Too many fish?

[Fish Fan]

OP has several threads and already been stated that its not a very efficient skimmer

I didn't have the heart to say it here, but I cannot imagine that's an effective skimmer. Though I have zero experience with that filter.

Oh I misunderstood, I thought it was the seachem one at first glance

I thought the same thing. And I've seen newer reefers confuse a "surface skimming attachment" with a "protein skimmer".

 

[Fish Fan]

If I were the OP, I'd abandon that HOB in favor of the largest Hagan/Fluval AquaClear HOB I could fit, then I'd look for media baskets and/or 'fuge mods. In my very non-expert opinion, these AC HOB's are the best HOB available, and that includes the very popular SeaChem Tidals, which I have also owned and used. Just my $0.02.

 

[BeanAnimal]

You have multiple threads open and all kinds of problems that are compounding. People are telling you to buy filters, and uv, and skimmers, and do water changes and buy clean up crews and everything else under the sun.

Let's take a step back here and try to get your tank sorted out so that you can enjoy it instead of fighting with it.

Please - don't start any new threads until you are all sorted out. It is just creating all kinds of confusion and triggering partial or bad advice because nobody has the big picture.

So please - take 30 minutes and create a post that describes your entire system and everything that you have done to get to this point.

Don't buy anything yet. Don't add any new livestock. Don't dump anything new into the tank....

Tank history
Problems
What you tried to do to fix those problems
Livestock
How much rock
Where did it come from
How much sand
ALL Parameters
Test Kit Brands
How much and what are you feeding how often

More tank photos please also. We need to see everything. Water level, filters, rock, etc.
etc.

You said phosphate of "8" - eight what?

And yes - you have an algae bloom (likely a phytoplankton of some kind). But before we tackle that we need to figure out what the heck you are doing that created it.


Everyone else - for the sake of sanity please stop slinging advice at her until we have an idea of what is actually happening. She is new and absolutely buried in it already.

 

[Fish Fan]

You have multiple threads open and all kinds of problems that are compounding. People are telling you to buy filters, and uv, and skimmers, and do water changes and by clean up crews and everything else under the sun.

Let's take a step back here and try to get your tank sorted out.

Please - don't start any new threads until you are all sorted out. It is just creating all kinds of confusion and triggering partial or bad advice because nobody has the big picture.

So please - take 30 minutes and create a post that describes your entire system and everything that you have done to get to this point.

Don't buy anything yet. Don't add any new livestock. Don't dump anything new into the tank....

Tank history.
Problems.
What you tried to do to fix those problems.
Livestock.
How much rock.
ALL Parameters.
Test Kit Brands
etc.

You said phosphate of "8" - eight what?


Everyone else - for the sake of sanity please stop slinging advice at her until we have an idea of what is actually happening. She is absolutely buried in it already.

Sound advice! I'd recommend to the OP that you listen to this reefer.

You have multiple threads open and all kinds of problems that are compounding. People are telling you to buy filters, and uv, and skimmers, and do water changes and by clean up crews and everything else under the sun.

Let's take a step back here and try to get your tank sorted out.

Please - don't start any new threads until you are all sorted out. It is just creating all kinds of confusion and triggering partial or bad advice because nobody has the big picture.

Everyone else - for the sake of sanity please stop slinging advice at her until we have an idea of what is actually happening. She is absolutely buried in it already.

^For sure! I didn't realize the OP was having so much trouble, and I'm the last one to try to confuse things.

Thanks for your help here!

 

[Gumbies R Us]

My tank is in the living room next to. The tv, there is a LARGE window in that room, its probably like 10 feet from the window in the corner. Just started using ro/di water yesterday. I was using tap this whole time and never had an issue, but I moved to a different town in my state recently and I've just heard nothing good about the water my whole life here in this state so I plan on purchasing a filtration system for ro water. My phosphate level as of yesterday when I tested it. Was between like 8 and 8.2. Right now i do use the API master reef and saltwater tank tester kits and i know it's not ideal but its all I got right now.

