changes for the most part will not help here as the spores are everywhere and will grow with light an nutrients. Lights out will not help either because once you turn them back on the algae will come back.
In short, just like any plant or algae the condition in your tank is fueled by excess nutrient and light.
On the other side, this tank would be perfect for raising any fish fry!!
 
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