Disgusting brown goo

[reefburnaby]

Hi,

IMHO, the brown stuff with bubbles is more likely to be diatoms...just lots of diatoms. It really doesn't matter - the solution is the same. I had the same problem about 3 months ago. My source of the problem was silicates/phosphates from my top off water. So this is what I did:

1) stopped water changes.
2) stopped additives except for calcium/alk (i.e. my Calcium reactor)
3) make two tubs of (doesn't need to be fresh) saltwater. Take some of the rocks and scrub the algae off in the saltwater in tube 1. Rinse everything off in the saltwater in tube #2. You can do a couple of rocks at time. Put the rocks back in the tank.
4) top off water - this was my problem. Before I added top off water, I added 1/8 tbl of kalk per gallon and let it settle for 12 hours. This is small enough to cause some of the phosphates/heavy metals to precipitate and not enough to add too much calcium to my system. I would drip that clear kalk top off water back in to my tank. Don't drip the precipitate in the kalk solution.
5) alk was set very high (like 15 dKh)
6) Put some fresh carbon in the system every two weeks - since we are not doing water changes...this should help.
7) 30 Astrea snails. Any snails will do in this case. This helped clean up the small bits that I didn't get in #3 -- but they can't get throught the big slabs of algae (too thick).
8) algae on glass/pumps ? Remove and do not let it float and stay on the water. The fine algae is good for the corals (food), but the big chunks are not.
9) Remove all sponge/mechanical filters.
10) Add air stone to skimmer -- this helps the skimmer with the lowest cost. IMHO, this is optional, but it helps in severe cases.

You will find that not doing water changes may affect the water quality (nitrates and such), so, you'll need to monitor the corals and fish for stress.

You will also find that you may be repeating step #3 for a couple of times -- each time you wash the stuff off...the slower it should re-grow. Eventually, the snails should be able to grasp on to what is left and finish it for good.

Hope that helps.

- Victor.

[ 23 February 2002: Message edited by: reefburnaby ]

[ 23 February 2002: Message edited by: reefburnaby ]</p>