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- Oct 4, 2017
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Hi folks,
Tank was doing great but have now been battling algae for the past 3-4 wks. Had some losses since then which could be from related issues (or not?). The algae was only on the sand bed at first. I would stir the sand as part of my daily maintenance and was doing water changes every 2-3 wks. Algae slowly got worse and now is at the point that it is almost covering entire sand bed again an hour or two after sifting. However, corals and fish were all fine but it seems maybe i have made things worse trying to beat the algae (or unlucky coincedence).
Hoping i can get some advice to get back on track
System info;
Tank is IM30L (~25 gallons) and has been running for 5 months. I have marine orbit pro lights. 2 eflux powerheads; one on each end of tank. Im ghost skimmer running in back. On one side i have intank floss holder running filter floss. Other side i have filter floss/chemi pure blue/purigen in the 3 levels of the holder. I dose calc and mag every few wks based on test results. Feed frozen every day or so. Corals get reef roids once a wk. change filter floss every few wks when i empty the skimmer.
Livestock;
2 x black ocellaris
Firefish
Six spot goby
2 cleaner shrimp
Half dozen snails
Half dozen crabs
* had more CUC but seem to have lost a few
Corals;
Frogspawn
Frag of orange zoas (~15 polyps)
Green cup coral
Torch coral frag
Candy cane frags (origally 2 heads and now 5)
Few fuzzy mushrooms that came on a rock
Been sticking to basic corals and mostly small frags
Parameters; salifert test kits and refractometer
78 degrees, SG 1.026
Ammonia - 0
Calc - 450
Mag - 1300
Nitrates - ~0
Phosphates - 0 ( i think it is reading 0 or very close.)
kH - 7.7 (was 9 in dec and has slowly dropped)
Nitrite - 0
pH - 8
I started with sifting sand twice daily instead of once and did a few water changes with no changes to algae growth. Corals and fish were all happy and healthy for a few wks but then i noticed that zoas were not opening and lps werent looking as happy. The algae covers the sand within an hour of the lights being on and then proceeds to get long snotty bits that wave in the flow. By evening it starts to spread to lower rocks. I blow it off and sift sand every night. Because of the dark reddy/orange tinge and how it was thick and slimey i thought maybe cyano. Tried chemi clean and thats when problems started. Dosed the right amount and didnt see any changes. Woke up on day three to dead six spot goby and one dead cleaner shrimp. Goby had been eating fine and showed no signs of a pathogen. Other shrimp was fine. Only thing i noticed was SG was down to 1.024 after i had put some rodi in the night before. Did a 20% wc that night. No change to algae growth. Corals are looking unhappy still. Checked the parameters and got the above results. Another 20%wc two days later.
Algae is still as bad and corals are still looking not happy. Im at a loss as to next steps? Thinking of waiting and another wc and swapping chemi pure next weekend.
Only causes i can think of;
- i was feeding a bit heavier around xmas to get nutrients up. Cause of algae?
- slight swing in SG last week from 1.026 to 1.024 (is that enough to kill a goby and shrimp?)
- Alk has dropped from 9.3 to 7.7 since early dec. could that be causing any of this?
- lastly there was a power outage in mid jan where the pumps, lights and powerheads were not running for 7 hours. I manually churned water every hr during that time.
I use rodi water that i buy from a water store.
Pics of algae in below post...dinos?
Thx,
BCR
Tank was doing great but have now been battling algae for the past 3-4 wks. Had some losses since then which could be from related issues (or not?). The algae was only on the sand bed at first. I would stir the sand as part of my daily maintenance and was doing water changes every 2-3 wks. Algae slowly got worse and now is at the point that it is almost covering entire sand bed again an hour or two after sifting. However, corals and fish were all fine but it seems maybe i have made things worse trying to beat the algae (or unlucky coincedence).
Hoping i can get some advice to get back on track
System info;
Tank is IM30L (~25 gallons) and has been running for 5 months. I have marine orbit pro lights. 2 eflux powerheads; one on each end of tank. Im ghost skimmer running in back. On one side i have intank floss holder running filter floss. Other side i have filter floss/chemi pure blue/purigen in the 3 levels of the holder. I dose calc and mag every few wks based on test results. Feed frozen every day or so. Corals get reef roids once a wk. change filter floss every few wks when i empty the skimmer.
Livestock;
2 x black ocellaris
Firefish
Six spot goby
2 cleaner shrimp
Half dozen snails
Half dozen crabs
* had more CUC but seem to have lost a few
Corals;
Frogspawn
Frag of orange zoas (~15 polyps)
Green cup coral
Torch coral frag
Candy cane frags (origally 2 heads and now 5)
Few fuzzy mushrooms that came on a rock
Been sticking to basic corals and mostly small frags
Parameters; salifert test kits and refractometer
78 degrees, SG 1.026
Ammonia - 0
Calc - 450
Mag - 1300
Nitrates - ~0
Phosphates - 0 ( i think it is reading 0 or very close.)
kH - 7.7 (was 9 in dec and has slowly dropped)
Nitrite - 0
pH - 8
I started with sifting sand twice daily instead of once and did a few water changes with no changes to algae growth. Corals and fish were all happy and healthy for a few wks but then i noticed that zoas were not opening and lps werent looking as happy. The algae covers the sand within an hour of the lights being on and then proceeds to get long snotty bits that wave in the flow. By evening it starts to spread to lower rocks. I blow it off and sift sand every night. Because of the dark reddy/orange tinge and how it was thick and slimey i thought maybe cyano. Tried chemi clean and thats when problems started. Dosed the right amount and didnt see any changes. Woke up on day three to dead six spot goby and one dead cleaner shrimp. Goby had been eating fine and showed no signs of a pathogen. Other shrimp was fine. Only thing i noticed was SG was down to 1.024 after i had put some rodi in the night before. Did a 20% wc that night. No change to algae growth. Corals are looking unhappy still. Checked the parameters and got the above results. Another 20%wc two days later.
Algae is still as bad and corals are still looking not happy. Im at a loss as to next steps? Thinking of waiting and another wc and swapping chemi pure next weekend.
Only causes i can think of;
- i was feeding a bit heavier around xmas to get nutrients up. Cause of algae?
- slight swing in SG last week from 1.026 to 1.024 (is that enough to kill a goby and shrimp?)
- Alk has dropped from 9.3 to 7.7 since early dec. could that be causing any of this?
- lastly there was a power outage in mid jan where the pumps, lights and powerheads were not running for 7 hours. I manually churned water every hr during that time.
I use rodi water that i buy from a water store.
Pics of algae in below post...dinos?
Thx,
BCR
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