TFish77 Posted March 12, 2016 Share Posted March 12, 2016 So it's been an insane last couple of weeks. Lately I've been battling a weird algae issue. Every day when I get to work I have to clean the tanks glass. It has some kind of odd greenish haze on it (algae), and clearly my snails have been enjoying it. Just not entirely sure what type it is and where it has come from all of a sudden. Time to test! Upload some pictures of it as well if you can. I know you have a camera 1 Quote Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted March 12, 2016 Share Posted March 12, 2016 I'd get a green haze, then used a razor to shave it off. I kept a small net nearby so when I took off some I took it away. I think I fed too much w/ phytofeast or something but I also then reduced the light at that time to 5 hrs instead of 8. It eventually left with more regular water changes. 1 Quote Link to comment
Droy008 Posted March 12, 2016 Author Share Posted March 12, 2016 Upload some pictures of it as well if you can. I know you have a camera Lol, yes, yes I do. Monday I'll snap a couple quick pictures for you guys. I'd get a green haze, then used a razor to shave it off. I kept a small net nearby so when I took off some I took it away. I think I fed too much w/ phytofeast or something but I also then reduced the light at that time to 5 hrs instead of 8. It eventually left with more regular water changes. I'm thinking it is a result from using the red sea energy and coral frenzy. The problem is my coral are REALLY HAPPY. I'm finally getting really good growth from them, so I'm at a bit of an impasse. Do I stop feeding because of algae, or keep on feeding but find an alternative method to algae managment? 1 Quote Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted March 12, 2016 Share Posted March 12, 2016 I'd back off some with it and increase water changes. I'm sure it's just the system trying to get used to the bioload. You could see if adding macros will help I guess. 1 Quote Link to comment
Balix Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 What's your nitrate and phos levels? Just wondering with that bioload... 1 Quote Link to comment
Droy008 Posted March 14, 2016 Author Share Posted March 14, 2016 What's your nitrate and phos levels? Just wondering with that bioload... That's was my first assumption as well, but I tested today and my nitrates are less than 10ppm and my phosphates are not showing at all. I understand that the algae is likely consuming it all (which is good in my opinion). But to stem the algae growth I have stopped feeding for 3 days and noticed a significant cutback. I have also started a chemiclean regime to clear out 2 small patches of cyano. Hopefully in 3 days when I do my water change everything will have cleared up. 1 Quote Link to comment
Droy008 Posted March 20, 2016 Author Share Posted March 20, 2016 Well you guys wanted pics, so I got out my camera and took a couple. This was of course after I cleaned up a shit ton of bryopsis which I had mistaken as caulerpa. I have started a mag dosing regime in hopes to kill the remaining devils hair. Here is what it looked like prior to my pulling almost all of it off. And here it is after (lower right hand side) I also wanted to document the amazing amount of growth i've been getting since starting the Red Sea energy, as well as switching over to B-ionic 2 part. My Green monti cap's (I started with a frag the size of the piece on the left) My Green Acro close up And my little blasto showing off its babies proudly My duncans have really started to grow, and are now fully extended every day. And lastly an updated FTS 5 Quote Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 It does seem like everything is growing really fast since you got it. 1 Quote Link to comment
Droy008 Posted March 20, 2016 Author Share Posted March 20, 2016 It does seem like everything is growing really fast since you got it. I'm hoping that I can keep the growth up and then spill over some of the excess corals to the kids' tank. 1 Quote Link to comment
Bowen1022 Posted March 21, 2016 Share Posted March 21, 2016 Idk if this has been posted but are you just running carbon in the minimax? And floss in the media rack? Also are you only dosing reef energy? Ive been thinking about buying some to try out. 1 Quote Link to comment
Droy008 Posted March 21, 2016 Author Share Posted March 21, 2016 Idk if this has been posted but are you just running carbon in the minimax? And floss in the media rack? Also are you only dosing reef energy? Ive been thinking about buying some to try out. While I was running chemiclean to cure a small batch of cyano yes. You might have notice a bunch of micro bubbles in my pictures. Those where because of the added aeration required for running chemiclean. Ordinarilly I run chemipure blue and filter floss in the basket, some times I'll throw in some phosguard if I notice my phosphates are a little high. As for the reactor I just run ordinary carbon, nothing special. It works wonders so far, I also have my skimmer running 24/7 and clean the collector every 3-4 days. Quote Link to comment
dferrari13 Posted March 21, 2016 Share Posted March 21, 2016 Do you still have 6 fish in this tank?? 1 Quote Link to comment
Droy008 Posted March 21, 2016 Author Share Posted March 21, 2016 Do you still have 6 fish in this tank?? Yes, unfortunately. I have the tailspot, 2 clowns, a royal gramma, YWG, and a yellow Clown Goby. 1 Quote Link to comment
pewpewkittah Posted March 21, 2016 Share Posted March 21, 2016 Tank looks really great Droy (besides the algae)!! I love the GSP on the back wall. And it looks like the frogspawn is getting well taken care of. You're showing us up with your natural camera skills . For that algae... it looks suspiciously like bryopsis to me. Does it seem to hold up when you pull it out of the water? Can you get a macro picture of the algae? If its isolated to a rock, I'd pull any corals off and soak that puppy in a H2O2 mix. Then scrub the everlasting sh*t out of it! If it is bryopsis, I wouldn't take any chances with it. I've seen people break down entire tanks because of that crap. 1 Quote Link to comment
