I feel like i've hit a wall in my 29 gallon tank

[jaydm93teg]

Ok tank is 29 gallon set up for prob 8 months now.

I have recently switched to RO water about 2 weeks ago just doing top offs so far haven't had time for a water change. About a week ago i added 2 power heads and a Skimmer. I have cut back on feedings and I was running my 150w MH about 6-8 hours a day and i have cut back on that to maybe 2 hours a day with just the white led lunar lights on most of the time.

I honestly feel like i have hit a wall and am just standing there with this algae. First is was bad hair algae and then it was red stuff looked like red smudge on the walls of the tank i was scrape the walls and now its all over the sand bed.

I dont have a sump/fuge and dont have the means to get one right now. With my stand and this tank being in my living room i kinda am stuck with the room i have right now.

SO my question is what can i do i mean i have cut back on lights cut back on feeding i have switched to RO water and i know a water change will help but that will be coming in the next few days. If i get hermits or snails will that help clean my sand bed or is there a fish i can by that will sift/clean my sand?

ANY TIPS ARE GREATLY APPREDCIATED cuase now all teh green algae that was hanging off the back and sides of the tank are getting all over the sand bed and its FRUSTRATING!!!!!!

 

[jaydm93teg]

o yeah i had the water tested and its testing out fine. Said everything was exactly where it should be.

The only thing i have tested is Calcium and Alkalinity. But i was under the impression these two things will just affect my corals.

 

[spike]

Are you feeding phytoplankton? I have heard others suspect it as being a culprit in algae growth.

 

[reefknight]

Your ph, NH4, NO2, NO3 and PO4 should all be tested to try and figure this out. Do you have access to any of these test kits? We need to know what the levels are so that we can determine what needs to be fixed. Alk and Ca would help. By reducing the light cycle that will help some too. I wouldn't really add a fish right now as it would up your bio load and could be counter productive. Some Blue leg's and or/ Scarlett crabs will help, Astrea snails for your glass and rock work and some Cerith snails to help with the glass and stirring of the sand bed. The red slime is cyano and if you can siphon it out, don't let it rests where it falls. RO will really help you with your water changes as well, and if can, should be used all the time. Let me know about the tests so that I can help further.

 

[reeferjw]

You can take a sample of your water to most LFS's and they will test the basics for you (PH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate). I don't know if they test Phosphates.

What kind of skimmer do you have?

I have a 20H with a CPR Bak Pak that works pretty well, although it could be better. With smaller tanks, I am convinced that the key is regular water changes. I do a 5 gallon change every 2 weeks at the most. It is my weekend routine to do it first thing in the morning, a bit of java, and get it going. I top off with RO/DI. I am buying both fresh and saltwater from Optimum every two weeks or so.

I agree with reefknight, some snails and hermits could be in there to help. My only problem with the hermits is that I have one getting pretty big and it is very clumsy, walking all over the corals, knocking some frags over.

Another option is a refugium. I have an AC70 HOB filter that I modded into a small fuge. It has live rock rubble, and some Chaeto macroalgae in the main area. I also have room in there for a heater and some filter floss or carbon, purigen, etc.

I never heard back from you last weekend. If you are up my way, give me a call and I can help out or show you how I have it set up.

 

[cdub]

another thing you can do is to leave your lights off for 2-3 days. when i moved i had an algae outbreak right after i setup my tank. so i turned off the lights for 3 days and then did a big water change to try and get some of the nutrients caused by the die off of the algae.

 

[FutureInterest]

The algae is not the problem. It is merely an indicator of an underlying issue which is simply:

Nutrient Import > Nutrient Export

It's really that simple... You have to decrease your nutrient import and increase your export. Some of your nutrient import is vented off as gases, but most of it simply being used by your nuisance algae.

You can test your water and it may test at 0 for nitrates, nitrites, and phosphates. You don't need a test though to see you have nitrate and phosphate issues... the proof is in the nuisance algae taking over your tank. They grow so quickly when the right nutrients are available that they suck em all up and your test kits show 0.

Since you can't use a fuge, which is my favorite method of nutrient export you should have a skimmer and do water changes religiously. When doing the water changes siphon and remove by hand as much of the algae as possible. This is a slow process, if you skim and do the water changes and feed less... the algae will go away. It may take months though for you to win this battle. G'luck.

