Major water change against green hair algae

[solidsnakejv]

I live on long island and i lost power for 2 weeks during hurricane sandy. I lost a couple of frogspawn corals and about 70% of my xenia corals. the nitrates rose to about 40ppm. i've been doing weekly 20% water changes and physically been removing as much of the hair algae as possible. however, it just keep on coming back and the tank is infested by it; i can't get the nitrates to stay under 20ppm.
i plan on doing an 80% water change, but i am a little concern about the result that it make cause the aquarium environment, mainly the cycled status of it.
I have soft coral. Frogspawns, xenia, candy canes, and mushrooms.
I am not really concerned about the livestock because they are a resilient bunch. my only concern are the mated clowns because they have hosted the xenia and are currently guarding their eggs (i'll wait until the eggs have hatched, even though the fry won't survive).

i have a 90 gallon tank, about 100 lbs of base rock, a 20 gallon wet and dry filter with no bioballs, and a corallife super skimmer (which has been given me issues, i don't think it's working properly on a consistent basis). 4 bulbs of t5 lighting come on at about 11:30 am and go off at around 9:30pm. i also have about 100 w of super LED actinic lightning that is on for about the same amount of time.
the lifestock: 1 pink goby, 1 brittlenose tang, 1 clown goby, 2 clowns, 1 six-line wrasse, and 1 melanaurus wrasse. 2 emerald crabs about 12 snails, and I am not sure how many hermit crabs are left. Maybe 4 or 5. I know i need to increase the clean up crew, but i don't wanna get more without the nitrates first going down.
I feed once per day.
the tank has been established for about 3 years.
All input is greatly appreciated.

 

[Kopitar]

Cant you just increase the magnesium level to 1600 instead to fight hair algae ?

 

[willbratz]

Cut your main lights to just 8 hours with 6 being whites, start the blues an hour before, and end it an hour after the whites.

 

[solidsnakejv]

I'll do some research on the magnesium.
I'll definitely cut down on the lights.
thanks.

 

[Dav3]

80% is excessive. You will likely expose most of your rock to air for a long time causing die off and thus a mini to full cycle once re-filled. I wouldn't do more than 50%.

 

[willbratz]

You could do 80% by keeping the rock wet. Through it in some 5 gallon buckets scrub what you can off place them back in and fill er' up. Your just going to have to keep testing every other day for a couple of weeks. To keep your stuff in check.

 

[Dav3]

You could do 80% by keeping the rock wet. Through it in some 5 gallon buckets scrub what you can off place them back in and fill er' up. Your just going to have to keep testing every other day for a couple of weeks. To keep your stuff in check.

More difficult with a 3 year old tank. A lot more established corals. Difficult to move rock around.

 

[jeffaquarius]

You still have to figure out first why the high nitrates. You might still have some dead stuff in your tank that you need to remove. You then do the combination off all the suggested remedies here that you think are necessary. Most of all cutting down on feeding to every other day. Good luck.

 

[willbratz]

More difficult with a 3 year old tank. A lot more established corals. Difficult to move rock around.

I just did it on my 3 year 55 gallon tank. No issues other than cloudy water, and I changed the substrate as well.

 

[solidsnakejv]

I opted to do only 30 gallons last thursday after I saw my xenia was being exposed to air. I'll do another 20 tonight. I've been physically removing the algae on a daily basis. The nitrates were at 15 before the water change but I haven't tested again. I've also been doing the vodka method and got the skimner working properly.

 

[willbratz]

I opted to do only 30 gallons last thursday after I saw my xenia was being exposed to air. I'll do another 20 tonight. I've been physically removing the algae on a daily basis. The nitrates were at 15 before the water change but I haven't tested again. I've also been doing the vodka method and got the skimner working properly.

Keep at it. I remove some manually every couple of days and will continue until I've got it under control or it's gone!!!

 

[Dav3]

I opted to do only 30 gallons last thursday after I saw my xenia was being exposed to air. I'll do another 20 tonight. I've been physically removing the algae on a daily basis. The nitrates were at 15 before the water change but I haven't tested again. I've also been doing the vodka method and got the skimner working properly.

It is ok to expose xenia and other corals to air for a short while. Try waving your hand in the water near your corals to get them to close up prior to exposure. This will help as well. You just don't want to expose sponges to air at all and corals for a limited time.