andysgirl8800
Blenny Badlands
Thanks Yote!
The Great Algae Genocide War of 2010….
- Thread starter andysgirl8800
- Start date
Tristan
Detritus
congrats on the sticky
Gigaah
Reefing newb
Fantastic thread. Not sure how I missed it over the course of its action. Its quite a triumph.
I know why your screen never went green previously. However now that things are cleaned up its going green so thats good. If it keeps running brown/black and you don't have space to make it larger and with more lights you may want to consider removing it or cleaning it more frequently(3 days). It doesn't look sufficient for your tank size. My local menards sell 43w CFL lights so you might be able to go that route. Judging by your previous and given you don't have room to add more light a more powerfull light might prove useful to you. low temp 2300k soft/warm white are ideal color lights for this application.
A scrubber that is not lit well enough and/or undersized poses some issues as it will grow over too quickly. If it grows brown/black it should be cleaned as soon as its noticed. This type of algae blocks out the light from the under layers and causes the under layers to die off in a shorter period of time. If you let the screen grow a full 7 days the under layers will have already died off and started to release the nitrates they absorbed back into the system.
If you are looking for advice on the scubber portion of you system let me know with exact size of the screen and lights provided and pics I could help you iron it out. If your doing ok then good luck to you..things look fantastic. I hope things continue along that path for you.
I know why your screen never went green previously. However now that things are cleaned up its going green so thats good. If it keeps running brown/black and you don't have space to make it larger and with more lights you may want to consider removing it or cleaning it more frequently(3 days). It doesn't look sufficient for your tank size. My local menards sell 43w CFL lights so you might be able to go that route. Judging by your previous and given you don't have room to add more light a more powerfull light might prove useful to you. low temp 2300k soft/warm white are ideal color lights for this application.
A scrubber that is not lit well enough and/or undersized poses some issues as it will grow over too quickly. If it grows brown/black it should be cleaned as soon as its noticed. This type of algae blocks out the light from the under layers and causes the under layers to die off in a shorter period of time. If you let the screen grow a full 7 days the under layers will have already died off and started to release the nitrates they absorbed back into the system.
If you are looking for advice on the scubber portion of you system let me know with exact size of the screen and lights provided and pics I could help you iron it out. If your doing ok then good luck to you..things look fantastic. I hope things continue along that path for you.
andysgirl8800
Blenny Badlands
I really appreciate the feedback. I've been cleaning it about every 5 days and so far so good!
ggNoRe
Reefing newb
Awesome and inspirational thread! I think running GFO and Carbon is underated. Every tank I have ever seen that runs this combo has crystal clear water.
mikewurtz
FOWLR Power!
An EPIC battle. Thank you for sharing.
andysgirl8800
Blenny Badlands
Appreciate the feedback guys. I've been very pleased with the results, 6 months and still going strong! My tank has never been healthier.
Smitty
Reef pro
That's good to hear that everything is going well for you. :)
andersoned14
Reefing newb
wondering if everything is still good? Did you start running the VHO again?
AmberSunrise
Reef enthusiast
Holy cows and chickens! I am a total nOOb and now I am terrified
bjedwards27616
Reefing newb
I was wondering how it went/is going? I am having the same problem and dont know what to do. My nitrates, nitrites, phosphates are normal according to water test on Sunday so I dont know where this brown slimy algae came from.
andysgirl8800
Blenny Badlands
Sorry, haven't been on in a while, so I realize my response is long overdue, apologies! My tank is doing quite well. Honestly, I gave up trying to figure out where the dinos came from. In part, I am convinced that every tank has dinos in a dormant state, just waiting for the conditions to be right before blooming or exploding. In my case, I BELIEVE it was a combination of factors....die off, moving rocks around stirring stuff up, low alk, etc. I turned my focus to getting rid of it in any way possible before it destroyed my tank and everything in it.
Smitty
Reef pro
Good hearing from you and knowing your tank is going well.
Ulta
REEFER
Yeah... I hadn't added anything to my tank in a long time! I had a very clean tank then all of a sudden I lost my watchman Goby and I think that kickstarted a bunch of bad omen : / all of a sudden a little hair algae was forming and the dinos came shortly after : / All water params were fine tho...
This is a difficult battle no doubt
This is a difficult battle no doubt
andysgirl8800
Blenny Badlands
it took me months, but my tank did recover.
Just stumbled across this thread. Thanks for all the time and effort you put into documenting your struggles, mistakes, and ultimate success. If and when I experience the type of problems you were up against, at least I'll know there is hope!
I do have a quick question - did you end up running only MH lighting, or did you go back to your VHO lighting as well?
-bk
I do have a quick question - did you end up running only MH lighting, or did you go back to your VHO lighting as well?
-bk
andysgirl8800
Blenny Badlands
Has been a while since I checked this thread, sorry for the delay. I did end up returning to my full lighting spectrum, MH + VHOs
Sakura2282
Reef lover!!!
Keep fighting and Good Luck! I think you are doing a great job so far.
janfromboone
Reefing newb
See my previous post. If your nitrates and phosphates are good check your PH . I solved my hair algae issues (yes I was scrubbing rock at one time too) by keeping the PH from drifting down to 7.9 or 8.0. Using buffer to maintain a steady 8.3 and stabilizing it with a product like ReefBuilder to maintain KH should end your woes. Algae really thrives on low PH.
