Tank is a disaster

[fishsheperd]

My tank is in dire need of help, I no longer know what I am supposed to do. This tank is about 6ish months old and is covered in hair algae and other algae’s. My phosphate reads at zero on my Hannah Checker, my nitrates 0-5 ppm Salifert tester. Those are the only two test kits I have.
I only feed frozen (Reef Frenzy). I put a jar of galaxy pods in monthly.
My corals are growing like crazy and all the fish seem fat and happy. I just can’t figure it out.

 

[Reefer Matt]

I don’t see many CUC. How many snails and urchins do you have?

 

[Hugster78]

I would start with a fleet of turbo snails!

 

[FUNGI]

1 sea hare.

 

[Js.Aqua.Project]

Assuming you do water changes, hit the algae with a tooth brush next time before the water change and suck it out. Repeat with each water change.

I also suggest investing in a good clean up crew (cuc) to target the algae. Most people like astreas, I prefer nerites, turbos, and ceriths (warning- the nerites can crawl out of your tank, just throw them back in). Urchins are also good but may relocate things for you. Also some algae grazing fish like start blennies and smaller tanks would help.

 

[Luis's Nano]

CUC and a toothbrush.

 

[vetteguy53081]

My tank is in dire need of help, I no longer know what I am supposed to do. This tank is about 6ish months old and is covered in hair algae and other algae’s. My phosphate reads at zero on my Hannah Checker, my nitrates 0-5 ppm Salifert tester. Those are the only two test kits I have.
I only feed frozen (Reef Frenzy). I put a jar of galaxy pods in monthly.
My corals are growing like crazy and all the fish seem fat and happy. I just can’t figure it out.

While not terrible, there is a bit of hair algae. Assure not too many hours of light, phosphate level not elevated, and are you using RODI water or tap water from Faucet? Is tank at or near a window?
For the hair algae, pull off as much as you can by hand and scrub the rest with a firm toothbrush and reduce white light intensity and number of hours of white lighting and add some snails such as :
Astrea
cerith
turbo grazer
trochus

A Pencil urchin

8-10 Caribbean blue leg hermits

 

[Js.Aqua.Project]

For your sand, a good target cuc of a sea cucumber, nassarius snails, and maybe a sand sifting sea star will help.

 

[fishsheperd]

Really appreciate all the input guys!
I recently purchased an urchin, 2 Mexican turbo snails (died after two days) 7 astrea snails, have about 5 hermits, a conch, and a cleaner shrimp.
It is a 40 gallon tank and I do 5 gallons a week. Occasionally 10 gallons.
I was looking into ordering from reef cleaners but seen people on here say they need to be quarantined. Which I do not have room for a quarantine set up unfortunately.
I also do run activated carbon and am planning on throwing in some chemipure blue once it arrives.
I also run RODI water which I filter myself and just changed the filters out about a month ago, so water is at 0.

 

[KrisReef]

Looks just like the ocean. The few additions suggested will help you get through the funky phase eventually.

 

[Katrina71]

If your corals are growing, and your fish are happy, you are 2/3 of the way. It's not as bad as you think at all.

 

[tzabor10]

My tank is in dire need of help, I no longer know what I am supposed to do. This tank is about 6ish months old and is covered in hair algae and other algae’s. My phosphate reads at zero on my Hannah Checker, my nitrates 0-5 ppm Salifert tester. Those are the only two test kits I have.
I only feed frozen (Reef Frenzy). I put a jar of galaxy pods in monthly.
My corals are growing like crazy and all the fish seem fat and happy. I just can’t figure it out.

Not a problem. Calm down. Go get blue legged hermit crabs and turbo snails. Or better yet, a TANG!!! Just remember to quarantine any fish and use an acclimation box.

 

[Reefer Matt]

Really appreciate all the input guys!
I recently purchased an urchin, 2 Mexican turbo snails (died after two days) 7 astrea snails, have about 5 hermits, a conch, and a cleaner shrimp.
It is a 40 gallon tank and I do 5 gallons a week. Occasionally 10 gallons.
I was looking into ordering from reef cleaners but seen people on here say they need to be quarantined. Which I do not have room for a quarantine set up unfortunately.
I also do run activated carbon and am planning on throwing in some chemipure blue once it arrives.
I also run RODI water which I filter myself and just changed the filters out about a month ago, so water is at 0.

Some people recommend qt for inverts. It is not a requirement however. Not saying nothing would happen, but I haven’t had an issue not qt’ing them. I have also ordered from Reef Cleaners with success. I highly suggest paying for the UPS shipping. They will come with very little water and paper towels to minimize ammonia spikes, which is weird to see at first.

 

[PotatoPig]

I was looking into ordering from reef cleaners but seen people on here say they need to be quarantined. Which I do not have room for a quarantine set up unfortunately.

Quarantine approach should be the same as inverts from your LFS, which will depend on your risk approach. If it helps, a simple 10 gallon tank with a grow light from Home Depot is plenty to QT a decent sized batch of snails and crabs, add a conch also for the sand, they’re voracious and seem to eat anything including green cyano most inverts won’t touch

 

[Patx]

40g...
Diamond goby to turn up the sand...

 

[Sump Crab]

I agree with others that manual removal will really help. Most CUC won't touch GHA if its already long. Removing the bigger globs helps the CUC eat the leftovers. The black urchins sold by Tampa Bay Saltwater are bonafide GHA eaters. I would get two of them if I were you, pencil urchins suck IME.

 

[Katrina71]

I prefer chemipure blue. No need to use that and carbon.

 

[fishsheperd]

40g...
Diamond goby to turn up the sand...

I’ve read into them. And it sounds like they like to creat a constant sandstorm? Has that been your experience?

 

[vetteguy53081]

I’ve read into them. And it sounds like they like to creat a constant sandstorm? Has that been your experience?

That they can and will do. Its the nature of a sand sifter

 

[Patx]

I’ve read into them. And it sounds like they like to creat a constant sandstorm? Has that been your experience?

Nothing bad... see in video.
Never be a problem for me...