Taking initiative

[Stege_saurus]

For about the past 6 months, I kind of put my reef keeping hobby on the back burner. I continued to feed the fish and keep the glass clean, but unfortunately I am now paying the price and have an abundance of algae growth. I'm trying to figure out what would be the best method to rid the tank of algae, and was also seeking some opinions.

One method: a soft "restart", I would work on setting back up another hold tank I have, along with getting bacteria in a bottle, and slowly transferring the inhabitants from the display tank to the holding tank. I would then take all the live rock in the display tank and either clean it all by hand and rid it of algae, or bleach it and let it air dry for days, then put it back in the display tank and refill it with new water.

I'm not really sure if there's a different or easier method of taking care of this issue. Also, what would be a good way to ensure I don't run into this again?

-Water changes and RODI water? (Would love to have a system but don't quite have the room. For now I have to use seachem prime)

 

[MnFish1]

For about the past 6 months, I kind of put my reef keeping hobby on the back burner. I continued to feed the fish and keep the glass clean, but unfortunately I am now paying the price and have an abundance of algae growth. I'm trying to figure out what would be the best method to rid the tank of algae, and was also seeking some opinions.

One method: a soft "restart", I would work on setting back up another hold tank I have, along with getting bacteria in a bottle, and slowly transferring the inhabitants from the display tank to the holding tank. I would then take all the live rock in the display tank and either clean it all by hand and rid it of algae, or bleach it and let it air dry for days, then put it back in the display tank and refill it with new water.

I'm not really sure if there's a different or easier method of taking care of this issue. Also, what would be a good way to ensure I don't run into this again?

-Water changes and RODI water? (Would love to have a system but don't quite have the room. For now I have to use seachem prime)

My suggestion - assuming that you don't have a lot of coral attached to your live rock. 1. keep your normal filtration method running or oxygenated during the process (not the skimmer of course). (This is how I've done it a couple times when getting a larger tank - not necessarily to remove algae). A picture of your tank would be nice...

Prepare new saltwater - to 1/2 of the volume of your tank - mix it according to instructions and heat it.

Get a brute - siphon out 1/2 of your tank water - put in a pump(ayirstone) and a heater put your fish and whatever you want to keep (inverts).

Put 3-4 gallons of tank water into a bucket.

Get a second brute - siphon the rest of your tank water into that. Put your live rock in there (heated and oxygenated).

Clean your tank, remove your sand - replace it with new (after rinsing).

Put your old water, your fish the heater/airstone from the first brute into the old tank. To that add 1/2 of the newly prepared saltwater.

Then - scrub each rock using a metal or other stuff brush - in the brute continuing the rock. Rinse the rock in the other 5 gallon bucket - and place each piece into the tank. how ever you want to place it.

After you've added back all of your rock - fill your tank back up with the rest of the fresh saltwater - put your filtration back in the tank - and you're done.

Its basically like doing a 50 % water change.

Some points,

1. wear gloves when handling live rock and cleaning it.
2. If you dont want to change so much water - just use different proportions.
3. You may need to change the water you use to rinse the rock before putting back in the tank.
4. if you want add some Fritz 9000 go ahead - some would say this is not necessary

Using this method - you will get rid of most of the algae, balance out your water parameters and with maintenance it should not recur. It is a process that will take 3-4 hours - and you'll be done.

I'm sure others will have comments, but hope this gives you a start at a method

 

[Stege_saurus]

My suggestion - assuming that you don't have a lot of coral attached to your live rock. 1. keep your normal filtration method running or oxygenated during the process (not the skimmer of course). (This is how I've done it a couple times when getting a larger tank - not necessarily to remove algae). A picture of your tank would be nice...

Prepare new saltwater - to 1/2 of the volume of your tank - mix it according to instructions and heat it.

Get a brute - siphon out 1/2 of your tank water - put in a pump(ayirstone) and a heater put your fish and whatever you want to keep (inverts).

Put 3-4 gallons of tank water into a bucket.

Get a second brute - siphon the rest of your tank water into that. Put your live rock in there (heated and oxygenated).

Clean your tank, remove your sand - replace it with new (after rinsing).

Put your old water, your fish the heater/airstone from the first brute into the old tank. To that add 1/2 of the newly prepared saltwater.

Then - scrub each rock using a metal or other stuff brush - in the brute continuing the rock. Rinse the rock in the other 5 gallon bucket - and place each piece into the tank. how ever you want to place it.

After you've added back all of your rock - fill your tank back up with the rest of the fresh saltwater - put your filtration back in the tank - and you're done.

Its basically like doing a 50 % water change.

