Rebirth of My 120 (new pics 10/14)

[CoryDude]

2013 has not been kind to my tank. It hit the proverbial 2 year brick wall which has resulted in many lost acros and other corals. But I've been doing this for almost 20 years and I'm not about to stop now.

First there were the aiptasia, then came the cyano outbreak, then corals started dying, and finally a hair algae throw down. So, I just spent 8 hours pulling all my live rock and soaking in a half n half saltwater and hydrogen peroxide mixture.

I'm too tired to put up pics, but I wanted to document this battle, 'cause it's probably going to be a long one.

[SABOB]

Sorry to hear,been dealing with issues also.Frustrating at times but won't give up


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[CoryDude]

Current reactor line up; Matt monster calcium reactor, 20lb co2 bottle and sulfur denitrator.
http://i401.photobucket.com/albums/pp100/cpryor74/2013%20Tank%20Progress/DSC_9182.jpg


Made a screen top for the tank to keep the jumpers in check
http://i401.photobucket.com/albums/pp100/cpryor74/2013%20Tank%20Progress/DSC_9204.jpg

http://i401.photobucket.com/albums/pp100/cpryor74/2013%20Tank%20Progress/DSC_9153.jpg

[CoryDude]

So, first impressions on the major hydrogen peroxide work from last week. I used the normal 3% solution and used 1.5 gallons of peroxide and 1.5 gallons of tank water. I pulled 1-2 pieces of rock from the tank at a time. If there was an acro on the rock, I only dipped it for 30 seconds and then scrubbed the rock. Most of the hair algae turned into a green soupy mess and dissolved. Any algae left on the rock slowly dissolved and fell off after 3 days. Rocks that did not have corals attached were dipped for 1-3 minutes and scrubbed as well.

The good news: the rock work is totally free of any hair algae. The algae shows no signs of regrowth. All fish show no ill effects from the overhaul.

The bad news: acros do not like even 30 second dips. So for I've lost about 95% of one tenuis colony. Sherita's mellow yellow clauveria polyps are just now starting to reemerge. All red sps have lost their color. But part of this could also be attributed to the poor health of the colonies before the peroxide dips.

1 week conclusion: a massive peroxide dip can help as a soft reboot for your tank if your battling a massive algae problem, but expect some coral losses.

[jroescher]

With large amounts of algae suddenly dissolving away in the tank, I would think that would create some major jumps in some parameters. Maybe that is what I affecting the corals more than the H2O2?




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[ramsey]

Have you thought about dosing your whole tank with a smaller dose of h2o2? I did this a few months ago due to a terrible dino/brown slime outbreak. It took a couple of weeks but it did the trick and none of my corals seemed to notice. Granted, I have SPS frags and not colonies. I dosed 1ml per 10g but doubled the dose a couple of times due to frustration. The brown stuff has not come back and everything's looking good.

[CoryDude]

With large amounts of algae suddenly dissolving away in the tank, I would think that would create some major jumps in some parameters. Maybe that is what I affecting the corals more than

I'd say 90-95% of the algae was dissolved outside of the tank since I did a thorough scrub job and rinsing in separate buckets. The corals that didn't make it died in 12 hours or less. But honestly John, I knew it was a risk and you could be right. I did add a seachem ammonia alert to the tank to watch out for an ammonia spike, but so far no detectable levels have shown up.


Have you thought about dosing your whole tank with a smaller dose of h2o2? I did this a few months ago due to a terrible dino/brown slime outbreak. It took a couple of weeks but it did the trick and none of my corals seemed to notice. Granted, I have SPS frags and not colonies. I dosed 1ml per 10g but doubled the dose a couple of times due to frustration. The brown stuff has not come back and everything's looking good.

i was dosing that exact ratio for almost 3 weeks with no results. After countless hours and months of manual removal of the gha, only to see it come back to previous levels in less than a week, I went with the nuclear option.

But, I have kept up the 1ml/10 gallon dosing since then to keep what's left in the tank in check. It does seem to work at slowing if not stopping the growth of the patches left on the sand bed.

[CoryDude]

So I had to update the title, as things finally seem to be turning the corner for the better. I took an "all of the above app" approach with adding the calcium reactor (thanks Troy), a 3rd ai fixture, adding vho actinic supplements, and a peroxide dip to get a good handle on the hair algae. So, I'm not sure if it's the stable alkalinity, extra lighting, removal of the algae competition, or a combination of multiple things that has started bringing the tank back on track.

Full tank shot
http://i401.photobucket.com/albums/pp100/cpryor74/2013%20Tank%20Progress/DSC_9617.jpg

Gonistrea (still sounds like a STD)
http://i401.photobucket.com/albums/pp100/cpryor74/2013%20Tank%20Progress/DSC_9631.jpg

Tri-Color Valida (green's returning to the base and the branches)
http://i401.photobucket.com/albums/pp100/cpryor74/2013%20Tank%20Progress/DSC_9626.jpg

Skittles Stylo (thanks BigPun)
http://i401.photobucket.com/albums/pp100/cpryor74/2013%20Tank%20Progress/DSC_9609.jpg

Golden Lepestrea (thanks Sherita)
http://i401.photobucket.com/albums/pp100/cpryor74/2013%20Tank%20Progress/DSC_9595.jpg

Easter Egg Chalice (thanks Troy)
http://i401.photobucket.com/albums/pp100/cpryor74/2013%20Tank%20Progress/DSC_9594.jpg

[CoryDude]

Only bad note, this guy has been sick for a while. Everytime I give up on him, he surprises me and comes out to eat every few days. He had pop-eye a few weeks back, but was eating pretty well. Then he disappeared for 3 days. He's been in and out of hiding for about 1.5 weeks now. He eats pretty well, so I guess we'll see how it turns out.

http://i401.photobucket.com/albums/pp100/cpryor74/2013%20Tank%20Progress/DSC_9125-1.jpg

[CoryDude]

Can't forget my favorite clavularia sp. ever, Mellow Yellow Polyps (thanks again Sherita)
http://i401.photobucket.com/albums/pp100/cpryor74/2013%20Tank%20Progress/DSC_9073.jpg

[Paul28]

looks great man and yeh I love the Mellows growing like a weed :)

[Big_Pun]

Looking good cory and your the only person who has gotten a frag of that stylo(and every will lol), im thinking of add a calcium reactor soon also

[koa25]

Everything looks amazing.

[Troy Valentine]

Nice work Cory;) Can't wait to see it back to its former glory.

[FireWater]

Nicely done Cory. I've been battling issues in my tank as well. I might go revive my thread soon. Let me know if you want anything for replacements.

[Mr Cob]

Beautiful tank Cory. Nice job on the screen top too.

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[CoryDude]

Thanks Paul, Chris, koa, Troy, and Rob. Still have a long road ahead, but it's nice to see some positives instead of the negatives.

Thanks John, you are welcome to some replacements from mine as well.