fresh set up fresh problems

[darklcd]

hey all

well I finally got my tank back and I set it up. 48 long x 21.5 high x 12 wide I am running a fluval 304 canister, aquarium systems skimmer with a maxi jet 200 for a pump on it, a power head 802 inside the tank for flow. Everything was running great but now I am in a bit of a jam.

First off my nitrates were ok and in 48 hours I went from 5.0 to over 80.0!!!!!!

Second I noticed today that i have lots of red algae spotting up about the size of a dime on one main piece of live rock and in other places too.

Third I did something stupid and I know that I will get hell for this but it was a mistake. I set up some new plumbing in my tank for flow an I don't think that I washed all the plastic dust off of it before I put it in I thought I did but I missed some and I have all kinds of dust on the top of my water now

I kinda need a little help. the dust I think I can deal with but the algae and the nitrates are scaring the hell out of me.

Any one got any thoughts? I want to have fish in there in a week 2 at the most and I want to have everything running the way it was before help please

 

[dragoneggs]

patience... your gonna cycle.

 

[returnofsid]

You're going through a typical cycle. Let's ask a few questions. Are you using RO/DI water? Also, the areas that are getting a red algae, are they areas with lighter flow. If so, increase the flow to those areas if possible. That'll help out a lot. I doubt you'll catch any grief from us about the plastic dust. No worries. Your skimmer and canister filter will soon take care of that. Make sure you clean the media in that canister filter VERY religiously. Otherwise, it'll become a great source of nitrates. Are you only running 1 pump/powerhead for flow? If so, try adding 1 or 2 more. This will serve 2 purposes. It'll increase flow as well as helping to create a more random flow, instead of a linear flow created by a single pump. Point 2 or more pumps in ways that their flow bounces off of glass or off of flow from other pumps. Random flow is just as important, if not more so, than amount of flow. 1 more suggestion. Turn off your lights for a few days. Your live rock doesn't need it. The tank will cycle just fine without it. In fact, as long as you have no corals in your tank, the only thing that DOES need light, is the algae!!

 

[Krish]

Sorry to hear about your troublems man, but if the tank is totally new and what I mean by that is all water, sand etc is coming from scratch, then it will go through a cycle that could last 6-8 weeks. I saw where you said you wanted things back to the way they were which led me to believe that the tank was basically a swap from an established one. Is that the case??? Let us know so we can know which direction to point you in.

 

[darklcd]

the tank has been running for the better part of 2 years sorry I should have said that before but for got to and thats why I am puzzeled if everything was brand new then I wouldn't be as puzzeled as I am but I have had it going for long enough that I thought that i would be ok. I mean I have had problems before where a water change made the problem go away but I am not sure what to do about this one

 

[Krish]

Cool...Well, how long was the tank down before you set back up? Also, did you change anything besides the tank?

 

[darklcd]

It was always running I just wasn't around it all the time my dad had it for a while. The only thing that was changed was that my dad didn't maintain it as much as I did when I was there oh and there were 2 fish in it ( yellow tang and a blue velvet damnsel ) and there aren't any now I gave the damnsel to my dad cuse he was too big to put anything else in with him ( he was almost 4" long!!!! ) but thats all other then that nothing changed at all. I think tonight or tommrow morning I am going to clean my filter media again and see if that helps

 

[Krish]

What filter media are you using? If your dad wasn't maintaining the tank well and allowed media, sponges etc to sit in that canister for too long then that is probably your primary source of your problems as Sid mentioned in an earlier post

Previously posted by returnofsid
Make sure you clean the media in that canister filter VERY religiously. Otherwise, it'll become a great source of nitrates

I would probably do a nice sized water change vaccuming up any algae you can and see if you can export some of the bound up excess nutrients while at the same time diluting some of your problems

 

[Snowboarda42]

are you sure your test is right too? Did you test again? Could that test be bad?

 

[darklcd]

I am headed into town tommrow and I am going to get my water tested at the shop and see if indeed the test is bad or not. I am Thinking that it might be a good idea to replace the media that I have in my fluval and start with fresh stuff I am just not sure if I have to do anything to it or just put it in and go from there

 

[NaH2O]

What is your ammonia?

 

[darklcd]

my ammonia is down to almost nothing at all, ph is 8.2 to 8.3, nitrites are down to almost 0.0, but my phosphate is at about 1.0 to 1.25 could that have something to do with it?

 

[Krish]

Yup! Phosphates are one of the primary "foods" for algae to grow. You will need to get them down which can be done by doing water changes using ro/di water and some people will even hook up some sort of phosphate remover like a phosban reactor to aid them along the way

 

[darklcd]

so doing a few water changes should do it then or should I do something else with it lol. I don't have an ro/di set up in my house, and getthing a phosban reactor will not happen right now

 

[Krish]

If you don't have an ro/di setup, then what do you normally use for water? If regular tap and it's not been tested to be totally good for your aquarium, then you will just be adding fuel for the algae to grow. A good example would be our tap water here. I used it when first getting into the hobby a few years ago and didn't realize that it contained over 160ppm of nitrates and who knows what else so I had algae problem I could never control because with each water change, I added in more water full of nitrates etc. So if you don't have an ro/di unit and are using regular tap, I'd look into buying your water from the store (like I did ) otherwise you won't be accomplishing anything

 

[darklcd]

are you talking about just plain filtered water or what cuse I am really not too sure what you mean

 

[Krish]

Ro/di water stands for Reverse Osmosis/ De-Ionized water. It goes a little further than your typical filter that you typically see people pop on a faucet in their kitchen. I don't know a whole lot about the units themselves, but what I've gathered is water is filtered by special ion exchange resins and also by being forced through special membranes that gives you water suitable for aquarium use nitrate and phosphate free etc. Sometimes regular water filters don't cut it so you need to use ro/di water. Some LFS sell it as well and I use to buy mine from a water company here for about $4.00 for 5 gals

 

[keener1830]

Reverse Osmosis is well one heck of a filter system. Depending on the unit the water passes through a certin amount of membranes which in turn help to remove impurites and clean up the water. I have a huge unit on board my 210 foot ship that I get to maintain oh what fun but that is for salt water to fresh water. The ones you by at the store for home use just help make your water alot and I do mean alot cleaner and safer for use.

 

[darklcd]

I did a test on my tap water and I can't see any nitrate at all. now I am really confused lol but I guess i will try a water change and see what happens how much should I take out do you think, oh and I am going to clean my media at the same time

 

[Krish]

What test kits are you using and what media are you using in the canister???