One more question....

[kita_katan]

I had to move my 125 gallon reef downstairs and I have had a really bad outbreak of red alge and hair alge. I have done about a 80 percent water changes within the last few weeks but no help. I have also taken out every single rock that I have (all 350 pounds of it) and scrubed it good with a tooth brush.
I am getting desprate cause the alge is taking over and killing the corals (the ones I have left). I am at wits end here guys.

[Doug1]

Did the algae bloom happen after the move?
What about the usual, feeding, source water, skimming, or filtration?
High temp spikes recently?

[tdwyatt]

Originally posted by kita_katan
I had to move my 125 gallon reef downstairs and I have had a really bad outbreak of red alge and hair alge. I have done about a 80 percent water changes within the last few weeks but no help. I have also taken out every single rock that I have (all 350 pounds of it) and scrubed it good with a tooth brush... ...I am at wits end here guys.

There are several threads in the archives referring to nuisance algal outbreaks. Tearing down a set up and reestablishing it, even though you may be using the very same rock and sand requires a period to reestablish the competitive mechanisms that prevent the pendulum swings of nuisance algal outbreaks. Disrupting a DSB will release large quantities of nitrates into the water column, even if the sand was mature and very deep to start with. The sandbed is the site of nitrate catabolism, and anaerobic systems are somewhat inefficient at moving the nitrate to completion if the micro-environment is disturbed (read this as "...if oxygen is introduced into the process"). The following is a short (HA!) list of things to try and do if you are not already performing them:

• At this point, feeding your microcosm will only make things worse. Limit all feeding for a time.
• make sure to use RO/DI water
• check your carbon for phosphates, you can do this by soaking 3 tablespoonsful of your carbon overnight in 8 oz. (240 ml) of phosphate-free tested water (bottled DISTILLED water or RO/DI water) and test after 12 hours, presence of phosphate means use the carbon for terrestrial plants or FW aquaria only.
• run your skimmer wide open 24/7,
• make sure the salt you are using is nitrate free
• cut back to 25% water changes every few days until your nitrates test in the 20PPM range, then 10% every 10 days to 2 weeks (no sense in wasting good salt, as the nitrates will keep appearing in the water column until the biosystems reestablish themselves)
• use fresh carbon every 2 weeks
• SKIM, SKIM, SKIM!!!!!
• reduce your photoperiod to 6 hours a day
• do not add any additives with the exception of alkalinity and Calcium boosters
• suction out any biomass that appears in your system at the END of the photoperiod
• RUN THE SKIMMER!!!
• do not disturb your sand bed
• remove any particle filters, pads, or biowheels you have in the system (including bioballs if you have mature cycled live rock)
• did I mention skimming???

All the above are aimed at limiting the factors needed for nuisance algae to bloom. You cannot totally remove these factors and expect your system of corals to flourish. Nutrients, light, and carbon dioxide are what push all the nuisance algae to bloom, and unfortunately, nutrient export or sinking is not occuring in your system at this point. Now would be a good time to establish a refugium in a sump to uptake some of the excess nutrients as macroalgal biomass. Growing the macroalgae will lock up the substances that the nuisance algae need in the stems and cell mass of the macroalgae, and harvesting them permanently removes them from the water column. As an added benefit, running the photoperiod for the sump at night while the display tank is dark will help reduce pH swings and dissolved O2 drops that the display would experience otherwise. These tasks, and a little patience as the biosystems come back to balance should solve your algal problems.

Hope this helps, I am sure there are other suggestions that folks can offer as well (i.e., in the long run, algal grazers...)

[kita_katan]

Sorry guys been really busy here the last few days....well lets see it happened about a week before we moved it. Its been really warm here but the air has been on so its keeping it cool to a point. Umm I have a skimmer and its on all the time, its a overflow into a sump with the skimmer in the sump, I have two powerheads on it right now, am going to change them though soon. Feeding is the same...I don't tend to feed them often so I know its not that. And its the same water source, tap water but I tested it and there are no phosphates in it at all. So I am just confused. Eveyday I have to wipe down the glass and use a turkey baster to blow the alge off the corals and rocks. Nothing seems to be helping though.

[Doug1]

KK you are getting excess nutrients from somewhere, I would suspect the tap water as the primary culprit, most test kits available to the hobby arent that accurate, Are you testing the water before mixing SW with it or after. Light+nutrient=algae its a simple equasion, despite them not showing up, you gotta have something to feed them. We have a few threads running that get into depth on this but the bottom line is, algae and cyanobacteria are always present in a tank with any age on it. They are opportunistic, if the nutrient levels and available light level are good they will bloom. Tap water , even well water is not good enough for most reef systems, we are talking small amounts of stuff setting off nasty reactions
BTW t*f*a* (tag for archives)