Major algae breakout killing coral...throwing in the towel!

[melev]

I'm not a fan of brushing off rock, especially not in tank. It just spreads the mess elsewhere. Have you watched my GHA video yet? It's along the same lines, but describes reaching and pinching off clumps at a time, rinsing your fingers in a bowl of water after every grab. You want to remove and avoid reintroduction.

Considering your coral losses, I'd really beef up the clean up crew. The anemic one didn't do you any good, after all. I tend to drop in 100 snails at a time into my reef, purchased in bulk group buys. I want an army, not some stragglers. The more activity I see, the cleaner the rocks stay.

 

[Pete polyp]

I'm not a fan of brushing off rock, especially not in tank. It just spreads the mess elsewhere. Have you watched my GHA video yet? It's along the same lines, but describes reaching and pinching off clumps at a time, rinsing your fingers in a bowl of water after every grab. You want to remove and avoid reintroduction.

Considering your coral losses, I'd really beef up the clean up crew. The anemic one didn't do you any good, after all. I tend to drop in 100 snails at a time into my reef, purchased in bulk group buys. I want an army, not some stragglers. The more activity I see, the cleaner the rocks stay.

Have any specifics on how to attack this nasty stuff?
@melev

 

[melev]

Have any specifics on how to attack this nasty stuff?
@melev

I'm pretty sure some suggestions were posted on page one about this particular invasive growth. I've not had to contend with it, but then again I get my hand wet when things start to act up before it can get to this point. I don't blame the original poster for feeling overwhelmed.

Years ago, I went to speak to a club in Ohio. The president took me to his house to pick up some things, and of course I was super excited to see his basement since Texans never have those. I found all these tanks down there, but they were full of green hair algae. So much so, you didn't see the livestock. I looked around and found an empty margarine container and started plucking out masses of the stuff. When he came looking for me, he was so embarrassed and told me to stop. I, however, had no reason to stop since I had nothing to do and didn't mind helping him. More people showed up, and decided to get on buckets and step ladders and boxes and everyone was pulling algae and discovering things. "I just found a clam!" and "Here's a nice Lobo!" and "did you know there were fish in here? LOL" We all did this for maybe 15 minutes and it was fun since everyone was joining in. He still was embarrassed, but whatever. He needed some help, so we helped. We then left for the meeting. At least we jump started his project, which he could care for on his own later.

 

[reefknight]

I really wish it was similar to GHA where it was simply easy to pinch off, as this stuff is definitely not. In the beginning it wasn't like this, it was more of just a light dusting of diatom or dino's. At that time I was doing conducting the blasting/ siphon methods of removal along with w/c's, GAC, GFO and of course the different chemical means. I did actually consult your website for a few different ideas. Instead of using Phosphate Rx, I did use Brightwell's version of Lanthanum Chloride as I could obtain it locally. I have been active on this matter since it began, I just did not bring it to the forum for assistance. I can be stubborn at times about seeking assistance from others.

As for a CUC, I personally have issues with dumping in large amounts of inverts to into most tanks. Mine for most of the time has been close to ULNS and when it was initially was started it was ran as a modified Zeo system. I did not run the zeolites in a reactor, they were in a filter bag. Past experience with using the formula of X number of snails, crabs, etc per gallon has left me( and others that I have assisted successfully) with a large amount of dead inverts. We place these animals in our systems shortly after diatoms bloom in a cycle, they do their task, we add coral, fish and they eat what they can. When enough waste and algae doesn't make it's way to them they turn on each other or begin to starve out. When too many at one time die out I have seen increases in NO3/ NO2 & NH4 in systems, depending on size. Due to these reasons, I do not believe in sentencing these creatures to certain doom. Also, to the hobbyist it is a waste of financial resources. I do accept that I had not replenished my CUC to what would have been more acceptable, even by my standards.

Unfortunately, life had dictated certain obligations and I made a choice of resources between what I believed would be the best use of them at the time. I chose unwisely and am having to deal with the ramifications now. I do not mean to appear that I am ranting or ungrateful for any ones assistance or advice, but this was not neglect. The largest setback was my wife opening the window and flooding it with natural light. Ive threaten to nail the window shut and blackout the window. Since then I have tinted the window and had a serious talk with her about the importance of not doing such in the future. She already jokes that I spend more time with the tank than I do her!