HELP: 45 days and still taking over my tank.

[johnbr]

Hi guys,

So I have this nano tank nuvo 30l and it's being 45 days that I can't get rid of this dang thing. Already did multiple water changes. Bought an RO/DI system. Checked all the chemicals, turned of the lights for 48 hours, bought another power head, scrubbed the tank multiple times.

Please give something to kill this thing for good.

Tank has 7 months now.

AKH - 9
NITRATES - 20
MAGNESIUM - 1450
CALCIUM 450-500
PHOSPHATES - 0

thanks

 

[reefertank]

What are you trying to get rid of

 

[johnbr]

What are you trying to get rid of

This hairy thing that is all over the glass, rock, skimmer, back chambers. I'm not overfeeding. At this point have no clue what to do.

 

[reefertank]

Emerald crabs work wonders. Nitrates seem high as well. What lights are you using.

 

[johnbr]

Emerald crabs work wonders. Nitrates seem high as well. What lights are you using.

Yesterday did a 20% water change. Have done multiples, don't want to stress my corals and fish. Should I keep forcing and insisting in the water changes?

2 AI Primes

 

[TexasTodd]

Snails and is your RO/DI at 0 tDS?

That really doesn't look that bad...

 

[johnbr]

Snails and is your RO/DI at 0 tDS?

That really doesn't look that bad...

No snails just 5 hermits and they seemed to vanish from the tank. Don't them in the tank that much anymore.

Is that a world where there's no algae? By the way is that green algae? Sorry for those dumb question I'm new to this hobby.

RO/DI system is brand new 5 stage.

 

[ot7]

kind of looks bubbly and slimy so it might be dinos. I would hold off on water changes just do weekly water changes. your nitrates are pretty high and phosphate is reading 0 so w/e algae is growing in your tank is feeding off of it probably

 

[reefertank]

Sounds like you are doing everything right, I would get a good clean up crew snails and emerald crab. They also sell filter media that is specially designed for lowering nitrates, worked wonders for my nano. Did you always have an rodi or did you start with tap water?

 

[johnbr]

Sounds like you are doing everything right, I would get a good clean up crew snails and emerald crab. They also sell filter media that is specially designed for lowering nitrates, worked wonders for my nano. Did you always have an rodi or did you start with tap water?

Never tap water. Before I was buying water from my LFS world wide corals. Now decided to do my own. That's funny they said that even if my nitrates go up to 50 I shouldn't do water changes.

That's so hard to understand, some people say one thing other say something else. LOL.

Why do I want my nitrates to "ZERO" if coral feed from it?

 

[reefertank]

Never tap water. Before I was buying water from my LFS world wide corals. Now decided to do my own. That's funny they said that even if my nitrates go up to 50 I shouldn't do water changes.

That's so hard to understand, some people say one thing other say something else. LOL.

Why do I want my nitrates to "ZERO" if coral feed from it?

I keep mine as low as possible but I could be wrong my lfs said you want the 10 or below. Lol I I would just keep doing what you're doing and give it time

 

[johnbr]

I keep mine as low as possible but I could be wrong my lfs said you want the 10 or below. Lol I I would just keep doing what you're doing and give it time

More than 45 days? LOL

I literally have to clean the tank EVERYDAY guys. The smell in the water is also kinda strong.

 

[johnbr]

I just wanted my tank to be clean and free from this thing. SO hard to keep it that sometimes is hard to enjoy the hobby.

 

[JoshH]

Never tap water. Before I was buying water from my LFS world wide corals. Now decided to do my own. That's funny they said that even if my nitrates go up to 50 I shouldn't do water changes.

That's so hard to understand, some people say one thing other say something else. LOL.

Why do I want my nitrates to "ZERO" if coral feed from it?

