Trying to bring my tank back from the brink

[Anonymous]

I have embarked on a mission to restore my tank to its former beautiful reefiness. A little over a year ago, I had the green algae attack from hell, and since then various equipment failures and declines have brought me to the point where I basically have an algae-plagued FOWLR tank (though, amazingly, some coral is still hanging in there). I haven't tried to correct things earlier due to budget and frustration.

Here are the highlights of what is going on:

More water flow (new iwaki pump)
Upgraded lighting (first have to replace broken hood fan)
Re-establish caulerpa growth in the 'fuge
Replace membrane in RO/DI unit
Weekly water changes plus aggressive skimming until algae is under control
Addition of cleanup critters

I will update this thread when I have some progress to report, and will include pics when I can get one I'm not ashamed of. In the meantime, I would like to hear from anyone who has brought (or tried to bring) a reef back from a similar dark spell - TIA.

 

[Anonymous]

Once the desirable gets behind the algaes, it can take forever for the macros to catch up.

Expand your fuge if possible, add chaeto, and do whatever it takes get the desirables going. The cleaners and everything else will help also.

Sure sounds like you are on the right track and we want pictures.

We will be waiting for updates.

 

[Anonymous]

I thought I knew all the geeky reefer slang but - what is chaeto?

 

[Anonymous]

I would do a 50% water change. Then do weekly 15% water changes. Along with maunal removal of some of the nusciance algae should go a long way. Wet skimming like you said.

You don't need a fuge ot to make it bigger.
_________________
Nervous System Disorders Forum

 

[Anonymous]

Yeah, take a toothbrush and clean off any rocks you can in a bucket of tank water.

 

[Anonymous]

I thought I knew all the geeky reefer slang but - what is chaeto?

It means I can't spell chaetomorphia (or something like that )

It is "brillo pad" algae. It just expands to the refugium container with the water flowing through it. It does great in my in tank refugium with 4' NO utility lights about 6" away from the back glass. Great for growing pods also plus it is kinda like a live "filter floss" to provide some mechanical filtration.

With medium lighting and high nutrients it can easily double in a week. Several locals have reported excellent results with samples I gave them. My 55g produced about 2-3 gallons per month while nitrates were above 0.0. Now that nitrates have remained at 0.0 for 2-3 months the growth rate has lessoned. Finally it does not appear to have as much "going sexual" problems are caulerpas.

HTH.

You might check around your local area. I'll bet someone is throwing macros away each week.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks Beas - I'll have to see if I can find that around here.

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

I thought I knew all the geeky reefer slang but - what is chaeto?

Chaetomorpha aka brillo algae aka spaghetti algae - great stuff. Great for nutrient export and you can tuck it into a crevice in the main display tank and not worry about it taking over the tank. Easy to harvest too.

 

[fungia]

i wish you good luck. ive been there and got out of it after a few months of work and it was worth it. i dont think any one thing did it but more like the sum of all my changes, including bigger skimmer, addition of r.o., and much better lighting. i also did a lot of algae plucking, i siphoned the sandbed too (i know its a no-no but it helped for me).

 

[SnowManSnow]

Not to hijack the thread.. but why is siphoning the sand bed a no no???

 

[Tackett]

Im with snow....Huh?

 

[Mihai]

I endorse the cheato, it's a great nutrient exporter, forget the caluerpa.
M.

 

[Entacmaea]

Some people think siphoning the sand bed (like with a Python, as in a freshwater tank) can remove beneficial sand bed fauna, and disturb the anerobic zones in the sand bed- possibly releasing nutrients like H2S. Not sure about the nutrient release, but I do think siphoning the bed like a freshwater tank can remove a lot of good critters. Siphoning cyano off the top is a good idea I think, but going deeper probably is not...

 

[Anonymous]

I wish you well, Brian, and look forward to your updates!

 

[Oceans Ferevh]

Cheatomorpha rocks If you can't find it in your area you can order it from here:

http://www.inlandaquatics.com/prod/products.html

Or here:

http://www.macro-algae.com/

Scrub those rocks with a toothbrush, pluck it manually, grow Cheatomorphea, hire a cleaning crew, and be diligent

Good luck!

 

[Anonymous]

Hey, thanks for the links, OF!

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for all the responses and links, folks. I have done some poking around and am sold on the Cheato, will get some this weekend. I'll also install the new hood fan and do some manual cleaning. Then, maybe the new lights the following weekend.

I'm psyched! Its almost like setting up a new tank, except marginally less expensive.

 

[Anonymous]

I also like www.floridapets.com

And there are always macro sales on ebay.

I have ordered from this person also but lost his web site.

edit: found the web site:
http://www.liveplants.gulf-coast.net/macroalgae.htm

He has a good selection also.

http://stores.ebay.com/Gulf-Coast-Ecosy ... eZl2QQtZkm

Finally check out the filtration island aquatics uses on their commercial systems.


HTH

Bob

 

[Anonymous]

...

I'm psyched! Its almost like setting up a new tank, except marginally less expensive.

Understand completely. I now realise that I could have had a 120g instead of my 55g for $100s less if I had know about macros. But live and learn.

I think you will find that if you take care of the plant life the plant life will take care of your system. And you won't have to do all this again.

Keep us posted.

Bob

 

[Anonymous]

something i didn't see mentioned is something i would most highly recommend.
a new chunk of LR here or there. going from an old system with 5+ years and setting up the next i was really amazed at how much life my old tank was lacking. now with 9 months on this 'newer' LR i am already thinking i might swap out another piece or two of the 'old' stuff from my last tank.