Tore down my 180 last night

kogle

kogle

Member
It's been quite a while since I've posted on this board but I figured it's a good time for an update.
I tore down my 180 last night to cure an algae problem I've been dealing with for the past year. NOTHING would fix this. I've tried everything and have gotten the problem narrowed down to a bad RO unit. Water still tests fine but from the pictures I'm sure you'll be able to tell there was some problem.
The method used is taking all the rock out of the tank, fresh water dipping it to get any critters out of the rock I want to keep, and soaking the rock in a 50/50 water and bleach mixture to both kill the algae and more importantly the spores. There are other ways of doing this but bleach is the method I've seen used many times with no problems.
So.... here are the pictures. Let me know what you all think.



 
kogle

kogle

Member
Some more pictures... the last one was of a hitch hiker crab that came in on the last batch of rock I bought that was the start of all my problems...
I've put him in the QT tank for now until I can get an ID. His claws lead me to believe he's safe and I never saw him be aggresive towards anything.

 
N

nereef

Guest
sounds pretty drastic and irresponsible to me. your live rock will be turned to lace rock with the bleach. also, death and bleach will leach from the rock for a long time.
it looks like you have/had a nice reef there. did you try leaving the lights off for a couple days, then doing a massive water change and adding phosban?
 
robdog696

robdog696

Member
Long before I would even let the odor of bleach into my fishroom I would just pull out my liverock and place it outside in the sun for a few days. It would then become base rock. But the way I see it, if you found the bad ro unit and fixed it, then you should be able to repeat your previous steps and get rid of the algae without doing either.
 
spiderwoman

spiderwoman

Active Member
If you want everything dead on your rock, there is a more nature friendly way of doing that than bleach...
I'd take the rock outside, let it dry in the sun and then blast it with power washer.
 
A

alexmir

Guest
Sounds like now you have tons of livestock, with no nitrifying bacteria.
plus chance of leaching bleach and dead critters deep in the rock
 
kogle

kogle

Member
Wow! looks like I've created quite the stir here. Well first of all none of this rock will enter my tank again without being drained, soaked in fresh water 3 days, drained, soaked in fresh water and baking soda 5 days, drained, soaked in RO water 3 days, drained, and dried out for a minimum of 5 weeks. After this there will be no bleach in the rock. I've seen this method used (personally a number of times with great results every time) and not just read about it like the advice most people give. I don't agree with ever giving someone advice I haven't personally tried.
Yes I will have base rock but that's exactly what I want. I've found that a SW tank will run just as well using base rock as live rock. I will be seeding the LR with live sand. Will I miss out on some worms and other critters? Yes! But I will also miss out on all the bad stuff that can some with LR.
yes I have thought about air drying it but this only kills the algae, not the spores which will live dry up to 7 years. I don't want to wait that long.
I have 4 small fish in a 180, I'd say that's well within my bio load limits especially running a fuge. And I have a pretty decent sized clean up crew.
I run a po4 reactor 24/7 with enough ROWA phos for 1000 gallons and it doesn't even phase it.
So with all of that being said I'm happy with the results so far and I'm excited to get this thing started back up...
 
kogle

kogle

Member
Originally Posted by renogaw
http:///forum/post/2580080
that's a stone crab

I looked up a picture of a stone crab and the claws on this one are different. The claws on my guy look like that of a emerald crab. Flat and rounded...
 
confusedfishy

confusedfishy

Member
I understand the frustration you have had because I purchased a 92g tank from a store that was closing. An issue I inherited from the purchase is similar or really just like yours. It looks just like your tank in those photos. I am writing this because I am not sure exactly what is causing this in my tank but we know it isn't the Ro Water. We have 3 other tanks that we use our Ro system on that isn't having the problem and the store I bought it from didn't have this problem in their other tanks either. We have been thinking it is a water flow problem, the previous owner only had 1 powerhead in the system. To clean up our tank we added some fish that would eat the hair algae, tangs. With the purchase of 2 tangs (powder brown and colt) we had ours completely depleted of the algae.
Anyway, since my tank algae breakout looks like yours and I know it isn't the Ro sytem I wanted to let you know that it might be something else causing it for you.
 
kogle

kogle

Member
Originally Posted by iyachtuxivm
http:///forum/post/2580025
Looks like a red mithrix crab to me. Bleach is kinda drastic, what other measures have you tried first?

