Help Please

[d233]

Hello
First off I would like to say thank you all for your help in the other entire posting I have submitted. This recent issue of mine could be the end of my saltwater hobby. I am at wit’s end and don’t know what else to try. This alga has taken over my tank for the last month and every thing I have tried dose not help. When this algae first showed up I tried to combat it with turbo snail I add other 10 to my already 70. I also purchased an emerald crab and a lawn mower blenny. With in a week all my snails the crab and the lawn mower where deceased. Since then I have add no algae eating animals. I reduced my light timer down to 10 hours scrubbed the rocks with saltwater and increased my water changes to 5 gallons twice a week. I removed all my bio balls and sponges and turned my skimmer to full power. I have been changing my carbon once a week. Recently I add 4 turbo and a red lip blenny. I felt like maybe the issue cleared up but today the blenny is very thin and the snail have not moved in two days. Can some one please help me before I give up on this hobby and pursue a different one? I love this hobby but I can’t continue like this.
Specs
72 Gallon Bow front
AMiracle sump
3 penguin 1140 power heads
Mag 750 return
AMiracle Skimmer driven by a Rio 2100
130pound LR
50 Pound LS
Refuge 8-pound LR Miracle Mud and Grow Light.
110 PC
40 W Actinic
Water Specs
PH 8.3
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 20
Cal 410
Phosphates 0
1.025

 

[d233]

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[d233]

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[d233]

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[reefnut]

Have you checked for copper? Copper will kill inverts. Also, have you tested for Silicate?

 

[reefnut]

P.S. That's a nice looking setup... Don't give up.

 

[d233]

I don't have the means to test for copper or sil. But all the other corals and my bcs are all doing fine so I don't belive it's copper.

 

[dima96]

try testing for copper and silicate. also maybe try getting some marco algae for your fuge, this helped my hair algae problem. and are you using ro/di water?

 

[d233]

I will try the alge in the refug as far as the RO I have never used anything but. What would I do if my Sil lvl where high.

 

[lizardworks]

What kind of food are you feeding to the livestock you have and how often? Also are there any types of additives that you dose and if so what, how much and how often?
Also, what kind of water did you use to fill the tank? Tap or Reverse Osmosis?
Something is obviously causing the algae bloom. Nitrates are a little up there, but I wouldn't think that would cause the massive outbreak you are experiencing.
Even though your phosphate test is reading 0, that doesn't mean that phosphates aren't the problem with the algae. The algae could be using it up so fast that there isn't enough free phophate to register on your test. That much hair algae will also trap the nutrients and 'crud' that it needs to thrive.
As far as your die-offs, I'm sorry I can't offer any advice in that area, other than to ask whether or not your putting the LFS water in your tank? Some of them use copper in there tanks as a preventive measure and if so, it could possibly have gotten into your system that way. I would have to agree that if the shrimp is OK then it's not likely to be copper.
Don't give up yet. We all go through heartache with our tanks at one time or another, but in the end, it's worth all the enjoyment you will get out of it. By the way, that is nice looking setup and will be even nicer once the algae is gone.
OK, I'm amending this as your post has been updated while I was working on this. So now I know you've used RO. A phophate/silicate absorber could help, but you would probably need to scrub off the hair first and do a water change in order for it start being effective. There are a lot of different kinds of them and it is really more of a personal choice as to which one you use. Some of them are ROWA, PhosGuard, PhosBan. There are a lot of them.

 

[justinx]

