How can i fix my aquarium

[Celbrise]

I am running a 55 gallon long aquarium, with a coralife t5 dual light fixture, fluval 306 canister filter, and a single aqueon power head I believe 900gph with no wave maker attached. my tank is riddled with diatoms and green algae all over the glass and sand. been using tap water for my water changes/top off but am reverting back to rodi water. the algae still grows everywhere regardless but the diatoms slow down after using rodi. the green algae is hard to scrape off it's like coralline algae but it's not. not sure what kind of sand I am using nor the levels.

would like to turn this already set up tank around so it looks crystal clear and fish are healthier any help/products I should buy. my stock is currently 1 ocelaris clown, 1 blue tang, 1 green spotted puffer which I converted to salt water, and 1 trigger. the trigger is probably the most aggressive but they fairly get along. I live in Hawaii so I stock wise will be hard due to laws but I will try find legal species if needed like inverts. I do not have a sump on this tank nor anything to hold my fish to make a sump.

all the info I could get/tips is appreciated.

 

[vic67]

There is no quick solution to fixing your tank. I would tear the tank down and start over. Buy a stock tank or even Rubbermaid containers to temporarily hold your livestock. Your rock will have to be scrubbed and your sand cleaned. You can rinse the sand using tap water but use RODI water for the final rinse. Let the tank cycle using the live rock and some bottled nitrifying bacteria. Introduce your livestock slowly back into your tank when it's ready.

 

[FL_Reefer]

I would start with some water changes, RODI is the key here. Keep up with using RODI water. That is where all your algae issues are most likely stemming from. Maybe even start running some carbon too.

How old is your tank?
How often do you do water changes?
How often do you clean your filter?

 

[FL_Reefer]

Any pics?

 

[Wiz]

I would stick with rodi. Thats first. then I would check tank parameters. Specifically phos andnitrate

 

[Celbrise]

I don't have live rock well I have one but I am not so sure it is even live rock. got it from Petco had lots of coralline algae but theirs lots of diatoms and other algae growing on it as well so I think they ripped me off and gave me a rock that was painted. it feels really smooth though so idk if it is the real deal hard to find much of anything here even coralline algae encrusted rocks in stores. I do have base rock but they have algae all over them.

the tank has been set up for maybe 2 years now has had this issue ever since. the tank itself is used and looks beat up.

I used to do water changes weekly but then I got lazy after a while and started just topping off the water and doing water changes maybe once every 2 months now I'm trying to get back into the hobby. not sure as I read people say once a week others once a month. some I just see topping it off.

I rarely clean my filter since I bought it I have cleaned it twice since. I don't have anything in their besides a big sponge with huge holes ( said not to replace this ), ceramic cylinders which I am unsure if I need to replace, and a fine sponge. it also has a tray with carbon that I never replaced.

sorry no pics I don't have a phone or camera. the fish seem like they are doing okay but I know it's unhealthy environment. anything I should buy/do considering the above?

 

[FL_Reefer]

First do a water change every couple of days, clean your filters once a week and use RODI water to do so. If you follow this, it's will make a huge improvement. I would do a 20% or so water change every couple of days. I'm sure your nutrient levels are through the roof so no point in testing them now.

Get a good local fish store, not petco...
And reed up on good aquarium husbandry. That will take you a long way

 

[Celbrise]

alright thanks will do. should I change my filter media like the sponges and carbon or are those good for life?

 

[FL_Reefer]

I would change them now. Then you can rinse the filter everytime you clean and change out carbon once a month after.

 

[BlacknBlue2]

Also you may think about getting a GFO Reactor, it will help alot and you can put GFO and carbon in it, just put a filter in between the 2 layers unless you get a dual reactor in which case gfo in 1 carbon in the other.

 

[Celbrise]

what is a gfo reactor? will look that up now but would also like some info just incase I can't understand. as for the carbon would it be okay to put in a lot or should I just put in like say a handful will do some research on that as well not sure if someone will really have an answer for that though. I plan to buy the bags and then carbon serperately I'm sure it is cheaper overall that way

 

[BlacknBlue2]

• Granular Ferric Oxide this will help immensely with algae, big hint is once you get it in the canister, to rinse off the dust till the water is fairly clear. Or else you turn your rocks brown,lol It won't hurt them but it looks terrible for a bit
• for your carbon I would use 3/4 of a media bag so it gets room to move through the filter media

 

[jsker]

First do a water change every couple of days, clean your filters once a week and use RODI water to do so. If you follow this, it's will make a huge improvement. I would do a 20% or so water change every couple of days. I'm sure your nutrient levels are through the roof so no point in testing them now.

