ARGH - Frigg'n HECK

[Hookup]

Not sure what just happened, but within 2 or 3 days I've got green algae in my DT... Colors have all colored down fast, cyano is up...

I'm running tests first thing tomorrow am and will post an update... ARGH is all I can say... (well on this censored board anyhow... at the keyboard i'm saying much more)

Tim

[Bob the Nano]

Hey hookup I had something similar happen to me...... although everything read fine  0 nitrite and 0 nitrate undetectable phosphate I had a sudden burst of cyano and hair algae it turned out that a snail got caught in the rockwork and died. it took a while but I was able to find him and get the shell out but it stank to high heaven. I guess the biological system in the aquarium was able to maintain but the sudden load gave the cyano and hair algae a chance to capitalize on the excess nutrients.... after the removal of the snail and a big water change things started to get better.....

maybe something similar has happend in your tank?

bob

[Hookup]

Starting my tests right now...

I had nightmares about things being dead... the cucumber in particular, the starfish, hermits, snails... etc...   If I had to guess, some of the RedBug killing stuff was left in the tank even after I filtered it out with carbon... guess I should have hit it another time... anyhow, i'm guessing that the hermits all died (40of em) and the cleaner shirimp and pistol shrimp... they were all added last weekend when my system was "safe"... ARGH ARGH ARGH... There are days when you just want to chuck the frigg'n stuff out the windows!!!

Anyhow, onto my tests... 50gal of new salt mixing in the basement... just needs to get to temp (2-3hrs more maybe) and I'll do my first of 3 50gal water changes... might even do 4 of them... and I'm going to try to vacu-suck any gunk out of the DT.    /sigh.. at least it is a cloudy day so I might as well be working inside..

[Hookup]

Tests are in (salfert kits/digital pH pen/Refract)

Ammonia: undetectable
Nitrite: undetectable
Nitrate: undetectable
Phosphate: undetectable

Temp: 80.6
pH: 8.03
Salinity 1.025

Mg: 1260 (a bit low)
Alk: 4.6 (omg low)
Ca: 380 (a bit low)


So basically, the water changes should return the Mg/Alk/Ca to normal ranges within 2 or 3 50gal changes (230gal total volume)...  More in a few days when the water changes are done and have taken effect...

[xiaan]

Did you do the heat test with the phosphate? (Heat the water up to 80C before testing)
Your algae is probably using up all the excess nutrients so that is why the tests are reading 0.
Also I found that algae/cyano do like a low Alk so if you get that up it might go away.

[Hookup]

I've never heard of the heat-test... Got a link on more info???  Sounds cool.

Yes, i agree.. the algae is using up all the nutrient growing... hateful stuff... The water changes should help by returning the levels to normal... Ive put the skimmer on UBER WET mode to pull water and all organics out... every hour or three i'm replacing the wet-skimmtimate with newly mixed RO/DI salt mix...   I'll continue doing this all evening.. then do a bigger 30gal or so water change just before bed... resume the process tomorrow of uber-wet-skimming and so on...

The GHA will have to be consumed by something... I'll have to go get some GHA eating snails, and though I have seen one hermit, i'd say out of 50, there is 1 left (haha.. ok, probably 5-10)... So I need to replace those as well...

I've put on new carbon, which I will replace tomorrow with new carbon... and replace again Monday... I've got the carbon reactor on high tumbling the heck out of the carbon and phosphate removers... trying to get as many GPH over the media as possible in 24hr period...

All in all, this *problem* will be fixed, i think, within 3 days, but I'll still need a cuc and something to eat up the GHA... (Not a slug thing... heucck)

[sniggir]

I have a large tiger tail that I can fish out for ya.... unfortunatly not today as i am about to go out with the fam.... but I do have one that you can have for sure, I know that some people also experience algea probs when the mag drops...especialy with briosis

[xiaan]

The heat test is real simple just heat the water to 80C (I use the microwave) let it cool then test the water for phosphate. The heating unbinds some of the phosphates to the organics.

Are you running the UltraLith system? it does a good job at removing nutrients in your system.
Do you have an urchin?  I find mine does a great job at cleaning up any algae in the tank.

