pulling my hair out!!!

[Illusion]

after batteling hair algae for many month in my tank and finally getting rid of it I have a more nussience algae that the hair algae was... This algae seems to be affecting 2 of my corals and seems like a free floating brown slime... Extremely noticable when doing water changes... It doesnt look like Dinos nor does it look like Cyano... Its becoming a real pain... I have ran ozone on the tank at 200mg hr.. My skimmer is definetly working well... My orp is about 330 before water changes and drops to about 290 after the water change... I am at my whits end with this algae and want it gone but I have no clue as to what it is...

After doing a water change I notice free floating slime type stuff floating around the tank in which i continually siphon out... Lights does not seem to affect the algae no does ozone... Tempted to Chemi clean my tank to see if it helps but I dont want to without knowing what it is.. The 2 corals it seems to like are really taking a hit from the algae and are dying where the algae resides no matter how much i blow it off of them.. I have done 150g in water changes 50g each time over the past week and a half with no luck... All my levels seem fine.. The corals that are uneffected seem to be growing and looking nice... I have been Running PhosLock (Magnavore brand Rowa) in the system as well as large amounts of carbon.. Nothing seems to help..

Please help me,
James

 

[wrightme43]

Do you have a sand bed that could be saturated?
Have you tested the out put water after your phos remover for phosphate?
Sorry I cant be of more help.

 

[snobanker]

I'm not even sure why I am trying to offer any kind of solution here but.....is it maybe not an algae, but some kind of slime being put off by the two corals in question? Maybe something else is causing them to produce this slime....just a thought, I have no scientific knowledge nor any kind of degree in marine biology to back this up other than it was a thought, however fleeting.....


(so lay off of me Krish, I'm not trying to make anything up here...lol just kidding bro...jabbing at your other post:lol: )

 

[Krish]

(so lay off of me Krish, I'm not trying to make anything up here...lol just kidding bro...jabbing at your other post )

HA! Stan is guilty and is sentenced to go freshwater with Goldfish for life with no parole!:lol:

James, I hope you don't bald on the issue I had my share of algae and it drove me to tearing down and starting over about 6 months later. I'm hoping it's not algae...Anyway to post a photo? May help out a lot Best of luck man...

 

[snobanker]

HA! Stan is guilty and is sentenced to go freshwater with Goldfish for life with no parole!:lol:

I even designed a new signature just for you Krish....

I actually thought the "pulling my hair out" was some kind of pun. Is the slime really thick or just something you can barely see floating in the water? Is it on your rocks too? or just those corals? Do you always have it or just after a water change?

 

[Krish]

I even designed a new signature just for you Krish....

LOL...That's a good one:lol: Here's a better one for you




James, I'm sorry for the hijack I was pulled into this by Stan(LOL)

 

[aquarookie]

I'm not even sure why I am trying to offer any kind of solution here but.....is it maybe not an algae, but some kind of slime being put off by the two corals in question? Maybe something else is causing them to produce this slime

I am not an expert, but I was thinking something similar. My candy cane produced brown slime when it was dying. I do not know if it is just dead tissue, or some kind of a bacterial infection, or what, but I would not blow it off into the tank, I would just get the corals out and clean/quarantine them elsewhere.

 

[spongebob lover]

no no no you're all wrong, what you need to do is dump every equipment you have and let it grow, then once it gets bigger you'll have something to look at ..... that's for you Krish and your joke :lol: .
No Goldfish for Stan, since he's my partner and future teenager nanny, he gets betas .

Sorry for the hijack in here dood, i just couldn't contain myself.

hmm i'd say brush it with a very soft tooth brush (toddlers type), but i'm not sure if that would help.
To bad we don't have a picture.
I hope you find the answer dood.
to bad we don't have a picture

 

[Illusion]

Well Its not something from the Corals.. These are corals that I have had for some time that Are affected...

I added more carbon and Phoslock (phosphate remover rowa) and my orp is now at 369... Still looks like the algae is still there though...

If Its bacteria wouldnt Chemi-clean or Red slime remover work to kill it off.. I think somehow a bacteria might have gotten into the tank some how..

James

 

[wrightme43]

Do you have a sand bed that could be saturated?
Have you tested the out put water after your phos remover for phosphate?
Sorry I cant be of more help.