Get a good local fish store, not petco...
And reed up on good aquarium husbandry. That will take you a long way

Also you may think about getting a GFO Reactor, it will help alot and you can put GFO and carbon in it, just put a filter in between the 2 layers unless you get a dual reactor in which case gfo in 1 carbon in the other.

Do the above and also look into a skimmer. I have a CPR HOB but you can run any HOB system and with enough live rock you can pull the media and just run the skimmer and the GFO and you will have clean water. Now I have my GFO reactor in the HOB and not in the tank. I am running the Bakpk 2 with AquaMaxx FR-S in my 72 with a 61 volume. My Po4 went from a .16ppm to a .04 in 30 days. I was fighting algae problems for 5 months before I run the reactor in. I am only running Rawa and took the carbon out. I just cleaned my HOB and power heads yesterday and I have some air bubbles in the tank but that will settle down in a couple of days. I am going to check my Parameters in a few minuets and I bet I will be down to .02ppm Po4. My mistake and learning experience was I was changing %20 every other day and striped the tank of the bio load and lost a few fish but found out that my coral really started looking like when I first brought them home. I deduced the I need to start dosing elements and NO3PO4 x along with mg, ca, and kalwasser. I am putting in the other doser today for my auto dosing of the elements.

 

[BlacknBlue2]

You can also get a Bulk Reef Supply single or dual reactors, the single comes in a kit with a cobalt pump and the nylock parts, you may need extra line and its cheap

 

[Celbrise]

I don't have a sump so I don't think I can do a skimmer I want to start a sump but my tank is working and I don't want a HOB sump. I was going to ask if I needed the reactor but looks like I can just put a sock on it and put in the canister so that is good now just to find somewhere that sells GFO :/ will go to the store and try to buy some and filter media and all that. since doing a 20% water change yesterday fish look a bit more active and colors a brighter.

I had a question about a wave maker. is it needed in this tank it's mainly FOWLR can't really get any intverts here nobody sells them and corals are illegal I believe except zoa's but it's even hard to find those. I just have a continuous flow with a single power head going one direction. I have 2 power heads both same company but one is I thnk 500gph or 750gph

 

[BlacknBlue2]

You could do a HOB Skimmer and that would help immensely with fish waste, and you can bag up the GFO media and put it in the skimmer. Also you will want a wavemaker to keep deadspots from forming and then cyano starts up. Plus some fish enjoy riding the current from 1 side to the other.

 

[Celbrise]

I just changed most of my filter media today like carbon, added phosguard which sounds like GFO but it is white, and replaced about 4 out of 6 of my filter pads. I also bought better food like krill for my trigger and puffer and mysis shrimp because I've only been feeding them brine shrimp couldn't find anyone selling frozen raw mysis or krill here only brine and blood worms and they don't eat the dry ones either.

as for the wave maker I do have a power head but it is on continuously will this be okay or is a wave maker better to hook on it? also what position is good to keep the power head at. right now I have it on the side angling down away from the filters intake but I can tell there is still dead spots because if I remove my rocks I see a bunch of left over food. I tried to cut down on the food as well I was over feeding heavily

 

[BlacknBlue2]

You will want to point the powerhead towards the front so it can bounce off the front and create some waterflow, maybe take the powerheads and put 1 lower and circulate the lower portion while the other head which should be on the opposite side is working the higher area. As far as your deadspots go, you may need to rescape a bit, create more holes to get more flow amongst the rocks. For your triggers and puffer, you can get whole scallops and shrimp and chunk them. Also with your puffer you can get whole clams and the puffer will crack them open and the shells will help file the puffers teeth down.

 

[Celbrise]

by point them to the front do you meant put them on the back wall or on the side and point it to the front? as for the rocks they are pretty big would it just be better to remove say one or 2 of them and keep the tank bare. I have about 3 small-medium sized rocks the rest are huge. I was thinking or breaking them into smaller chunks and maybe stacking them or something idk.

scallops here are way too expensive even for frozen ones so I try to stay away from them but yea I have tried shrimp they love it but mine doesn't seem to care for the shelled shrimp. we have Ramshorn snails in our little ponds I used to feed here and there but had to smash it a little as if I keep it whole it wont eat it. just fed them dinner surprisingly they ate the frozen krill. will probably buy some scallops at the store tomorrow

 

[BlacknBlue2]

mount to the side and point it to the front, and on the other side point it towards the back, but point it more towards the other side if you know what I mean. As far as the bigger rocks go, you could bust them up and create holes for the water to flow through.