dferrari13 Posted March 21, 2016 Share Posted March 21, 2016 Yes. I have my tailspot, my 2 clowns, a royal gramma, my YWG, and yellow Clown Goby. How long have you had them all in there? Just seems like a lot of fish/bioload for a tank this size 1 Quote Link to comment
Droy008 Posted March 22, 2016 Author Share Posted March 22, 2016 How long have you had them all in there? Just seems like a lot of fish/bioload for a tank this size They have all been in there for about 2 months. I keep pretty close tabs on my water parameters. Everything seems to be very happy so far. Tank looks really great Droy (besides the algae)!! I love the GSP on the back wall. And it looks like the frogspawn is getting well taken care of. You're showing us up with your natural camera skills . For that algae... it looks suspiciously like bryopsis to me. Does it seem to hold up when you pull it out of the water? Can you get a macro picture of the algae? If its isolated to a rock, I'd pull any corals off and soak that puppy in a H2O2 mix. Then scrub the everlasting sh*t out of it! If it is bryopsis, I wouldn't take any chances with it. I've seen people break down entire tanks because of that crap. Yes I'm thinking it is indeed bryopsis. I have been pulling it out fairly regularly, but the stuff is resilient as all hell. I am going to pick up some H202 tomorrow and start applying it to the affected areas. Quote Link to comment
rolyat113 Posted March 22, 2016 Share Posted March 22, 2016 They have all been in there for about 2 months. I keep pretty close tabs on my water parameters. Everything seems to be very happy so far. Yes I'm thinking it is indeed bryopsis. I have been pulling it out fairly regularly, but the stuff is resilient as all hell. I am going to pick up some H202 tomorrow and start applying it to the affected areas. I battled this in my last nano. The only way I finally beat it was raising my mag with Kent Tech M. I forget what level you have to raise it to, but it worked like a charm. Shortly after I began dosing, the bryopsis began to bleach out. I tried the h202 thing for a while with no lasting results. Quote Link to comment
Droy008 Posted March 23, 2016 Author Share Posted March 23, 2016 I battled this in my last nano. The only way I finally beat it was raising my mag with Kent Tech M. I forget what level you have to raise it to, but it worked like a charm. Shortly after I began dosing, the bryopsis began to bleach out. I tried the h202 thing for a while with no lasting results. Currently dosing 10ml of tech M daily to get my mag up. Then I'll try to keep it there for a month. I'm also planning on spot treating the more troublesome areas with h202 via syringe. Quote Link to comment
Droy008 Posted March 23, 2016 Author Share Posted March 23, 2016 I looked at my tank today and look what I found! A Baby snail! It's so small, I can't believe it's real. I'm assuming that it was born and raised in the tank. It humbles me to think that the conditions in my tank are in such good order for these creatures to reproduce. Hopefully things stay this way. 2 Quote Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted March 23, 2016 Share Posted March 23, 2016 He could have been hiding in the tunnels of the rocks, you know, the far recesses. Always nice to see life. 1 Quote Link to comment
Droy008 Posted March 23, 2016 Author Share Posted March 23, 2016 He could have been hiding in the tunnels of the rocks, you know, the far recesses. Always nice to see life. There is that possibility. But it's so little (~1mm) I couldn't imagine it being around for too long. I'm going to keep an eye out for more. Quote Link to comment
Droy008 Posted April 13, 2016 Author Share Posted April 13, 2016 Well it's been a while since I've updated anything, First off the algae is on the run. I've had to get aggressive, very aggressive. I have been dosing 10ml of magnesium everyday for the last 2 weeks. coupled with a 50% drop in light output, and very little food, as well as physiclly pulling off as much as I could. I am running gfo and carbon in my reactor and my water is testing clean of all posphates. It has been stressing out my coral and fish. I've had one casualty so far my poor tailspot passed a couple of days ago. The sad thing is I believe he literally ate himself to death. With all the algae dieing off and floating around, he more than gorged. He was so fat that I stopped feeding him anything except some algae flakes in hopes that he'd pass all the food he had consumed. In the end his appetite was his demise. All my other fish seem to be doing well, and I actually found a new home for the little clown goby. He was getting picked on after his buddy benny had left, so I reached out to a LFS and traded him in. Hopefully he'll find a better situation there. So now I'm down to just 4 fish. Also looks like my office may be moving, and I'll have more space, I "might" be looking at a bigger tank shortly... 1 Quote Link to comment
Droy008 Posted April 26, 2016 Author Share Posted April 26, 2016 So after a long and arduous battle I have emerged victorious.....for now. lol I can officially say that I no longer have any bryopsis in my tank! yay! I snapped a couple quick cell phone pictures, so you people would have something to see, however Imgur seems to be having issues. Sooo you get to use your imagination for meow. I'm bringing my camera to work tomorrow, so hopefully I'll have some decent pictures up tomorrow. 2 Quote Link to comment
teenyreef Posted April 26, 2016 Share Posted April 26, 2016 Congratulations! It's always nice to hear somebody report success in the bryopsis battle Sorry about your tailspot, though 1 Quote Link to comment
Droy008 Posted April 26, 2016 Author Share Posted April 26, 2016 Congratulations! It's always nice to hear somebody report success in the bryopsis battle Sorry about your tailspot, though Thanks it's been an interesting journey so far. Quote Link to comment
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