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Cranners
29-01-09, 18:32
Right I have harvested some algae tonight and my corals have reacted badly to this - literally they have closed up or swelled - to me that is a sign of stress. So I have started making up a change of water for tonight and I will be changing the water over tomorrow morning.

Do I need to get a skimmer on the tank? if so does anyone have a skimmer I could borrow? I am in Hampshire


Regards

Jon
craigieboi
29-01-09, 19:14
it could be that when you harvested the algae that you've released a kinda 'mulch' into the system and the corals are feeding on this no?
Cranners
29-01-09, 19:34
I dont think its a feeding response more like a defensive reaction - closing up and swelling and expelling their insides etc

I have put some filter wool in the baffle of the sump with some carbon and I am thinking of putting carbon in a small CT reactor to maximise removing the gunk

I also have carbon in amongst the filter wool etc

so fingers crossed!


Jon
craigieboi
29-01-09, 21:55
got mine crossed also mate..........
Cranners
30-01-09, 07:31
Well in these situations I would agree that the main thing is to KEEP CALM! dont do anything quickly etc etc. Julou suggested the filter wool and I went in the fish house last night and I can see the fish are back out and the corals look like they are recovering.

I think I should leave the algae when I am about to go away for the weekend.

Cheers Craigeboi

Jon
Haile S
30-01-09, 12:27
How much did you remove and if it was a lot did you replace the volume with salt water?
Cranners
30-01-09, 13:45
I didnt remove any water just cutting back 1/4 of the algae though I had to chop it up a bit which I suspect released lots of chemical found in the tissues of the algae.

I think you mentioned that you take your algae out with a water change so I will try that next time. I have been coppicing the algae on a rotational basis and had no problems before now

jon
Haile S
30-01-09, 13:56
I didnt remove any water just cutting back 1/4 of the algae though I had to chop it up a bit which I suspect released lots of chemical found in the tissues of the algae.

I think you mentioned that you take your algae out with a water change so I will try that next time. I have been coppicing the algae on a rotational basis and had no problems before now

jon

hi jon,

my cheato takes up an area of 16*16*12 displacing a volume of about 20l - perhaps less. when i remove half that is the equivilent of 10l of liquid which should be replaced by salted water otherwise the auto-topup will pump 10l of RO and reduce the overall salinity.

cheers,

Leroy
Cranners
30-01-09, 16:27
ah right dont I feel an idiot, The SG change probably was the problem - I havce carried out a small water change to bring the SG back up to normal 1.024/25

I recalibrated my refractometer to check and the SG was down to 1.022/23 - I just didnt think about the displacement of the caulerpa......

Cheers Leroy

You will be happy to know that the corals are back to normal

Jon