So I have a 75 gal dt with a 15 gal sump, currently have 2 clowns,2 chromis,2 damsels, a coral beauty, and a mystery wrasse. About a month and a half ago I lost my foxface, so shortly after that I got a radiant wrasse and a mandarin. The radiant buried himself after the third day and never came out. A few days later I found his carcass floating around, at that point I noticed my mandarin was Mia and sure enough a few day later I doin his carcass as well. Now the radiant I'm sure was scared and never came out, the mandarin was a food soure issue. At this point I also upgraded from a 2 bulb t5 to a 4 bulb t5, that my neighbor gave me after he lost his tank. I started having a cyano outbreak so I treated it with redslime for 72 hrs. There was no signs of cyano or algea. A week later I had green algea start popping up and it's started to grow quite quickly. I've been doing ten gallons 1-2 a week since my first sign of cyano. I usually do 10 a week anyways. I have a phosphate reactor hooked up now and have been running it for a week now with no significant changes to the eye. The algea seems yo be losing color a little but still spreading. My nitrates are barely showing on my test as well as the phosphates. Which I'm sure the algea is hiding the real amounts. I have tried syphoning some of the algea out and have tried pulling off by hand but can't seems to make much progress. I have removed as many rocks as I can but I have a couple big ones that have corals growing on it so I can't rinse and scrub them without risking loosening some corals. I've tried pulling by hand and it seems to make a mess and doesn't get results. If I syphon while I pick off I suck out to much water. I was thinking of outing my syphon in the filter sockn of my sump and doing manual removal and sucking out what I could as I pulled it off and then just change my filter sock. Would this still make a mess and allow algea to spread? Any ideas would help
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Algea outbreak
- Thread starter Andyg8613
- Start date
Privateer
Non-member
This exact scenario happened to me when I icreased the lights in my system. First cyano outbreak (treated with H2O2) then hair algea. Luckily the hair algea only appeared in a few specific spots and I was able to yank it out while siphoning into a filter sock (and then returning the water to the tank). After doing this a few times, my CUC was able to finish off the few little strands that were left after each removal. Right now I just have one little patch that I'm still battling but it's manageble and it doesn't seem to be spreading. I might go and pickup something like an emerald crab, or a scarlet reef hemit to help out.
Sorry to hear of the struggle. I have almost the same tank setup and livestock exactly except I also have a Pygmy angel and a bunch of snails and hermits and a coral banded shrimp. I've been battling the same cyano for two months and recently added a reactor running gfo and carbon in a mix and it hasn't helped. I'm almost at the point of trying chemicals like Boyd's red slime remover but haven't yet because I've read that it could harm the inverts. Water changes are happening and testing all seem to be fine.
My water levels seem to be right on the money with the exception of magnesium because I don't have a test kit yet. I've been doing 15 gal water changes once or twice a week and borrowed a reactor with some gfo I've been running for about a month now. I keep doin manual removal and syphoning algea as I scrap it off with a Tooth brush into my filter sock Ned changing it afterwards. I have maybe maybe 100 different small snails a handful of hermits and about 15 turbos. I'm about to grab another dozen turbos and let them do the work. It seems to be getting under control as of lately so only time will tell. Some of my corals are thriving and then some like my chalice seem to be loosing some color.
mchartier
Non-member
Honestly I would not add anymore snails. You said you have about 100 snails 15 turbos and your talking about adding more, there is plenty in what you already have and personally I say is over kill. Yes it happens quick for algae to appear but takes a while to get rid of. Continue with the water changes and scrubbing/pulling out what you can will help. I would give it a month and assess from there whether it is getting better or not. Make sure your top-off water is 0 tds, along with the water that you use for your water changes was made with 0 tds water. On a 75 gallon I would do 2 10 gallon water changes a week to help with this siphoning and pulling what I can. Also try to blow out the rocks with a pump or turkey baster. If you run filter socks change them faster than normal. Pretty much step up your normal maintenance until your ahead of it then you can go back to normal seeing its been fine for the past 1.5 years.
The chalice could be losing color due to the increased light, you pretty much doubled what you had. They are a low light coral so try to find a shaded spot for it and move it out slowly after that.
The chalice could be losing color due to the increased light, you pretty much doubled what you had. They are a low light coral so try to find a shaded spot for it and move it out slowly after that.
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I've been using an rodi system for about 3-4 months now doing 20 gallon changes a week. I wipe down my glass with a magnet every night. And I stand corrected on the amount I snails, I added 40 dwarf ceriths, 12 nassarius, 15 florida ceriths, 8 large nerithes, 4 medium nerithes and 15 turbos. I think my clean up crew is good. I think anymore would be overkill. The chalice came from a tank with a 4 bulb t5 and is a new addition. When I bought it there was a line on it that seemed a little dull but not faded. Now it's white I'll post a pic when I can. Over all it getting better I just had to many variables to know what blamed the algea breakout. I was thinking about raising the magnesium once I find out what it currently is because I hear that will starve the algea. So far levels are
Alk 10
Ph 8.3
Nitrate 10
Calcium 440
Phosphate .25
Salinity 1.025
Temp 77.5
Alk 10
Ph 8.3
Nitrate 10
Calcium 440
Phosphate .25
Salinity 1.025
Temp 77.5
mchartier
Non-member
Magnesium can play a role against bryopsis, not hair algae. What were you doing for water before the rodi system? If its plain hair algae, starve it by feeding less, water change and siphon/pulling what you can. Cleanup crew sounds good, you could also look at something like a brittle star, if you want to add anything. Most of what you have are herbivores so the brittle star will help with uneaten food and waste, the nassarius will but don't really leave the sandbed.
I was using tap water before, I had a 90 for two years all tap water and never had an issue.me and my friend bought one together which is why I even decided to strt using it. 130 a piece is better than almost 300 by myself. I finally had a cyano breakout a few months ago and treated it with red slime remover. A month later green hair algea started poping up everywhere and I'm slowly starting to win the battle ... I hope!
