Need help please!!

[Jdavis8824]

I have a nano innovative marine 20g tank. It's been running for 8 months. Started out with dry rock. I have 2 clowns and a few crabs and snails. For the last 2 1/2 months I have had a light brown algae taking over my tank. I've added a reactor with rowa that I have to keep in panty hose in the reactor bc it's too strong. Added that 1 1/2 month ago. I cut feedings down to once a day or two and only a few pellets to make sure they eat all of it. My phosphates were at 0.36 but I got them down too 0.6 after I added the rowa awhile back. Also have a protein skimmer, chemi pure elite, and purigen. I do 2.5g water change weekly and brush the rocks but it grows right back. Very fuzzy looking stuff. Some of my snails died recently. I use rodi, that has no phosphates. This last week the light brown algae grew very quickly. Oh and I cut my light down and to 7 hours a day, 3 of which are reduced. What else can I do and what am I doing wrong. Please help I'm tired of this problem already and want to solve it as quick as possible. It should be slowing down by now but just speed up a little over the last week. Thanks

[shifty51008]

If your phosphates were at .36 and are now .6 they are going up. With phosphates that high your phosphate media will need to be changed out daily.

Where did you get the rock? Some dry rock can leach phosphates for a while.

[archmod]

Agreed, depending on where your dry rock originated from it could be leeching phosphates...many threads about this. However, .6 is really high. Should be around .03 to .06. Are you sure you are not reading .06? If you are reading .6 then I doubt your issue is in the rocks. Do a few large water changes and up your GFO to bring it down but you need to figure out the cause of the problem. You say feeding once a day but how much?

[Jdavis8824]

Yea I meant 0.06. I have mini pellets that I feed about 3-4 for each of my 2 fish. I drop them 2 at a time to make sure they eat them before they sink. And I figured my rocks where leaching phosphates but I thought that the problem would of improved a little by now. I used a lot more rowa then suggested and change it every two weeks at first. Then the rowa in there has been in there for 3 weeks now. I had Dino's growing on the sand and 3 days lights off fixed that a month ago but now there back. I did have a few snails die this last week. So that could be part of the problem. I did 5g water changes 3 of the last 6 weekly water changes, other three were 2.5g. Should I wait longer for this to play out or what do I do?

[Jdavis8824]

I did everything I could to solve the problem that I could think of. I lowered the intensity and amount of time of my lights. I stop feeding coral mysis and reef energy, I cut down feedings, and I added some more snails (cerith and torchus), and clean all equipment and replace all media and added rowa 2-3 times the recommended amount. I'm kinda outta options at this point. Cal, mag, and alk are ok. Temp 78, salinity 1.026. Not putting in any supplements, coral food, or plankton. All my media is in panty hose because I can't find small media bags that can hold rowa or chemipure. The panty hose could be restricting flow threw the media but it's hard to tell. Any other ideas of what I could use. Rowa or gfo gets washed out of my reactor because the flow is too strong. It's a innovative marine minimax

[shifty51008]

Your doing everything good but gfo can get saturated within a few hours depending on how much phosphates you have so even though your useing 2-3 times the ammount with to much phosphates it wont be pulling any more out after 24 hours.

To fix the flow in your media reactor add a ball valve to your hose so you can control the flow

[Jdavis8824]

There isn't a hose on the reactor. It's a all in one. Water enters from the bottom straight through the media. I tried adding panty hose between the bottom sponges but it clogs after just one day from all the algae going through it.

[shifty51008]

Sorry never saw that reactor before, but just watched a video on it and you are able to adjust the water flow of the reactor by turning the top. Just trying to help you get it working as a reactor works so much better than just a media bag

[archmod]

What test kit are you using to test the phosphate? Also you have been running the tank for 8 months but this didn't start until 2 1/2 months ago? I want to think it is the rocks but if it was your problems would probably have started sooner than that. Like Shifty said, get you Rowa/GFO working right and it could help. Other than that you seem to be doing what you can. Do you have any corals in there?

[Jdavis8824]

Thanks for all the help guys. I do know about the flow adjustment, by spinning the top. But the flow is harder to get just right and if I do get the flow to an ok level then it clogs in 3 days from the brown algae plugging up the tiny holes in the bottom where the water flows through. It's not the best reactor and I should of bought an outta of tank one with hoses. If I keep the flow a little higher all my media is gone into the tank after a few days. I played around with it a lot and panty hose is all that works now. But I could use something a little more pourus. Panty hose is too think and holes are very tiny

[archmod]

I use the PhosBan 150 reactor from Two Little Fishies. Works great and pretty cheap.

[Isaacs55]

Let me just say its definitely not your rocks. theres been a huge debate over weather dry rock leaches phosphfate or not. I will say that it depends on the rock. Reef saver dry rock from brs and Marcorocks.com are mined from the same place. Pukani dry rock has loads of phosphates and definitely needs to be cured. So in your case you said the phosphate issue has just started a couple months ago. Po4 isnt something you try and fix when you start seeing more. you have to manage it from the start when you first set up your tank. At 8 months with a lot of phosphates its most likely bad husbandry or your tank is still new and going through some algea stages still. a mature tank will have an algea stage but go away relatively quickly. just give it time...continue your water changes and keep the phosphates down. i would also suggest a reactor of some sort and GFO. But like I said GFO is something you start at the beginning not after the fact you algae. but every bit counts. good luck

[Isaacs55]

I use the PhosBan 150 reactor from Two Little Fishies. Works great and pretty cheap.

