Brown snotty algae
- Thread starter Crackem
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So far 100% of the conditions posted were caused by allowing all substrates to dictate their own benthic growth, it's not possible to have those conditions in a tank where early growths are simply guided out, then that work lessens in time. many many tanks will do that until they are covered in coralline or corals to exclude it. Need to see pics to gauge fish bio loading.
Along with full tank shots showing the reef scape, we need to know if your source and makeup water is known 0/0 ro di
Along with full tank shots showing the reef scape, we need to know if your source and makeup water is known 0/0 ro di
Crackem
Active Member
That's an old pic. I cleaned it a week ago and it was worse.
I can see why it's frustrating but there are powerful tools unused we really have a strong chance. A most powerful consideration is the Amazon rental technique
Depending on full tank shot pics, score a pond uv sterilizer and use it 26 days then send it back. Other tools exist, but we have some mighty creative means. peroxide is coming, when used correctly we build 200+ pages of fix threads. Many tools untried that's the positive part. Peroxide very very cheap.
Even before seeing the entire frontal tank shot, the first step in the full restoration will be to hand clean 100% of that mass from the tank, the number one thing we've hoped to avoid. There is nothing we do or add to the tank to make it go away. There are many things we can easily do to cease its grow back.
Depending on full tank shot pics, score a pond uv sterilizer and use it 26 days then send it back. Other tools exist, but we have some mighty creative means. peroxide is coming, when used correctly we build 200+ pages of fix threads. Many tools untried that's the positive part. Peroxide very very cheap.
Even before seeing the entire frontal tank shot, the first step in the full restoration will be to hand clean 100% of that mass from the tank, the number one thing we've hoped to avoid. There is nothing we do or add to the tank to make it go away. There are many things we can easily do to cease its grow back.
Crackem
Active Member
Tank has 1 fish in it (regal angel) and clean up crew. When I first added my fish from my old tank they all died after 3 weeks. In my opinion my tank couldn't keep up with the bioload cause I didn't wait long enough.
All of my sps has died and I started adding them in February. The regal was added in March. I don't have a good full tank shot yet. Also I have a 180 spectra pure at 0 tds
Thank goodness 
Uv is undersized (mentioned pond but I see it's too late, still a great tool you have but clearly not desicive enough to exclude requisite hand guidance and export)
This is not bad at all 100% no start over. I thought you were about to post raw blanketing
initial brainstorm:
Remove all frags, setup smaller holding container for them all, say a heated and circulated ten gallon aquarium with live rock filter holdover with sustenance lighting for three days, hand clean the entire main tank and do a 4:10 peroxide run on the main tank for two days all lights out main tank, taped plastic blackout after hand cleaning.
On third day do nice big water change main tank, untape it and put frags back in main tank. *re acclimate them to your lighting as if brand new no skip
Not a hard fix here at all, and two hours hand cleaning precedes all fix actions imo. I think hand guiding to replace missing grazing is the major culprit
Nice water system. Your frags and front reef are modular and accessible that's an advantage here
Uv is undersized (mentioned pond but I see it's too late, still a great tool you have but clearly not desicive enough to exclude requisite hand guidance and export)
This is not bad at all 100% no start over. I thought you were about to post raw blanketing
initial brainstorm:
Remove all frags, setup smaller holding container for them all, say a heated and circulated ten gallon aquarium with live rock filter holdover with sustenance lighting for three days, hand clean the entire main tank and do a 4:10 peroxide run on the main tank for two days all lights out main tank, taped plastic blackout after hand cleaning.
On third day do nice big water change main tank, untape it and put frags back in main tank. *re acclimate them to your lighting as if brand new no skip
Not a hard fix here at all, and two hours hand cleaning precedes all fix actions imo. I think hand guiding to replace missing grazing is the major culprit
Nice water system. Your frags and front reef are modular and accessible that's an advantage here
Crackem
Active Member
Frags are pretty much all dead. This algae pretty much grows on all glass, frag racks, and equipment in tank. It's in the overflow as well. The sump does not look like it has it except for the algae scrubber. Also the rocks look ok. The back glass is covered in a very thick layer of brown algae. The loc lines are covered as well.
My rocks are all man made and the tank is barebottom. My Alkalinty goes up 1dkh every 2 weeks. Ca is 425, mag 1300. Po4 is .1 tested a few months ago and no3 4ppm.
My rocks are all man made and the tank is barebottom. My Alkalinty goes up 1dkh every 2 weeks. Ca is 425, mag 1300. Po4 is .1 tested a few months ago and no3 4ppm.
It's also a seeming factor that the natural plant base was missing for the scrubber after such time that's interesting detail when trying to piece together the challenge. could be nutrient starving the filter plants, but not such that other adapted invaders can't get by
Did good pic series to document that helps tremendously
I would not discount oversized uv in addition to yours we've used it in many threads. Ama rental is awesome just to see, makes me wonder how much of the invasion your current uv is holding back. Remove frags and hit peroxide is very strong contender, quick half life then restock the frags whose bases were detailed with peroxide before going back in to cleaned tank. A notable lights out period test where frags are not subjected to these stresses in their condition is also a strong and simple try
Def looks golden colored and not green strands in the pic
Did good pic series to document that helps tremendously
I would not discount oversized uv in addition to yours we've used it in many threads. Ama rental is awesome just to see, makes me wonder how much of the invasion your current uv is holding back. Remove frags and hit peroxide is very strong contender, quick half life then restock the frags whose bases were detailed with peroxide before going back in to cleaned tank. A notable lights out period test where frags are not subjected to these stresses in their condition is also a strong and simple try
Def looks golden colored and not green strands in the pic
Most commonly, conditions we create to try and starve algae via water action only strips the tank too bare for corals. If they aren't getting spot fed in good detail and in good array that may factor
I see coral health separate from that invader challenge, I don't think the invader is harming the frags
On the peroxide, 4:10 is a term from the peroxide threads on this forum on dose per ten gallons...four milliliters of 3% peroxide per ten gallons of tank water is ok for your specifics, there's no animals in the tank while it's being hit this is a bacteria safe calculation. Added all at once in the am, then pm, of your blacked out days with no stressed frags in tow
The reason hand pre cleaning is required is because it makes all our cheats work on tiny bits of mass vs the whole tank.
