Getting frustrated

Big_Mclargehuge · Oct 12, 2020

Hey. My tank has been up for about 5 months . Biocube 32 gallon. I've been dealing with pretty bad algae issues. Corals not looking great (they were at one point). Diatoms, Cyano (i think), and hair algae. I'll do a water change. filter my sand, clean off the rocks etc.. and everything looks great for about a day. Then back to ugly. I understand tanks go through ugly stages but man it's not fun looking at an ugly tank all the time. I've tested my water and am reading zero on both nitrates and phosphates. I'm guessing the algae is consuming nutrients before i can read them. Salinity is at 1.025. RODI water. Alk is 8.9. Stocking is two clowns, two dartfish, and a rainfords goby. A decent sized CUC. My lights are blues from 8 am to 12 am. No whites currently. I was running them from 12 pm to 6 pm but cut them back slowly over the last few weeks. I run the "beauty lights" (biocube) from 10 am to 10 pm. I have decent flow in the tank. Was feeding one cube of mysis every day but have backed it down to every other day. Cutting the lights and lessening the feeding seems to help a tiny bit but I also dont want to starve my fish. I know this is a lot of info but any tips would be appreciated. Also my filtration is filter floss, uv sterilizer, and carbon. Thanks!

Bleigh · Oct 12, 2020

Can you post some pictures of the diatoms/cyano/hair algae? It may be helpful for id'ing. You may actually have an issue with nutrients being too low. Some things actually thrive in a low nutrient environment.

What lights/hood do you have? I am also curious if you have tested the ammonia/nitrite recently.

Also, have you calibrated your refractometer recently?

Pistondog · Oct 12, 2020

Do you have any coralline growing?
That will suppress other algae where it lives.
Whats your ph

WIReefer · Oct 12, 2020

Is your ro water producing 0 tds?

Big_Mclargehuge · Oct 12, 2020

Bleigh said:
Can you post some pictures of the diatoms/cyano/hair algae? It may be helpful for id'ing. You may actually have an issue with nutrients being too low. Some things actually thrive in a low nutrient environment.

What lights/hood do you have? I am also curious if you have tested the ammonia/nitrite recently.

Also, have you calibrated your refractometer recently?

I can get some pics tomorrow when the lights come back on. I think that's the issue with cyano. Having zero nutrients. I've tried raising them but can't seem to. I have the stock biocube lights currently. I want to upgrade my lights but am hesitant with the algae issues right now. I have not tested ammonia/nitrite. I will probably do that. I do wonder if my bacteria population is low. I have calibrated my refractometer.

Bleigh · Oct 12, 2020

WIReefer said:
Is your ro water producing 0 tds?

If the phosphates are 0, chances are, the TDS is 0. But that makes me wonder, what test kits are you using?

Big_Mclargehuge · Oct 12, 2020

Pistondog said:
Do you have any coralline growing?
That will suppress other algae where it lives.
Whats your ph

I haven't tested PH in a while but i think tomorrow I will test everything. It looks like i have the beginnings of coralline algae on the back wall of my tank. A few very small spots but i believe it's coralline.

Big_Mclargehuge · Oct 12, 2020

Bleigh said:
If the phosphates are 0, chances are, the TDS is 0. But that makes me wonder, what test kits are you using?

The LFS I get my water from says they test their water regularly to make sure TDS is 0 but who knows. I'm using API (not the best i know but i was getting a reading on nitrates earlier on). Salifert kits for alk and phos.

Big_Mclargehuge · Oct 12, 2020

WIReefer said:
Is your ro water producing 0 tds?

I believe so. I get it from my LFS. I asked them and they said they test regularly.

Bleigh · Oct 12, 2020

Big_Mclargehuge said:
I can get some pics tomorrow when the lights come back on. I think that's the issue with cyano. Having zero nutrients. I've tried raising them but can't seem to. I have the stock biocube lights currently. I want to upgrade my lights but am hesitant with the algae issues right now. I have not tested ammonia/nitrite. I will probably do that. I do wonder if my bacteria population is low. I have calibrated my refractometer.

What year is the biocube? LOL.... I am asking because the older ones have bulbs that need to be replaced regularly, but they don't make them anymore. My biocube is looking terrible currently, because the lights are shot. I thought the 29 gallons had the new LED lights and the 32 gallons had the older compact fluorescent bulbs, but I honestly, my have them backwards. Basically, I am curious about the light bulbs and their age.

I suspect having no nutrients is likely more of an issue than too much light.

Pistondog · Oct 12, 2020

Big_Mclargehuge said:
I can get some pics tomorrow when the lights come back on. I think that's the issue with cyano. Having zero nutrients. I've tried raising them but can't seem to. I have the stock biocube lights currently. I want to upgrade my lights but am hesitant with the algae issues right now. I have not tested ammonia/nitrite. I will probably do that. I do wonder if my bacteria population is low. I have calibrated my refractometer.