I’m wondering if using tap water caused issues with algae bloom. Good for you swapping to RO water!

Also listen to @BeanAnimal advice. He has been doing this for a long time and his questions can help us better understand your tank and how to fix it.

 

[littlefoxx]

What is going on??? I did a water change last night because my water was green, and it's STILL green. Like worse. Weirdly enough, I just got a clownfish to go with my other one and it happened to be around the same time that my water turned green, maybe like 3-4 days ago. Do I have too many fish? I have a 20 gallon hexagon tall tank and it has 4 fish, a pistol shrimp, maybe like 8-10 hermits, a conch, anenome, and about 6 snails... am I over loading my tank??

A uv helped me with that issue. Do you have a place for media? That also might help

 

[littlefoxx]

You have multiple threads open and all kinds of problems that are compounding. People are telling you to buy filters, and uv, and skimmers, and do water changes and buy clean up crews and everything else under the sun.

Let's take a step back here and try to get your tank sorted out so that you can enjoy it instead of fighting with it.

Please - don't start any new threads until you are all sorted out. It is just creating all kinds of confusion and triggering partial or bad advice because nobody has the big picture.

So please - take 30 minutes and create a post that describes your entire system and everything that you have done to get to this point.

Don't buy anything yet. Don't add any new livestock. Don't dump anything new into the tank....

Tank history
Problems
What you tried to do to fix those problems
Livestock
How much rock
Where did it come from
How much sand
ALL Parameters
Test Kit Brands
How much and what are you feeding how often

More tank photos please also. We need to see everything. Water level, filters, rock, etc.
etc.

You said phosphate of "8" - eight what?

And yes - you have an algae bloom (likely a phytoplankton of some kind). But before we tackle that we need to figure out what the heck you are doing that created it.


Everyone else - for the sake of sanity please stop slinging advice at her until we have an idea of what is actually happening. She is new and absolutely buried in it already.

Oh wow. Sorry bean I didnt see that before I posted. Yeah OP I would follow his advice and make a complete post like he says

 

[BeanAnimal]

Oh wow. Sorry bean I didnt see that before I posted. Yeah OP I would follow his advice and make a complete post like he says

It doesn’t matter.

I have tried to help in two or three threads, asking for her to provide us full information so that we can help get her problems fully sorted out.

She does not follow through and instead just posts a new threads with new problems and the mess appears to get bigger.

Only so much any of us can do when we don't have all of the needed information.

In this case, she likely need to buy or borrow a small UV to get rid of the algae bloom, but the concerning part is what caused it. Given bits and pieces from the other threads, overstocking, over feeding and lack of filtration and whatever other questionable advice (based on lack of info) has been followed.

 

[twentyleagues]

I just want to say phosphates at 8? wow! Not .08? yup that may cause some issues.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

My tank is in the living room next to. The tv, there is a LARGE window in that room, its probably like 10 feet from the window in the corner. Just started using ro/di water yesterday. I was using tap this whole time and never had an issue, but I moved to a different town in my state recently and I've just heard nothing good about the water my whole life here in this state so I plan on purchasing a filtration system for ro water. My phosphate level as of yesterday when I tested it. Was between like 8 and 8.2. Right now i do use the API master reef and saltwater tank tester kits and i know it's not ideal but its all I got right now.

8 for phosphate? that is extremely high

 

[Yesevil123]

You have multiple threads open and all kinds of problems that are compounding. People are telling you to buy filters, and uv, and skimmers, and do water changes and buy clean up crews and everything else under the sun.

Let's take a step back here and try to get your tank sorted out so that you can enjoy it instead of fighting with it.

Please - don't start any new threads until you are all sorted out. It is just creating all kinds of confusion and triggering partial or bad advice because nobody has the big picture.

So please - take 30 minutes and create a post that describes your entire system and everything that you have done to get to this point.

