General Tank Advice Needed Please!

[Emvy]

Hello all,

I am in need of some guidance on how to proceed with our tank.

A little background: tank has been running since Jan (6 month baby tank). Cycled, qt some fish and had them in for about a month before they died in May to what I though may be toxicity from a Dino outbreak (we were away on vacation, that’s when it always happens eh?) Left the tank fallow (and still is) aside from the coral and snails that we introduced about 6 weeks into the fallow period.

Come to today, there is algae growing throughout and the tank just doesn’t seem lively. Aside from the one Duncan the corals don’t seem to be thriving. The algae is growing on my torch and others, yada yada. So,

Tank params:

Salinity: 1.026
Alkalinity: 7.5 dKH
Phosphate: 0.02ppm
Calcium: 409ppm
Nitrate: undetectable

***one week ago
Alk: 6.8dKH
Phos: 0.04 ppm
Calcium: 502ppm

Just got new fish that start Copper treatment today, so I’m still roughly 45 days away from introducing fish. I guess my question is, if this were your tank what would you do next? Try to raise nitrates by feeding the tank? Manually remove the ?hair algae? Run a UV at night? Buy a magnesium Hanna checker (lol).

Side note, this is our first run in the hobby and had no prev experience with fish tanks. Any and all advice is appreciated. Thanks for sticking with me.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

My first impression is that you need more flow in the tank. What do you have for flow, and also what filtration equipment do you have? do you use rodi or tap water? Thanks for more info.

 

[ThisIsTheWay]

I would start with feeding the tank to bring phosphates and nitrates up a little. I’m not sure what test kit you’re using but 0.02 is close enough to 0 I’d consider it bottomed out.
I had a really bad outbreak of I think cyano when my PO4 bottomed out in my tank about a year ago. I think it can also cause a Dino outbreak like you have.

For the green hair algae, that’s just part of the tank maturing and even once the tank is mature I personally consider a small amount of algae to be normal/acceptable.
To help, you could get a couple pitho crabs who would love to munch on that.

Other than that, your alk looks good so I’d just try and work on keeping it stable.

 

[Emvy]

I would start with feeding the tank to bring phosphates and nitrates up a little. I’m not sure what test kit you’re using but 0.02 is close enough to 0 I’d consider it bottomed out.
I had a really bad outbreak of I think cyano when my PO4 bottomed out in my tank about a year ago. I think it can also cause a Dino outbreak like you have.

For the green hair algae, that’s just part of the tank maturing and even once the tank is mature I personally consider a small amount of algae to be normal/acceptable.
To help, you could get a couple pitho crabs who would love to munch on that.

Other than that, your alk looks good so I’d just try and work on keeping it stable.

All tests done with Hanna checkers besides nitrate as I have the money to collect them (lol). But thank you for the input!

 

[Emvy]

My first impression is that you need more flow in the tank. What do you have for flow, and also what filtration equipment do you have? do you use rodi or tap water? Thanks for more info.

Sorry I forgot to mention it’s an AIO 40gal breeder from innovative marine. Flow comes from the water pump outlets, don’t have a power head at the moment. Some bio balls, carbon and gfo. RODI water putting out 1ppm tds currently.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I would say flow is a big part of the problem. Detritus settles and builds, promoting bad bacteria and algae growth. My 40 breeder has 2 gyres plus the return, which is overkill, but a pair of powerheads will really help. Also, when you do water changes, use a turkey baster to blast the rocks and try to siphon as much detritus as you can ( in addition to manual algae removal ). I don't know if you have a skimmer, but a skimmer will also help remove dissolved organics which are also contributing to the algae.

 

[ThisIsTheWay]

All tests done with Hanna checkers besides nitrate as I have the money to collect them (lol). But thank you for the input!

Nice, I actually wondered if it was a Hanna checked because of the 0.02. If I recall correctly I've seen discussion around readings at very low levels and how it may display 0.02 even if it’s actually 0 due to the accuracy of +-0.02.