I think you might get a more helpful answer with these two tests.
Basicly pull out a small cup of your sand bed, shake it outside the tank, and test the water, for phos, nitrate.
Also test the output from your phos remover. If your tank has it, it will saturate the remover very very quickly untill it is all removed.
Do you have any macro alage to use the stuff up?
Also if it is a bacteria slime, blow it off, and set up a u.v. sterilizer. It might be worth the closed polyops for a few days to keep a powerhead blowing (not to hard) on the corals that are effected.

 

[steve-s]

How's your night/day pH levels and where does your alk sit from day to day?

More commonly brown slimy algae = dinoflagellates AKA snot algae

Cheers
Steve

 

[Illusion]

Alk Sits at 8.3 Dkh and never moves... pH 8.23 is the Lowest its been and 8.4 is the highest over the Last 4 days... Before that who knows.. Probably the same.. Nothings Changed..

However I hav had Dinos before.. I dont think that is what this is... I thought It might be it at the beginning but It didnt seem to have the same characteristics It only resides on a couple corals not on the rockwork... And when I do a water change It seems to be free floating all thru the tank water just after I turn back on the pumps and such..


James

 

[Illusion]

BTW I dont use a Phos Reactor but I have a Seperate chamber in my Sump that All water must pass thru and It holds my Carbon and Alk... Its my Media chamber... My Phos reactor is out of commision..

as for the Sand bed It gets Vacummed every water change and is only maybe 1" thick at the thickest place... And that was just completely changed maybe a month or 2 ago

James

 

[Ed Hahn]

James,
Are you using a Refugeum? I remember hearing information that its good to have several types of algae in your Fuge to combat different types of algae. So if you could borrow some different types of Macro Algaes and combine them in your sump. It was even suggested to run two fuges if possible opposite cycle to combat algae. I am pretty sure that is what Bob F suggested at last meeting in Bellevue, someone correct me if I am wrong please. I do not always hear as good as I would like. Anytime you add phosphate remover and charcoal I hope you are doing it slowly.

 

[Illusion]

AS far as the Fuge I do Soemwhat have one... Its lit the same photoperiod as the Tank however nothing grows in it... Never has.. There is Chateo in there and It just sits and stays the same... Cant get the stuff to grow for anything... I guess I could put other algaes in it but I have never had any luck with any of them growing... Hamileda died within a few days (wild from liveaquaria)... Chaeto just stays green but not growth...

I am thinking about doing a couple 100g water changes but I would think that doing a few 50g changes would be better than doing a 100g change... It just takes a few days to prepare that much water for a change...

If my ORP is as high as It is wouldnt that suggest that there isnt much organics in there?

As far as the Phos and Carbon I added semi slowly... Nothing is taking a hit from it so I guess I am safe so Far... At this point I am loosing 2 corals to the stuff as it is.. So something has to be done..

James

 

[mojoreef]

James have you done any testing?? like Nitrate/phos and so on?? also what salt are you using??


Mike

 

[Elmo18]

also what salt are you using??


Mike

I am going to guess.......Taam's "Ocean Pure"

Best,
Ilham

 

[Illusion]

Nitrate is Undetectable and well as phos... Everything that I have tested for is great..

Mg 1350
Alk 8.3
pH 8.2-8.4
Ca 450
Nitrate, rite, ammonia 0
Po4 0
There was sone silicates a few months ago last It was tested but that was found to be a bad Ro membrane wich that was .1 at that time..
Orp is 379 right now (no ozone)
Temp 77-77.9

Salt is Oceanpure which I have been using for quite some time now...

Bulbs are brand new Xm 400w 10ks

James

 

[Krish]

Bulbs are brand new Xm 400w 10ks

Doesn't changing bulbs that badly needed changing from loosing it's spectrum cause algae issues as well sometimes?? I know a loss of spectrum causes nuicance algae, but for some reason I thought I read somewhere the same would happen when you add new ones? Maybe someone might know...

About the slimy stuff, I use to have slimy junk in my tank, but found out it came from lack of good surface aggitation. Is that the same kind of slimy thing you are having???

 

[Illusion]

bulbs are Exactly brand new. Maybe a month old or so...

As for Surface movement there is about 10,000gph flow thru in my tnak so there is some pretty good movement... Problem is keeping the sand from blowing around...

I guess worse case scenario I could yank all the sand and replace it if
needed... I stil have about 20lbs of new stuff..

here is a couple photos

James