Help getting ahead of some issues?

[KingCaesar]

Hello reefers!

Long story short - family got this 32 BioCube, we had a baby, hobbled this tank along, and I now have some more free time to give back to it.

I over feed a bit, mainly because I’ve heard some nutrients are better than none. I’m also using dragons breath for nutrients in the main tank and a small fuge in the middle chamber.

My corals (other than the mushroom) have all started receding and getting smaller. Not ‘melting’ - shrinking? The mushroom can’t seem to slow down. I recently increased my lighting duration to try to get the corals growing again. I had turned them way back about 6 months ago because of a bryopsis issue which I used reef flux for, and then forgot I had altered them.

GHA is now popping up everywhere, along with sponges, and some weird tube-like sponges, but they’re green (and def not vermentids).

I’ve never noticed before, but my sand bed is crawling with what I guess are copepods?

Is there a way to get things back on track before it spirals? Is this more frequent WCs? A small skimmer on the back? Thoughts?

Thanks for any help!

 

[TheSheff]

Hello reefers!

Long story short - family got this 32 BioCube, we had a baby, hobbled this tank along, and I now have some more free time to give back to it.

I over feed a bit, mainly because I’ve heard some nutrients are better than none. I’m also using dragons breath for nutrients in the main tank and a small fuge in the middle chamber.

My corals (other than the mushroom) have all started receding and getting smaller. Not ‘melting’ - shrinking? The mushroom can’t seem to slow down. I recently increased my lighting duration to try to get the corals growing again. I had turned them way back about 6 months ago because of a bryopsis issue which I used reef flux for, and then forgot I had altered them.

GHA is now popping up everywhere, along with sponges, and some weird tube-like sponges, but they’re green (and def not vermentids).

I’ve never noticed before, but my sand bed is crawling with what I guess are copepods?

Is there a way to get things back on track before it spirals? Is this more frequent WCs? A small skimmer on the back? Thoughts?

Thanks for any help!

The gha is most likely from your nutrients, can you post your parameters? I would add a skimmer and do some water changes to fix the issue.

 

[Gill the 3rd]

The tank actually looks in pretty decent shape. What are your parameters at?

 

[kevgib67]

First, for a neglected tank yours looks pretty darn good and congrats on your baby! As mentioned above, we will need all of your parameters and also your stock list other than your corals. With this information I don’t see anything that isn’t fixable.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Hello reefers!

Long story short - family got this 32 BioCube, we had a baby, hobbled this tank along, and I now have some more free time to give back to it.

I over feed a bit, mainly because I’ve heard some nutrients are better than none. I’m also using dragons breath for nutrients in the main tank and a small fuge in the middle chamber.

My corals (other than the mushroom) have all started receding and getting smaller. Not ‘melting’ - shrinking? The mushroom can’t seem to slow down. I recently increased my lighting duration to try to get the corals growing again. I had turned them way back about 6 months ago because of a bryopsis issue which I used reef flux for, and then forgot I had altered them.

GHA is now popping up everywhere, along with sponges, and some weird tube-like sponges, but they’re green (and def not vermentids).

I’ve never noticed before, but my sand bed is crawling with what I guess are copepods?

Is there a way to get things back on track before it spirals? Is this more frequent WCs? A small skimmer on the back? Thoughts?

Thanks for any help!

I think the tank looks great! I'll second what everyone else is saying and posting parameters can allow us to see what is up with your tank!

 

[jkcoral]

I agree with everyone else, your tank looks to be in good shape considering the circumstances.

Looking at your corals, I don’t see anything that would be overly sensitive to high nutrients (unless astronomically high), so the lights being substantially dialed back would make sense as the culprit.

For the algae, it doesn’t look too concerning. Nothing a couple of turbo snails couldn’t take care of quickly. I’m not sure what type of light you are running, but you might turn down (or off entirely) the green or red channels if you have them. Other than that, trimming the algae until it’s short will make sure Mexican turbos or trochus snails will mow through it.

 

[KingCaesar]

Thanks everyone for the replies!

Funny story - I went to get water from the store, talked to the guy about it, showed him the pictures, he said it was my high nutrients.

So he sold me on an arrow crab that would gladly eat all the leftovers.

Also, stop missing water changes.

Anyway - put the arrow crab in the tank and the first thing is does is find and eat every single stalk of that green algae I posted pictures of.