PLEASE HELP! nano tank going crazy

[Irchikg87]

Ok, please bear with me, I'm pretty new to all this stuff, and I do now know that a nano tank is harder to keep than a larger one...

This is is what's going on: LOTS of hair alegea, SPS (millepora) turning white from tips and a little on sides. Sea urchin died, we took it out. Fish seems fine (2 clown, 2 firefish, 1 goby). We thought the flow was too low and put a maxijet 1200. Which was too strong and blowing our fish away, so we took it out. The tank is only 10 gal, Innovative Marine all in one. We have a 35W programable led fixture. Don't really know what other info to give you guys. Suggestions to what may be wrong? Or any suggestions I general? Thanks!

Another thing, we glued some frags using the special purple epoxy. That stuff is pretty stinky, could that have caused an upset in the tank?

 

[NanaReefer]

Sounds like excess nutrients/Phosphates, which is what feeds the algae. Where do they come from? Feeding to much, over stalking, using tap water instead of RO/DI, Foods and improper filtration, just to name a few.
Remedy? First test for Nitrates/Phosphates. You may get a low to 0 reading as the algae is consuming both rendering them undetectable. Lower amount/frequency of feedings. Up your water changes. You can use a filter media like ChemiPure Elite to help remove Phosphates.
Other tests to preform? Calcium, Alkalinity and Magnesium and PH. Post these results.
As for Purple Epoxy, I've no idea as I've never heard of it, sorry.

 

[dailydriven911]

The purple epoxy used for gluing rocks? I assume its the aquarium safe kind so that shouldn't be the problem. Super glue works great and is easier to use for frags. I'd test your parameters and go from there. Run some carbon and do a large water change should help things stabilize a bit.

 

[Irchikg87]

We just bought some test kits, so will be doing that very soon.

 

[tike]

Definitely check parameters...especially nitrate. 5 fish in a 10 gallon is overstocking IMO and can quickly lead to high nutrient content. How much Liverock do you have in the tank? You should do a 20% water change as soon as possible.

 

[jmp21677]

Agree with everything above! When in doubt run some carbon and do a large water change

 

[jmp21677]

Agree with everything above! When in doubt run some carbon and do a large water change

 

[tike]

It has been a few days.....any updates??

 

[Irchikg87]

A lot better now, looks like corals are slowly recovering. We did do a major water change and got some test kits and tested the water. The thing is, we did the water test after doing the water change so unfortunately we don't know exactly what was wrong with the water before. We also added calcium because it was very depleted. Didn't do anything about carbon. What exactly does carbon do?

 

[Irchikg87]

There is another thing I'm puzzled about. We have 2 millepora SPS that seems to be doing better now, their polyps are showing good color and moving slightly from the flow. But the 1 larger acro frag is not showing the little hairs at all (it hasn't opened since we brought it from the store). It's not discolored or anything and it seems like it wasn't harmed by whatever was going on earlier, I'm just wondering if it needs special conditions or additives to the tank?

 

[tike]

There is another thing I'm puzzled about. We have 2 millepora SPS that seems to be doing better now, their polyps are showing good color and moving slightly from the flow. But the 1 larger acro frag is not showing the little hairs at all (it hasn't opened since we brought it from the store). It's not discolored or anything and it seems like it wasn't harmed by whatever was going on earlier, I'm just wondering if it needs special conditions or additives to the tank?

The little "hairy things" are polyps extending. As you can see the millies are recovering. It may take a little longer for the acro to do so. Can you post these param's for us? Alk, Calcium,Mag (if you can), Nitrate, pH, temp, Phosphate? We can help you out better if we have that information.

 

[Irchikg87]

2 days ago this is what we got:
Nitrate: 0, phosphate: 0.01, calcium: 240, magnesium: 1700, alkalinity: 10.9, temp around 29c. Don't know the pH. Salinity was normal, but don't have the numbers. We added some calcium yesterday and tested right after and it showed 600...

 

[makeme1098]

2 days ago this is what we got:
Nitrate: 0, phosphate: 0.01, calcium: 240, magnesium: 1700, alkalinity: 10.9, temp around 29c. Don't know the pH. Salinity was normal, but don't have the numbers. We added some calcium yesterday and tested right after and it showed 600...

Have you checked on RO/DI TDS meter?

 

[Irchikg87]

As of right now, we get water form Barrier Reef. We haven't found a good place to hook up our ro/di yet...

 

[makeme1098]

As of right now, we get water form Barrier Reef. We haven't found a good place to hook up our ro/di yet...

How old is your tank? What kind of food do you feed?

 

[Irchikg87]

We've had it for two months, but we purchased it as an established aquarium from another reefer. It was doing really good for over a month and slowly started to go south from there. We tweaked the lights and don't remember how he had them set up in the first place (oops). Right now we are feeding dry food ( Marine S Hikari).

 

[tike]

Boy those Alk,Cal,Mag levels are kinda skrewed. I would be interested to know the Cal number in a day or 2. Having Alk and Mag so high probably lowered you calcium level along with the corals using calcium. if you're interested here's a good article explaining the relationship betwen the three. http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-06/rhf/

 

[makeme1098]

I can suggest these points:

1. change your water supply source and up the water change frequency. Try fellow reefers to provide you with RO/Di water (just to see if it makes any difference)
2. Run GFO. (50% of what is suggested on the label. Go slowly with GFO as stripping phosphate too fast tends to have issues with SPS)
3. swtitch food to Rod's frozen food to minimize the tank phosphate intake.

 

[makeme1098]

i had this problem before and won the battle.

http://www.reeffrontiers.com/threads/61284-Algae-ID-Please?highlight=

 

[Irchikg87]

Thanks for the info, I will definitely read up on this and see what we can do about the leves ASAP. I'm still unsure of how all this chemistry works. I was more into biology then chem in school!

Boy those Alk,Cal,Mag levels are kinda skrewed. I would be interested to know the Cal number in a day or 2. Having Alk and Mag so high probably lowered you calcium level along with the corals using calcium. if you're interested here's a good article explaining the relationship betwen the three. http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-06/rhf/