Algae Indentification and Help Please - Page 2

ScubaGirl · #11 03-23-2011, 03:51 PM

Sorry, pH was 8.

Yes, we just recently lost 6 snails and we are down to maybe 2 crabs left.

There was one "dead zone" where two rocks had fallen over and I left it be for about 3 weeks (just being lazy, I admit it). That could very well have been what started all of this. I've now taken those 2 rocks out and it's an open area now. Flow is moving through there now.

All my rock work is out away from the wall. I have two powerheads, one pointed up at the surface, one about mid tank level flowing in the opposite direction. The filter flow is pointed at the back of the tank to keep things stirred up back there.

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/sho...5&postcount=63

So...now I'm off to sleep. Back later...

I'll read all your posts again later with fresh eyes and after the night shift foggy brain has cleared, LOL. Thank you for the links too. I'll read those too.

ScubaGirl · #12 03-24-2011, 12:16 AM

Wow....sounds like I have my work cut out for me. I'm bummed....

I blacked out the tank but before I did, I took a good look around. I'd say that it has easily quadrupled in severity over night since I took the original pics yesterday. I am shocked at how bad this has gotten so fast.

Thank you all for your help, I'm so thankful to get on this quickly. I"ll keep you posted on progress.

ScubaGirl · #13 03-25-2011, 06:46 AM

Tank has been blacked out for about 18 hours now. I took the cover off tonight and turned on the light to do a bit of maintenance and feed the fish a small bit of food. The fish weren't too keen on eating at first but then after about 5 minutes they perked up and all ate.

Most of the red threads (flagella) have lost their color and are greyish or beige. I'd say about 2/3 of it is gone. Powerhead socks were totally full so I removed them and put brand new ones on. I cleaned the skimmer again. I took a turkey baster and blew off the rocks and stirred up the sand surface again too. I have water prepping tonight for a water change. When I do the change I'll put in new activated carbon in the filter and clean up the filter tubing.

My magnesium has dropped to 850, pH has dropped to 7.5 and ammonia has gone up to 1.0. All else are the same or better. Hopefully a water change will perk things up again.

Navarchus · #14 03-25-2011, 03:12 PM

Don’t tern on the light and keep it completely dark
Don’t worry some time in nature corals don’t have sun for several days (usually after storm) and fish don’t eat for days in a time…so keep it cool, everything will be fin if you go by the book.

Just remember that after the “dark age” you shouldn’t go straight back to the normal light regime. When I fought the dino I made a 4 day darkening and on the fifth day I just let the tank site in the surrounding natural light. The next day I started with few hours of actinic and only one hour of MH and littlie by little a raised the number of MH hours.

I do hope that you took all measures before darkening the tank, such as:
Wash all waist accumulated behind your rocks, siphoning out as much dino as you could, rising ph to 8.4 -8.5 and adding GAC and immproving your water flow.

ScubaGirl · #15 03-25-2011, 05:31 PM

Yeah, did everything you just said but my pH wasn't quite that high to start.

Light was on for maybe 20 minutes while I cleaned up last night. I have the air running on one of my powerheads to keep the water oxygenated and I could hear that it was blocked. I had to go in to fix it. Skimmer was overflowing too.

Completing the rest of the "dark cycle" now. Tomorrow evening (Sat.) I'll do some more maintenance. That will make 3 days in the dark.

Navarchus · #16 03-25-2011, 05:44 PM

no! no lights what so ever.....!

ScubaGirl · #17 03-25-2011, 09:22 PM

So am I starting over because I had the light on for 20 minutes?

PoonTang · #18 03-25-2011, 09:28 PM

I just noticed the little bastards starting to grow in my tank too! Grrrr, time to start doing some research I suppose.

ScubaGirl · #19 03-26-2011, 04:33 AM

There's some great info in the links posted in this thread. Definitely worth reading.

Thanks again to the contributors!

Can't wait to see how things have gone tomorrow when I uncover the tank! Drum roll please.....

ScubaGirl · #20 03-28-2011, 05:19 AM

We had an extra 12 hours of dark because I got called into work. I uncovered the tank today and there appears to be no sign of the dino's in the tank!!!! I am soooo thankful!

Fingers crossed that it stays away. Had the lights on for about 2 hours tonight. The fish (and the cat) really seemed to enjoy it. Our cat has missed them.