My friend . . . I don't even know where to start with this one. A couple things come to mind. When these things die in your tank, do you remove them? and are you sure that you got them all? If not, a decaying animal in your tank would explain the stressed animals, as well as the algae.
Another thing is how old are the bulbs over your tank? If your bulbs are old, the spectrum may have shifted which would cause the algae to bloom. Also, turn the lights off entirely for a couple days, remove as much of the algae as possible by hand, scrubbing, whatever works best. Then, after a couple days, turn them on for a maximum of four hours. Let the lights run for this amount of time for a week or two, all the while removing as much algae as possible. Slowly begin to increase the time by about 30 minutes a week until you reach about 7 hours. If you see that the algae is returning, then back off a bit. If not, then increase a little. . . . .see the idea here.
Also what kind of water are you using? if not RO water then stop doing water changes until you find a source for RO water. I have a feeling that this may be the source of your problem. Although your test kits read 0 phosphates doesnt mean that this is "true" reading. You probably have some phosphates in your water but they are consumed by the masses of algae before your test kits can measure any amounts. You also probably have some silicates as well as nitrates in your source water. As your previous post mentioned, you have a reading of 20ppm on your nitrates, this is pretty high for reef standards.
What kind of clean up crew do you CURRENTLY have? Snails alone wont cut it, and a blenny will not do the trick either. All herbivores like fresh growth. When algae gets to the point where is is forming mats as in your picture, it is no longer "fresh" which is why these animals wont eat it. Remove as much as you can by hand, and add a bullked up clean up crew including scarlet hermits, zebra hermits, various snails (read a previous post to find out which ones are best for your needs).
Lastly, this is not something that is going to go away the next day, the next week, the next month, possibly even the next year. This hobby is synonomous with patience. I have been dealing with hair algae in my tank for about 4 months, and I am finally winning the battle. I have dealt with a little at a time, here and there. I am being totally honest here when I say that if you dont feel that being patient with this is something that you can do, save your time, money, and frustrations and focus yourself on other things. But if you feel that this is something that can work for you, then please by all means go for it! I promise you that your patience will be greatly rewarded.

 

[dima96]

ok i agree with po4 sponge. try to get as much of that algae out by hand as you can.

 

[justinx]

I also just notice that it appears that you are using crushed coral for a bottom. If this is the case, I would STRONGLY suggest that you switch to a DSB. especially if you plan on removing your rocks anyway.

 

[lizardworks]

I thought that looked like crushed coral substrate too. I looked in the listing and didn't see crushed coral, so figured it was my eyes or a blurry picture. I would have to echo getting rid of the CC in favor of sand.

 

[d233]

Srry for the fuzz pic's company cam. It's that Hawain sand looks like CC in the pic's.

 

[krux]

there is actually a species of hair algae starting to appear that traditional clean up crews avoid like the plague. i have only heard of a half dozen cases or so just starting in the last 2 months or so, but it is possible that this might be what is going on in your tank.
a good test for this is to get the biggest trochus snail you can find and set him right in the middle of one of the big patches. if he runs like a turkey on thanksgiving day then you might need to consider this as a possibility. my lfs has been trying to find more information on this as they work with a lot of liverock and do not want this stuff showing in their holding tanks. as far as i know, they havent found anything invert wise that will eat this strain, so it might mean a heck of a lot of manual removal and denial of light to the system.
based on what you have however, i would seriously question the accuracy of your phosphate test kit. that prolific growth needs fuel, and 20 on trates isnt near enough. i would either borrow a friends test kit, or try a different lfs than your normal one if you get your water tested by them. you could spend the money on a phosphate and silicate sponge, and just go that route, but personally i would rather nail down for sure what was causing the bloom.
finally, i would stop running your regular lights and just go with the actinic for a while, and drop down to 6 or 7 hours as justin suggested. you really do not need 10 hours of light for the stuff in your tank that i could see in the picture, at least not in the short term. the fish will be fine with the dimmer light, but the actinic light will not provide the wavelengths that algae prefers to use for photosynthesis. i wouldnt turn your lights off for days on end necessarily, the rest of your tank inhabitants might have some issues with that, but that might be a last ditch effort... animals get shipped in dark cardboard boxes all the time, so they will survive some time of prolonged darkness.
i might also try a lawnmower from another store if it were my tank. how are your sucess rates with other fishes from the store you purchased the lawnmower from?
i will take your picture and see if i cant get a bit of information from a couple other sites and try to get back to you. for now test those silicates and get a second opinion on your phosphates, and don't give up!

 

[d233]

As for the bulbs they are only four months old 10,000k. I did remove as min of the snails I could when they all died. It is just hard discouraging to loss so much of my livestock in one week and then have it begins to happen again. I don’t think it would be good for my bubble coral to live the light off for an extended time. All this suggesting are greet. That what makes this board my number one chose for information. Thank you and keep them coming.

 

[d233]

The resoan I love this hobby

 

[d233]

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[d233]

Kurk
I was adding to this when you replyed . "I hope you can find somthing on this stuff. I don't like it one bit.