ok, i have been in california for 2 days. and i come home to a crashed 5.5 gallon, well, not totally crashed, but i came home to my only zoa frags in the tank dead, and algae every were! It is all over the rocks and walls of the tank. I have no idea what happened, luckly the mantis is still alive, but all of this algae is horrible. I just did a 50% water change when on thursday. and i did another one right now. The algae is still covering the rocks, but isnt growing as fast. Any other secrets to getting rid of this ugly green stuff before i start to go insane?
Algae disaster!
- Thread starter ram man
- Start date
wow.....how long were you gone? The issue had to be there before you left if it blossomed in 2 days. the water changes were good....keep them up as the nutrients are feeding the algae and as it dies it just adds more to the water......so don't stop....increase the flow for a few days and reduce the light period until you get rid of it....I would probably want to take the rock out and scrub it a bit too......try to get as much out physically as you can and hope the rest takes care of itself......the mantis will thank you for it....too bad about the zoas are you sure they are gonners?
i agree that the problem didnt happen over a period of 2 days..... with the comination of those 2 algeas id have to say your phos is off...aslo agreed that more flow and less light is better during this time and if it doesnt get better soon more large water changes should be done oh yea you can also scrub the rock then syphin it out 
Well, i think i found part of the problem, the mantis has killed 1 astea snail and 2 smaller turbos and decided they didnt taste good. I scrubbed as much as i could off the rock last night. there is still quite a bit in there. There is no sunlight hitting the tank. The zoas are gone for good, and they were nice frags too. Im planning on going to the lfs tommorow to get some macro algae for my AC70 fuge.
Thanks alot for the tips lorna, how long should the lights be out? i have no corals so i guess i could do a black out on the tank while doing the water changes.
Thanks alot for the tips lorna, how long should the lights be out? i have no corals so i guess i could do a black out on the tank while doing the water changes.
It is not uncommon for reefs to go through 3-4 day blackout periods in nature, storms etc...if you don't have any corals just turn of your lights for 3-4 days.
Sunlight would not be a problem...if anything it is the best kind of light you can get...that is why we spend all that money trying to recreate it.
Sunlight would not be a problem...if anything it is the best kind of light you can get...that is why we spend all that money trying to recreate it.