pico reef pest algae problem challenge

[brandon429]

Interesting! I hadn't heard of a dye effect try to snapshot your before and after treatments pics are the main driver for us...

[brandon429]

Here's me treating two corals at their bases

isaurus

Xenia on a frag plug dipped up to the flesh

Thick bodied isaurus had no prob resting in 3% for a few mins

Red algae dead in two days:

[brandon429]

Some real nice before and after shots of a bryopsis nano from our friends at nr.com:
http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/inde...&#entry3771648

[cmb074]

So on March 1st I did a number of rocks on one side of the tank- here are some pics from March 4th- The algae was bright red after the dip, now some is still bright red, but much of it is turning white. I did a water change over the weekend, my shrimp molted (good sign?)- so, he seems unaffected and my soft corals all seem fine. I took out some of the heavier infested rocks and dipped them again tonight. I hate taking apart the other side of my tank, bigger and some nice coral mats. But, if this ends up as good as I think it will be.....That wiry red stuff has to go!

[reefknight]

Day 2 - Gelidium has turned hot pink as suspected. Noticing a few corals aren't opening quite like they had previously. One of the acans that was treated, duncans and another acan that was not along with my Pink lemonade not exhibiting great PE. Added five Turbo snails today, so we'll see if they get to work. Tang and foxface seem to be picking at the rock more than before. We'll see....

[Ralph ATL]

FAIL, FAIL, FAIL!

48 hours after adding Rox Carbon, the ALGAE starting turning GREEN, OMG! ARE YOU KIDDING? With a few exceptions......for like 2 months every single day the algae has either looked dead, distressed, or stable in distressed mode, or worse!




I WAS DONE! That's it! Today I went and bought 2 1/2 gallons of H2O2, prepared some saltwater, got some sand, bought some glue, got a bunch of tubs of Tupperware, buckets, etc.......AND ATTACKED!

I took the remaining 40% of the live rock that is encrusted with colonies of SPS, Zoa, Blue Clove.....just all kinds of living stuff, pulled it out and TREATED outside the tank.

I poured, sprayed, dripped, and used some precision syringes to limit the contact with live coral. I replaced a bunch of sugar-fine sand while I was there!

4-5 hours later, all complete & cleaned up....well worth the stress relief from that other crap not working 100%!



too cloudy for pics! and too much time with tank, lol

[Ralph ATL]

only concern is any leftover algae on walls, snails, etc....Kalk paste/rodi/H2O2 worked but only if smothered, so it left some patches here and there....this is what started to turn green...

[mkbtank]

Can't wait to see, Ralph.

[Ralph ATL]

Originally Posted by mkbtank

Can't wait to see, Ralph.

Lol, Thanks! however, even though I have some nice colonies, due to all this changing, treating rock, it went from a mature tank to kinda new, but clean...

[Caetano_Thiago]

before



after



spot treatment was done on several corals in my tank and LV. with no ill affects. i let it sit for about 1min. my change that up to 3min now. then rinse w/ di/ro corals so far that ive tested on. mushrooms,ricks,zoas,palys,lps,sps.

thx brandon

[brandon429]

Looks really sharp! You have a nice tank man

By this time tomorrow it should be even cleaner

[brandon429]

Hey did that red brain send out a growth extension to the wall?

[Caetano_Thiago]

Its a dragon soul favia. No growth on wall/glass

[Ralph ATL]

Tank looks great this morning! everything that is supposed to be alive, is....and it appears that all of the algae is dead....

I'll get pics on friday.....glass is dirty and fish are too stressed....

[sphilli40]

okay so I've had my cosmetology license for about 10 years I know that 10 volume developer is 3% perioxide.. 20 volume is 6%...30 volume is 9% and 40 volume is 12%.... the developer we use in hair is a creme peroxide.. Some people mentioned about not wanting to dip the whole live rock in the solution in fear of killing beneficial bacteria... Couldn't you use the creme developer that has thicker consistency to kind of "paint" it on the algae spots and let it be for a couple minutes and then rinse in clean sw.. What do you think??

[thebanker]

Not sure what agents are used to emulsify the developer into the creamy consistency you're talking about.

If you want to experiment, please go ahead for the rest of us.