Maybe go back to 1 cube mysis, and dose some vodka or vinegar to increase bacteria and outcompete gha and cyano.
Nitrates at 0: Algae will consume ammonia strait from fish poop before conversion by nitrifying bacteria.

Bleigh · Oct 12, 2020

LFS's can make mistakes. I have several that I trust completely. 1 had a leak they didn't notice right away, and they were selling salt water that was way too low. LF's are also notorious for not changing their RODI filters frequently enough, so definitely not something you can assume, but probably not a super risky thing to be using either...

You said the tank is 5 months old.... Have you made new additions or done an intense cleaning recently? If not, I wouldn't be overly worried about the bacteria population. I was just reading an article earlier that was suggesting that some algae outbreaks may be a result of ammonia.... I was mainly asking out of academic curiosity.

I'll be looking for the pictures in the morning, but at this point, I suspect it's actually a low nutrient issue.

vetteguy53081 · Oct 12, 2020

Reduce white light intensity and by chance is tank at or near a window?
What if any do you have for clean up crew?

Bleigh · Oct 12, 2020

vetteguy53081 said:
Reduce white light intensity and by chance is tank at or near a window?
What if any do you have for clean up crew?

I don't think the biocube has the option to change light intensity, at least mine doesn't. It's either on or off. He said that he has a decent sized CUC. But knowing what they are may be helpful.

I'm really leaning towards too low nutrients because he said his corals were looking good, but have stopped looking as good. But bleaching is always a possibility. I bleached a ricordia in my biocube. Looking at the types of corals and their placements may be helpful as well.

vetteguy53081 · Oct 12, 2020

Bleigh said:
I don't think the biocube has the option to change light intensity, at least mine doesn't. It's either on or off. He said that he has a decent sized CUC. But knowing what they are may be helpful.

I'm really leaning towards too low nutrients because he said his corals were looking good, but have stopped looking as good. But bleaching is always a possibility. I bleached a ricordia in my biocube. Looking at the types of corals and their placements may be helpful as well.

I forgot, it’s blue and white light only

MarshallB · Oct 12, 2020

Lot of smart and experienced people chiming in here. So I'll come at it from the opposite end. I'm in the same boat. My tank has been up for 4 months. I was feeding 1 cube of mysis for 5 fish a day as well. I've now cut it back to a half cube and I only feed a few at a time and watch to make sure it gets eaten. Then add a few more, and a few more till its gone. So far it looks be be successful.

I tried feeding a bit more previously because I thought maybe it wasn't enough, it just amplified the problem.

A new tank is a new tank. Things inside are going to be battling for survival until a balance happens naturally. The algae starts to die off, which feeds other algae, until finally its all dead. At least that is what looks like is happening in my tank.

Edit: I added a lawnmower blenny recently and he absolutely devours algae as if my tank was golden coral and its 30 minutes till close. You may consider one. Plus they have a pretty unique personality.

Pistondog · Oct 12, 2020

Your tank`ll get thru this. As it matures it develops resistance to these outbreaks. I like your instinct about low bacteria population in your young tank. I think bacteria diversity is underestimated in our hobby. They are all competing at a low level, we need to help the good ones flourish.

Bfragale · Oct 12, 2020

I would add an urchant, too small for a tang but something that could help battle the algea. Dosing vibrant should help over time. How much live rock or bio media? Get a cheap tds meter from eBay- test the ro top off water your getting. Also just for the heck of it- test your water change water before you do water changes
I missed if you have skimmer or not? But if so run it 24/7.

should be testing: Alk, cal,mag, ph, salinity, no3, no4 and temp weekly before and after water changes at a minimum for young tanks. Small systems can get out of wack quicker then larger systems so the more you test the more ability and insight you will have to keep it stable.better test kits would help. Salifert is good- Hanna for all and po4 is good.

you will need to positively identify the algea. cyanos- treat with chemi clean. But need to eliminate Dino’s- if Dino’s then that’s a whole other beast... If diatoms- should go away with proper husbandry and time. Green hair algae the vibrant and husbandry should knock this out along with cuc, and allowing coralline to grow. As Tank matures most of these will improve provided it gets proper husbandry.

Just my two cents lol. Hope this helps. Happy reefing.

jeffrey750750 · Oct 12, 2020

Brightwells microbacter7, brightwells bio fuel and a few Mexican turbo snails are my weapon of choice

Big_Mclargehuge · Oct 13, 2020

Bleigh said:
What year is the biocube? LOL.... I am asking because the older ones have bulbs that need to be replaced regularly, but they don't make them anymore. My biocube is looking terrible currently, because the lights are shot. I thought the 29 gallons had the new LED lights and the 32 gallons had the older compact fluorescent bulbs, but I honestly, my have them backwards. Basically, I am curious about the light bulbs and their age.

I suspect having no nutrients is likely more of an issue than too much light.

I have the LEDs. I'm guessing the low nutrients is the issue also. I just dont know how to raise them. I upped feeding for a bit but it just seemed like it made algae worse.