Some help plz.

[virtus]

Hello, i am kinda in the middle of a crisis with my tank. a few months ago my brother had to move and i inherited his 75 gal reef tank along with its inhabitants. (2 clowns, a good bit of live rock, some Halimeda, a few Anemones and a nice size Porites Coral). so i fed the fish every morning before heading on about my day. i also make my own RODI water and do regular water changes (bout once every 2 weeks).

Ever since i received this tank it has had a brown hair algae growing on and around my rock. i tried doing it the nice way with some snails (they died), then i got 2 emerald crabs (had some bubble algae too (they got rid of a lot of the bubbles)) then i tried manual removal and the stuff just does not go away. accepting my defeat i kinda just sat around staring at the ugly stuff hoping it would just go away.

so after a month the stuff just got worce 3 of my jets are clogged (clean em, bout 2 days in jammed up again) the porites coral is covered :( most of the Halimeda has died, and almost none of the rock is visible. outraged i once again grabbed my toothbrush and spent all afternoon yesterday removing that crud and still a lot left. but upon looking at it more closely there are 3 different types, a poo brown, a dark red, and a light to dark green (all hair algae) with that said my sand also looks to be in bad shape.

also. the 2 clowns seem to be happy as can be. i haven't seen any real decay in their health.

ps: will have pics up later today. also if you could request some test i can run to help figure out what the issue is that would be great.

pss: my brother had a decent tank going before i got it.

 

[Kelz88]

what kind of clean up crew do you have?

 

[yote]

What your calling brown hair algae may not actually be algae.Long and stringy sounds more like dinoflagellates to me.If it is,you've got a real tank killer to fight.
How I beat dinoflagellates, and the lessons I learned — Advanced Aquarist | Aquarist Magazine and Blog
That article may help.

 

[Smitty]

Hello and welcome to the site, glad to have your aboard. Sorry to hear about your algae issues, but it sounds like you're having several of them at the same time. When you moved the tank from your brother house, chances are you stirred up the sand, which released all the nasty crap that was trapped. You say your clownfish are doing well, but what about the anemones, I bet they are stressing, if not slowly dying. And if they die in your tank, that could make the water parameters worse. To start off fixing the issue, I'd remove the sand from the tank and toss it away. Do a large water change after removing the sand, and scrub the rocks in the old saltwater. Also, what type and how old are your lights, because that could be contributing to the algae blooms. Good luck, keep us updated, and feel free to ask questions.

 

[little_fish]

Hello and Welcome!

+1 everyone

 

[virtus]

hello again, kind of an update as to your replies

-i cant realy establish a good clean up crew. i had some turbos to eat the stuff but they prity much ran from it, and the 2 emerald crabs i got also stayed away from the brown stuff. (they did do a great job on the bubble algae).

-i cant say its dinoflagellates cause it never has seemed to look like snot. (will have pic later today)

-the anemones are a funny story (not really) i was getting help from a local aquarium shop and he mistook a few of them majano anemones and gave me something to kill em...to say the least it worked. i didn't kill all of em but my brother was mad at me and i mad at the shop. as for the remaining few i haven't seen them so yes they aren't doing well

 

[Smitty]

Once you decide to get some more cuc, get a few reef mini crabs...they're pretty tough and eat various algae. Yeah, I'd assume the anemones have died, which is another reason why your levels have spiked.

 

[virtus]

i took some pics hope some of this helps

 

[chichimom79]

Do you know what your water parameters are?

 

[yote]

That brown stuff with the bubbles in it,iIS Dinoflagellates. It's the exact same stuff that wiped out my 125 a couple of months after I started it up.Thats why your turbos and crabs are staying away from it.They know it's poison.It'll kill them when they try to eat it.

 

[wontonflip]

You're in for a rough ride! Here is a good thread Yote had w/ good advice from ccapt:

https://www.livingreefs.com/need-t17496.html

If your still using that built-in insump skimmer, get youself a real skimmer. That will definitely help.

Problem Dinoflagellates and pH by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

Here's a series of actions besides raising pH that may help aquarists to deal with problem dinoflagellates.

1. Reduce available nutrients in the water. These include nitrate and especially phosphate. In a severe case, the concerns with driving phosphate too low may be minor compared to the dinoflagellates (and their toxins). In addition to the usual ways of reducing nutrients (skimming, growing macroalgae, deep sand beds, etc.), aquarists should consider very aggressive use of granular ferric oxide (GFO). Putting a larger than normally recommended amount into a canister filter or reactor, and changing it every few days, may help. Don't bother to measure the phosphate level, because the goal is to have it well below normally detectable levels (say, 0.02 ppm).

2. Reduce the photoperiod to four hours per day. This may help to keep the dinoflagellates under control, but by itself will not usually eradicate them.

3. Use more than normal amounts of activated carbon, and possibly ozone, to deal with toxins that the dinoflagellates may be releasing. This may allow snails and other organisms to survive while the dinoflagellates are still at nuisance levels.

4. Manually siphon out as much of the mass of dinoflagellates as possible. Daily removal would be preferable to keep populations at a reduced level.
​

 

[virtus]

well i ran a few test on my water. in the mean time will start treating it as Dinoflagellates.
Ca- 460 ppm
pH- 7.6
Salinity- 1.026 D20/20
NH4-.25 ppm
NO3-0 ppm
NO2-0 ppm
I (iodide)- > 0.1 (possibly +0.2)
SI- .03 ppm
PO4- 0 ppm
Mg 1440 ppm

edit1- yote- in your segment on how u beat dinoflagellates reference it as a slime. as i was manually removing it (by hand), it felt like strings more than a slime. and it also does not siphon well. (but i will do a black out and prep to do some more cleaning