Need help with tank!

[Noah25]

Hello! I am a new reefer and recentlyish got this 36 gallon tank from a friend. The tank was kept in poor condition. It had so much algae you could barely see it and the nitrites and nitrates were off the charts. There was only lonely fish in there and only 5lb of live rock. I moved everything to my house, cleaned it up, and started waterchanging to get the nitrates/nitrites lower. After that was fixed I added 30LB of live rock from a local fish store (it was really cheap 5$ a LB). About a week later the cyano started growing. I was physically removing it and during this time I added coral and more fish. Now it has 2 cardinal fish, 2 clownfish, varied corals, 2 peppermint shrimp, a fire shrimp, a firetail goby, and a watchman goby. The filter is a fluval 307 canister, light is a vivispectra reef light, and 2 wave makers. After physical removal didnt work for the cyano I did chemyclean then macrobacter7 for 3 weeks afterworks. Gradually the cyano came back and also diatoms for some reason. I don't know what to do to fix it. I love my reef tank and to water changes every 2 weeks. If you have any suggestions LMK. Thank you for your time. Nitrates/Nitrites seem to be lowish and stable.

36 gallon tank.

 

[tbrown]

What are the phosphates sitting at?

 

[steveschuerger]

A few other questions- was it “live” live rock or dry rock? Looks pretty”new” . That could be a part of the equation .And don’t add anything else til it gets stabilized. That’ll just keep throwing things off. And what are the complete parameters ?

 

[Dom]

Hello! I am a new reefer and recentlyish got this 36 gallon tank from a friend. The tank was kept in poor condition. It had so much algae you could barely see it and the nitrites and nitrates were off the charts. There was only lonely fish in there and only 5lb of live rock. I moved everything to my house, cleaned it up, and started waterchanging to get the nitrates/nitrites lower. After that was fixed I added 30LB of live rock from a local fish store (it was really cheap 5$ a LB). About a week later the cyano started growing. I was physically removing it and during this time I added coral and more fish. Now it has 2 cardinal fish, 2 clownfish, varied corals, 2 peppermint shrimp, a fire shrimp, a firetail goby, and a watchman goby. The filter is a fluval 307 canister, light is a vivispectra reef light, and 2 wave makers. After physical removal didnt work for the cyano I did chemyclean then macrobacter7 for 3 weeks afterworks. Gradually the cyano came back and also diatoms for some reason. I don't know what to do to fix it. I love my reef tank and to water changes every 2 weeks. If you have any suggestions LMK. Thank you for your time. Nitrates/Nitrites seem to be lowish and stable.

36 gallon tank.

I feel you may be going too fast.

You will need to be more specific with your details. "Recentlyish" doesn't help much. Please provide a complete list of your latest water test results.

The cyano and diatoms are almost certainly a nutrient and flow problem.

ChemiClean and similar products will nuke a cyano outbreak temporarily but they don't fix the underlying cause, which is why it keeps coming back.

I feel your stocking level is heavy for a 36 gallon that's still dealing with nutrient issues. Two cardinals, two clownfish, two gobies, and three shrimp is a significant bioload.

The two gobies are also a compatibility concern. It has been my experience that bottom-dwelling species become territorial with each other in smaller tanks.

If you do water changes, they need to be 20% of the total water volume, faithful and weekly. For you, that would be 7.2 gallons weekly. Were it my tank, I'd round up to 10 gallons. It makes the math easier.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

What kind of powerheads do you have? All the algae strands are going up straight, doesn't seem to be much flow.

I would increase the water changes, do 20%-25% weekly. The canister filter does not export nutrients or dissolved organics, which is what is feeding the algae. You need to export nutrients and docs. A skimmer might help if you want to do less frequent water changes.

I see no snails in the picture, none on the glass. You need a lot more algae grazers.

It doesn't look bad overall, IMO just needs a few tweeks and in time you will get it back on track

 

[Noah25]

A few other questions- was it “live” live rock or dry rock? Looks pretty”new” . That could be a part of the equation .And don’t add anything else til it gets stabilized. That’ll just keep throwing things off. And what are the complete parameters ?

The rock was live rock not dry. I haven't added anything in a while. Tank had been running for 5 years before I got it, I've had it for five months.

Nitrites -> 0 ppm
Nitrates -> 22 ppm
Phosphates-> 1ppm (Been like this since I got it)
Ammonia -> 0 ppm

The tests are Salifert brand
Thank you.

 

[steveschuerger]

The rock was live rock not dry. I haven't added anything in a while. Tank had been running for 5 years before I got it, I've had it for five months.

Nitrites -> 0 ppm
Nitrates -> 22 ppm
Phosphates-> 1ppm (Been like this since I got it)
Ammonia -> 0 ppm

The tests are Salifert brand
Thank you.

Ah, ok. Still, the tank is more like a new one than just a move and rebuild. You added 30 lbs of rock, new sand?, and had to nuke it from orbit with the chemiclean. Did you do the water change that the instructions say after the chemiclean dosing?
Nitrates look good, phos is high but not horribly so.
I’d replace the media in the canister with rock rubble and give it a good clean every month.
Add in what Dom and Mojo said as well.

 

[Noah25]

What kind of powerheads do you have? All the algae strands are going up straight, doesn't seem to be much flow.

I would increase the water changes, do 20%-25% weekly. The canister filter does not export nutrients or dissolved organics, which is what is feeding the algae. You need to export nutrients and docs. A skimmer might help if you want to do less frequent water changes.

I see no snails in the picture, none on the glass. You need a lot more algae grazers.

It doesn't look bad overall, IMO just needs a few tweeks and in time you will get it back on track

One of the powerheads is aqueon and rated for 35-60 gallons and the other came with the tank so I have no clue.

There is 8 snails and 4 crabs. I am gonna get some more next time I go to town.

Ill try that. Thank you.

 

[Noah25]

I feel you may be going too fast.

You will need to be more specific with your details. "Recentlyish" doesn't help much. Please provide a complete list of your latest water test results.

The cyano and diatoms are almost certainly a nutrient and flow problem.

ChemiClean and similar products will nuke a cyano outbreak temporarily but they don't fix the underlying cause, which is why it keeps coming back.

I feel your stocking level is heavy for a 36 gallon that's still dealing with nutrient issues. Two cardinals, two clownfish, two gobies, and three shrimp is a significant bioload.

The two gobies are also a compatibility concern. It has been my experience that bottom-dwelling species become territorial with each other in smaller tanks.

If you do water changes, they need to be 20% of the total water volume, faithful and weekly. For you, that would be 7.2 gallons weekly. Were it my tank, I'd round up to 10 gallons. It makes the math easier.

The peppermint shrimp and fire shrimp are going in my other tank soon. The gobies have never fought before as far as I can see. Ill do more water changes.

Thank you.

 

[Noah25]

Ah, ok. Still, the tank is more like a new one than just a move and rebuild. You added 30 lbs of rock, new sand?, and had to nuke it from orbit with the chemiclean. Did you do the water change that the instructions say after the chemiclean dosing?
Nitrates look good, phos is high but not horribly so.
I’d replace the media in the canister with rock rubble and give it a good clean every month.
Add in what Dom and Mojo said as well.

No new sand, was in there when I got it. I did do the water change after the chemiclean and manually removed all the cyano I could.

I can try to do that. Thank you