Don't buy anything yet. Don't add any new livestock. Don't dump anything new into the tank....

Tank history
Problems
What you tried to do to fix those problems
Livestock
How much rock
Where did it come from
How much sand
ALL Parameters
Test Kit Brands
How much and what are you feeding how often

More tank photos please also. We need to see everything. Water level, filters, rock, etc.
etc.

You said phosphate of "8" - eight what?

And yes - you have an algae bloom (likely a phytoplankton of some kind). But before we tackle that we need to figure out what the heck you are doing that created it. A


Everyone else - for the sake of sanity please stop slinging advice at her until we have an idea of what is actually happening. She is new and absolutely buried in it already.q

Okay, so I've been doing saltwater tank stuff for 3-4 years. My 13 gallon did excellent, my other 3 tanks i had, not so much, so I ditched them and just stuck with the 13. I Never had any issues until now. I upgraded it to a 20 gallon because I got the tank for like 10 bucks with stuff included for a freshwater tank. So, I did what i usually did got a skimmer and a filter. I didn't know coralife made a 2 in one filter, and the tank is awkward and I have 6 cats so I need a cover for it regardless. So I set that filter up. No issues for like 3 weeks. Now, the tanks water is turning green. Even after an 80% water change. I do plan on getting a uv sterilizer, and a new filter. I like having protein skimmers, I've always used one on my small tanks. It just that the tanks a hexagon. My 13 gallon was over taken but GSP so I started fresh in a sense. But with the same water and creatures that were already in it. I have about 2 and a 1/2 live rocks, 2 clowns, mandarin goby, like 4 or 5 snails, some hermits, a pistol shrimp, and a watchman goby, along with an anenome and some emerald crabs. Maybe 1 or 2, and a tuxedo urchin. I have tried a few water changes and I started using RO water instead of tap because I was reading about a lot of different stuff. I have about maybe 2 1/2 inches of sand. I don't feed often but I feed enough when it comes time to feed. I haven't added anything new in my tank since I added the new clown that I got. This is when the water started to turn green. So I figured maybe too much livestock? My 13 gallon only have 3 fish at the time and the same things in it. Never had an algae bloom before. The kits I use are the API master and reef testing kits. I also have 3 other test kits for calcium, magnesium, and maybe dKh, i can't think of which one at the moment, but I have a hard time understanding the directions and how to figure it out so I havent used them.

Now, the pH level was 8-8.2. I miss labeled that. But I'll send my parameters over later. I have to test my tank anyways.

my live rocks is from one of my other tanks I had previously. And I usually get my fish and corals and inverts from LFS.

Feeding, i also only feed like 3 times a week. I defrost it in a baggy with saltwater and leave it in the tank until it's ready to be served. I only ever had little bits at a time. I use frozen and sometimes flakes, pellets, or seaweed. Depends honestly.

I also have a hard time with dosing out my "chemicals" per say, i never know how often, or when, and how much. So i just do it when i change the water or when I add in new things. I'm at loss right now. I've never had a problem. And always did it the same way, but now, its just falling apart. And I'm stuck.

The water turned GREEN again today 11/4, when it wasn't last night. I had the lights off all day yesterday but I put the night time light on before I went to bed.

I'll also attach photos when I get home from work as well. I do want to mention that I am a vet tech, I have some knowledge but not too much in a sense. I mentioned this because I have a bunch of people i work with who have fresh water tanks. Any help or advice would be appreciated along with different links and stuff i should buy.