You don't want nitrates or Phos at 0 but close, when you hit 0 you're entering Dino territory, if you haven't already. And trust me, you don't want to go there. The idea is that keeping your trates and phos close to 0 is you have enough to keep corals happy but not too much to fuel potential algae outbreaks. You see lots of reefers keeping there nitrates between 5- and even up to 30 with no detrimental effects because they have an appropriate CUC to handle any excess algae. I'd second everyone else and say keep doing what your doing and invest in a more diverse CUC. Different snails and other inverts will go a long way to making you tank beautiful. Don't forget, algae is natural especially in a system as young as yours. We strive so hard to keep algae out of our little reefs but at the end of the day, it's a natural process and will usually occur even in the most healthiest of tanks. The difference is those systems are usually far more established to handle any excess algae than say a system that's less than a year old. They don't call them new tank uglies for nothing. We've all gone through it, I still am but just about gone now as things are getting balanced. Just keep going and don't let the uglies get you down, you will beat them, and you will feel better for it.

 

[KIRBLIT]

It's a new tank and will go through various stages of ugly until it matures. It just takes time and good husbandry to get a stable system going.

 

[ot7]

smell... hmm have you bought anything during the time you noticed the problem? Its possible something you bought or hitchhiker you didn't see died and is causing your problem, but you did say you have been doing water changes... maybe check your equipment maybe something is in there. Try running carbon unless you already do... maybe something you added to the tank like media is breaking down and need to be taken out. It's a pretty new tank so its possible its just going through a phase.

 

[Idoc]

snails... looks like gha to me. Scrape it down so snails can start eating it. Get some cerith, trochus, nerite, astraea snails and let them do their job, which is eat algae. Maybe a weekly water change to keep nitrates around 5-10.

Algae is part of a tank... but the cuc are there to keep it in check.

 

[johnbr]

You don't want nitrates or Phos at 0 but close, when you hit 0 you're entering Dino territory, if you haven't already. And trust me, you don't want to go there. The idea is that keeping your trates and phos close to 0 is you have enough to keep corals happy but not too much to fuel potential algae outbreaks. You see lots of reefers keeping there nitrates between 5- and even up to 30 with no detrimental effects because they have an appropriate CUC to handle any excess algae. I'd second everyone else and say keep doing what your doing and invest in a more diverse CUC. Different snails and other inverts will go a long way to making you tank beautiful. Don't forget, algae is natural especially in a system as young as yours. We strive so hard to keep algae out of our little reefs but at the end of the day, it's a natural process and will usually occur even in the most healthiest of tanks. The difference is those systems are usually far more established to handle any excess algae than say a system that's less than a year old. They don't call them new tank uglies for nothing. We've all gone through it, I still am but just about gone now as things are getting balanced. Just keep going and don't let the uglies get you down, you will beat them, and you will feel better for it.

It's a new tank and will go through various stages of ugly until it matures. It just takes time and good husbandry to get a stable system going.

smell... hmm have you bought anything during the time you noticed the problem? Its possible something you bought or hitchhiker you didn't see died and is causing your problem, but you did say you have been doing water changes... maybe check your equipment maybe something is in there. Try running carbon unless you already do... maybe something you added to the tank like media is breaking down and need to be taken out. It's a pretty new tank so its possible its just going through a phase.

But guys how can I manage nitrates in such a small tank? Is so hard is sometimes so frustrating. The smell honestly is nothing chemical. I honestly think smells algae LOL.

 

[johnbr]

snails... looks like gha to me. Scrape it down so snails can start eating it. Get some cerith, trochus, nerite, astraea snails and let them do their job, which is eat algae. Maybe a weekly water change to keep nitrates around 5-10.

Algae is part of a tank... but the cuc are there to keep it in check.

Sorry but what is CUC? Also can you guys give some names here? Snails and crabs, hermits (have 5 already but they dont seem to do @%@$%)

thanks

 

[JoshH]

Clean Up Crew @Idoc gave excellent examples of the little critters you need to help with your algae

cerith, trochus, nerite, astraea snails