What to do now with my algae infested tank?

[Anonymous]

doesn't cooking :R just starve the algae of light and eventually when the LR get light again it wil re-appear?
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Honda CB600F

 

[Anonymous]

I believe that cooking rock involves heavy skimming, heavy circulation, and lots of aeration.

Louey

 

[Anonymous]

All cooking is, is recuring. To get the algae to die and cure the rocks you need, no light, a skimmer, a couple of power heads and water changes. Just like starting from scratch. I would give it a try. Possibly go as far at to remove all of the rock and put some PVC in the tank for the fish to hide in.

 

[Anonymous]

I dont think its the salt. I am now on the 3 rd brand and its the same thing.

Podman - If hte LR is loaded up with nutrients and when i feed it makes more. How did the LR get loaded in the first place? Loking at the tank right now and its gotten worse.

like i said, the drastic changes you have been making in the tank can and certainly has killed organisms...

death = nutrients

I am really leaning towards removing everything in the tank. Getting new LR and put the corals and fish back in. At the same time I will get a new skimmer and add 5 more maxijets. If the LR got loaded it has to be becuase of improper nutrient removal - Hence the skimmer and flow. I have been going weekly or bi-weekly WC's for over 6 months now. Maybe I need ot do a 100% WC.

i really don't think that throwing more money at your tank will solve anything. you have a good skimmer and i think you have added more flow recently.
if there is something wrong with the LR it would certainly help to remove it but this is a long shot, IMO.


The other option like some have said is to let the swamp grow and not touch it. I can do this but I will have to remove the corlas so they dont get smothered.

i voted that you leave it be... to be more specific i don't think you should just let it grow, i think you should pick a routine and stick with it.
blast your rocks daily with a baster and try to blast some stuff off, change out a couple tablespoons of carbon media weekly, and skim very wet.
you could incorporate some kind of filter media when you balsted the rock but you have to remove it after it fills with junk.

 

[Jolieve]

Rob, one thing I wouldn't have done was cease in dosing Kalk.

Kalkwasser has a wonderful ability to precipitate phosphate, if you dose on a regular basis, it can help lower your phosphate levels.

Have you tried weekly water changes, with manual removal of the material?

 

[Anonymous]

Ive been doing weekly water changes. I remove the detritus piles. This has been going on for months now. No more scrubbing and I siphon what algae I can. Most does not some off of the LR. What else would you do diferrently? How long should this take? I know nothing comes quick but this is rediculous. The tank has been running for over 2 years and maybe 2 months of algae freedom? All the LR was from a LFS and is from my old 46 gallon.

Maybe I need to do a couple of 90% WC's to diluute the LR.

Kalk reactor ran for about 6 months as well and thats not working. Coraline does not grow on the LR either. Not I have a lawn on the starboard bottom so I think the tanks has spun out of control.

If I "Cook" the rock than than leaves the tank with no skimmer. Buying another new skimmer is almost the same price of new LR. I would only be able to keep the LR in a tub with no light nad a heater maybe a powerhead. The tnak needs the skimmer for the corals and fish.
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Honda Stepwgn

 

[Anonymous]

I have seen my LFS cure rock in a tub with circulation and he pumps air into the tub and it bubbles up some much that scum builds up on the top, just like a skimmer. He dips the scum off the top and disposes of it when it starts to stink to much.

I'm not exactly sure what he uses to pump the air with. It's gotta be something more that a normal air pump.

Louey

 

[Anonymous]

This is what I cam going to gdo for a month to see if things progress or get worse.

I am not going to touch the tank except for cleaning the skimmer cup, adding top off and feeding the fish. Nothing else will be added or touched. No water changes no additives. If it gets worse then its definetly the LR. if it gets better than its the water.
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history of recessions

 

[Anonymous]

Ive been doing weekly water changes. I remove the detritus piles. This has been going on for months now. No more scrubbing and I siphon what algae I can. Most does not some off of the LR. What else would you do diferrently? How long should this take? I know nothing comes quick but this is rediculous. The tank has been running for over 2 years and maybe 2 months of algae freedom? All the LR was from a LFS and is from my old 46 gallon.

Maybe I need to do a couple of 90% WC's to diluute the LR.

Kalk reactor ran for about 6 months as well and thats not working. Coraline does not grow on the LR either. Not I have a lawn on the starboard bottom so I think the tanks has spun out of control.

