Arrr the bubbles!!

trying4reef

trying4reef

Member
My tank has been doing great, then I added more light. Well I should say doubled the light. I went from 200watts to 382watts of PC light. Thats when the bubbles and the brown and green alge started to get out of handle. I cut amount of time the lights were on and even keep one set off for a week (-96wpg), but still the bubble and alge are out of control!!! Is there any thing I can do to combat this? I'm getting ready to do another water change (17/75 gallons). I didn't think I had to much stuff in the tank but my Nitrate levels have come up to about 20 where as before they were nill. Thanks in advance for the input
 
trying4reef

trying4reef

Member
Let me also say that I was gone for a week in when I got back the water level had fallen below my return pump and it was blow bubbles in to the tank. I sure this started the problem, but I took a bunch of rock and stuff out of th water and wiped it off to remove some alge and the bubbles. The next day bubble were every where again. It's been 5 days and they seem to just keep coming. and the alge is not slowing down either!!!
 
N

newreefers

Guest
when I put miore lights on my tank I also had an incredible algae bloom. it took a couple of weeks to go away. as for the bubbles.... I'm not sure, I didn't notice that, do you have a new skimmer?
 
dive1

dive1

Member
I was told that when doing a water change for a problem like yours (It was for red slime algae) that I had to do a 50% water change to do any good. That several small water changes are not the same as one big one in order to get the bad water properties back to normal..That with small changes you would never catch up. This will not solve what caused the problem but will get you back to where you can manage the water quality... Also I would cut the lights back to about 4hr a day for a wk then come back up about 1/2hr to 1hr a day till back to normal... Good luck...terry
 
trying4reef

trying4reef

Member
How much water would I need to do a 50% change. I know I have a 75 gallon tank and half is 37.5 gallons but how do i factor in the rock and sand (amounts below)? and what should I use to make that much water? right now all I have is a tank gallon mixxing tank and a 7 gallon salt bucket for storage.
 
yetex

yetex

Member
I went out a purchased a new trash can that was a 40 or 50 gallon ( i forget) but i got it from wal mart and it worked fine for mixing the salt
 
trying4reef

trying4reef

Member
398 watts per gallon would cook my fish. No I have 5 watts per gallon 382 in all. Like to see that electric bill. WOW!!
 
hhands361

hhands361

Member
Oh okay cuz at the top you said you had 382 wpg. Anyways it whatever the problem is whether with algae or slime it should go away in like 2 wekks,
 
trying4reef

trying4reef

Member
Ok 3 questions.
1)How would I do such a large water change? I have many coral and lots of rock that would either have to be moved down, removed, or expossed to air. When changing the water normally I would take the water down to just above the rock then fill it back up. Thats about 25%, but 50% would expose a lot a stuff.
2) I usually change my water in the morning before the lights come on. Does it make a difference? Should I do it sooner than later or wait till tomorrow morning?
3) Would the high alge level make everything flip out or could something else be wrong as well? (levels below) My LTA is smaller then he has been since he got shot with some aptasia killing stuff by accident , at least on of my feather dusters lost it's head and the rest are hiding , the hole tank basiclly looks like s#!t and is getting worse.
thanks for any, and all of the help
 
koiman6

koiman6

Member
To help contain the outbust you could get several emerald crabs because they are great bubble algae eaters.
 
cosmo

cosmo

Member
Are you using ro/di water for water changes? Are the bubbles on the brown algae? Do the bubbles get worse when the lights are on?
I had a problem like this.
cosmo
 
trying4reef

trying4reef

Member
yes yes and yes! I use RO water and the bubble are on and under the brown alge. Can't barley see the bubble when lights are out and as more lighs turn on it seems to get worse.
 
trying4reef

trying4reef

Member
Thanks for the input. I was wondering about the shock myself. There is no way I could get 50% new water, close to my water conditions. I have 24 gallons ready and I'm going to do two 25% changes over the next three days. Would that give the tank time to adjust and still make a differance?
I have cut the new lights back ( I added two new 96PC's to my existing lights too soon. I have four ballest all on thier own timers. the two new news I have cut back to 5 and 3 hours.) I hope everything hangs on. Wish me luck. I'll keep you posted.
as always any input is welcome
thanx
www.CoralReefer.us
 
cosmo

cosmo

Member
I used phosphate sponge when it happened to me. I also cut down the light to half the time as usual. It is such an ugly sight, all the brown algae with bubbles stuck to it. If you have a phosphate test kit try that and try the sponge. It cleared up very quick once I added it, about 3-4 days. I get it when I do water changes but I use tap water. Let us know how it works out.
cosmo
 
trying4reef

trying4reef

Member
well after the 1st water change and 12hrs things are starting to look a little better. LTA is coming back out and alge is starting to pull away from the rocks. I bought some macro alge from my LFS and put some in the tank and a bunch in the sump. The guy said they will help lower nitrates. is this true? the ones I put in the tank have turned brown (from the alge i guess) but the one in the sump look ok still. I have a small crapy light running on it 24/7 now do they need more?
Thanks to all for helping me with this. It it so hard to see your tank go to ....
 
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