PLEASE HELP! nano tank going crazy

[Irchikg87]

As for the food, yes we will definitely go with frozen from now on! And I will also have to look into GFO we don't have any and I had no idea what it was until I googled it! You can see how uninformed I still am... I really appreciate all the comments!

 

[tike]

As for the food, yes we will definitely go with frozen from now on! And I will also have to look into GFO we don't have any and I had no idea what it was until I googled it! You can see how uninformed I still am... I really appreciate all the comments!

No problem! That's what we are here for!

 

[NanaReefer]

IMO before you go getting into running any GFO and the like. Your first priority should be getting your parameters straightened out. Raising your calcium that fast is NOT good. Do not be surprised if you suffer some loss.
You need to slow down!! Do not dose anything else. Your parameters will be easily maintained via frequent water changes.

 

[kpiotrowski]

In a tank that small all you should need to do is weekly 20% to %30 water changes. if anything maintain stable alk daily. I have rodi available in Buckley...cheap. can also provide a little theory if you want to visit sometime and save me the typing lol.

 

[Irchikg87]

i had this problem before and won the battle.

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

i just read your thread but didn't quite understand what exactly was it that helped you overcome the algae. do you still have HA does it come back? Right now the more i think about it, the more I'm SURE that this all started after we glued some frags using the "reef safe" epoxy which was recommended by an associate at an ls.This makes me even more frustrated! The epoxy maybe safe in large tanks, but when you glue 5-6 frags in a 10 gal, it upsets the chemistry quite a bit.

We just did did some testing again. so this is as of right now:
nitrate: 0.10, phosphate: 0.06, alk: 9.8, cal: 600, Mg: 1600

is there anything else i need to measure?

 

[Irchikg87]

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/

So, after reading the VERY in-depth article, I didn't really understand why the magnesium would lower the calcium levels, I also looked at other sources and saw that other people have no correlation between high Mag and low Cal. Please explain if I am missing out on something. thanks

 

[Irchikg87]

IMO before you go getting into running any GFO and the like. Your first priority should be getting your parameters straightened out. Raising your calcium that fast is NOT good. Do not be surprised if you suffer some loss.
You need to slow down!! Do not dose anything else. Your parameters will be easily maintained via frequent water changes.

I was surprised it spiked so high. I was only trying to follow the directions on the bottle... At this point we are not adding anything... just waiting and testing.

 

[Irchikg87]

In a tank that small all you should need to do is weekly 20% to %30 water changes. if anything maintain stable alk daily. I have rodi available in Buckley...cheap. can also provide a little theory if you want to visit sometime and save me the typing lol.

Thanks for the offer! I may have to take you up on that some time. I will PM you if anything. We are trying to do big water changes.

 

[tike]

So, after reading the VERY in-depth article, I didn't really understand why the magnesium would lower the calcium levels, I also looked at other sources and saw that other people have no correlation between high Mag and low Cal. Please explain if I am missing out on something. thanks

Sorry for the confusion! I just met the alk but the mag was riding along with it so I added it in. There isn't a "magic" number for these, just a range. I shoot for cal 420-450, alk 7.8- 9.0, mag 1350-1450. NOW that being said.... I know people who keep way higher numbers then me, these are numbers that have worked for me the last 10 years.

 

[mfinn]

In a tank that small all you should need to do is weekly 20% to %30 water changes. if anything maintain stable alk daily. I have rodi available in Buckley...cheap. can also provide a little theory if you want to visit sometime and save me the typing lol.

I agree. In small tanks weekly water changes with a good reef salt will maintain steady levels without having to dose other chemicals.
Didn't see what salt mix you are using.

 

[Irchikg87]

I buy premixed saltwater from Barrier Reef, they are suppose to have good water.

 

[makeme1098]

i just read your thread but didn't quite understand what exactly was it that helped you overcome the algae. do you still have HA does it come back? Right now the more i think about it, the more I'm SURE that this all started after we glued some frags using the "reef safe" epoxy which was recommended by an associate at an ls.This makes me even more frustrated! The epoxy maybe safe in large tanks, but when you glue 5-6 frags in a 10 gal, it upsets the chemistry quite a bit.

We just did did some testing again. so this is as of right now:
nitrate: 0.10, phosphate: 0.06, alk: 9.8, cal: 600, Mg: 1600

is there anything else i need to measure?

I wasnt sure if i was battling green hair algae or bryopsis at that time.

bryopsis: you can eliminate them by increasng the mag level to 1600 with Kent M
hair algae: lower the phosphate level. (this can come from multiple sources but typical suspects are RO/Di water source or food)

My problem was my water source. The old TDS meter was giving me a worng reading. But after i swapped the whole RO/DI unit, my probelm started to go away but not overnight. I suspect the live rocks and sandbed absorbed lots of phosphate from the bad water so i up the weekly water change to 2 x 20% for 2-3 months plus putting GFO reactor inline and manual algae removal. I highly doubt hair algae spike came from "reef safe" epoxy. (what brand do you use?)
Over the weekend, i used half of a stick to cover the Frogskin Acro which was taking over too much realestate. Only thing happens is your skimmer goes nuts.

 

[Irchikg87]

So water change twice a week?

 

[Irchikg87]

To all people who commented here, please see my new thread and share some info about your LEDs...

 

[mfinn]

So water change twice a week?

I would only do once a week for routine maintenance.

 

[makeme1098]

So water change twice a week?

until you see the improvement. If you don't see it, I would change the water soruce.

 

[mfinn]

until you see the improvement. If you don't see it, I would change the water soruce.

so you think Barrier Reef sells bad water?

 

[makeme1098]

so you think Barrier Reef sells bad water?

I highly doubt it but my HA problem was from my water source so just making a suggestion.
It could be from the container OP uses for water transprtation or simply from food.
But with my previous problems came from the new water i was putting into the tank.

 

[Irchikg87]

So Now I'm thinking it might be bryopsis. I will try to post pics...

 

[Irchikg87]

Here are 2 pics. The one with the green zoas is what possibly looks like bryopsis compared to images I've found online. Suggestions? Opinions?