I see coral health separate from that invader challenge, I don't think the invader is harming the frags
On the peroxide, 4:10 is a term from the peroxide threads on this forum on dose per ten gallons...four milliliters of 3% peroxide per ten gallons of tank water is ok for your specifics, there's no animals in the tank while it's being hit this is a bacteria safe calculation. Added all at once in the am, then pm, of your blacked out days with no stressed frags in tow
The reason hand pre cleaning is required is because it makes all our cheats work on tiny bits of mass vs the whole tank.
Crackem
Active Member
Ok Thank You. I'm still worried that the rocks are causing these problems. Even tho I agree that my system has low nutrients due to an almost non existent bioload. However, if my tank is low nutrient why is it being over run by brown algae that will not go away?
Also my aqua uv is rated up to 150 gallons so it might be slightly undersized.
Also my aqua uv is rated up to 150 gallons so it might be slightly undersized.
http://reef2reef.com/threads/reef2reef-pest-algae-challenge-thread-hydrogen-peroxide.187042/
So many tanks there show up for work even after maintaining ideal params
the hobby refuses to see algae independent of nutrients but nature doesn't use zero po4 or low nitrate to stop algae...nature uses grazers that eat algae that grow anyway in the worlds best reef waters in Fiji or Palau or any other top reef given better Nino conditions.
The way to manage tank params and algae:
Pick a set of params and maintain them, and never assess them with cheap test kits or we're guessing. Any algae that gets past fair parameters are dealt with by hand first, such that they cannot compile. At that point we don't strip nutrients we hold course to known ideal water params and experiment with grazers, or in our case chemical cheats, to make up for the unnatural fact we don't have the grazers the ocean does
Real reefs produce tonnes of algae in water better than ours, and that's why algae still grows in your tank. The remover is the missing link, not the preventer...that's a fully repeating trend in that thread above
The work you must do to initially hand-exclude algae from surfaces lacking coralline and coral flesh diminishes over time but that initial work is required for X period between tanks. Restoring that hand guiding with a bit of hard work, creative frag isolating, and chemical cheat would be ideal. We attack the tank after the most thorough cleaning and water change its ever had. Most people without giant cure threads attack the wrecked condition and skip again the hard work part
So many tanks there show up for work even after maintaining ideal params
the hobby refuses to see algae independent of nutrients but nature doesn't use zero po4 or low nitrate to stop algae...nature uses grazers that eat algae that grow anyway in the worlds best reef waters in Fiji or Palau or any other top reef given better Nino conditions.
The way to manage tank params and algae:
Pick a set of params and maintain them, and never assess them with cheap test kits or we're guessing. Any algae that gets past fair parameters are dealt with by hand first, such that they cannot compile. At that point we don't strip nutrients we hold course to known ideal water params and experiment with grazers, or in our case chemical cheats, to make up for the unnatural fact we don't have the grazers the ocean does
Real reefs produce tonnes of algae in water better than ours, and that's why algae still grows in your tank. The remover is the missing link, not the preventer...that's a fully repeating trend in that thread above
The work you must do to initially hand-exclude algae from surfaces lacking coralline and coral flesh diminishes over time but that initial work is required for X period between tanks. Restoring that hand guiding with a bit of hard work, creative frag isolating, and chemical cheat would be ideal. We attack the tank after the most thorough cleaning and water change its ever had. Most people without giant cure threads attack the wrecked condition and skip again the hard work part
These are pineapple sponge. Filter feeders they are ok for tour tankJust noticed these little white things on everything in my sump. I have no clue what they are. Hoping some type of sponge.
SantaMonica
Valuable Member
Start adding fish; this will supply the ammonia that the scrubber can use to start growing.
omykiss001
Active Member
Those are sponges and cause no harm to have. What I see in your scrubber looks like cyano or similar. suggest getting the phosphates low change the GFO until you get a zero read, water change and get the nitrates low again while the tank is fallow. Manually remove what you can would be my suggestion.
Crackem
Active Member
I removed every rock and manually scrubbed the tank clean. I had a bucket of these man made rocks that were in RODI water for about 6 months. I tested alkalinty on the water using salifert kit and the alk was so high that I couldn't get a reading. Looks like it's time to start over. Hopefully my marine pure block and a few sponges from an aquaclear filter will keep my one fish alive. I'm going to keep the lights off for a few days and add some dr tims to make sure i have enough bacteria in the tank. In about a month or so I'm going to make a new aquascape using Marco dry rock after I check it for phosphates.
SantaMonica
Valuable Member
Did you cover 1/2 the scrubber lights?
