HELP!! What should I do first?!

Jmblank1

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xxkenny90xx

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Hey welcome to the club! So what's the story on the tank?
 

xxkenny90xx

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I don't like starting over. Your live rock is still good, no need to kill it. Have you tested your water parameters? I would start with scrubbing all of the rocks, big water change, and turn the lights off for a week or so.
Any idea what's causing the algae? Poor filtration? Neglect (it happens, I get it)? Not enough flow?
 

xxkenny90xx

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How long has the tank been running for?
 

TriggersAmuck

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Cyano can often be blown away, so first question is what form of flow generation do you have on the tank? Filter? Powerheads? A single AI Nero 5 powerhead would go a long way to improving that situation. If the sand bed hasn't been cleaned in awhile, it would be good to do nearly daily sand stirring (small patches at a time) to get the detritus into the filtration where it can be removed. Eventually you will get to the point where you drop a handful of sand from the top of the tank and it will be completely clear, but it could take a couple weeks or so to get to that point. (That depends on having good mechanical filtration available). What type of filtration or skimming (physical filtration) is on the system? Sump socks? Changing socks and cleaning the rim of the skimmer daily will go a long way (and doesn't really take much time if you have a full set of socks you can run through) to minimizing Nitrate production. If you don't use socks (or have a sump, as is the case on my nano), even a hang on back filter can be treated in the same way: I rinse the inlet sponges (at the ends of the tube) daily, as it only takes a couple of minutes and really keeps the crud out of the water column where it would decompose to Nitrate.

What is your feeding schedule like? You can drop back to every two to three days if necessary, and be sparing. Any corals or just the one fish? How frequent and large are the water changes? Any clean up crew of snails, etc?

Even if you want to really start from a clean slate, it would be good to put some of the equipment and practices into place from above, and if you are going to do that, you might as well try to revive the current system. Maybe get some fresh live rock in there with good purple Coraline growth on it. Start testing alkalinity, calcium, and magnesium to try to maintain higher stable levels to promote Coraline and such with hand dosed two part dosing (three part if including magnesium). If you are willing to do large enough water changes (like 20+ gallons a week) you might be able to get by without the dosing.

And on another point, what type of lights are you using and what type of lighting schedule? (And spectrum if it is adjustable?). I know I asked a lot of questions, and you don't have to try to deal with all of these items at once, but it goes to show there are things that can be done to give a good shot at a nice looking tank.

Additional items possibly: activated carbon and granular ferric oxide (GFO, e.g. Rowaphos) in an inexpensive reactor. Also, anytime you do a water change, use a powerhead (which I also use for pumping fresh seawater back into the system) or a turkey baster to blast the rock to get detritus into the water column to be removed by the change or by the filter. Healthy rock maintenance!

After that, if you can promote carpeting growths of mushrooms, zoads, green star polyp (talk about a weed!) over much of the rock area, it will out compete the algae in those areas.
 
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Jmblank1

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Cyano can often be blown away, so first question is what form of flow generation do you have on the tank? Filter? Powerheads? A single AI Nero 5 powerhead would go a long way to improving that situation. If the sand bed hasn't been cleaned in awhile, it would be good to do nearly daily sand stirring (small patches at a time) to get the detritus into the filtration where it can be removed. Eventually you will get to the point where you drop a handful of sand from the top of the tank and it will be completely clear, but it could take a couple weeks or so to get to that point. (That depends on having good mechanical filtration available). What type of filtration or skimming (physical filtration) is on the system? Sump socks? Changing socks and cleaning the rim of the skimmer daily will go a long way (and doesn't really take much time if you have a full set of socks you can run through) to minimizing Nitrate production. If you don't use socks (or have a sump, as is the case on my nano), even a hang on back filter can be treated in the same way: I rinse the inlet sponges (at the ends of the tube) daily, as it only takes a couple of minutes and really keeps the crud out of the water column where it would decompose to Nitrate.

What is your feeding schedule like? You can drop back to every two to three days if necessary, and be sparing. Any corals or just the one fish? How frequent and large are the water changes? Any clean up crew of snails, etc?

Even if you want to really start from a clean slate, it would be good to put some of the equipment and practices into place from above, and if you are going to do that, you might as well try to revive the current system. Maybe get some fresh live rock in there with good purple Coraline growth on it. Start testing alkalinity, calcium, and magnesium to try to maintain higher stable levels to promote Coraline and such with hand dosed two part dosing (three part if including magnesium). If you are willing to do large enough water changes (like 20+ gallons a week) you might be able to get by without the dosing.

And on another point, what type of lights are you using and what type of lighting schedule? (And spectrum if it is adjustable?). I know I asked a lot of questions, and you don't have to try to deal with all of these items at once, but it goes to show there are things that can be done to give a good shot at a nice looking tank.

Additional items possibly: activated carbon and granular ferric oxide (GFO, e.g. Rowaphos) in an inexpensive reactor. Also, anytime you do a water change, use a powerhead (which I also use for pumping fresh seawater back into the system) or a turkey baster to blast the rock to get detritus into the water column to be removed by the change or by the filter. Healthy rock maintenance!

After that, if you can promote carpeting growths of mushrooms, zoads, green star polyp (talk about a weed!) over much of the rock area, it will out compete the algae in those areas.
It is a 29 gallon tank with a fluval 306 cannister filter, I managed to get a large amount of Algae out of the tank by stirring the tank up and scooping with a large net, i cleaned the intake of the filter and now have much more water flow, I cleaned all the glass and stirred up the bottom again and it already looks a lot better. By the way the crazy algae did not start until I started using pellet food instead of frozen shrimp, the pellet food is out!
 

Sleeping Giant

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It is a 29 gallon tank with a fluval 306 cannister filter, I managed to get a large amount of Algae out of the tank by stirring the tank up and scooping with a large net, i cleaned the intake of the filter and now have much more water flow, I cleaned all the glass and stirred up the bottom again and it already looks a lot better. By the way the crazy algae did not start until I started using pellet food instead of frozen shrimp, the pellet food is out!
Are you using a skimmer?
 
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Jmblank1

Jmblank1

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Good evening, the skimmer I received used was way too big for my 29 gallon tank, I decided not to go with, what I did do, I replaced the carbon and polishing pads in my filter, (I did not touch the foam or ceramic rings) took out my rock and hosed it all off, took out loads of algae, and there is still more, also a 25% water change, I am going to spend the next few days removing algae and cleaning, d
IMG_2713.jpg
o another water change, while the water is out, I will put back the rock and then top it off with fresh marine
IMG_2712.jpg
water.
 

Sleeping Giant

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Remember to remove the algae from the intake, pull the bottom right off and clean the ball and chamber. Leave the algae on it while you remove it and throw the algae in the trash
 

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