Any Ideas? Algae Bloom

[rcassidy]

I'm suffering from what I think is a Hair Algae Bloom/Diatom Bloom. It is brown, hairy and all over everything. This just stared about a week ago. Tank was running great for 1.5 years until this. Let me tell you what has happened over the past few weeks.

3 weeks ago

Changed Carbon and Sediment filter on RO/DI

2 weeks ago

Changed CA Reactor Media. Spilled about a cup of that milky substance that collects on the bottom of the reactor into the tank by accident.

Broke Head off my Mag 1200. Replaced head.

Fragged some corals due to growth. Added Frag rack to set frags.

Changed Carbon in tank.

1 week ago.

Cleaned Prefilter, cut back calurpa

This week
Changed 20k Radiums. old one was about 13 months old.

Now this brown algae is growing on almost everything. I'm probably going to loose 3-4 corals because of it. I can't seem to kick it. Skimmer is working normal, feeding is normal, water changes are 10gal a week, Fish are normal and all chems are normal (I don't check Nitrates though). Clams and looking good, and and most corals (except the ones affected) are looking good as well.

I still feed GP's, but I have SEVERLY cut back on this (about 3/4 tsp a week total now) effective about 6-8 months ago so I don't think could be the problem.

Anyone have any ideas?
Ryan

[Rick O]

Hi Ryan,

Nothing in your post jumps right out at me but I would stop feeding all together and do 25% water changes at least once a week til you get a handle on it.

Could you refresh my memory and tell me what size tank it is and what the inhabitants are?

[rcassidy]

Rick,

Thanks for the reply. I'll do the 25% water change in the morning. As timing would have it, I'm out of town for 2 weeks so maybe I'll do another 25% change tonight.

It is a:

90 gallon AGA
Dual 400watt Radiums
Modified Berlin Skimmer (w/ Mag 12)
Mag 1200 Return Pump
MRC CA Reactor
3 Maxijet 1200's
100lbs live rock
75lbs SD Sand
20gal Refugium

1 Purple Tang
1 Powder Blue
1 6-line
1 Flam Angel
2 False Percs
1 Mandarin

Approx 38 different LPS/SPS. 3 clams

All LPS are doing fine, it's just 3 or so of the SPS that are not fairing too well with this algae. Not to mention it is a PITA and looks horrible...

Thanks for the info!!
Ryan

[Rover]

A similar thing happened to a few of my tanks when I changed the lighting a while back. Got rid of it by cranking up the skimmer (Bullet 2) and increasing the pH to 8.5.

[rcassidy]

Hrmm... Well I've done the water change and ceased all feeding. Cranked up the skimmer a little and I guess we'll see how things go. I'm going to hold off feeding until tomorrow night (approx 72hrs total) and then I'm going to HAVE to feed them.

Thanks for the help guys.

Ryan

[wildemon]

Last night Anthony Calfo suggested two things:
1/ Do not cut calerpa for that releases toxins in the sap. Rather pull whole strands out.
2/ Too much Iodine will cause a diatom bloom.

William Fisher

[wasabi]

i spilled my whole calcium reactor chamber of milky liquid into my tank a few months back and it caused my ph to plumet and killed off a 75 gallon tank full of caulerpa. i did a few water changes and buffered my tank back to normal. algeas are caused by excess nutrients that can come from something youadd or something taht expired in your tank. caulerpa is a perfect example if it dies it pours excess nutrients back in the tank.

[cyberchef]

Actually Calupera does not have to die. It is a very "leaky single celled plant" (if the strand is 6" long, it's a single 6" cell) that leaks almost as much nutrients back into the water column as it removes. Chateamorpha (sp?) also known as spaghetti algae is a much better choice for nutrient export. Very fast grower, multi celled plant (not a single cell plant) and doesn't have the nasty downsides of calupera toxicity from going sexual. Also if you cut it, it doesn't leak lots of toxins/nutrients back into the system.

[rcassidy]

I should have clarified, I do not CUT the calurpa, I do pull strands or handfuls out of the tank. I prefer a natural break as opposed to a cut. I think it's healthier for the plant or corals when fragging.

I can't find anything that has died. Everything is accounted for. Like I mentioned before, I did stop feeding, did a large water change, changed light bulbs and hopefully that will help this play its course.

It's just stumped me. I'm thinking it is just a combination of events that set this off. Not one thing. I wish it was one thing so I can not do it again...

Thanks!!!

Ryan

[Markv]

Do you have a tds meter? Check your RO unit output. The changes you made to the RO stand out to me, as a diatom bloom is a sign of a spike in silicate, and your top off could be the culprit. If your tds readings are low (2-4 ppm), then I would look at your reactor media. Hope it clears up for you.

[rcassidy]

The TDS Meeter reads 2ppm after the RO and 0ppm after the DI (dual RO and Triple DI). I was kind of curious about this myself so I checked those readings.

Now I do blow through about 20gallons/week of Top off so could there be a potential for silicate build up? I would assume not with the above readings but who knows........

The reactor media is A.R.M. It is about 10 months old as I bought the large contanier when I purchased the CA reactor and I just used the last of it. I am working under the assumption that it does not have a shelf life.

Do you think adding the new pump impeler or housing could have leached anything?

Ryan