ALGAE OUT BREAK CORALS NOT DOING GOOD

[Clipsterzzz]

Hello guys! For the pay few weeks I've been having algae out breaks of many kinds. I've always had diatoms as I used tap but I switched to ro about a week or two ago. I have green algae, red algae(not slimy), Dino algae, and diatoms. I really need help on this. My torch coral tissue receded and I can see part of the skeleton, my other torch stays receded, my hammer stays wide open, gsp aren't opening now as algae is growing on it. Algae is growing everywhere on the sand glass rocks and equipment. I have a 55 gallon tank. My tank has been set up for about 7 months now. I have a reef octopus classic 100 hob protein skimmer and a Rena filstar xp2. I did a water change(5 gal) on friday using just ro to bring my salinity down and the parameters were
Friday:
Calcium: 375
Alk:7.3
Mag:1050
Salinity:1.022
Phosphate:0.1
nitrates are always high

Yesterday:
I did a water change(5 gal) yesterday as well
I went to my lfs yesterday and picked up some carbon and filter floss to run. The worker tested my water and my ph was 7.9 so I also bought a ph buffer which I will use.
I will test again today and send an update on more pictures of the tank. Also with the ph buffer my alk will rise? Will that be good with my alk(I will test for today)?
My corals haven't grown at all.
I use instant ocean salt and don't dose anything as I just have small corals. Is there anything else I should do to fix this? I read about a blackout but I'm worried for my torches as they're not doing so good.
Ps I have two ocellaruis clownfish, one melanurus wrasse, and one blue chromis.
Thank you!

 

[zachxlutz]

Hello guys! For the pay few weeks I've been having algae out breaks of many kinds. I've always had diatoms as I used tap but I switched to ro about a week or two ago. I have green algae, red algae(not slimy), Dino algae, and diatoms. I really need help on this. My torch coral tissue receded and I can see part of the skeleton, my other torch stays receded, my hammer stays wide open, gsp aren't opening now as algae is growing on it. Algae is growing everywhere on the sand glass rocks and equipment. My tank has been set up for about 7 months now. I have a reef octopus classic 100 hob protein skimmer and a Rena filstar xp2. I did a water change on friday using just ro to bring my salinity down and the parameters were
Friday:
Calcium: 375
Alk:7.3
Mag:1050
Salinity:1.022
Phosphate:0.1
Ammonia and nitrates are always high

Yesterday:
I did a water change yesterday as well
I went to my lfs yesterday and picked up some carbon and filter floss to run. The worker tested my water and my ph was 7.9 so I also bought a ph buffer which I will use.
I will test again today and send an update on more pictures of the tank. Also with the ph buffer my alk will rise? Will that be good with my alk(I will test for today)?
My corals haven't grown at all.
I use instant ocean salt and don't dose anything as I just have small corals. Is there anything else I should do to fix this? I read about a blackout but I'm worried for my torches as they're not doing so good.
Thank you!

7.9 is a perfectly fine pH. Don't dose buffer. Carbon is a great idea. You need to work on stability within your tank.

Ammonia? This shouldn't be the case in a 7 month tank. Focus on getting your tank cycled properly. Add bottled bacteria. Limit your feeding. Stop adding livestock until you get this done.

I'd do a series of large water changes, daily. Get your ammonia situation cleared up first and foremost. It sounds like you have a lot of nutrients in your tank and it's fueling the algae growth.

How big is your tank? Did you start with live rock or dry rock?

 

[Clipsterzzz]

7.9 is a perfectly fine pH. Don't dose buffer. Carbon is a great idea. You need to work on stability within your tank.

Ammonia? This shouldn't be the case in a 7 month tank. Focus on getting your tank cycled properly. Add bottled bacteria. Limit your feeding. Stop adding livestock until you get this done.

I'd do a series of large water changes, daily. Get your ammonia situation cleared up first and foremost. It sounds like you have a lot of nutrients in your tank and it's fueling the algae growth.

How big is your tank? Did you start with live rock or dry rock?

Sorry for the ammonia part in the text my ammonia is 0. I started with dry rock and live sand. I used bottled bacteria to seed. My tank is 55 gallons.

 

[zachxlutz]

Sorry for the ammonia part in the text my ammonia is 0. I started with dry rock and live sand. I used bottled bacteria to seed. My tank is 55 gallons.

Got it.
So... Nitrates - High? What does that mean?
Phosphates 0.1 or 0.01?

You need to work on getting those numbers closer to 0, but not 0.

How much do you feed daily? What sort of methods do you have in place to lower the nutrients? Do you carbon dose? How often do you do water changes and what percentage of water do you change out?

 

[Clipsterzzz]

My nitrates are probably around 20ppm last time I checked but I will recheck today and post the results.
Phosphates are around 0.1.
I feed once a day( formula 1 pellets)
To lower nutrients all I have is my equipment and water changes
I change out about 10% weekly.
I don't carbon dose I just added carbon film yesterday in my canister.

 

[Clipsterzzz]

It's been a while with these filter pads since it came from an old freshwater tank. I believe I need to change them, but I'm wondering if it will cause a cycle.

 

[Clipsterzzz]

Here are pictures. I'm starting to see green hair algae grow

 

[Clipsterzzz]

Torches now

 

[Clipsterzzz]

Here are my parameters:
Cal-370
Alk-8.3
Phosphate-0.03-0
Mag-1065
Nitrites-0

 

[zachxlutz]

Things don't look terribly bad, it looks like new tank uglies, which will fade with time. I'd keep up with a good water change schedule, manually scrubbing the rocks and adding a possible larger clean-up crew.

Stability and time are the two best things for our tanks. In the meantime, spend a bunch of time on here reading and you'll start to pick up on the intricacies of reef keeping.

 

[Clipsterzzz]

I cut down my light schedule by 3 hours. What clean up crew do you recommend? I have a melanurus wrasse so I'm worried he might try to eat some of them.

 

[Clipsterzzz]

I cut down my light schedule by 3 hours to help. What clean up crew do you recommend? I have a melanurus wrasse so I'm worried he might try to eat one of them.

 

[zachxlutz]

I cut down my light schedule by 3 hours to help. What clean up crew do you recommend? I have a melanurus wrasse so I'm worried he might try to eat one of them.

A good mix of snails/hermits should get you going in the right direction.

 

[Clipsterzzz]

A good mix of snails/hermits should get you going in the right direction.

Wouldn't the snails die if they consume the dino algae?

 

[ReefJake123]

No

 

[ReefJake123]

Try buying a coal tang they love algae

 

[ReefJake123]

And some algae fix it works good

 

[Clipsterzzz]

Would the Kole tang be fine in my 55 gallon? Also, what snails do you recommend? Turbo?

 

[zachxlutz]

Wouldn't the snails die if they consume the dino algae?

Certain strains of dinoflagellates do release toxins and could potentially kill your snails. Unless you ID under a microscope, a definitive answer isn't possible.

Try buying a coal tang they love algae

Suggesting a kole tang for a 55 may be a little bit of a stretch. It's suggested they have at least 70 gallons.

And some algae fix it works good

This is a possibility but dumping things in the tank without having an understanding of what's going on could lead to more problems in the long run.

 

[Clipsterzzz]

Okay thank you for the replies. I will stick to water changes and less light. I will see if I can buy a clean up crew sometime soon. I will keep you guys updated with pictures of the tank later today.