seriously considering...

[peteyboyny]

...Calling it quits.
I have been fighting a serious algae bloom for about a year now. I have tried, and tried but can't seem to get the upper hand on this stuff. I have tried Tech M, H2O2, Vinegar dosing, increased WCs, a Sea Hare, beefed up CUC, changed out RO filters a few times, 72hr blackout, bare bottom tank, and now a foxface that won't eat it either.
Nothing seems to work. Don't know how much fight I have left in me.

 

[Cu455]

Control your feeding, lighting and bioload. If your tank is that bad just start over. I don't really know much about your set up other then what is in your signature. In your 60 gallon keep 4 or 5 small fish or 3 larger fish, for coral keep zoas, mushrooms and other softies, cut your lighting down to 5 or 6 hours a day or raise your lights. Don't overfeed your tank, turn your powerheads off when feeding and try feeding more flake/pellet food then frozen.

I know I made a lot of assumptions in the first paragraph. No need to shut your tank down. Just modify it. If your tank is pretty bad take your fish and coral out, and give the whole tank and rocks a good cleaning. If you under stock your tank, feed in a clean manner and don't blast your tank with to much light you should be fine.

 

[edd]

hang in their. when i had an algae problem i did as cu mentioned i took my rock out 3x and manually scrubbed them. eventually i got the better of it and got rid of it.
i had a 150 at the time so a lot of rock. if you don't have the patience take the rock out and cook it, and start over. for me scrubbing the rock worked. good luck you can do it.

 

[thirty6]

I agree with CU,
Don't give up. it may rejuvenate your interest to overhaul everything

 

[peteyboyny]

I did kind of start over. Down sized to a 60 from a 140. Used clean rock from the old system. I have 3 medium sized fish and 3 small fish (1" or under). I feed 1/2 sheet of nori/day. 1 cube of PE Mysis every other day or 2. I have all softies and LPS. I do 15-25g WCs every week. Lights are on 8hrs/day (I blacked it out for 3 days, with minimal effect on the algae. I run GFO that is changed out every 3 wks. Bulbs in the fixture are 3 mos old.
This same algae had over run my 140. Nothing seems to slow this stuff down. I had an easier time getting rid of bryopsis.

Been thinking of going back to fresh water, and setting up an aquaponic system for an indoor garden.

 

[richiero]

here is what i did it worked for me, 4 days lights out, and the tank covered with a blanket so no abatement light gets in. i then treated with waste away and refresh from dr tims
http://www.drtimsaquatics.com/natural-aquarium-cleaner. i researched the dr tims for weeks b4 i used it. after the four days the stuff was gone, i then reacclimated the corals to the over a 2 day period starting with the royal blues and increasing little by little.to top it off i added a reactor for dr tims pearls and have been algae free for over a year. making a light out period as part of your maintenance routine helps also. and make sure your flow is good with no dead spots.... and test your p04

 

[richiero]

forgot to mention this past jan i also added an algae scrubber in my sump which i feel is also helping out a great deal also.

 

[peteyboyny]

I appreciate the motivational words guys, just not sure if I have any fight left in me. Between having a 2yr old, another one coming in march, renovating the new house, and work,...just not sure anymore.

 

[Ponyboy]

Sell your stuff I will buy it
When you want to come back I will sell it back to u at sAme price
Don't quit if you need a break that's ok but don't leave

 

[noelskii]

What kind of algae is it? Have you checked your RODI reading

 

[NL146]

What kind of algae? I know how you feel having a tank that you can hardly bear to look at. I had a huge GHA outbreak in my 150. I saw a couple of patches and didn't take care of it in the beginning. It even killed a couple frags as loose gha would attach itself and grow over them. I took out a couple of the rocks and scrubbed them but in a week they were overrun again and I had to clean my overflow pretty much every other day as it would get clogged with gha. What I've done is to add 3 sea hares (thanks John - Pop Corals), dosed vinegar, changed gfo regularly, dosed special blend and microbacter, and vacuumed the sump. I cleaned the skimmer neck more regularly and that made it more efficient. Along with that I manually pulled out as much as I could as I was not going to be taking out all my rock. After about 2 months almost all the gha is gone and is not showing significant signs of growth. I did not do a lot of water changes however. I'm not sure how that affected it one way or the other. I definitely was overfeeding though. Needless to say I'm happy with the tank again.

I have a 6 and a 2 year old as well.

