Disheartened.

reeferkeeper420 · Jul 15, 2015

Every day i come in to look at my tank im gettin more and more disheartened. Aiptasia everywhere hair algae and w.e else kinda algae everywhere, bryopsis popping up everywhere,some of my acros are showing receding bases. I just dont know what to do...its driving me crazy. I cant stand looking at my tank anymore because of all these nuissance algaes and pests. Even cyanos starting to show up again. Its enough to make me just wanna pack it all in and give up. I know i can get the bryopsis under controll with tech m, it was working until i ran out and never bought more..but its not a cheap method either. Dont know what to do anymore.

heath · Jul 15, 2015

sometimes we have to take a set back and re asset the situation and start from square one..

reef keeper · Jul 15, 2015

Riley all the algae is due to Phosphate. Your rocks must be leaching it. That's step 1. Step 2 is to get a pipette and start hunting the aptasia.

Your cyano is partly caused by low flow.

If the tank is blowing up in your face maybe look at a tear down. Cook the rocks in fresh water to kill everything. I used LC and I'm not having much of an algae issue in the tank other than new tank algae.

How are you exporting nutrients and where did you get your rock? Ever cook it or cure it?

reeferkeeper420 · Jul 15, 2015

Id really like avoid a tear down, if i tear down i probably wont wanna do it again. I have to many corals growing on my rocks to even attempt that. Some of the rock is the original rock that came with that tank when i bought it the rest is dry rock i bought from IA. Unfortunately the bryopsis will grow in even the cleanest water so that one is a royal pain. Tomorrows going to be aiptasia eradication day and im going to try to remove as much as the algae as i can. Right now im just running GFO and Biopellets, and running a reef octopus sro 3000. I dont know if flow is an issue since im running a vortech mp40, jebao rw-20 and a jebao wp 25 along with my return. I dunno...all this crap is driving me bonkers.

Skim · Jul 16, 2015

Hi Riley, I'd drop the pellets and just run the GFO. I had a BAD outbreak of Hair Algae and I was trying everything pellets, all in one pellets, Phos Free pool stuff. I dropped all pellet use and went strictly GFO in a reactor with GAC in another, reduced light duration buy 2 hours, picked up a Gyre 150 and pulled all other pumps/water movement and the one thing that I did that I believe had the biggest affect was the flow. The flow through the GFO, I reduced the flow to about 80-100 gal. I looked at the flow and was saying this is not going to work, well the next day when I looked at the tank I had some chunks of Hair Algae blowing around and scoop them out. You may want to pick up Sea Hair and a File Fish.

Skim

EricTMah · Jul 16, 2015

I'm sorry to hear Riley
Sometimes this hobby can be quite frustrating at time. Especially when dealing with pests of any sort.
As mentioned by skim, I also am not a fan of bio pellets and prefer to run gac and gfo to control nutrients.

There must be something feeding the hair algae. You might not be getting an accurate reading on po4 and no3 if the hair algae is as bad as you describe. Possible more frequent gfo changes might be in order.

Bryopsis is a real pain. But once you get ahead of it. You'll see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Aiptasias have plagued my tanks for decades! So I feel your pain. I know you've tried CBB's with no luck. You might have to just spend half an hour a day with a product like Aiptasia X or kalk paste. Once you get to the point of controlling them it won't be so bad. But getting there is the tough part. I found spending a little time every day is the best way to get ahead of this problem.