FWIW, using normal liquid H2O2 is fairly safe, as long as you take some precautions. I'd almost always recommend a clean-up-crew as part of the strategy though.

[brandon429]

I did not know there were different grades of hair peroxide thats neat to know. Like banker mentioned, we'd just have to experiment straight up to see if the extra components are harmful. I have no idea but I would totally set up a test vase to check it.

New techniques are just around the corner but we have to try them first. I would not use it in an established tank just yet though, something for a small nano to experiment with!

[pscott99]

Back glass before cleaning



Emptied tank down with water change and cleaned with a paper towel and H2O2



Back glass one week later no new growth hardly at all



Pump after cleaning one week later. No new growth

My experience over the last two weeks.

I usually clean glass and pumps with vinegar. This works MUCH better since it lasts MUCH longer. I could actually see the line on the glass where I had cleaned. For some reason unknown it prevents growth from coming back for over a week on the cleaned area.

The first time I cleaned with very little so as not to drip any in the tank. I was very concerned for my inverts and coral. The second week I wet it down much more but still made sure not to drip any near my cleaner shrimp.

I could see a line on the front glass in a couple days. Above the line was clean. Below the line the green dust had already started to come back.

I have also dosed my tank. I started with 3ml. Saw no affect. Then went to 6ml. Also no affect on any animals. It seems to be slowing growth of algae but hard to say. I don't think it is a large enough dose to do much. I dose in a high flow area away from my inverts. I have also dosed in my overflow to work on the algae there as well.

Anyways for what it's worth WAY more affective than vinegar on anything out of the water applied directly. I would love the chemists in the crowd to figure out why it bonds to anything and prevents (delays) growth by a significant time of over a week compared to a day or two. The second last picture shows my back glass upper half after two weeks vrs. the lower half

Looks like I need to drain my tank further and go after it. Thanks brandon429 !! I am sold for sure.

[pscott99]

A current FTS. Not my best shot for sure but current.

[thebanker]

Pscott99 - awesome, you can see the line where you wiped the glass!

[pscott99]

Exactly. That was my biggest surprise. For some reason the algae does not adhere to the wiped part for quite a while longer. Vinegar never did that.

[brandon429]

That's sick man. Its brand new clean.

Hey have you noticed how when it gets on your hands it leaves that grating feeling for 10 mins, like all the oil/sebaceous fluid + top layer skin has been zapped?

The online stuff i've seen said it rinses/dissociates purely so who knows. Maybe something about it as a mild residual helps with the regrowth

We need a chemist with lab lab equipment to measure pre and post DO as well as any residuals after 6 months in a regularly treated tank (spot treatments for example, something I say doesn't accumulate)

Some of the nice coralline coloration will be list but it will come back

[brandon429]

You are in an interesting position to double check something I see as a window cleaner with it, not many are doing that. I have to use it exclusively or my vase will be scratched severely in removing that stuff.

The green calcareous haze we get becomes accustomed to 3% and after several months becomes much less affected by the same regimen.

I had to move up to 15%~ to get flash bleaching effect, and all the corals/benthic life in my bowl has adapted to having input 5+ times the normal dilution per gallon of any reef using peroxide.


Truly there appears to be an overall adaptive character from the environment to peroxide use.


On a very long term basis it has cured my tank of every invader without hesitation.

[brandon429]

Also I see the whiskers of a sensitive species cleaner shrimp what's that tough guy there

[thebanker]

Originally Posted by brandon429

That's sick man. Its brand new clean.

Hey have you noticed how when it gets on your hands it leaves that grating feeling for 10 mins, like all the oil/sebaceous fluid + top layer skin has been zapped?

The online stuff i've seen said it rinses/dissociates purely so who knows. Maybe something about it as a mild residual helps with the regrowth

We need a chemist with lab lab equipment to measure pre and post DO as well as any residuals after 6 months in a regularly treated tank (spot treatments for example, something I say doesn't accumulate)

Some of the nice coralline coloration will be list but it will come back

You know, since glass has microscopic pores & scratches, perhaps even freshly scraped (without peroxide) aquarium glass has an ultra thin layer of algal cells that can't be removed mechanically. Maybe the act of wiping peroxide on the glass kills these cells, giving us the perception of a lasting effect.