 

[littlefoxx]

Okay, so I've been doing saltwater tank stuff for 3-4 years. My 13 gallon did excellent, my other 3 tanks i had, not so much, so I ditched them and just stuck with the 13. I Never had any issues until now. I upgraded it to a 20 gallon because I got the tank for like 10 bucks with stuff included for a freshwater tank. So, I did what i usually did got a skimmer and a filter. I didn't know coralife made a 2 in one filter, and the tank is awkward and I have 6 cats so I need a cover for it regardless. So I set that filter up. No issues for like 3 weeks. Now, the tanks water is turning green. Even after an 80% water change. I do plan on getting a uv sterilizer, and a new filter. I like having protein skimmers, I've always used one on my small tanks. It just that the tanks a hexagon. My 13 gallon was over taken but GSP so I started fresh in a sense. But with the same water and creatures that were already in it. I have about 2 and a 1/2 live rocks, 2 clowns, mandarin goby, like 4 or 5 snails, some hermits, a pistol shrimp, and a watchman goby, along with an anenome and some emerald crabs. Maybe 1 or 2, and a tuxedo urchin. I have tried a few water changes and I started using RO water instead of tap because I was reading about a lot of different stuff. I have about maybe 2 1/2 inches of sand. I don't feed often but I feed enough when it comes time to feed. I haven't added anything new in my tank since I added the new clown that I got. This is when the water started to turn green. So I figured maybe too much livestock? My 13 gallon only have 3 fish at the time and the same things in it. Never had an algae bloom before. The kits I use are the API master and reef testing kits. I also have 3 other test kits for calcium, magnesium, and maybe dKh, i can't think of which one at the moment, but I have a hard time understanding the directions and how to figure it out so I havent used them.

Now, the pH level was 8-8.2. I miss labeled that. But I'll send my parameters over later. I have to test my tank anyways.

my live rocks is from one of my other tanks I had previously. And I usually get my fish and corals and inverts from LFS.

Feeding, i also only feed like 3 times a week. I defrost it in a baggy with saltwater and leave it in the tank until it's ready to be served. I only ever had little bits at a time. I use frozen and sometimes flakes, pellets, or seaweed. Depends honestly.

I also have a hard time with dosing out my "chemicals" per say, i never know how often, or when, and how much. So i just do it when i change the water or when I add in new things. I'm at loss right now. I've never had a problem. And always did it the same way, but now, its just falling apart. And I'm stuck.

The water turned GREEN again today 11/4, when it wasn't last night. I had the lights off all day yesterday but I put the night time light on before I went to bed.

I'll also attach photos when I get home from work as well. I do want to mention that I am a vet tech, I have some knowledge but not too much in a sense. I mentioned this because I have a bunch of people i work with who have fresh water tanks. Any help or advice would be appreciated along with different links and stuff i should buy.

I think the majority of the issue reading that is you got a freshwater set up and set it up like a freshwater tank, also maybe why your other tanks didnt do well. Your 13.5 (assuming its fluval) seems to be the only ACTUAL saltwater tank set up, which is why you had success. I also kept freshwater. Honestly research saltwater tanks more, throw out what you know about freshwater and stop applying that knowledge to your saltwater tanks, I think thats really whats going on here

 

[Dburr1014]

I had this problem way back when I first started.
I dosed a flocculant and used filter floss.

That green algae loves water changes, they thrive on it.

 

[BeanAnimal]

Okay, so I've been doing saltwater tank stuff for 3-4 years. My 13 gallon did excellent, my other 3 tanks i had, not so much, so I ditched them and just stuck with the 13. I Never had any issues until now.

It sounds like you did have problems with the other tanks. What problems?

I upgraded it to a 20 gallon because I got the tank for like 10 bucks with stuff included for a freshwater tank.

A concern here would be what was in the tank before you got it. What equipment came with it that is being used? We wan to make sure that copper or other medications were not used that may have left a residue.

So, I did what i usually did got a skimmer and a filter. I didn't know coralife made a 2 in one filter, and the tank is awkward and I have 6 cats so I need a cover for it regardless.

The issue with a full cover is gas exchange. pH and oxygenation become issue quickly. This makes the skimmer and flow so much more important. But we will tackle that after we get a handle on what is going on now, even if they contributed to the issue, they did not cause it.

