before and after pictures of clean up crew. algea/sand!

[mindytoy]

hi guys, id like for you to post some before and after pictures of your algea out of controll. if you can post a pic of when it was full of algea, and then what you used to get rid of it, and then an after picture. like

before....

introduced a tang, red slime x, and an algea blennie...

after...

same with sand....if you have before a type of sand sifter, and then after...

post them up guys lets get this hair algea and dirty sand cleaned :)

[mindytoy]

haha come on guys 40 views and no one has posted..... some of you have got to have some pics!

[Capt_Cully]

Awe, I could have helped you out. I had a vicious bryopsis and hair algae problem in a 70gal "experiment" tank of mine. Added a foxface.....DOMINATED it in about 18 hrs. Tank looks incredible now!

[mindytoy]

dam it, any pics at all? so a foxface helps? was it tough algea?

[shuguley]

Here's one for ya, to solve, I...
1) reduced feeding
2) added some cerith and nasarius snails to eat detrius.
3) 3 day lights out
4) 6 days after the first 3 day lights out, I did another 3 day lights out
5) I cleaned my sandbed with a gravel vaccuum

I really believe my problem was overfeeding, but I also just replumbed my fuge the other day. before, my fuge was fed by an overflow which drained directly into the return section of my sump. Now, my fuge is fed by the return pump, after the water has been through protein skimmer and carbon.

First Pic was taken 9/6/08, second pic taken just now.

Before
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll81/shuguley/algae2.jpg

After
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll81/shuguley/algaeafter.jpg

[mindytoy]

nice :) wont the lights out mess up some corals

[shuguley]

From everything I have read, a 3 day lights out will not hurt corals. Think about it, sometimes there may be a storm over the reef that lasts a few days. I have xenia, candy, and zoas. They are all fine, and actually they are looking better now that the algae is gone.

[mindytoy]

anyone have more pics? bump

[Kdocimo90]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13502678#post13502678 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by shuguley
From everything I have read, a 3 day lights out will not hurt corals. Think about it, sometimes there may be a storm over the reef that lasts a few days. I have xenia, candy, and zoas. They are all fine, and actually they are looking better now that the algae is gone.

Im not sure if was you that gave me advice about my lights being out for a few days (had to bring it somewhere to get repaired) but someone said exactly what you did, about storms and all... Fortunate for me, at the time i had some cyano aglae, 3 days with no lights... got it repaired, put the light back on... crystal clear water, and perectly clean rocks/sand

[mindytoy]

so you too had the lights off for 3 days? would you start the actinics for like 5 hrs or so so its not as drastic?

[shuguley]

I went straight to 3 days with total darkness, then on the fourth day, I ran actinics all day and ran the daylight bulbs for just a couple hours, 5th day I was back to normal lighting schedule.

[mindytoy]

does the algea come back??? the only algea i have is on the rocks that i bought with algea. all the other rocks have 0 algea.

i left actinics only today, and starting 3 days of darkness starting tomoro. then monday actinics only, and then tuesday, all lights come on :) or i might do 2 days only...

ill only leave the lunars on.

is this a good time to add a yellow tang since it will be dark

[RyanMcLaughlin]

Here is a pic of my tank. I am battling bryopsis I believe. I am currently raising my mag to about 1600 to kill it hopefully. I will post a pic when its over.
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q204/Flippy328/PA090001.jpg

[paulallen]

Three days with the lights out is nothing like a storm. But, that's neither here nor there. Adding a clean up crew can help some small out breaks of algae and keep some things under control that can cause algae, ie detritus. In almost all cases there is something that is causing the algae problem that a clean up crew will not solve. It's hard to tell from your pic, but I don't think that is bryopsis. A closer shot would help. It does not look like it has feather like filaments. They seem single stranded in your pic.

[RyanMcLaughlin]

I kept trying to find the underlying cause but I test 0 phates, 0 trates, and I have a refugium w/ chaeto and a form a caulpera. It doesnt look like typical bryopsis but after more research it seems like a different form of it based on the characteristics I read.

[mindytoy]

see i dont have an algea problem, my CUC cleans it. the thing though is 2 rocks i bought from a guy those came with algea, and it keeps growing on just those rocks, its getting less and less now, but all my other rocks are coraline not green hair algea...

[mindytoy]

and about the tang? should i add in the darkk then?

[gradth]

A few days later the brown stuff got about twice as bad. Im told it was diatoms.

I got
10 nasarius snails
1 sand sifting starfish
1 dragon goby.

Before CUC
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a48/gradth/1.jpg
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a48/gradth/3.jpg

a little over a week later.
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a48/gradth/1-1.jpg
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a48/gradth/2-1.jpg

In about 3 days my tank was almost spottless. Now about a week later im worried about them not having enough to eat.

[mindytoy]

wow thats awesome which of that CUC helped the most? snails or star or dragon?

[gradth]

I would say the dragon. Only problem with him is he kinda makes a mess and drops sand on my rock.

[mindytoy]

lol well id get him but im getting a mandarin in 2 months and theyd probably fight

[Zestay]

is that a nem in that tank? looks way to younge for a nem

[gradth]

Nem?

[mindytoy]

aNEMone

[gradth]

Did you sort out your algae problem yet?

[mindytoy]

yeah but its slowly coming back :( not as bad though :) ill post some pics

[ZoaFan08]

The reason some tanks with algae problems test 0 for trates and trites is because the lagae is absorbing them all, hence growing more algae. I am lucky that I have never had an algae problem but I do have an aiptasia problem :(

[mindytoy]

i had aptesia and my pepermints demoleished it.

i will post some pics today or tomoro, i added 2 koralia 4s and they stirred up the sand so now my sand bed has no detrius :)