Can you help me save my beloved reef tank?

[PedroYoung]

I battled similar issues 2 yrs ago. I am also on well water. I tested the raw well water with a Hanna phosphate test kit and it was over 3 ppm (that's as high as the test can go. I found that I had it change my DI cartridges much more often than I was (about every 150-200 gallons). When you are looking for 0.03ppm phosphates the TDS reading is not really helpful (unless your TDS meter reads out well below 1 ppm). By running heavy GFO and carbon and doing weekly 20% water changes I was able to get the hair algae under control. I takes a while (1 yr for me), but beat it eventually. I would agree with most of the other comments regarding where the phosphate could be coming from, but I would also recommend testing your saltwater before it goes into the tank when doing a water change occasionally. Also I had problems with most of the phosphate test kits, very difficult to read. The Hanna checker is expensive ($50), but gave much better, reliable readings. Most of the online stores are having sales this week, might be worth investing if you can. Well water is something most reefers are not going to be familiar with, but the source of your water could be the source of the problem. Just my 2 cents worth.

 

[Phishy McGee]

I'll add to get rid of that algae you're going to have to physically remove a lot of it. No matter how clean you get your water your tank is already over run with it and unless you do a totall black out for weeks and remove all the phosphates you're going to have that algae. take the rock out and use clean water in a bucker to scrub it off. I bought a stiff plastic bristle brush from the dollar store. Scrub scrub scrub and get as much as possible off. Dont do this in the tank because it will just cause the algae to float around and stick to other places. Once you've removed all the algae you can put the rock back in and do a large water change. your phosphates could be coming from your rock, there could be uneaten food and decaying poop in them. You'll see when scrubbing in a bucket how much ditritus comes off the rock when you're shaking it around.

Once you have pretty clean rock and lower phosphates get some of those big turbo snails. The big ones will eat the little bits of algae you left behind. They don't eat the big stringy stuff though for some reason.

Think about this, if you had a rotting steak in your kitchen and it STINKS removing the air around it and replacing it with fresh air will temporarily remove the smell but in a few minutes you'll smell the rotting meat again. Same thing here, adding fresh water will temporarily make your phosphates lower but the sorce of the issue is still in your tank. You have to deal with the source first, then the rest will fall into place.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Just clarifying a few issues, phosphate from an RO/DI with 0 ppm TDS will never be the main contributor of phosphate. Phosphate from foods is always massively higher.

A TDS meter will detect phosphate, and even if phosphate was 0.1 ppm in that water (which I agree is hard to see by TDS meter, but phosphate won't be the only ion present), foods will add 10-100 times as much each day.

Having a lot of algae does not mean the phosphate is high, but it does mean there is enough N and P available for growth. Like an ATS or growing macroalgae, a lot of hair algae can drive down nutrients.

 

[mike007]

So what Is the cure? Reduced feeding?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

So what Is the cure? Reduced feeding?

Or more export.

 

[uppermost]

Unless I missed it how much and how often are you doing water changes? Second, I would recommend switching to a pellet food and backing off the frozen food to once or twice a week.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Why do you prefer pellets?

 

[onetootreefor]

tagging along on this one, been having lots of algae for a while with same results in regards to certain corals and water levels. Didn't have a phosphate kit, but this is starting to shed some light. What CUC would you people suggest? My hermits don't seem to eat anything and my turbo snails don't pick up the long stuff.

 

[uppermost]

From my experience feeding frozen mysis or brine shrimp leave many small particles left uneaten in the water. He said he feeds this twice a day. Pellets such as the new life spectrum are very nutritious for fish and more so than brine shrimp. You can also be sure all pellets get eaten and not left to rot and cause water quality issues in the future

 

[coralgazer]

Update:
I took a toothbrush to all that green crap, scrubbed all the rocks as best I could and strained out most of it. (My rocks extend all the way to the bottom of the tank and are not really removable). Phosphate test kit arrived; result = less than 0.03! Started rinsing frozen shrimp before feeding. When I used to feed, it left a cloud of who knows what in there. After rinsing before feeding, much less liquid cloud. I never feed more than they can gobble up in one-two minutes. There does not seem to be many particles left at all. Did a 50% water change and adjusted alkalinity, calcium and Mag. Bought a CUC with lots of snails and hermits, and an emerald crab. the corals already seem to be respondingwell, although slowly. Willl take some pictures and post them later today.

Happy to say,

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

From my experience feeding frozen mysis or brine shrimp leave many small particles left uneaten in the water. He said he feeds this twice a day. Pellets such as the new life spectrum are very nutritious for fish and more so than brine shrimp. You can also be sure all pellets get eaten and not left to rot and cause water quality issues in the future

OK, but nearly all of the phosphate and nitrogen in foods ends up getting into the water anyway, whether eaten or not. It's not like a fish eating it is retaining most of the phosphate it has eaten. It gets excreted back out.

Also, small particles feed lots of other creatures in a diverse reef tank. I want to encourage that, but perhaps not everyone does.

 

[Mike in CT]

Most of the phosphates in your tank are the type that can't be read by test kits we have access to. Add the fact the majority of phosphates are being consumed by algae already in the tank, I'm starting to think even testing for them is a waste of time. I have a pretty good outbreak myself at the moment and one day my test will read .25, and a few days later the test says zero.

 

[Jcap74]

i believe you have the summer hang over on your tank i am just getting over a massive algae problem phosphates were high i feed every other day and increased my akl and made sure pH was 8 and did 30% water changes every other day vacuumed my sand bed and changed my filters and socks changed sock pads not on same day i vacuum also cut my lighting down i also brushed my rock with a toothbrush and vacuumed that crap out good luck