Honestly though. If it were me. I'd be seriously looking at performing a complete over haul on the system. It may not be the answer you're looking for. But it might be the simplest way to fix all issues in one shot

Sony Xperia Z3

Stevesault · Jul 16, 2015

The only reason I keep all that out of my tank he is because I run a light on my fudge 24/7 it will grow where the light is. Maybe try that out?

reeferkeeper420 · Jul 16, 2015

I dont have a fuge unfortunately. Well my n03 never comes above .2. But i have noticed when ive turned them off before my n03 starts creeping up. My last p04 test was 0, but like u said the algae is just absorbing it. I also need to change my bulbs, im sure thats not helping the HA and Cyano. Does GAC actually help control nutrients tho? I thought it was just for polishing the water, making it more clear and less stench from the water. Sorry have never run any type on my Saltwater tank, just fresh. I wanna beat this, i really dont wanna give up, but ill tell ya its gettinf harder to do lol.

reeferkeeper420 · Jul 16, 2015

And i have low flow through my gfo, you can barely see the gfo moving. I also reduced the flow through my sump, and turned my skimmer onto a wet skim, for awhile i couldnt get it to, it was either a shitty dry skim or overflowing everywhere, but i think i have that dialed in better now so hopefully that helps.

EricTMah · Jul 16, 2015

Carbon will absorb small particles in the water. Which would include organic waste as well. Which in turn helps reduce nutrients

Sony Xperia Z3

reeferkeeper420 · Jul 16, 2015

So i should ditch the pellets and throw some carbon in? If so should i monitor my N03 to make sure it doesnt start to spike?

EricTMah · Jul 16, 2015

I probably wouldn't abruptly shut down your pellets. It may cause a no3 spike. But you may want to hear from some members who run pellets. As I don't have much experience with them. I've never run pellets

Sony Xperia Z3

David Caplan · Jul 16, 2015

Sorry to hear this, looked like it was starting so well.

EricTMah said:
Honestly though. If it were me. I'd be seriously looking at performing a complete over haul on the system. It may not be the answer you're looking for. But it might be the simplest way to fix all issues in one shot

I couldn't agree more. The problems you have listed are not easily controllable, especially the Bryopsis. Tech M is not an treatment plan for Bryopsis, it's more of a prayer. It fails much more often than it succeeds, and is used in combination with other strategies to get rid of the algae.

I've done 4+ months of Tech M treatment with the suggested magnesium level and it has had no effect on the Bryopsis, plus the harm it's done to my corals and inverts through magnesium saturation. If that's not enough, I have also done manual removal every 2-3 days, dipping my removal tool in freshwater between plucks. I run a UV filter to kill spores of the plucked Bryopsis. Every piece of coral in my aquarium has been removed at least 3 times to go through a hydrogen peroxide dip. This is all still occurring when my Nitrates and Phosphate are, and have always been, at 0. I don't wish it on anyone, and I wish I chose to re-start when the process started.

pulpfiction1 · Jul 16, 2015

nuke it,start fresh

reeferkeeper420 · Jul 16, 2015

Ok and what do i do with the thousands and thousands of dollars in corals and frags if i did nuke everything??

heath · Jul 16, 2015

could you maybe put them in totes with lights, heaters and pumps to keep them going until you get things sorted out.. which ever way you go there is going to be a ton of work involved..

David Caplan · Jul 16, 2015

50/50 tank water hydrogen peroxide dip, then into a qt tank with low flow. Repeat as needed. I did exactly that, took the tank apart, dipped the corals, QT'd them, and let a huge cleanup crew take care of the rock. Everything went back in after.

Heath's idea is great. I used a styropham shipping box.

Do not dip acropora, it will die.

reeferkeeper420 · Jul 16, 2015

Well my tank is mainly acros..

pulpfiction1 · Jul 16, 2015

reeferkeeper420 said:
Ok and what do i do with the thousands and thousands of dollars in corals and frags if i did nuke everything??

i wouldnt buy anything from anyone with these kinds of issues in their tank,and if you have thousands apon thousands of dollars in corals(pics?) maybe an investment in proper matenance procedures and a top end quarantine setup to help protect the thousands of dollars you state,might have been monies better spent to ensure your eco system was pest free
but thats just my opinion,dont take it as a flame but i have watched your progress since you joined

TORX · Jul 16, 2015

I agree, but 50 $20 frags is $1000. So that can add up. I have seen people come back from devistated tanks, but it takes a long time, money and effort. QT what frags you can salvage and nuke it

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