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~RuSh~
08/28/2012, 02:58 PM
Hey guys/gals, hoping you can lend a hand to a novice reefer. Earlier this year I had a bit of a tank crash... I'm still not entirely sure what happened but long story short, I had decent looking 29g reef (mostly LPS) setup and I ended up giving away a good portion of my corals to my brother. My LPS just really went down hill after I set up my sump. He has kept everything I gave him a live and happy and I'm greatful for this. For more info on the crash -

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2132539&page=2

The tank crashed and around the same time, my son was born. It was actually a blessing in disguise. He came two weeks early and we just had nothing ready so my hands were busy with him and my tank probably would have suffered for the first three months at least. He's now 6 months old and is on a much more predictable schedule so I think I'm ready to get back to the reef.

The other thing that happened during this time was the loss of my LTA. I believe now that it was due to lighting. My light is a Aquaticlife 24w 4x T5HO. I got the LTA in Dec. In mid January I switched bulbs from a 2 10k, 2 act over to 1 coral +, 1 purple+ and 2 blue +. I don't think there was enough white light for the LTA and it slowly lost color. I ended up giving it away to a LPS but I really doubt it survived. Can anyone confirm that my suspicions were correct? More on the LTA decline here -

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2145121


So for the past 6 months, the tank has housed 2 clowns, 2 talbot damsels and some hardy corals - Three acan colonies which continue to thrive, various zoanthids that also continue to spread, and some xenia that is doing ok and a purple capnella that I can't get rid of. Every time I frag it, I find two more. It's like aiptasia, lol. I'm not going to lie about it... my tank maintenance hasn't been up to par since my son was born and I've got a green hair algae problem now as well as some strange red hair type stuff.

My questions are this
- Is there a way to know if my tank is ready to take back my old corals? During the crash, I never was able to pick up any red flags so I'm nervous about the re-introduction.
- How should I go about eliminating the hair algae? Simple maintenance? The reddish hair-like fiber has been carpeting my live rock. It's actually all over... I can get a pic of it, but does anyone know what it is or how I'd get rid of it?


If anyone could shed some light on my issues it would be greatly appreciated.

Matt

~RuSh~
08/29/2012, 08:06 AM
Any help guys?

Sugar Magnolia
08/29/2012, 08:15 AM
The hair and red algae are growing due to excess nutrients. The best way to handle that is to increase water changes and run some GFO. I'd suggest getting rid of the nuisance algae issues before adding the corals back in to the tank.

~RuSh~
08/29/2012, 08:52 AM
That sounds good. I plan on increasing water changes but I'm not sure it's going to be that simple at this point....

I spent a good hour or so looking my tank over last night. I have bubble algae, I knew I did, but I have quite a bit. A lot more than I had thought, there are many small 'bubbles' all over the live rock. The GHA I believe to be Bryopsis pennata and B. plumosa (a form of macro algae?), and the red stuff Gelidium, Red Wiry Turf Algae. According to www.reefcleaners.org, this stuff is difficult to remove. I may have to get aggressive - drying out the rocks, etc.

I'm going to get some test results up, and increase my maintenance schedule, but do you think that will be enough?

OwenReefin
08/29/2012, 11:21 AM
Ya since you are at back at the first stages of the reef again I would say just go to extreme measures and eradicate the nuisance algae. And of course make sure that you add a good diverse clean up crew, emerald crabs eat a lot ;)

~RuSh~
08/29/2012, 12:09 PM
Yeah, after seeing how difficult removing bryopsis can be I might opt for drying out a good portion of the rock....

My plan is to set up a 40 breeder in place of my 29g. I'd like to use the same rock though but I'd prefer not to have to re-cycle everything.... is there any way I can do this and still get rid of the bryopsis and red turf algae? Or do I just need to dry out everything?