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justinf67
11/11/2011, 12:39 AM
Okay, I am really frustrated with this hobby and need some help. I setup my tank over a year ago. 40g breeder with a 20g sump. I added an NAC 6 skimmer to the setup maybe 6 months ago. Only fish in the tank are a yellow watchman goby and two occelaris clowns. Live rock is at least 40-50 lbs. No coral now, it all died off on me.

For the last 6 months or so, my rocks grew a greenish algae and its all over now. Choked out all my coral and is even in the substrate. Looks to be a mix of byopsis and green hair algae. I took all rocks except two out into a bucket of tank water and scrubbed them with a toothbrush. It does look better, but, I still have it on the ground and in a few other spots.

I have decided I dont want to deal with coral again, I just want a fish only tank. My bioload isnt high, have a great skimmer and yet, i have nothing but problems.

What tips me over the edge is I setup a tank 36gallon for my parents, and their tank looks MUCH better than mine. They are growing coraline like crazy and fish look happy. No nuisance algae either. The lights are the same fishneedit set as mine, but I have nicer bulbs in mine. Only differences is he has sugar sized sand, while I have bigger sand, almost crushed coral. Both of us have shallow sandbeds. The other difference is he runs hang on the back filters, while I rely on my skimmer. My cleanupcrew of snails has mostly died off over the last couple months.

What can I do to get my tank back in order? I plan on adding a HOB to help get rid of detritus. what will eat the algae? buy more snails? Please help me

Beandawg
11/11/2011, 06:18 AM
You don't have a filter? Have you ever used a gravel cleaner to siphon the detritus out of your crushed coral? What tests have you done? When was the last time you changed your bulbs?

sucker_fish
11/11/2011, 07:45 AM
high phosphates maybe? could be a long light cycle. could be lack of a CUC. no mention of water changes, water params, etc. I assume you're using RODI, if so are the filters old? I would say start troubleshooting but only change one thing at a time til you find what works.

albano
11/11/2011, 07:56 AM
could be a long light cycle... no mention of water changes, water params, etc. I assume you're using RODI, if so are the filters old?
+1...are you and your parents, running same lighting schedule?...using the same water source?, same RO/DI maker? same amount of water changes? Live Rock from same supplier?
What are the differences besides sand...not sure what you mean by 'almost crushed coral'

Jocko
11/11/2011, 08:36 AM
Algae is a great problem to approach methodically and almost scientifically. It's actually great that you have your parents tank to compare to. Take what people are saying here and try to actually list out every difference you can find between your system and your parents' system. Then you can attack each, one by one. I'd recommend making one change and then giving it time to see what impact it has. This way you can be sure once you find the culprit. Whereas if you change 6 things, you'll never know which were actually the problem. Of course you may find multiple things were the cause.

How much do you feed? That's probably one of the most common contributors. I've been in that boat before. Well actually I've been in most of the boats at one time or another. Crappy lights, overfeeding, not having RO/DI, not doing enough water changes, not having a decent skimmer, etc. Eventually you'll get it. It's actually a great learning experience. Or at least you can say that later when you can look back on it. Heh.

Sk8r
11/11/2011, 09:57 AM
If you have that much algae, your water is full of phosphate. Phosphate comes from rock, sand, fishfood, and particularly from non-ro/di water.
Corals hate phosphate. They also hate nitrate. And ammonia is lethal.
I'm suspecting your sandbed as a major problem. Possibly your water. If a sandbed is too fine, it blows about and irritates corals. If it is too coarse, like crushed coral, it concretes into rock in patches alternated with empty spots that collect crud and manufacture nitrate. I prefer medium grade aragonite: Caribsea is a good brand. And having some undersand creatures like nassarius and bristleworms helps.

If you own a ro/di filter, you may have an expired cylinder. ONly a few bucks to fix, big troubles if not fixed: get a TDS meter (dissolved solids) and get a reading on your water. S/b zero.
Go back and read the You asked for it...sticky up at the top. CHeck off what you've got versus what's recommended there.

justinf67
11/11/2011, 10:00 AM
You don't have a filter? Have you ever used a gravel cleaner to siphon the detritus out of your crushed coral? What tests have you done? When was the last time you changed your bulbs?

I used to have a mechanical HOB, but took it off. used to use a filter sock, but thought that having a large skimmer in my first chamber was good for mechanical filtration. Yes, I have used a gravel siphon to clean out between the crushed coral, but havent done it in a while. I added the 2 new bulbs maybe 6 months ago, the other 2 are almost a year old. As far as tests, I had been having nitrate issues, but havent tested in a while due to high frustration level. I plan on testing the nitrates today and possibly doing a large water change. Oh, I use RO water for eveything.

high phosphates maybe? could be a long light cycle. could be lack of a CUC. no mention of water changes, water params, etc. I assume you're using RODI, if so are the filters old? I would say start troubleshooting but only change one thing at a time til you find what works.


I can assume I have high phosphates, i havent tested for it. Light cycle is kept pretty short at 6 hrs. Havent done a water change in about 1.5 months, before I was doing 20 percent every 2 weeks. RO water is obtained at reputable LFS. A large water change could only help things I guess, so I plan on a 50 percent spaced out over a few days.

+1...are you and your parents, running same lighting schedule?...using the same water source?, same RO/DI maker? same amount of water changes? Live Rock from same supplier?
What are the differences besides sand...not sure what you mean by 'almost crushed coral'

No, different light schedules, I think he runs 8 hrs. Same water source yes, the same lfs. He hasnt done a water change in a while, but, he does 5 gallon wc's once a month or so. I was doing 20g every 2 weeks. Rock is mostly the same supplier. I also gave him some LR to seed his tank when it was started. the type of sand i have is in my sig. Its a mix of different sizes. my old setup had sugar sand and i had issues with my powerheads blowing sand around, so i got this kind.

justinf67
11/11/2011, 10:12 AM
Algae is a great problem to approach methodically and almost scientifically. It's actually great that you have your parents tank to compare to. Take what people are saying here and try to actually list out every difference you can find between your system and your parents' system. Then you can attack each, one by one. I'd recommend making one change and then giving it time to see what impact it has. This way you can be sure once you find the culprit. Whereas if you change 6 things, you'll never know which were actually the problem. Of course you may find multiple things were the cause.

How much do you feed? That's probably one of the most common contributors. I've been in that boat before. Well actually I've been in most of the boats at one time or another. Crappy lights, overfeeding, not having RO/DI, not doing enough water changes, not having a decent skimmer, etc. Eventually you'll get it. It's actually a great learning experience. Or at least you can say that later when you can look back on it. Heh.

If you have that much algae, your water is full of phosphate. Phosphate comes from rock, sand, fishfood, and particularly from non-ro/di water.
Corals hate phosphate. They also hate nitrate. And ammonia is lethal.
I'm suspecting your sandbed as a major problem. Possibly your water. If a sandbed is too fine, it blows about and irritates corals. If it is too coarse, like crushed coral, it concretes into rock in patches alternated with empty spots that collect crud and manufacture nitrate. I prefer medium grade aragonite: Caribsea is a good brand. And having some undersand creatures like nassarius and bristleworms helps.

If you own a ro/di filter, you may have an expired cylinder. ONly a few bucks to fix, big troubles if not fixed: get a TDS meter (dissolved solids) and get a reading on your water. S/b zero.
Go back and read the You asked for it...sticky up at the top. CHeck off what you've got versus what's recommended there.

I feed sparingly, as I dont want to fuel the algae even more. The big difference I see is with them using a HOB, they have gotten better results. I added a HOB last night, which i hope will help with detritus buildup. I am also planning to do a large water change and test my water today