Tank rapidly going down hill please help (PICSSSSS!!!) - Page 2

dkeller_nc · 08/01/2013, 07:19 AM

By the way, while having some algae growth in a reef tank is normal, even a very mature reef tank, what you've pictured isn't normal. Essentially, you've been building up nutrients in the water (and not just the kind you can test for) for 8 months, then you provided the necessary extra ingredient for explosive algae growth - high intensity lighting.

Again, it's possible to run a tank with high intensity lighting without a skimmer, but it takes very large and frequent water changes, carefully managed bioload, light feeding, and usually some other means of nutrient export such as a large refugium or a lot of chemical absorbents like GAC and/or Purigen to do it.

Generally speaking, it takes an expert to do this successfully, like Julian Sprung. Or, it's a nano tank with a small water volume, and several cups of chemical media, which would scale out to several pounds of media per charge for a tank of your size.

IansAquatics · 08/01/2013, 08:27 PM

so im pleased to annouce after listening to everyone on here an doing what you guys recommended i think my tank is finally starting to stabilize.

ive cut back lighting to only 4 hours a day for the last 3 days. i also added my GFO reactor and i only used half the recommended dosage maybe even less than that. it said 4 gallons per 1 tbsp. i think i only used 13 spoonfuls. and i have a 125 with a 30 gallon sump/refugium. i also added 15 blue leg hermit crabs and 5 large turbo snails.

anyways when i turn all my lights on within hour everything was back out. its the first time ive seen my GSP completely out in over a week also my condy looked the best ive seen him in probably 3 or 4 weeks. torch also came out and the flowerpot was huge.

also im not sure this is such a good thing. but i think the GHA is starting to die. there was tons of little pieces floating around that i think are dying off. what can i do to make sure the dying algae does mess up things?????

also thank to dkeller a lot of helpful insight there without being an A**hole!

dkeller_nc · 08/01/2013, 09:12 PM

Your concern over the algae dying is a valid one. A little bit of algae death is, of course, desirable when you're trying to control it, but you generally don't want a lot of anything dying in a reef tank all at once.

That said, algae dying en masse is probably the least troublesome, several corals dying at once can produce some serious pollution, and an anemone dying in a tank can (and probably will) crash the whole tank.

Your best bet is to remove as much as possible with a siphon (while simultaneously performing your water changes). The typical issue with algae dying is so-called "yellow water", which is pretty easily taken care of with carbon filtration. Be sure that you use high-quality carbon to do this, though. The cheaper carbons sold in chain stores can work against your efforts by releasing a lot of phosphate into the water.

scubaprashant · 08/01/2013, 09:20 PM

Pincushion Sea Urchin... It'll tear that algae a new one.

08/01/2013, 07:19 AM	#26
dkeller_nc Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2013 Location: Central NC Posts: 5,062	By the way, while having some algae growth in a reef tank is normal, even a very mature reef tank, what you've pictured isn't normal. Essentially, you've been building up nutrients in the water (and not just the kind you can test for) for 8 months, then you provided the necessary extra ingredient for explosive algae growth - high intensity lighting. Again, it's possible to run a tank with high intensity lighting without a skimmer, but it takes very large and frequent water changes, carefully managed bioload, light feeding, and usually some other means of nutrient export such as a large refugium or a lot of chemical absorbents like GAC and/or Purigen to do it. Generally speaking, it takes an expert to do this successfully, like Julian Sprung. Or, it's a nano tank with a small water volume, and several cups of chemical media, which would scale out to several pounds of media per charge for a tank of your size.

08/01/2013, 08:27 PM	#27
IansAquatics Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2013 Posts: 151	so im pleased to annouce after listening to everyone on here an doing what you guys recommended i think my tank is finally starting to stabilize. ive cut back lighting to only 4 hours a day for the last 3 days. i also added my GFO reactor and i only used half the recommended dosage maybe even less than that. it said 4 gallons per 1 tbsp. i think i only used 13 spoonfuls. and i have a 125 with a 30 gallon sump/refugium. i also added 15 blue leg hermit crabs and 5 large turbo snails. anyways when i turn all my lights on within hour everything was back out. its the first time ive seen my GSP completely out in over a week also my condy looked the best ive seen him in probably 3 or 4 weeks. torch also came out and the flowerpot was huge. also im not sure this is such a good thing. but i think the GHA is starting to die. there was tons of little pieces floating around that i think are dying off. what can i do to make sure the dying algae does mess up things????? also thank to dkeller a lot of helpful insight there without being an A**hole!

08/01/2013, 09:12 PM	#28
dkeller_nc Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2013 Location: Central NC Posts: 5,062	Your concern over the algae dying is a valid one. A little bit of algae death is, of course, desirable when you're trying to control it, but you generally don't want a lot of anything dying in a reef tank all at once. That said, algae dying en masse is probably the least troublesome, several corals dying at once can produce some serious pollution, and an anemone dying in a tank can (and probably will) crash the whole tank. Your best bet is to remove as much as possible with a siphon (while simultaneously performing your water changes). The typical issue with algae dying is so-called "yellow water", which is pretty easily taken care of with carbon filtration. Be sure that you use high-quality carbon to do this, though. The cheaper carbons sold in chain stores can work against your efforts by releasing a lot of phosphate into the water.

08/01/2013, 09:20 PM	#29
scubaprashant Registered Member Join Date: May 2012 Posts: 211	Pincushion Sea Urchin... It'll tear that algae a new one.