Major system coral clearing

[Ingy]

I am planning a major ‘fix’ to my tank. I have 2 issues to deal with and I would appreciate some feedback on my plan.
The first issue is a minor one, resulting from too little flow through my sump. With a mere 2x turnover, I don’t think I had enough water moving from my DT to the sump and its skimmer and macro algae. That meant not enough nutrients were being exported by the sump, and algae started to grow in the DT. It was getting kinda bad, a reddish wiry algae that is hard to remove, and the CUC is not taking care of it fast enough for me. This issue has had the underlying flow issue resolved by a new sump pump, and I now have about 8x turnover through the sump. But the algae in the DT remains.
The second, and real reason for my proposal is I once added a cespitularia coral (xenia cousin). That $h!t is a weed. I have tried everything to remove it, but with a tank 31” deep, I cannot remove all the rocks to remove the leftover. Any left pieces, no matter how tiny will regrow. I cannot remove all my rocks to burn or dry it either.

PLAN:

I am thinking of setting up my 27 gal QT tank and putting the Aquafuge PS on there. My 48” fixture has legs that can be set to fit any size tank up to 48”, so I can put it over the QT. I will move all my corals except the Palythoas (there is cespitularia growing with them) into the QT and a couple mushrooms I will not be able to recover. I will make some egg crate boxes for levels. My QT will become my coral tank for a while. I will likely have to make some shade strips to reduce light over some LPS and ‘shrooms.
That will leave my DT unlit. I am planning on even wrapping the front and sides with towels to stop sunlight getting in there, and the only light will be a small amount thru the top. The plan is to let the algae, and more importantly, cespitularia, die. I will remove the palys and frag anything I think I might be able to save without the weeds to the QT, and let semi darkness run its course for a few weeks/month in the DT.
I plan on keeping an eye on the fish (left in the DT) to make sure they are not stressed by too much darkness, and I can open a corner away from the rocks for additional light if needed.

Does this seem like a sound plan?

 

[Sniperhank]

It might work. I'm battling the same red wirey algae. It is some pretty nasty stuff. Really tough too. It's wanted to pull entire rocks up with it rather than coming out at times. I've used skimmer, growing algae in the sump, and different filter media. Still a rough battle. I hope it works. If it does, maybe I'll have a future victory.

 

[carey]

Your plan sounds good. It should work but its unfortunate that you may lose some corals in the process. I do the opposite right now to battle the nasty algae. I have a ten gallon tank I put the infected rock into and cover it for a few days and voila its usually gone. lol
Same concept I guess but youre taking it the one step further. lol

I think its a good approach, hopefully it works for you. Good luck, let us know how it pans out.

 

[Gregcoyote]

That algae is tough. I have never found anything that eats it. It use to dominate in my algae scrubber, but chaeto beat it down.

I am not happy with your plan as it is going to allow a lot of die off in your DT tank which in turn will increase DOC levels. With massive water exchanges it might be okay.
You might try putting a cheap but powerful light over your sump and making a kind of algae scrubber. If the light is powerful enough you will get the algae growing there instead of the DT. Use the algae you harvest to strip the water of DOC's. Reducing the organics is the only way to battle this algae other than physically removing it.

 

[Ingy]

I do have chaeto growing in my sump under a CFL bulb. The algae in my DT is slowly going away and isn't my major concern. But I am hoping this will speed along the process. I am going to add some different algae as well. The long strings of bubbly algae (no, not bubble algae) is available.
I think the underlying issue i had was no enough glow to the sump, thereby reducing its effectiveness. That is fixed now, so hopefully the increased nutrient release from algae dying will be managed by the sump. I will also replace my phosguard in my reactor to help catch released phosphates.
At least that's my plan.

 

[Gregcoyote]

I do have chaeto growing in my sump under a CFL bulb. The algae in my DT is slowly going away and isn't my major concern. But I am hoping this will speed along the process. I am going to add some different algae as well. The long strings of bubbly algae (no, not bubble algae) is available.
I think the underlying issue i had was no enough glow to the sump, thereby reducing its effectiveness. That is fixed now, so hopefully the increased nutrient release from algae dying will be managed by the sump. I will also replace my phosguard in my reactor to help catch released phosphates.
At least that's my plan.

You might increase the lighting level in your sump some as well. You want the sump to be the preferable location for algae growth.

 

[Ingy]

OK, I'm going ahead with my plan of isolating my corals and starving the algae of light. I am going to follow Greg's advice and upgrade my sump light at the same time.

I just started my QT back up. It's still heating up and getting the salinity balanced, so I have a question for the frag tank owners. How much of a cycle do you normally do for a frag tank. I am going to have NOTHING in this tank but the corals. I have my biopad in my sump and I will bring it into the frag tank once it is heated and the salinity is stable. As well, I have put the Aquafuge PS on the back with the built in skimmer. I plan on putting about 10 lbs or so rock rubble into the fuge as well along with some chaeto like I did when this was my DT system.

As the bio load is going to be pretty much non-existent, do I need to cycle? Or, can I get by with a coral-in cycle (like a fish-in cycle)? Of course I would watch for any ammonia, but I wouldn't expect any.

Frag tank owners - Thoughts?

 

[Gregcoyote]

I would cycle it as any other tank.

 

[Ingy]

I would cycle it as any other tank.

I was thinking about doing an ammonia dose but only to about 1 ppm. After all, if I get a huge BB colony and then provide no bioload after, wont i just have huge BB die off ?

 

[Gregcoyote]

I was thinking about doing an ammonia dose but only to about 1 ppm. After all, if I get a huge BB colony and then provide no bioload after, wont i just have huge BB die off ?

You may have some bacteria die off, depends on how fast you load up the system. Coral don't have the bio load fish have (and fish food) but the water has to be that much purer.