Hopefully I can get some info by morning

[hallk2342]

I have a friend who's tank has gone down hill, and I have voulenteered my time to get it back running properly again.
She has a 55 gallon tank running two Eco 40's on the tank.
Three powerheads
a protein skimmer every once and a while, it's just a plain petsmart skimmer
filled with live rock and plenty of live sand
She has a ton of snails and crabs for her cleaning crew
only uses RO water from the lfs
Lights only remain on for 6hrs a day set on timer. Which are the lunar pro power compact with new bulbs
As of right now I do not know her water levels, I was going to test the water tomorrow
the issue is, there is a light, brownish, green carpet that has covered all of her rock, snails, corals, and I think sand.
It has killed all of her corals wich were reproducing beautifully for the past five years.
I was thinking of taking the rock out and scrubbing them off with saltwater and a clean brush?
She has one medium sized regal tang, that she has had from the begining, a mandrin goby once again who is been there since the begining, some sort of enigineer fish with a shrimp for a pal. I think one other fish that I am not sure of.
If anyone has seen this or dealt with this could you please send any comments my way
Thank you very much

 

[beth]

hallk, I'm going to move your topic over to the reef forum where it should get some input. In the meantime, if you can provide more details about what you are seeing. Texture, appearance, etc., that would be helpful.

 

[thegrog]

I would say that you could scrub off the rocks, but just doing 10-15% water changes every 5-7 days should do wonders. When doing hte water changes, use a siphon hose as a vaccum to clean off the rocks. Sounds like detrius or cyano on the rocks.
If a mandarin is still living there, then something is still going right as they are very sensitive to changes.
A good skimmer would do wonders as well.
Hope this helps!

 

[dea_mt]

yeah i had one of those cheap petsmarts skimmers and then i just recently got a coralife skimmer and let's just say that seaclone wasn't doing the job!
i put my skimmer in a week ago and have already had to empty it. has like a 1.5 liter collection cup

 

[hallk2342]

The texture is something like an old shag carpet but not as thick. It kind of looks like sediment, but it is attached to the actuall rock. I am going to help her scrub the rock but There are quite a few corals attached. The leather looks pretty much dead, but she has some polyps also. should I scrub over them or just go around them? I'll do some test this afternoon when I am over there and let you know more.

 

[fishieness]

it could be cyano, but it is more smooth.
how old are her bulbs?

 

[hallk2342]

I have personally dealt with cyno and It's not that or the same type I had. Her bulbs are about 4 months old

 

[fishamajig]

did you say it was red or greenish red and attached to the rock? i tmight be a type of macroalgie (halomedia) i think i spelled that right. if nutrients are high and it came on on a piece of rock it could grow pretty rapidly. do the tangs go near it?

 

[hallk2342]

The color is like a sandy brown. No red what so ever, not even green. pretty much just brown

 

[pfitz44]

If its a sandy brown, it could be diatoms..... id just do regular water changes. Check phosphate levels... that might help too

 

[fishieness]

Originally Posted by PFitz44
If its a sandy brown, it could be diatoms..... id just do regular water changes. Check phosphate levels... that might help too
i dont htink its diatoms cause Ro water is used and its in a 5 year old tank. plus its killing corals. and with the flow of a reef tank, there shouldnt be too much of an accumilation.