I think you've nailed it although mine is darker.
I've been working on evreything I could think of before resorting to this drastic measure. I've tried huge water changes, an overloaded po4 reactor, manually removing the stuff, increased clean up crew, decreased feedings to every 3-4 days, turning lights off, carbon, over skimming, I've even cussed at it. Nothing helped and the strange thing is the water tests fine. I even had a friend test it. Ran a TDS meter and although not perfect it came back at 8 which in my opinion isn't going to cause this. Water changes actually seem to fuel it.
 
kogle

kogle

Member
Originally Posted by confusedfishy
http:///forum/post/2580154
I understand the frustration you have had because I purchased a 92g tank from a store that was closing. An issue I inherited from the purchase is similar or really just like yours. It looks just like your tank in those photos. I am writing this because I am not sure exactly what is causing this in my tank but we know it isn't the Ro Water. We have 3 other tanks that we use our Ro system on that isn't haven't the problem and the store I bought it from didn't have this problem in their other tanks either. We have been thinking it is a water flow problem, the previous owner only had 1 powerhead in the system. To clean up our tank we added some fish that would eat the hair algae, tangs. With the purchase of 2 tangs (powder brown and colt) we had ours completely depleted of the algae.
Anyway, since my tank algae breakout looks like yours and I know it isn't the Ro sytem I wanted to let you know that it might be something else causing it for you.
I wish I knew what was causing it for me. I've got plenty of flow. I run a dual pump closed loop powered by 2 little giant 1400 gph pumps and a mag 18 for my wet dry. As stated before the only two things I can't totally rule out is the RO unit and the rock leaching po4's into the tank. As you can see the rock won't be an issue and for the RO unit I'm going to replace my current one with a RO/DI unit.
As a side note this tank ran great for almost a year before this happened.
For all of you saying this was too extreme I've tried all the other less extreme methods and my patience was worn out to the point where the tank was listed for sale. Now that I've come to my senses and decided to keep the tank this was the only option I saw fit.
 
J

jesses89

Guest
in a 180 ... 3 tangs would of taken care of all that algae in a week.
 
mike murphy

mike murphy

New Member
I've got a 55 with two lighted sumps and a skimmer. The sumps are full of sand, live rock & caulerpa. Even the tank if full of Caulerpa. Not using any RO unit just good old Indiana water that is probably full of Phosphates. I use power compacts, LR & a deep sand bed with plenum. Dual overflow box with about a 900gph flow? Anyway my point is I harvest enough macro on a monthly basis that algae can't even get a grip unless it is in the overflow box.
Granted a tank full of Caulerpa for some is not what they want but I have 0 nitrates and no problems. I might do a water change every couple of months. Bio load is 2 manderine Gobies, 1 Sleeper, 1 copperband butterfly, 2 percs, one blue damsel,3-4 serpent stars, a clam and normal cleaner crew etc.
Tank has been set up for 3 years
Just my 2 cents but I think macro and export of the harvest with light bioload works for me.
My 125 is on track for setup and only difference will be more flow, better skimming and a combination of metal halide & Actinic PC's however the macro will be confined to the sump.
 
kogle

kogle

Member
Originally Posted by Jesses89
http:///forum/post/2580191
So i take it.... there arent any spores in the live sand?

Yes there may be but I'm trying to cover every base I can...
"in a 180 ... 3 tangs would of taken care of all that algae in a week."
Not true, I had a large powder blue and a small powder brown that couldn't begin to keep up. Doubt adding just one more would have cured it. I do agree though that clean up crew/algae grazing fish are crucial to keeping most algae problems in check.
I finished up moving the livestock to my QT last night, threw out the rest of my SPS's due to AEFW infestation I inherited from a frag swap and not properly QT'ing/dipping new corals, and got the MH mounted over the QT. The hardest thing last night was coaxing the clams to let go of the bottom of the tank. I was told to gently blow sand away from the clams and then use a sharp razor blade to cut/scrape the biassal threads from the glass but the action of blowing the sand away made them let go. Worked out good becasue I wasn't wanting to cut on them anyhow. They may have already been in the process of trying to move due to the mess I made in the tank removing all the rock.
I'll try and keep you updated on the progress of all this but don't get in a hurry becasue the rock won't be ready for at least another 5 to 6 weeks.
I'm not going to cycle this thing the way most are used to either and that will set me back some more time but hey, nothing good ever happens fast in a reef tank...
 
brandan

brandan

Member
I am not against anything you have done. Algae like that is almost impossible to get ride of naturally. . . I don't think many of you really looked at those pictures closely. You can't even see the sand. . . Sometimes you have to do extreme things to fix problems. The Bleach is not bad. . . Has anyone heard of dechlorinator? Chlorine and Bleach are very similar chemically speaking, and dechlorinator does the same on bleach as it does on Chlorine. If done correctly, you do not have to worry about Bleach leaching back into the water after the tank is setup again. Best of luck, hope everything goes as planed.
 
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