Urgent Everything Slowly Dying...

Discussion in 'ASAP' started by BNR34RB26DETT, Dec 19, 2015.

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  1. Todd_Sails

    Todd_Sails Giant Squid

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    A Texan in S.E. Wisconsin
    When I read you thread title, and in my enhanced state of doom and gloom over my post-op infected knee joint that is now requiring IV antibiotics 24/7 for up to 6 weeks:.............

    Isn't everything slowly dieing anyways?

    Good luck, you're getting sound advice.

    btw- how much PAR does that light have 1/2 down the water with the setting you use?
     
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  3. Eco Marine Reef

    Eco Marine Reef Astrea Snail

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    Servillius, I do not believe Jim Bonds was stating that they dino and diatoms are the same. In my experience, you would combat both of these issues in a fairly similar manner. However, Servillius you make a good point about dinos because if these are dinos then BNR34RB26DETT will need to be more diligent with general husbandry. In either case, if I am unable to identify a specific genus and species of nusciance algae or bacteria or whatever other nuisance you may want to consider, then I take the most conservative route. This may be overkill at times, but to me I find it worth while. I would rather spend an extra few hours cleaning and changing my Carbon/GFO multiple times within a few week span rather than lose thousands of dollars of live stock.

    BNR34RB26DETT, I feel Jim Bonds makes some valid points about your general husbandry and the possibility of over feeding as this leads to a number of arising issues in a closed system aquarium. My suggestions would be to amp up your husbandry and ease up on your feed. Once an issues occurs its much more difficult to recover than preventing it all together.

    Before jumping into any steps, I would like to preface this with a note on safety... obviously when working around a marine environment, be sure to take the appropriate precautions for yourself. Many of the organisms in our aquarium (pets and pests) can contain irritants and/or toxins. With that being said, here is a basic list of steps I would perform to combat this nuisance issue.

    1) physically remove as much of the crud as possible (this includes the algae/bacteria on the rocks and siphoning your sand bed). This is the most time consuming part. If you can physically remove the rocks from the aquarium to clean them, it will make your life much easier. I know this is not always a possibility, but definitely a suggestion worth keeping in mind.

    2) After removing the algae and siphoning the sand (as in cleaning your sand, you do not need to remove your sand from your tank), I would change Carbon and GFO (or phosguard or whatever phosphate media you are using). Also replace your filter socks or pads with clean ones (preferably something small like felt 100um) and clean your skimmer cup. If you are using a sump, clean all the detritus that has settled to the bottom (looks like lose sand that settles on the pumps and in areas of low flow). Detritus is all the waste product from your friends housed inside the aquarium, so it is best to remove that on a fairly regular basis.

    3) At this point you will have removed a few gallon of water from the aquarium, which is perfectly fine. I would also suggest that you continue with your water change until you get to the 30-50% mark. If done correctly, your aquarium will look pretty good (all clean surfaces and new media), but don't get your hopes up just yet. You have a lot more work ahead of you. At this time, with your lights on look to see if you missed any spots that can really be cleaned. If it looks good to you, turn your lights off (complete blackout) for the next 3 days. If your aquarium is by a window or in a living room where you have light that will come through during the day, I would suggest covering the glass with a black cloth or something. In a perfect world you would would try to block out as much light as possible by covering the entire aquarium. Due to the heat issues associated with covering the tank it is not always feasible. If you do cover your tank be sure to closely monitor your tank temperature. You do not want it to get too warm (try not to go above 80 degrees). The warmer waters increase disease and the spread of nuisance algae/bacteria throughout the aquarium. Also make sure you have your skimmer and power heads running for gas exchange as it is possible to lower the amount of dissolved oxygen in the water by covering your tank. Be sure to check your protein skimmer regularly, as it is possible that it may overflow due to all the decaying matter in the water column.

    4) after the lights have been out for 3 days, you should have a fair bit of decaying matter. Go through the process of a complete overhaul again. Clean the rocks, siphon the sand bed and do another 30-50% water change. I would also change your Carbon and GFO again. I would clean the skimmer and replace your filter pads or filter socks with clean ones (again use something like felt 100um to catch most of the decaying matter in the water column/the stuff you missed). You can turn your lights back on but I would say dial the percentage back and dial down the amount of time the lights are on. For me, I would run at most 20K at 1/4 to 1/2 the percentage of my normal maximum. People with LED's normally run on a light schedule that is >10 hours. I would suggest during the next week you run them for 6-8 hours. Maybe ramp up from actinic to 20K and back down to actinic during those 6-8 hours.

    5) during that weeks time (somewhere in the middle of the week), I would clean the rocks, siphon the sand bed and do another water change (this time you only need to do 20%). I would clean the skimmer and replace your filter pads or filter socks with clean ones (again use something like felt 100um to catch most of the decaying matter in the water column/the stuff you missed).

    6) at the end of week one repeat the exact same step as (5), but implement a carbon and GFO change.

    7) you can now gradually increase back to your normal lighting schedule. Each week I would continue to clean the rocks (at this point, blowing them off with a turkey baster should be sufficient) and do your weekly water change. I would suggest making this part of your routine for the next month if not longer. The best step in combating nuisance algae and bacteria is to prevent it all together.

    The steps I have listed above have worked for me in the past. We all get busy or lazy from time to time and put our aquarium to the way side. Do not let this outbreak get the best of you. With the help from all your peers on these forums, we can make sure your aquarium gets back up in running to better than ever before.

    Please keep in mind, I know these steps are quite conservative and may be labor intensive/not the most cost effective. As you already have a large outbreak, prevention is out of the question until we can successfully combat the issue at hand.

    Best of luck and keep us posted on the progress.
     
  4. Eco Marine Reef

    Eco Marine Reef Astrea Snail

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    One last thing I noticed... You stated that you have been using your RO system for the past year and some change. When was the last time you changed your RO/DI cartridges? Does your TDS meter read around 0-2 ppm?
     
  5. Servillius

    Servillius Montipora Digitata

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    Houston, Texas.
    Welcome to 3Reef EMR.

    I highly recommend identifying this stuff under a microscope.
     
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  6. Piano10

    Piano10 Aiptasia Anemone

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    The steps above are the exact method to removing the problem.

    Continued maintenance is the key to keeping the problems away:

    1. Feed only a pinch of food, I do every other day
    2. Replace floss weekly or more
    3. Clean out filters, hose, powerheads monthly or more if needed
    4. Blow rocks off every water change and lightly vacuum the sandbed
    5. Replace carbon every 4 - 6 weeks
    6. Have a good clean up crew
     
  7. Eco Marine Reef

    Eco Marine Reef Astrea Snail

    Joined:
    Dec 21, 2015
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    Let's pretend they are dino's, then your best approach is minimize light, increase/frequently change your carbon and GFO, reduce nutrients, frequent water changes and physically remove the dinos. In addition to these general tips, I'd also suggest increasing your pH to about 8.4. An increase in pH has been known to effectively combat a number of different dino species.

    The biological and physiological understanding of oceans and its marine life is still in its infancy. Bare in mind that there are a variety of known dino species and not all respond to the same preventative measures.