Zakary2003
Active Member
I am actually moving in mid May. I might just wait until then and do a very thorough rip clean before I set the tank back up.
Dying Snails, Crazy Algae, No Nitrates: What is wrong?
- Thread starter Zakary2003
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Thank you honestly for reading those.
You can do external tank surgical guiding on rock at any time, they'll set in the air a little while
Use a precision knife tip to scrape away only the invasion, working around the bases of attached corals. Rinse off
Like a dentist on the tooth with the rasp
Avoids cutting the the gumeline when rasping, a dentist is that precise
Work all your rocks clean and rinse them off and set back on perfectly clean sand
That sand takes hours to rinse prep, this removes the feed component in the challenge. It's worth it for a shock afterpic
When you are cleaning rocks externally, the filter bacteria remain
That's why setting up fully- detailed rocks back on top of rip cleaned sand always skip cycles: live rock bacteria aren't harmed by our cleaning even if we use a little peroxide to cheat burn targets for a deep kill.
You'd work the tank by rock extraction dentistry until it's so full of corals you don't have to. For zoathid mats where the base tissue really can have algae attachments consider culling out those areas in surgery
If must keep, use tweezers plus a dab of peroxide worked externally
You can do external tank surgical guiding on rock at any time, they'll set in the air a little while
Use a precision knife tip to scrape away only the invasion, working around the bases of attached corals. Rinse off
Like a dentist on the tooth with the rasp
Avoids cutting the the gumeline when rasping, a dentist is that precise
Work all your rocks clean and rinse them off and set back on perfectly clean sand
That sand takes hours to rinse prep, this removes the feed component in the challenge. It's worth it for a shock afterpic
When you are cleaning rocks externally, the filter bacteria remain
That's why setting up fully- detailed rocks back on top of rip cleaned sand always skip cycles: live rock bacteria aren't harmed by our cleaning even if we use a little peroxide to cheat burn targets for a deep kill.
You'd work the tank by rock extraction dentistry until it's so full of corals you don't have to. For zoathid mats where the base tissue really can have algae attachments consider culling out those areas in surgery
If must keep, use tweezers plus a dab of peroxide worked externally
Last step would be reducing your overall light power -20% and keep the same spectrum it's on now
Some tanks have to do this through light blocking strips if the lights aren't adjustable
The light drop works because the corals don't need that much intensity you can occasionally spot feed them and they'll get just as large on better feed and better waste export for the tank with less light than bright light that grows the algae too fast
We do the light % drop after the clean slate setup it'll help as preventative. The corals will extend and colors should look bright and clean surfaces will pop. Then just occasionally lift out a bad spot on the rock and carve it off with your knife, it's dentistry time for that reef tooth
Don't alter your water chemistry around algae prevention, angle the chemistry to grow fat corals
The algae control is manual, by forced compliance. This will lock a reef tank into a state of compliance and I like to collect the after pics of jobs like that.
Some tanks have to do this through light blocking strips if the lights aren't adjustable
The light drop works because the corals don't need that much intensity you can occasionally spot feed them and they'll get just as large on better feed and better waste export for the tank with less light than bright light that grows the algae too fast
We do the light % drop after the clean slate setup it'll help as preventative. The corals will extend and colors should look bright and clean surfaces will pop. Then just occasionally lift out a bad spot on the rock and carve it off with your knife, it's dentistry time for that reef tooth
Don't alter your water chemistry around algae prevention, angle the chemistry to grow fat corals
The algae control is manual, by forced compliance. This will lock a reef tank into a state of compliance and I like to collect the after pics of jobs like that.
Bakki
Community Member
I would agree with the suggestions by Brandon. My reasoning on gha is that it looks ugly, but it doesn’t kill anything. I would focus on providing the corals and the other wanted critters what they need and just manually remove gha where the cuc can’t support. Will likely just take time.
TWYOUNG
Well-Known Member
Even experts are unable to positively ID dinos without a microscopic exam. Many forms are toxic which would account for your dying snails. Lack of nutrients would also point to the likelihood of it being dino related.
