Help

[James Miller]

I have a 6.5 nano tank and I am a bit lost here. OK lets start with the set up, i have a peppermint shimp, nassis snail ( the one that looks like it has a elephant trunk), a Halloween crab, and a platinum clown. Items in tank are a heater, small power head, and the pump for the filter. i have carbon, chato (green stuff like a sos pad) and a black foam cube for bacteria growth. I have tested the water and everything is great. Ok, now for the problems, i have red stuff growing on live sand and bubbles are every where. Soft corals doing great. I have put in 2 cleaner gobi's separate times and neither stayed in tank, both found hole and jumped to death. Clown is like on speed. All stock eats like its their last meal. OK, I did a voltage test and it has me stumped. As I unplug items voltage goes up and with nothing plugged in, i still have voltage. To have a voltage you need a circuit and there isn't one (the stumped part). The tank is on a wood deck and it dry. So to have a circuit you have a ground to tank to what? I have the pinkish algae which is the good stuff and the green (snails are keeping it down). So can anyone tell me how to fix this problem. The red stuff is growing fast and breaking off and plugging up the filter. I tried moving the clown to my big tank but the clown there is still ticked at the platinum for stressing out the others mate and killing it. If you need photos i can post some. This tank has me concerned. It did say freshwater only but have see nano tanks with same filter set up. The food is a mixture of vitamins, garlic and mixture of shrimp from photo to brine. Any help would be great.

 

[Tahoe61]

Without an image I am going to have to guess it's Cyanobacteria. First I would increase flow a lot, get a power head with a great gph value. Next evaluate how much your feeding, 6.5 is a tiny tank and water quality becomes compromised quickly, especially in a newer system. Take your water to the local fish store and get values for nitrates and phosphates and post them please. Do small daily water changes using RO/DI only with your salt mix, a gallon a day. Manually remove what algae you can siphon off and clean all sponges, floss (mechanical filtration).

If all else fails you can use Chem-Clean after first research, follow directions carefully.

Sound like an issue that will pass with some simple interventions though. Please do not buy any more gobies for the tank, the tank is far too small and they will do nothing to combat this particular algae/cyano issue.

 

[Humblefish]

The "red stuff" could be cyano, but the "bubbles" makes me also think dinos. Can you post a pic?

How many volts are you reading in your tank when everything is switched off?

 

[James Miller]

The "red stuff" could be cyano, but the "bubbles" makes me also think dinos. Can you post a pic?

How many volts are you reading in your tank when everything is switched off?

ok, every thing plugged in im reading 5.92 volts, power head removed=8.4, filter pump=15.15, heater=16.24. That is everything unplugged, light is on plastic and I removed it and voltage stayed same, lol nope it increased to 17 volts. So let me get this straight, nothing plugged in an I'm still carrying a voltage from tank to ground.

 

[James Miller]

OK, as for pictures, I'm having a issue. Will post soon

 

[Humblefish]

Are you sure you are testing correctly and your meter is working properly?

Check out this thread: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/how-do-i-check-for-stray-voltage.206511/

 

[James Miller]

Ok, I had a electrician from work bring his meter here and test the tank, LOL he got same reading as I did and he is as stumped as I am. As for the water testing, the fish store said tank is in great shape, do water changes and vac the sand. If still persists to to treat with chemicals. She don't like chemicals so we are going to do certain steps before we head down that road.

 

[James Miller]

here are the pix, the sand is even changing colors. vac'ed tonight, cleaned filters, reducing lights being on, and fed light

 

[NanaReefer]

Definitely Cyanobacteria.

 

[James Miller]

OK, I got rid of the Cyanobacteria LOL. Wife and I went to K. C. to Fishtopia and got a 26 gallon bow front tank and stand used. Sand was filtered and new good bacteria introduced and more live rock. We only have 3 critters in there for now but now we have more room to grow and improve. Critters are platinum clown, Halloween crab and a peppermint shrimp. Going to get a diamond goby and maybe 2 more fish of her choice. the 6.25 gallon in now a hospital tank.

 

[NanaReefer]

Go slow as you may experience a small cycle. I'd wait a couple weeks before adding any more new critters.

 

[James Miller]

We wasn't going to add any more for a couple weeks. She is tickled now that she has a tank to actually have room to do something now. And a happy wife makes me happy