+1 thats a good buy
just add some good GFO from bulkreefsupply.com
I would get a good test kit for nitrate and Po4s
also what are some details of your tank

[archmod]

+1 thats a good buy
just add some good GFO from bulkreefsupply.com
I would get a good test kit for nitrate and Po4s
also what are some details of your tank

Agreed. What he is getting at is fix the problem causing the high phosphates and then it's all about preventative maintenance. Two questions

1. What test kit are you using...hopefully a good one
2. Do you have any corals or plan to keep any?

Reason I ask about the corals is that they need some phosphate/nitrate to stay healthy. GFO can deplete phosphate in the water column quickly. You will need a good test kit to make sure you are not at 0....but pretty close, they don't need much. If you are going fish only...have at it and drop the numbers to 0.

Also make sure you have a good clean up crew.

[Jdavis8824]

I believe what I have is pukani dry rock I got from my LFS. After 5 months my tank was completely free of algae and I was thinking it was too clean that I started adding some pythofeast once a week, and just a small amount because I had no phosphates at all. And I did feed 2 times a day plus reef energy 2 times a week. Then all of the sudden I got brown algae everywhere over 2 months ago. I get my water checked from my LFS which use salfiert and a Hannah checker for the phosphates. I've been getting those checked every three weeks when I get water from there. I do have corals but every since this issue the growth has slowed. I've made a lot of changes in feeding, filtration, and lighting but I have always keep up with water changes and equipment cleaning and changing. I guess I do need to give it some time and change out my rowa more often. I will get another reactor soon but I just spent 100 on this one and I'm moving in 2 months and getting a new stand. Also want to put new live rock in there as my aquascape sucked. My first time. And I don't want to put this rock back in there.

[dustinkimpel]

I honestly don't feel like you need a reactor in a 20g tank.... Have you checked your water for phosphates before you ever add it to the tank? It sounds like you have, either your sand, rock or water is the reason behind your phosphate problem. I'd put my focus/money on removing the source of the phosphate.

[CStrickland]

your rocks can absorb phos out of dirty water in your tank just like they do from the ocean or the ground, after a while they get full and algae blooms happen. It's similar to "old tank syndrome" people used to have when they used deep sand beds. I think thats what youre seeing

im with dustin on the reactor, gfo isn't a magic bullet. but since you already have it, might as well use it. it sounds like you spiked phos by overdoing the coral food (which is also a very nice algae food). so i would just stop doing that, keep running gfo, use pure water, and manually remove as much stuff as you can. eventually it will soak out the same way it soaked in.

What kind of coral do you have? there might be a better way to feed them, or it might not be necessary.

PS i think you'd know if you had pukani, its expensive and looks different

[Jdavis8824]

It's a very pourus rock. Round not flat but holes about the size of a dime runs all through it. I have mostly LPS. Acans, Zoas, polyps, hammer, frogspawn, and a few others. Did did check my phosphates and they where very high 0.36 but have gone down to 0.06 since I've added the rowa. Going to get it checked again tomorrow. 0.06 reading was from 3 weeks ago. I don't know where the problem is if it's still there.... I changed a lot of stuff that could be causing it as I explained above but the problem hasn't improved any after 2 1/2 months of the changes I've made. I think my rowa is getting depleted quickly. I did find some better filter bags from pets mart yesterday that should work better the the panty hose which is what all my media is in, including rowa and chemipure. Also I'm at a lost for why half of my snails died this last week..... 3 of my torchus died and I had 5 cerith and I know at least 2 died but they stay in the sand mostly so it's hard to tell how many are left. I have 5 blue hermits, 1 emarld, 3 torchus and 2 nassarius snails left. Plus maybe some cerith that could still be alive

[Jdavis8824]

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[Jdavis8824]

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[CStrickland]

Acans, Zoas, polyps, hammer, frogspawn, and a few others.
these don't need to be fed, but you can target feed hammers and frogspawn and acans with smaller pieces of fishfood if you want.

are you flipping the trochus rightside up if the land on their backs? theyll stay there forever and starve if you dont. the crabs might be killing the ceriths for their shells, you can buy extra shells to help with that. the snails might just be a coincidence, but they are sensitive to ammonia so it could also be a little spike from the first one that died.

are those pics recent? it doesnt look so bad

[Jdavis8824]

Those are pics a just took. I brush the rocks weekly and just did so 2 days ago. They get that brown fluffy stuff very quickly and covers everything if I don't brush every week. The ammonia spike could be the reason why. Only thing I can think of right now. I did feed only the frogspawn and acans mysis but I stopped after this aglae broke out. The snails do a good job flipping themselves back. I've never seen them upside down but a couple of times and they right themselves immediately. I'm going to get some more rowa tomorrow to try to keep the phosphates down til this starve itself out.

[dustinkimpel]

Those are pics a just took. I brush the rocks weekly and just did so 2 days ago. They get that brown fluffy stuff very quickly and covers everything if I don't brush every week. The ammonia spike could be the reason why. Only thing I can think of right now. I did feed only the frogspawn and acans mysis but I stopped after this aglae broke out. The snails do a good job flipping themselves back. I've never seen them upside down but a couple of times and they right themselves immediately. I'm going to get some more rowa tomorrow to try to keep the phosphates down til this starve itself out.

woah woah woah... I cant tell from the pics but you might have a dino problem my friend.... are those air bubbles in the suspicious algea you are getting? Look up dino in reef tank... their is a new thread on this forum under chemistry page in which I have personally dealt with. Like I said can't tell from the pics but you might want to check it out before you do anything else...

[dustinkimpel]

BTW dino is toxic to snails.

[Jdavis8824]

I don't think it's Dino's. I know about those and I had a little on the sandbed right before I did a water change but it only lasted 2 days and was gone. Dino's are darker, slimy and more hairy. This is more of a light brown fluffy dust. I'm thinking diatoms. Those aren't bubbles it's sand from when I blow off the rocks. There were air bubbles a while ago before I added the reactor but since disappeared after lights out for 3 days a couple of months ago.