Some points,

1. wear gloves when handling live rock and cleaning it.
2. If you dont want to change so much water - just use different proportions.
3. You may need to change the water you use to rinse the rock before putting back in the tank.
4. if you want add some Fritz 9000 go ahead - some would say this is not necessary

Using this method - you will get rid of most of the algae, balance out your water parameters and with maintenance it should not recur. It is a process that will take 3-4 hours - and you'll be done.

I'm sure others will have comments, but hope this gives you a start at a method

Thank you for this, and I can post pic later, unfortunately I'm at work right now. I will warn you, it is quite shameful looking. I might try to do something like this soon. Are there any other filtration methods I could look into? The ones I currently use are;

(120g tank)
-Skimmer
-Algae scrubber (didn't realize the flow wasn't going through it until it was too late)
-filter socks
-some live rock in the sump

 

[MnFish1]

-Algae scrubber (didn't realize the flow wasn't going through it until it was too late)

I think this is your problem.

Assuming you have enough flow IN the tank (like extra gyre, etc) - and depending on the flow through your sump, it seems like your filtration is ok (again - assuming your skimmer is appropriately sized for your tank, etc)

BTW - one other thing - you should check your nitrates phosphate alkalinity, salinity, pH etc. If you do a huge water change (like would happen above) - that can also stress out fish if the parameters are not close. In that case - keep more of your 'old' water - and less new water

 

[J1a]

You old rocks may release adsorbed phosphate. So it may continue to cause problems for you.

Perhaps you can get some new rocks and do a rescape? Your biomedia should be able to handle the bioload meanwhile.

 

[Stege_saurus]

I think this is your problem.

Assuming you have enough flow IN the tank (like extra gyre, etc) - and depending on the flow through your sump, it seems like your filtration is ok (again - assuming your skimmer is appropriately sized for your tank, etc)

BTW - one other thing - you should check your nitrates phosphate alkalinity, salinity, pH etc. If you do a huge water change (like would happen above) - that can also stress out fish if the parameters are not close. In that case - keep more of your 'old' water - and less new water

I'll have to take some pictures, but it's not the usual algae scrubber..it comes off the drain pipe that leads into the sump.

You old rocks may release adsorbed phosphate. So it may continue to cause problems for you.

Perhaps you can get some new rocks and do a rescape? Your biomedia should be able to handle the bioload meanwhile.

I have a ton of dry rock I can cure out and use, however I think I may need to up some sort of the filtration because I do have 4 tangs and a triggerfish...

 

[Stege_saurus]

I think this is your problem.

Assuming you have enough flow IN the tank (like extra gyre, etc) - and depending on the flow through your sump, it seems like your filtration is ok (again - assuming your skimmer is appropriately sized for your tank, etc)

BTW - one other thing - you should check your nitrates phosphate alkalinity, salinity, pH etc. If you do a huge water change (like would happen above) - that can also stress out fish if the parameters are not close. In that case - keep more of your 'old' water - and less new water

It's horrible. I apologize for how it looks. The other photo is my sump. 3 chambers, approx 20g

 

[MnFish1]

It's horrible. I apologize for how it looks. The other photo is my sump. 3 chambers, approx 20g

Your fish look great!!!!

I would use a very strong wire brush with scrubbing - I would not replace all your rock 'yet'. I would not necessarily use strong chemicals 'yet'. And my guess is that the photo looks worse than it is.

No need for apologies. You can do as others have suggested or - do the cleaning method. I would suggest - when you do the scrubbing - you replace the rocks 'algae side' down - clean side up. Also the corals you have do not require a huge amount of light - and you could probably decrease that. Lastly - AFTER - you've removed most/as much as possible algae. You could try Vibrant for REEF tanks. in low dose for a couple weeks. to see if you can then clear up the rest. Do you have any idea about your parameters in the tank?

My guess - they are not bad (the algae is taking up all the NO3 and PO4 - but lots of people would be interested -

 

[MnFish1]

PS - I'm assuming in your sump - your refugium is under where the big light is. That light is probably not the best (bad) for growing competing algae. I would invest in a more focused - algae favoring Kessill

 

[Stege_saurus]

Your fish look great!!!!

I would use a very strong wire brush with scrubbing - I would not replace all your rock 'yet'. I would not necessarily use strong chemicals 'yet'. And my guess is that the photo looks worse than it is.

No need for apologies. You can do as others have suggested or - do the cleaning method. I would suggest - when you do the scrubbing - you replace the rocks 'algae side' down - clean side up. Also the corals you have do not require a huge amount of light - and you could probably decrease that. Lastly - AFTER - you've removed most/as much as possible algae. You could try Vibrant for REEF tanks. in low dose for a couple weeks. to see if you can then clear up the rest. Do you have any idea about your parameters in the tank?

