I'm new to this and I really need help

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Morpheus3

Morpheus3

Member
Joined
Sep 3, 2009
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Location
New York City
I'm new to this and I really need help.....I know this is not good at lease I don't think it is. My tank is about 7 months old and it looks bad there's a lot of green algae some brown algae in the sand and I don't know exactly what to do. I 've been using ro water for my water changes I also have a PhosBan Reactor, In which I'm using PhosBan and De-Nitrate to help bring down the nitrate which at the moment is 20 ppm and my phosphate is at 0-.3. I use 12hours of lighting which consist of 3x 250W Double Ended HQI, 4x 96W Straight Pin Type Power Compact, 8x Dual Bluemoon LED my water parameters are all 0except the nitrate which is 20 I have a lot of water movement using a WaveMaster Pro, with 4 Hydor Koralia Water Circulation Pumps 2x5's and 2x2's with a Hagen AquaClear Powerhead in the middle and my tank looks like ****
 
Last edited:
Wow 12hours huh. You can tone it down to 8hrs. Lights left on for longer periods of time can cause the algae to bloom more. Use a turkey baster to blow the algae out of the sand. Honestly, it really doesn't look that bad.
 
Is that a filter setup I see hooked to the AquaClear powerhead? If so I remember mine from an old freshwater setup and that could definitely be a nitrate factory right there. Also are you running a skimmer on the tank?
 
I would cut back your hallide lights so that they are only on for 8 hours out of the day. Do some good water changes 20% or more once or twice a week to get your nitrates down as close to zero as possible. Also, is that a sponge on the intake of the powerhead in the pic? I know that they can become nitrate factories. You might want to pull it off. I know old bulbs can create an algea freindly spectrum, seven months is getting on the old side from what I've read. Filters on your RO unit getting old? Could be alot of things, those are a few things that I'd start with. Bulbs, filters and raised bio-load(more fish recently) is what I'd suspect immedtiately if it's been fine for seven months. That's my 1.5 pennies worth. Best of luck to ya!
 
pufferdady said:
I would cut back your hallide lights so that they are only on for 8 hours out of the day. Do some good water changes 20% or more once or twice a week to get your nitrates down as close to zero as possible. Also, is that a sponge on the intake of the powerhead in the pic? I know that they can become nitrate factories. You might want to pull it off. I know old bulbs can create an algea freindly spectrum, seven months is getting on the old side from what I've read. Filters on your RO unit getting old? Could be alot of things, those are a few things that I'd start with. Bulbs, filters and raised bio-load(more fish recently) is what I'd suspect immedtiately if it's been fine for seven months. That's my 1.5 pennies worth. Best of luck to ya!
Click to expand...

my hallide lights are on from 12:00-8:00 and the compacts come on 2 hours before that and 3 hours after is that to much and if so what would be the ideal set-up for the lights.... now... that 20% should it be 20% each time I change the water or 10% and 10% twice a week and do I use salt each time or just plain RO water.... thanks guys
 
Slate said:
Is that a filter setup I see hooked to the AquaClear powerhead? If so I remember mine from an old freshwater setup and that could definitely be a nitrate factory right there. Also are you running a skimmer on the tank?
Click to expand...

yes that is a filter which I'm about to remove now that you say that... and yes I have a Turboflotor 1000 skimmer which sits in the sump I don't know how good it is but it working... I empty it twice a week with it being half full
 
I would say 20% each time. You would want to add new water that is at the same specific gravity as the water you are taking out. If you were to replace 20% of your tanks water with fresh RO water with no salt, you'd have alot bigger problems than algea. Most people I've seen like to keep their specific gravity somewhere between 1.023-1.026. My corals seem to be happier on the higher end of the scale, so that's where I keep it at. So, I'm not sure what your maintenence schedule is as of right now (10% water changes weekly, bi-weekly ect) but, maybe just step it up a notch to bring down the nitrates is all I'm getting at. Maybe you're not keeping up with the fish pooo lol. Also, the other people are right it doesn't look too bad right now. Just, start with getting that filter out and water changes, if it doesn't start improving in the next couple weeks try the next step and change the filters on the RO unit ect. Buy a turkey baster and blow out the rocks to get any trapped detritus out while you're doing a water change. Keep testing the water and try to get on a water change schedule that is keeping nitrates as low as possible, keep in mind that the algea is also eating up the nitrates too so it might really be 30ppm. Patients is the key with algea IMO. I have been battling algea in my new tank and only now, after 3 months of battling is it down to where I'm happy with my tank again.
 
you could scrape the back algae off with a razor blade while sucking it out with a sipon tube when your pulling water out for a water change. i had to do that when i first started a tank to but i made the same mistake i left my lights on way to long and built up nitrates with bad advise with filters
 
repeated water changes while manual removal of the algae.... (exception of some algae's)

cut the lighting back a few hours.....

you got a lotta light there,


few things.... your most likely over feeding and over weight'd

lotta fish, young tank, lotta food...

upgrade the water change regiment down size the food tossing

you could also use about a hundred snails..
 
Personally, I do not think that your photoperiod needs to change and it does not sound like you are overfeeding. You could reduce your photoperiod by a couple of hours until you get your nitrates (and phosphates) in check.

It may be a good time to upgrade your protein skimmer, especially if you have plans to keep SPS coral. What type of coral do you currently have in your aquarium?

You can test your RO water by running an alkilinity test on your filtered water. If your RO filter is working, it should be producing water with an alkilinity of close to zero.

The best way to reduce your nitrates is to do several 20%, or larger, water changes as already suggested. Mix your water overnight and try to match the temperature and salinity as close as possible. If you do not already have a refractometer, it would be a good investment.

Remove as much algae by hand as you can. The scraping and sucking out method is tedious, but it works.

How is your sump currently configured? Are you running a wet/dry filter? Do you have a refugium with macroalgae?

That should be enough questiions for now. And your tank really does not look that bad, just not as good as you would like.

Gary
 
thanks guys for all the advise it really help

Morpheus3 said:
I'm new to this and I really need help.....I know this is not good at lease I don't think it is. My tank is about 7 months old and it looks bad there's a lot of green algae some brown algae in the sand and I don't know exactly what to do. I 've been using ro water for my water changes I also have a PhosBan Reactor, In which I'm using PhosBan and De-Nitrate to help bring down the nitrate which at the moment is 20 ppm and my phosphate is at 0-.3. I use 12hours of lighting which consist of 3x 250W Double Ended HQI, 4x 96W Straight Pin Type Power Compact, 8x Dual Bluemoon LED my water parameters are all 0except the nitrate which is 20 I have a lot of water movement using a WaveMaster Pro, with 4 Hydor Koralia Water Circulation Pumps 2x5's and 2x2's with a Hagen AquaClear Powerhead in the middle and my tank looks like ****
Click to expand...

you guys are great with your help I can now show the before and after thanks guy's signed NewJackCity
 
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