So I set that filter up. No issues for like 3 weeks. Now, the tanks water is turning green. Even after an 80% water change. I do plan on getting a uv sterilizer, and a new filter. I like having protein skimmers, I've always used one on my small tanks. It just that the tanks a hexagon. My 13 gallon was over taken but GSP so I started fresh in a sense. But with the same water and creatures that were already in it. I have about 2 and a 1/2 live rocks, 2 clowns, mandarin goby, like 4 or 5 snails, some hermits, a pistol shrimp, and a watchman goby, along with an anenome and some emerald crabs. Maybe 1 or 2, and a tuxedo urchin. I have tried a few water changes and I started using RO water instead of tap because I was reading about a lot of different stuff.

Using the old water (and sand?) was the first mistake but there is not much we can do about that now.

Tap water - same thing, but you have RO now, so that will help.

The tank has a very high bio-load given the filtration, minimal rock and lack of efficient skimming. I am going to assume that you are significantly overfeeding and this coupled with the tap water and re-used water and sand has kicked of an algae blook driven by very high nutrients.

Water changes alone are not going to solve the issue at this point.

You may want to re-home one or both urchins. They will eventually starve in a tank that small.

The kits I use are the API master and reef testing kits. I also have 3 other test kits for calcium, magnesium, and maybe dKh, i can't think of which one at the moment, but I have a hard time understanding the directions and how to figure it out so I havent used them. Now, the pH level was 8-8.2. I miss labeled that. But I'll send my parameters over later. I have to test my tank anyways.

Don't worry about calcium, alk or mag right now. We just need accurate phosphate and nitrate tests right now.
The pH is fine, let's not worry about that either at the moment.

Feeding, i also only feed like 3 times a week. I defrost it in a baggy with saltwater and leave it in the tank until it's ready to be served. I only ever had little bits at a time. I use frozen and sometimes flakes, pellets, or seaweed. Depends honestly.

Feeding - 3 times a week is fine for now. A single cube is plenty until we understand the phosphate situation.

I also have a hard time with dosing out my "chemicals" per say, i never know how often, or when, and how much. So i just do it when i change the water or when I add in new things. I'm at loss right now. I've never had a problem. And always did it the same way, but now, its just falling apart. And I'm stuck.

We can work on testing for Calcium and Alk once we understand phosphate and nitrate. For now, don't dose anything else. No alk, cal, mag or other reef products.

The water turned GREEN again today 11/4, when it wasn't last night. I had the lights off all day yesterday but I put the night time light on before I went to bed.

All said and done as long as the setup has no chemical contamination from freshwater medications, You likely have high nutrient levels and it is driving an algae bloom. While it may clear up eventually if we can find the root cause, the easiest way for a tank this small will be to use a small UV unit (9W) from petco that has a built in powerhead. You can turn the lights off for a few days also without harming the fish or corals.

I'll also attach photos when I get home from work as well. I do want to mention that I am a vet tech, I have some knowledge but not too much in a sense. I mentioned this because I have a bunch of people i work with who have fresh water tanks. Any help or advice would be appreciated along with different links and stuff i should buy.

Fresh water experience does not translate very well unfortunately.

Short term steps.

1 - Make sure all water is RO/DI and has low TDS.
2 - Accurate Phosphate and Nitrate tests for us.
3 - Lights out for a few days.
4 - Keep feeding under control.
5 - Spend $30 and get a 9W UV and get it on the tank.

Longer term steps.

1 - increase flow in tank.
2 - evaluate filtration and skimming.
3 - get a handle on testing and alk/cal consumption and easy way to maintain them for that size tank.
4 - Phosphate levels may dictate use of GFO or another medium to reduce them until you get their source under control.

I suggest, at least in the short term using a notebook to log daily testing until you get this under control.

Let is know if you need help with the test kits. Don't rely on the LFS (they make mistakes too) but using them to test your water for a second set of eyes is not a bad idea.