Flake-spilled, algae bloom and bacterial bloom, help!

[stupid_naso]

On the other thread I was explaining what happened. Well long story short, a kid dropped a whole container of flakes into my tank. I did about 30% (I was wrong, I thought it was 40%) water change, tried to syphon most of the flakes out, change the filter pad (after 4 months), and put in phos-absorb.
A few hours after I cleaned everything up I came home and found algae blooming in my tank. As soon as the light is off, the tank turns milky, bacterial bloom.
I am just worried sick right now. I know there's nothing much I can do right now, other than not feeding those bacterias with more food, and let time heals my tank.
I am just worried that my fishes and corals won't be able to survive this. The recommendation for algae bloom is to make sure the tank has enough air/ O2, if I'm not mistaken, or basically keep the water moving. So with the current power head and filter I already added the little pump that connects to a little blue sponge that makes air bubbles. I put that in for the aeration (sp?).
Now this bacterial bloom, there's nothing I can do. Anyone can help? I don't know whether my snails will survive this or not. My fishes were fine, and so is my shrimp. Corals... not looking so good. Help!!!
stupid_naso

 

[daisy]

Can you get another tank really fast? I'm not sure whether you'd be doing more harm transferring your corals and guys into a new set-up or whether there is more possible harm in keeping them where they are... Good luck!

 

[daisy]

I just went back and read about your set-up. your tank is incredibly small. I know that lots of people work with small set-ups, but 10 gallons leaves no room for mistakes, as you have sadly learned. See if you can get 7 or so gallons of water from your LFS (make sure it's copper-free) and fill another 10 gallon with that water which is assumedly already cycled. Put your critters in it after making sure the salinity is the same and the pH is the same and the temperature is the same. Again, good luck!

 

[david s]

naso need more info whats your water peramiters i am thinking some nitrate and flake has some phoshate that will cause algie. it stinks but all I can think is make sure you have alot of circulation turn that protien skimmer up and do another big water change driping kalk may help some if you test high phophate if you have never done it read on it you can only drip at night and stuff

 

[david s]

lol good catch daisy you posted the same time as me err a 10 gal I agree with daisy just move stuff to another tank or rubermaid and fix it back up

 

[stupid_naso]

Well, I am not making another new setup to safe this whole thing. If I do make one, there would've been a mini cycle in the new tank which I am avoiding in the first place. Getting 7 gal that's supposedly has bacterias in it would still cause a mini cycle. I am letting it be as it is.
I am not setting up a new tank nor am I thinking of moving any of my corals to my friend's tank. I'm affraid they'll go through too much stress (a new environment and different lighting), even more than the one they're going through right now.
I am not running skimmer because.... I simply don't have one . So far it's getting better. The milky water is clearing. Hopefully by tomorrow it'll be back to normal.
No water parameters is available. Too affraid to even test .
I have hardy corals and hardy fishes. They all should be fine. Thanks for the response though.
I understand that with ten gallon there's no room for mistakes. I've known that since the beginning. This is not a mistake, it's an accident .
stupid_naso

 

[kmatysek]

Naso,
Sounds like you're on the road to recovery, so this advice probably isn't needed, but...
The suggestion to fill a big rubbermaid bin with LFS water and temporarily place your corals and fish in there is not a bad idea. You wouldn't have to worry about a mini-cycle (I don't think) because you're not putting in new live rock or substrate, right?
We had a mini-disaster with our 90g when our skimmer output overflowed soaking the carpet under the tank stand and we needed to pick up and move the tank to dry the carpet. I put all the coral and fish into 2 big rubbermaid containers, the rock into a third, and they sat there overnight while we moved and dried the rug. I'm sure they were stressed (I was!) but they did just fine, I couldn't believe it. If your algae bloom doesn't continue to improve you could always do that - might be less stressful for the little guys, but it's a hard call.

 

[rhomer]

Why not run some carbon also with the phos-zorb. This should also help keep the nitrates down.

 

[scuba1]

This is something I typed up on red slime. I would use the same procedures for your problem. This might have to be done a couple of times but should solve the problem. 30% water change was not enough. Also as this food degrades the process might have to be repeated untill tankk cycles. Good luck
Red Slime algae is really bacteria (cyanobacteria). This is not caused by phosphates. The natural way of ridding the tank of this is to first skim off as much as you can. Then do a 50% water change. Several smaller water changes will not work. You will never get the bacteria down low enough to catch up.. I expect the tank is less that a yr old and I has not matured all the way yet.. After the water change cut lights back to 4hrs a day for 4-5days then start bringing the lights up 1hr a day till back to normal. Also cut back on feeding some. Another suggestion is make sure you have a deep sand bed of at least 3-4in. This will let enough good bacteria grow to help prevent this problem..If you just cannot wait You can use a product called chemi-clean by boyd enterproses, inc... you can do a search on the internet for thier phone # or where to purchase. After using wait 2days then do the water change...Their are no short cuts...good luck...

 

[jim672]

Hey Naso,
I just thought of something that I used during my algea bloom....that actually seemed to help......I bought some micro-fine filter media and put it in front of my other filter media. It traps EVERYTHING that gets into the filter. I had to replace it/rinse it at least every day for awhile. If you're still concerned about algea, this might help.
Jim

 

[lrswls]

do a 100%water change, It works

 

[stupid_naso]

Wow, thanks for the replies, but my tank has gotten so much better now. The tank is almost cleared as before. I decreased feeding obviously, and we'll see how my corals are recovering.
Doing my regular water change tomorrow. Everything should be fine. Thanks for the help.
Btw, 100% water change? Nahh.. I'll pass...
Oh I forgot to mention. Remember the kid? Yeah he just got a baby brother about two days ago, hehehe. Think about what they are capable of doing .
stupid_naso