If I "Cook" the rock than than leaves the tank with no skimmer. Buying another new skimmer is almost the same price of new LR. I would only be able to keep the LR in a tub with no light nad a heater maybe a powerhead. The tnak needs the skimmer for the corals and fish.

here is how i would go about cooking the rock if that is what you wish to do.

i would split it all into three aquariums or vats.. one of which can be your present tank.

i would take your corals and place them in one and put the lights over them.
i would skim this tank.

the fish i would put in another and use whatever you have to keep them well and living. maybe you have an old skimmer or something?

the rock does not need a skimmer but it would speed things up.
just vacuum out the detritus as it appears and change out water often.

i do hate to see you struggle with this and be put to this extreme... i would wait if i were you... from the outside in, it seems you are very impatient... wasn't it just a week or two ago that you were telling beaslbob that things were looking better and that you were thinking it was your own lack of husbandry that was the root of this?
i am not trying to bust your chops, i just worry that you might be expecting too much from these corrective measures.
how long the tank has been up means little when you are putting sand beds in and out and changing skimmers, salts, lights, pumps, reactors... it is too radical of an environment for any particular life to thrive other than the toughest.... those being nuisance algaes.

it takes a bit of faith in knowing that the unseen problems will correct themselves within the stable parameters that you create.
if you create chaos it won't work.

once you have created the most stable environment that you can it can take months to rid a tank of hair algae.
you can speed it along but you have to be consistant in what you do.

once all the algae disappears and your routine becomes very routine it will be easier to keep your reeftank.. i swear it does.

 

[Anonymous]

This is what I cam going to gdo for a month to see if things progress or get worse.

I am not going to touch the tank except for cleaning the skimmer cup, adding top off and feeding the fish. Nothing else will be added or touched. No water changes no additives. If it gets worse then its definetly the LR. if it gets better than its the water.

this is not true.

 

[Anonymous]

neither iss the water part

 

[Anonymous]

tank has bee nrunnign for over 2 years and the 46 was 1.5 years before this. The 46 had a minor ourbreak and I added a skimmer and it went away. The 58 has had algae from month 2 to now. Hard to justify all this money and time for algae.
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Honda Elysion

 

[Anonymous]

WHy not? I just dont get it them?
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blue moonshine plant

 

[Anonymous]

tank has bee nrunnign for over 2 years and the 46 was 1.5 years before this. The 46 had a minor ourbreak and I added a skimmer and it went away. The 58 has had algae from month 2 to now. Hard to justify all this money and time for algae.

if you haven't heard anything i have said about this then....

WHy not? I just dont get it them?

you just don't get it and i think maybe you are not reading carefully.

forget how long the tank has been up.. you haven't allowed the tank enough time to stabilize... at least that is how i am interpretting it thus far.

if i am right about this it will be neither the rock or the water.. how does that fit in the absolute outcomes you have outlined?

 

[Anonymous]

What is proper (Stable) maintenance? Because apparently I am not doing that?

6 months is not enough to stabilize?

Tank volume is ~64 gallons with the sump.

Leave the tank alone. That should stabilize it with nothing being added to move it one way or another.

I believe the TOTM is only running 2 years.

15G water changes?
How much B-Ionic or Kalk or whatever?
Kalk reactor or not?
What lights and how long?


What am I missing.
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recession in history

 

[Anonymous]

you need to stop changing up the schedule.
you aren't doing anything wrong, per se, you are simply not doing those things in a stable manner.
for instance using a kalkreactor and then stopping because it isn't working, or changing sandbeds, etc.

it is a radical change for the life within the rock and will kill some of it.

it can take weeks to months for these animals to die.
does that help you understand?

 

[Anonymous]

what worries me about this..

Leave the tank alone. That should stabilize it with nothing being added to move it one way or another.

is the thought that you will allow the tank to decline.

you need to perform some mainteneace

 

[Anonymous]

ok. So, I should expect the tank to take about a year to stabilize?

Ive been doing weekly or bi-weekly water changes for 6 months since the DSB came out.

The Kalk reactor has only been off for 3 days.

What is a proper scedule for things?
SHould I dump the tank inhabitants?
Remove all the corals and fish and let the tank run for a year?
How much water needs to be changed and when?
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Honda Domani

 

[Anonymous]

ok. So, I should expect the tank to take about a year to stabilize?

no.. i would not know what to expect at this point.. or at any start of a tank.

Ive been doing weekly or bi-weekly water changes for 6 months since the DSB came out.

for now... keep it up. i typed out a lengthy response here but deleted it because it was riddled with my opinions on Oceanic salt and also cited a test performed by craig bingham ten years ago that showed tropic marin being higher in nutrients readily available for algae's growth.
you are done with the oceanic now and i doubt tropic marin will fuel the algae.


The Kalk reactor has only been off for 3 days.

you can turn it back on.. at this point that would probably be best

What is a proper scedule for things

i think you know this but have not appiled them consistantly.


SHould I dump the tank inhabitants?

the coral will not fuel the growth unless it starts to die off. the fish could be removed but i don't think it is necessary.

do you think there is any validity in my concerns regarding your husbandry?
would you say you have erratically tried to fix a problem?

 

[Anonymous]

I have changes things.

Over the last 6 months i have not changed much besides getting more flow adn raising the Alk since it was so low in the Oceanic. Now that I have switched to Trpoica Marin it will probably take another few months for it to stabilize I guess.

There is no signs of any micro life on the LR as well. No worms, pods of the sort. I have about 3 snails left.

Besides the weekly water changes what am I missing?
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