• Why not take a moment to introduce yourself to our members?

rachelsv650

New Reefer
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
stats: tank-25g, two years old. Lights-5050 coralife 55w 36inch hood, on 11/h a day. prizum skimmer w/limestone. fluval 304 w/2 bags of phosphate free running on high. aquaclear ref, the largest one, one live rock, curly algae. temp 78-80f. 3o pounds live rock. R/O water. no fish. 1 emerald crab, 1 sea erchant(eating everything it touches, very slowly), 10 blue legged crabs, 1 huge red leg crab, numerous turbos, mushrooms, polyps(not many, but do multiply often, exept polyps which are smothered by algae), 1 striped shrimp. use instant ocean salt mix. lights are new. bought new testers(just incase they were reading wronge)-salinity @ 1.023, ammiona 0, nitrate-5.0-10, nitrite-0, alk-240, PH-8.4. just tested.
this algae has been stocking me for over 5 months. I almost gave up after trying everything I was suggested to do. I finnally bought new lights and did a mojor cleaning and harvesting of this hairy, turf algae. and over a period of 4 days did 1/2 water change. the lights i had before were the smae but very old, over 6 months, so i thought the lights alone would cure this problem. but since that day one month ago, the algae has come back looking brighter and fuller then ever! I also have bubble algae, and in some spots under the hairy algae, some cyno. Im wanting to get some jets but im not sure where to put them since my mushrooms dont like the water movement. I usually did a 2.5g water change every week, but i was told that could be causeign the problem so i do it every two weeks now. but still nothing has changed. sometimes my ammonia is @ .25 but then is gone after the water change. I tryed getting a lawnmor blennie and he died withn a week. I have before hand tryed out a tang, and he ate all of it up, but then I gave him away since my tank is too small. so any other suggestions? oh and, sorry im making this one long, my tank is not near a window. Im not even sure a 25g fits the nano catagorie, but there seems to be no other place to put this. thanks..
 

bookfish

Advanced Reefer
Location
Norcal
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Both the elevated nitrate level and the algae problem suggest to me a dirty substrate. What is at the bottom of your tank?
 

SnowManSnow

Advanced Reefer
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
algea grows because of excess nutrients. I would run your skimmer 24 / 7 without a second thought. Maybe it will help :)
 

rachelsv650

New Reefer
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I have never had a suggestion about the substrate...I have about 1 1/2 inches of flordia crushed coral aragonite from caribsea. It is quit dirty looking. I do sift through it when I do water changes and it does give out a nasty bit of dirty water. should I add more or really give it a good sifting? As for the protien skimmer, it does run 24/7.
 

brandon4291

Advanced Reefer
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
good analysis crew, agreed totally. Rachel I'd not only clean that substrate and water change/skim more often, but if there's any practical way you can do a multifold flushing of that system I think that would really help. Meaning if you can get about 30 gallons of SW (matching all parameters like temp/pH etc) and do 100% water changes back to back...either until the water is gone or until it comes out clear from draining out of your tank (prefarably the latter) that's the way to start over clean this time. I'd also consider not using/reinstalling that substrate, as crushed coral has large gaps in between the chips that catches and holds large waste particles. It can be used, however, if you'll prevent that crud from building up. These huge water changes don't hurt my reefs at all, it's the way I've done it for 5 years as long as all the params match in the change water.

Also consider this when dealing with heavy algae infestations...have you ever bought a new plant for your freshwater tank only to have it look great for one month and then die slowly (because the system design wasn't sufficient enough to support consistent plant growth)? That's because these plants, and algae to a certain degree, house their own internal nutrient stores for times of 'hunger' and can live on them for quite some time even though your new approach may yield a cleaner system. Much of the stored internal nutrients are their own plant matrices that support the structure and assorted physical processes, they must 'eat from within' before they'll die from without! :)

Expect to see slow but long-term results from a more aggressive nutrient control program, don't give up
 

Meloco14

Advanced Reefer
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I agree, crushed coral is notorius for creating nitrate problems. I would give it a heavy, heavy cleaning, or take it out completely. I used to have that skimmer, and in all honesty it wasn't very good. Does yours produce a good amount of thick skimmate? If not it might not be doing much. On your fluval, make sure any filter pads are clean, and make sure the bags with the chemicals are clean. Do you have a phosphate test kit? Have you tested your R/O water? These algae problems are really frustrating so make sure you cover all the bases. I would turn your photoperiod down, it sounds like the corals you have wont be hurt by a reduced photoperiod. Overall you may just need to be patient. As brandon mentioned, even if your source of nutrients is gone your algae can still survive a long time. I had a terrible algae problem like yours, tried everything. In the end I gave up and let it run its course. I stopped doing water changes, limited my feeding, lowered my photoperiod, and sat back and watched. Over the course of a few months I saw a cyano breakout, then it receded and disappeared. Then I stopped paying much attention to the tank and one day I woke up and realized most of the hair algae was gone. I cleaned the glass with a razor, and pulled out the few clumps of algae left, and voila! The tank was perfectly clear! It took a few months, and it can be hard to be that patient, but it ran its course and I haven't had a problem since (knock on wood). Of course, during this time you need to make sure you pull algae off your corals, and keep your powerheads and filters clean. But I got so tired of cleaning my tank every week I just gave up. In the end it worked out. But in your case, first thing I would do is clean the crushed coral. After that, good luck! :wink:
 

rachelsv650

New Reefer
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
thanks a lot for the info, you have helped a lot! I think since my tank is small enough and i don't have much in it I can take out everything and put new substrate in. I think thats gonna make a big difference..so what substrate would you guys recommend? As for the whole 30g water change..I dont think I have the supplys for that, but I can do 15g water change at a time, but Im thinking, if I was going to change the substrate all at once should I keep to a small amount of the original water in there so it does not skock the system? And about the prizum skimmer, I know its not the greatest, but im low budget, thats why I added the limestone. It takes out some grenny, brown film, but im not sure how much so Im gonna measure that. thanks for the info.
 

brandon4291

Advanced Reefer
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
that's good you have that skimmer, it ought to work just fine but would require nice attention and replacement of the limewood as needed to keep consistent. If it's pulling out gunk, that's a good deal considering your water change availability. 15 gallons every weekend for awhile with skimming and thorough detritus removal, along w/ manual removal of systemic algae if present, is a good game plan.

You really can use whatever substrate you like including the chips, but we find coarse-to-fine sand grains on a linear scale of crud-capturing features where finer grains tend to concentrate detritus on the uppermost layer and surface, making siphon removal easier than the pocketed detritus. As long as you keep the sand clean, the closer to the original color white the better, choice of substrate is just another maintenance aspect to consider. We can see updates of your system and long about may it ought to be very well situated. Good start!
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Rachel,
If I may just add: if you'll blast your rocks with a small ph or turkey baster and let it settle before syphoning, you'll remove alot more crud with your water changes. That will help you out also.
 

rachelsv650

New Reefer
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
just thought Id update my situation....
I did as suggested with the substrate and my nitrates hit 0, finnally! I ended up harvesting most of the algae my self and got about a 1/4 of a shopping bag full! It looks a lot better, but still lots more to go!
thanx all!
heres some pics of what you dont want your tank to look like...
Picture009.jpg

Picture010.jpg

the water is cloudy cause i just did a water change

and these are right after I was done the great harvest
Picture098.jpg
 

Sponsor Reefs

We're a FREE website, and we exist because of hobbyists like YOU who help us run this community.

Click here to sponsor $10:


Top