 

[jaydm93teg]

I took my water to the LFS and he did a "complete" test on it and said the only thing that looked bad was my salinity maybe a little low but nothing he was concerned about. I am feeding frozen brine shrimp and that is all. I have already reduced light cycle and i have already reduced feeding this was done all about a week or so ago. I have a CPR BackPack Skimmer just got it on there a week ago. LIke i said i have done all these things about a week or so ago. I'm thinking i need to purchase a complete cleaqning crew since i have never had one and go from there??

Hey reefer sorry about last weekend i have been really really busy with work and then my mom came in town so you know how that can be i dont see her to often. I will get with u sometime soon if u still have the frags but i wanted to get this under control before i add anything else to the tank.

Reefknight i do not have acces to any kits myself but i do have it tested at the LFS i am going to go to a diff. LFS tomm. and see what they say?

So ive done the skimmer and powerheads, I've reduced light and food, And i have scraped so now i need to add a real CUC and start to do regular water changed and then go from there??

 

[jaydm93teg]

thanks to all of you guys for the information!!!!

 

[ralph atl]

Phosphate reduction/ removal and high trates could be the answer. If you cannot get a fuge or sump (you can maybe make a "rubbermaid sump with chaeto in it for a few bucks) you can get a $35.00 hangon phosphate reactor for your tank and put some Phosar HC in there (or other). In the future, you'll most likely need a refugium with Macro algae. At first you’ll need to change your Iron based media in the phosphate reactor more often. Your media will get saturated in 2 weeks or so depending upon how much is bound up in your rocks, tank, algae, etc. Use less media, change every 2 weeks. Use a great test kit like DD Merck, Hack, Elos, or colormeter or send to AWT. If you already have a fuge & reactor, be aggressive & change the media every 2 weeks.

You must export the same or more nutrients than you put in. Overfeeding, tap water, high phosphate foods, etc. Use a phosphate reactor with some phosar or ROWA or whatever, and something to lower nitrates like a fuge, AZNO3, or whatever.

check out:
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-09/rhf/index.php">http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-09/rhf/index.php</a>

[IMG]http://www.advancedaquarist.com/iss...st2003/chem.htm">http://www.advancedaquarist.com/iss...st2003/chem.htm</a>

[IMG]http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/index.php">http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/index.php</a>

[IMG]http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-05/eb/index.php">http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-05/eb/index.php</a>

 

[soarin']

The fact that you were running on tap water for so long may mean that phosphates have gotten into your sand and rocks, so it may not show up in your water column because the algae may be absorbing it and using it to grow as soon as it gets in the water column.

One reefer made a comment that you never stop having cycles of some kind, and the fact that your tank went from hair algae to cyano means that your tank is going through a cycle of some kind.

There is some very interesting stuff regarding the "redfield ratio" -- basically the availability of Nitrogen versus Phosphorus in your tank.

Here's a link:
http://www.xs4all.nl/%7Ebuddendo/aquarium/redfield_eng.htm">http://www.xs4all.nl/~buddendo/aquarium/redfield_eng.htm</a>

Here's a thread where someone successfully used the theory to rid themselves of the algae.

[IMG]http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=611702">http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=611702</a>

I would get some chaeto or other macro to put in your tank to compete with the cyano for nutrients.

I had a problem with the cyano, and I would notice that it would go away a little more every time I dosed with DT's -- I thought that the DT's took up the nutrients and kept them from the cyano, but after learning of the redfield ratio it might have been that the little amount of nitrates that was added with the DT's fueled the growth of my chaeto which helped absorb the phospate.

Then I did a water change and went on a week's vacation to find that the cyano was totally gone and the chaeto had significantly grown. Now I am adding DT's and mysis to the tank every day and my nitrates will not go above 0 and there is no sign of the cyano.

Lights also have been implicated with cyano -- make sure that your lights are fresh enough to have a high ratio of blue. Some people have found that having their light shift with aging bulbs to the redder spectrum has helped cyano grow -- when they put stronger actinic lighting in the tank that helped the cyano go away.

 

[jaydm93teg]

thanks again. so im gonna get on these water changed and see what i can get to happen