My Reef Aquarium: Major Overhaul

My reef tank had recently had some serious problems. Well, at least one serious problem: Green slime algae, or whatever it's called. It was this green slimy growth that basically took over every open space of rock, glass, sand, etc. I would suck it up with a water change, but it would grow back quickly.

I have learned that we needed to move the lights higher, reduce the water temperature, reduce the phosphates, and reduce the amount of light that the tank is exposed to during the day. Hopefully this works.

I think the primary cause of the problem was "over-feeding." I was gone for 4 days over Thanksgiving last year. I asked my son, Fairy Boy, to feed the fish while I was gone. I had run out of the regular food I feed the fish (mysis shrimp) and told him to just put some of the pellets in the tank that the Chocolate Tang likes to eat. I figured if the smaller fish were hungry enough, they would eat the pellets, too.

When I came back from the trip at about 11 p.m. on Sunday night after Thanksgiving, I stopped in at my office to see how the fish were doing, and found that Fairy Boy had dumped so many pellets in the tank that the pellets covered almost every inch of space that was exposed. The water was orange. The fish looked sick. (He told me that he was afraid he would forget to feed the fish again so he dumped "a whole lot" into the tank.)

I had to go to the local fish store which, fortunately, has an outside salt water dispenser (at 75 cents per gallon) for emergencies such as this. I made three trips, because I only had two 5-gallon jugs, in order to obtain water to do water changes and in order to suck up the pellets that were polluting the tank.

For the first year (started it in January of 2007), there were no problems. Things went amazingly well, considering the horror stories we had heard about the problems one can encounter during even the first 6 months. My tank was always so clean-looking.

It was after that over-dose of pellets that the green slime started growing everywhere.

Unfortunately, I didn't do "before" and "after" pictures, but here's what the tank looks like now, in three parts, from left to right:







We originally had put an anemone in the tank with a clown fish, and then I mistakenly put another clown fish in the tank. The two clown fish vied for the one anemone, and then one day the original clown fish was found dead. Well, we found his head, decapitated. The remaining clown fish took over the anemone.

However, the anemone died recently. I don't know if he actually DIED, but he was no longer present. The poor clown fish looked so lost for a few months. Today I bought a new anemone. The clown fish is so happy!!





In the second picture, you can see him (barely!) nestled in the anemone. (You can also catch a glimpse of the Tang moving in front of the tank, hoping that I am going to drop some food in.)

We did end up losing one of the blue fish (I think it was a damsel) as a result of the water-change/spring cleaning, but some of the "clean-up crew" took care of him. We have these creatures in the tank that we call the "grim reapers." They are white snails and they live under the sand. They are part of the "clean up crew" and only emerge when something dies. At least one of them happily took care of the carcass left behind by the blue fish that died.





There are several corals that you might be able to see. (Unfortunately, I can tell that the pictures I have taken didn't come out too clearly. I'll try to take better pictures in the future.)

The corals are not fully extended. They haven't been very happy since the spring cleaning. In fact, in the top left of the second picture posted, you can see the Elegance. This is a very nice and very difficult coral to have in a reef tank. It's all closed up, tight. We have had it for over a year and it has done well, but it's not happy at all these days. I'm hoping he will eventually lighten up.

Since the spring cleaning, I have had to take a small toothbrush and scrub some green algae that we found growing. I'm hoping that with all the measures we have taken (moving the lights, reducing the lighting period, reducing feeding, reducing the water temperature), that "we shall overcome."