Agreed. It’s better to have the offending mass simply gone vs identifying it. It’s not like in the nuisance algae forum there are varying threads on how to cure certain strains of dinos based on ID. The thousand-combined pages of dinos threads there are simply 2% fix rates regardless of ID. Nearly all the systems in those threads are simply moving from dinos to GHA systems to cyano and back to dinos over and over, they don’t have much control at all over actual cures because the overriding theme there is do no water changes, leave the mass in the tank and work from there. We did opposite and got opposite results.
But that’s only practical for small tanks. Large tanks still need the development work they do in the big threads. One day when they figure out total control nobody will need to work in rip cleans for any size tank. In the mean time, nano owners can simply opt out of being invaded, at least there is a certain group of tanks we have that can differentiate control methods based on gallonage / better than no progress for sure
But that’s only practical for small tanks. Large tanks still need the development work they do in the big threads. One day when they figure out total control nobody will need to work in rip cleans for any size tank. In the mean time, nano owners can simply opt out of being invaded, at least there is a certain group of tanks we have that can differentiate control methods based on gallonage / better than no progress for sure
Zakary2003
Active Member
@brandon429 I decided to do a rip clean today after Easter mass. The water is a bit foggy from stirred sediments and the corals are a bit upset from the tampering, but I've got the before and after pics for you. I'll get a better after pic in a few days when I've gotten rid of any remaining patches and the corals have recovered a little more. Now I just have to make sure I keep it from getting bad again.
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Zakary2003
Active Member
I rinsed it. The glass under the sand isn't clean because I was scratching it trying. Some chunks of algae that were left on the rocks settled in the sand.
Nice, that must have been a massive job my gosh
We lowered the light levels in each job for several weeks after to lessen regrowth, and be removing any regrowths as you attempt to find ways to stop regrowth it will be better with most of the mass gone now
We lowered the light levels in each job for several weeks after to lessen regrowth, and be removing any regrowths as you attempt to find ways to stop regrowth it will be better with most of the mass gone now
Zakary2003
Active Member
thrillreefer
Active Member
Does look a lot better, well done! This thread reminds me I have a neglected 2nd tank, a 13 gal with some softies, RFAs and a bunch of algae… pretty old sand bed too. Maybe I’ll try this whole rip clean business
jabberwock
2500 Club Member
Are those shark's teeth in the sand bed?
Zakary2003
Active Member
Yep! My roommate found them in Venice Beach and thought they'd make good tank decor.
jabberwock
2500 Club Member
Yeah, I like it.
I've had a similar issue in my 10G Waterbox when I was feeding my corals heavily with reefroids AND my fish with frozen food. The bottomline cause seemed to be overfeeding in my case. It takes surprisingly small amount of food to cause GHA explosion in small tanks. The huge amount of GHA in the tank locks in your Nitrates. So it is hard for the kits to detect high nitrates.
What I did :
Stopped feeding the corals completely. Switched the fish to 2-3 times a week , few pellets of Fauna Marine coral food (Yes, my clowns loved FM to my surprise)
Took a toothbrush to the GHA and siphoned them off with huge water change.
Cleaned up my filter sponge (lot of algae/ gunk)
Replaced my RODI filters
Got a lawnmover blenny (they chomp on GHAs all day)
used NoPox (RedSea)
Though, the NoPox definitely put a lot of stress on corals. (would recommend strong chemical treatments ONLY as a last resort and be aware that they could cause coral /fish death).
All these, together brought down the GHA considerably after about 2-3 weeks.
your Anemone is rocking btw. Good luck getting rid of the GHA.
What I did :
Stopped feeding the corals completely. Switched the fish to 2-3 times a week , few pellets of Fauna Marine coral food (Yes, my clowns loved FM to my surprise)
Took a toothbrush to the GHA and siphoned them off with huge water change.
Cleaned up my filter sponge (lot of algae/ gunk)
Replaced my RODI filters
Got a lawnmover blenny (they chomp on GHAs all day)
used NoPox (RedSea)
Though, the NoPox definitely put a lot of stress on corals. (would recommend strong chemical treatments ONLY as a last resort and be aware that they could cause coral /fish death).
All these, together brought down the GHA considerably after about 2-3 weeks.
your Anemone is rocking btw. Good luck getting rid of the GHA.
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