 

[Alexm8856]

Get some seahares

 

[salpet]

try doing 20 percent water changes weekly it should be pretty easy since you have a 60 gall tank stop feeding them nori for the meantime and if you must feed them algae try 1/2 leaf of lettuce it stays together longer without bracking down you should see results in about 3 weeks also if you have filter socks take them out its like or make sure that you change them before they get to dirty

 

[duke62]

If you started with clean rock in your new tank and the algae came back there is probably a issue with how you get your water. You might have a messed up ro/di or if your getting water from a lfs they might have a issue. Either that or your old rock might be leaching po4 which is creating a feeding frenzy for the algae. How many pds of rock is in your setup? If it were me I would get a new ro/di or a new source of where I get my water and take all that old rock out put it in a brute with a heater and power head and do weekly 100 percent water changes on the brute for 3 months or I would just take all the rock out and get rock from a good reefer breaking their tank down JMO

 

[piranhapat]

Stop changing your water. Are we talking about cyano. Just remove cyano. Siphon it out and use filter sock to catch cyano and put back same water. Keep doing it and in a few days you will see a lot less. Increase circulation where it's growing. Try to lessen your lights to about 6 hours. Run GFO and carbon and change it if your phosphate are going up. Keep feeding and if possible feed twice during the day. You could add bacteria but not necessary. Skim and clean your PS every other day. The most important No water changes and remove algae. Plus you we have more time with family. It was the only thing that worked for me. Also add a clean up crew. Very important too.

 

[drej424]

Snails and water flow made the biggest difference in my tanks. I have a few tanks and some just seem more prone to algae growth. But with a two year old and another baby on the way, I can see how you'd feel too tired to do more than basic maintenance.

 

[peteyboyny]

It's a turf algae. ROdi is at .2pm (I have changed filters twice in 3 mos., due for another change. When I change them I get 0ppm, di resin was replaced last month, unit is 1 1/2yrs old). Seahare won't work, tried one, within 8hrs my elegance had him for breakfast. As far as water changes, I usually do more than 20%/weekly. I change between 15 and 25g weekly.
Like I said, I did 72hr blanket blackout, I have been dosing H2O2 for over a month (and have been increasing the dose. Started at 8ml/daily, now @ 15ml/daily), no effect.
And here's where I'll get bashed...
I don't test, I don't even own a test kit. Nutrient levels should be fairly low (skimmer runs great, I run GFO and change it out every 3wks, I do above average WCs, clean filter socks every week). My LPS is growing at a pretty good rate, lower lying zoos and palys are suffering the brunt of this by being over run. My fish are healthy and happy, with no problems. It's this algae.
The only thing I can't really think is DOCs in the rock (which I figured WCs would solve).
I have some rock from the old setup that has been soaking out in salt water in a Brute can for 3mos. It was covered in algae. I have been changing out 100% of the water every week. The can sat covered, outside, for the summer.
The rock is algae free from what I can see and smell (the odor was atrocious, that's why it ended up outside).
I guess I may also have to accept the fact that, my agrocrete rock may forever leech PO4.

I can't upload pics from my phone for some reason. If anyone wants pics of the algae, PM me your email.

Thanks.

P.S.- I have added to the CUC regularly. My elegance coral has a taste for snails, and shrimp.

 

[cmantis]

I am a little confused by something. You mentioned clean rock from your old tank. However then you said that it was also over run with algae. Did you take the algae covered rock and clean it and if so how? It could very well be that your rock is leaching phosphates.

 

[duke62]

Well how do you know to change your gfo if you don't test? So many things could be happening without testing. Just because you have a good skimmer doesn't mean your low in nutrients. My recommendation is to spend 100 bucks, get some salifert kits and a Hanna kit and test your water. Your Tds should always read 0. Your po4 and no3 is probably through the roof.

 

[peteyboyny]

I am a little confused by something. You mentioned clean rock from your old tank. However then you said that it was also over run with algae. Did you take the algae covered rock and clean it and if so how? It could very well be that your rock is leaching phosphates.

Clean rock = rock from the previous system that wasn't affected by the algae because it was in my sump, or in the display, but had no visible algae.
The leeching of PO4 could be from the materials used in making the rock. (Something I read about, but never found info confirming that it could leech for long periods of time. I soaked the rock out in RO for a year before using it, making sure pH was correct).

The rock may also have trapped DOC, which may be leeching out, feeding the algae. The algae bloom started with a stretch of neglect a little over a year ago, due to work schedule.
I thought the issue could be resolved by "stepping up" my maintenance, it's been 3 months, with minimal results.

Don't get me wrong, I love my corals and would hate to see them go. (50+ polyp Duncan colony, 30+ polyps frogspawn, football sized elegance coral, etc). I think I just may be having interests in a new direction. One that will have a practical purpose as well as being able to enjoy the aquarium hobby. Still tossing it around though.