[Hookup]

I have the ultralith components and for the most part am running it... ok, i could do a better job...

an Urchin is a great idea for sure...

and Pat, thanks.. i'll likely take you up on that tigertail

[Vincenzo.]

ya i have a tuxedo and it's bad a$$ for cleaning. on a side note remember that coralline algae is in a urchins diet. but it usually grows back faster than it can eat. but i enjoy mine. it's been carrying around a colony of about 10-15 zoas for about 4-5months now, and they are actually growing nicely.

[JD]

Pincushion Urchins are the best bang for the buck for algae cleanup. I have a total of five of them in my system. I move them from tank to tank as required. It took three of them to cleanup the back wall of my 180. About two weeks and the glass was 90% clean of any green algae. The bad part about them is their ability to pickup and move stuff. One of mine picked up my small squamosa clam and carried it around until I noticed it.

[Hookup]

Pincushion Urchins are the best bang for the buck for algae cleanup. I have a total of five of them in my system. I move them from tank to tank as required. It took three of them to cleanup the back wall of my 180. About two weeks and the glass was 90% clean of any green algae. The bad part about them is their ability to pickup and move stuff. One of mine picked up my small squamosa clam and carried it around until I noticed it.

haha... i can just picture your face finding travling pair of clam/urchin.. haha..

[JD]

haha... i can just picture your face finding travling pair of clam/urchin.. haha..

GRRRRR!!  STUPID URCHIN!!!!

I just found one carrying a blue acro frag. It WAS glued down...

[Hookup]

Well i'm done 2 of 3 water changes, and the system seems to be stable... seems to be, because it really isn't getting any worse (doesn't appear anyhow) but things are not getting better (not that I expect to see improvement in 48hrs)...

I'll re-test my params tonight before running the next water change, replace the carbon and phosphate, and keep the skimming on uber-wet-mode...

The GHA is bad enough... i'm sure that any of the above mentioned herbavors would have it gone within 2 - 3 weeks... my convict tang is nipping happily, the yellow tang is stupid, er doesn't care about the gha...

I do not think i've lost anything, other than the hermits/shrimp that caused the issue... though I'm keeping a very close eye on some spots on my sps that, LOOK LIKE RED FRIGGN BUG DMG!!!  basically 3 treatments of the stuff and i might still have some... ARGH... More on this as it develops...

Seriously thinking about tearing down, cooking rock for 6-8 weeks, and rebuliding in a new tank sooner than later... ARGH - Frigg'n HECK!

[bitterman]

Aww man sorry to here What a PITA!

Bruce

[RoxyDog]

Eeeks, that sucks.  I'm sure you can get a handle on it though,  keep trying!

[redbelly]

How did your alk manage to get down as low at 4.6!

Need help getting the Balling system running this week?

[Hookup]

I have no idea what dropp'ed my alk so frigg'n low...

My system is look'n bad... worse it's been... i do not think things are dying... anymore.. but damn... i might have lost a tri-color birdsnest... it's looking frig'gn horrible... and the doughnut is going down hill...

Water changes and water changes and more water changes... i've swapped otu about 90 gallons, 40%.. .and have 40more gallons on mix right now... for tonight.

YES, I want to get the balling method going... Wed or Thurs would work perfect...

[Hookup]

Latest tests:

ALK 6.4
MG: 1300
CA: 380
Nitrate; 0ppm
pH 8.28
Temp: 82.5 (time to turn the AC on)
Salinit 1.026

So things are coming around, but you'd never know it looking at the tank... Ive moved the SPS and some LPS out of the system to a holding tank until I can get things completely stable again... which also implies I might lose some, but hope not.. I've pretty much confirmed this is an issue with levels/params, not any bugs or critters... which is good i guess... (why do I own a controller and 8 dosing pumps if i'm not going to use them??)

So tomorrow I'll be getting the balling method running to level out the params...

Theres still one or two 40+gal water changes to go before i'm happy, and im going to take this opportunity to pull some of the display-tank rock and scrub it clean... there were quite a few mushrooms and zoa's that I just didn't want, so now I'll get the off the rocks... this will also give me a good attack against the cyano and GHA by taking some of the worse rocks and scrub'n em clean...

I'm going to read on Melvees'(?) site about how to change/replace some of the sand... I want to get rid of as much as possible of what I have... i figured killing red-bugs, then the associated critter-dye-off in my tank has made an impact that I'd rather just get rid of.  More to follow...

NO PHOTOS... it's just not pretty...

[sniggir]

realy sry to here that Tim I am gonn fish out the tigger tail today so some time this week you are more than welcome to it