My guess - they are not bad (the algae is taking up all the NO3 and PO4 - but lots of people would be interested -

Unfortunately my test kits have expired. I was using the salifert ones. I just haven ordered new ones yet.

PS - I'm assuming in your sump - your refugium is under where the big light is. That light is probably not the best (bad) for growing competing algae. I would invest in a more focused - algae favoring Kessill

Well it's not exactly a refugium, it's more of an algae scrubber. It worked great until I realized I forgot to fix the flow coming through it and algae exploded everywhere, and life kind of took my priorities for awhile.

 

[BostonReefer300]

As a veteran of several tank reboots, I'd recommend you remove fish to a nice hotel tank and turn your lights off on the main tank (assuming you don't have coral). Pour in some Vibrant and let your DT stew in the dark for a couple weeks while doing regular, big water changes. It would be a shame to disrupt your biofilter by doing a tear-down or the like.

 

[MnFish1]

As a veteran of several tank reboots, I'd recommend you remove fish to a nice hotel tank and turn your lights off on the main tank (assuming you don't have coral). Pour in some Vibrant and let your DT stew in the dark for a couple weeks while doing regular, big water changes. It would be a shame to disrupt your biofilter by doing a tear-down or the like.

He has coral....

 

[Stege_saurus]

As a veteran of several tank reboots, I'd recommend you remove fish to a nice hotel tank and turn your lights off on the main tank (assuming you don't have coral). Pour in some Vibrant and let your DT stew in the dark for a couple weeks while doing regular, big water changes. It would be a shame to disrupt your biofilter by doing a tear-down or the like.

Unfortunately I do have coral. Not any high priced ones, but I'd rather not have to restart having corals. If I had a light for another tank it wouldn't be a problem, but I don't...

 

[MnFish1]

Unfortunately I do have coral. Not any high priced ones, but I'd rather not have to restart having corals. If I had a light for another tank it wouldn't be a problem, but I don't...

I honestly think the plan I gave you will work. Of course there will be other opinions. I think vibrant with that much algae will be a months long issue.

 

[Stege_saurus]

I honestly think the plan I gave you will work. Of course there will be other opinions. I think vibrant with that much algae will be a months long issue.

Hopefully I can give it a go this weekend.

 

[Rookums Reef]

It's horrible. I apologize for how it looks. The other photo is my sump. 3 chambers, approx 20g

It didn't happen overnight to get here so don't try to do to much or you'll over correct and end up in the ditch. All the inhabitants look great! I'd go in a pull out the big stuff by hand, scrub the rocks while siphoning close to where you're cleaning. Maybe break it down into sections, like water exchanges. I think that scrubber is a cool diy idea but that light makes me nervous, not to mention the creep! Get some new testing kits for sure and take it slow! You can definitely turn this around!!

 

[MnFish1]

Hopefully I can give it a go this weekend.

If you parameters are off - in the main tank - (nitrate, etc pH), you can always do a 10-25% water change sooner (tomorrow and the day after) so that the fish can get used to 'new water'.

 

[Stege_saurus]

It didn't happen overnight to get here so don't try to do to much or you'll over correct and end up in the ditch. All the inhabitants look great! I'd go in a pull out the big stuff by hand, scrub the rocks while siphoning close to where you're cleaning. Maybe break it down into sections, like water exchanges. I think that scrubber is a cool diy idea but that light makes me nervous, not to mention the creep! Get some new testing kits for sure and take it slow! You can definitely turn this around!!

It'll be a process, but I'm willing to put in the time for it. And I know the light is iffy, it worked for the time and continues to work. I can't exactly drop $100 on a great light so I have to make do with what I have available. Suggestions on others are welcome!

I saw the algae scrubber idea on a YouTube video about a year and a half ago and decided to give it a try. It's also able to be taken apart for cleaning, and the down facing tube allows me to redirect water flow in that direction when I do clean it.

 

[BostonReefer300]

He has coral....

Whoops sorry I missed that. Anyway, seems like you've gotten some good advice from others. I wish you luck!

 

[damsels are not mean]

If rocks are not removable I would siphon and scrape out as much algae as possible in a series of daily water changes then add herbivores. Snails and some urchins. Don't let the tank go a day without herbivores (you or the snails) so ideally keep the water changing and scrubbing up until the day you can get them.

You don't necessarily have to set an RODI system up somewhere, BTW. You can easily stow it when not in use.

Take advantage of your renewed energy for the tank to do the hard and boring stuff now and you will thank yourself when it's time to coast again.