New Member Needs Some Help With Cyanobacteria

DavidL · Sep 25, 2018

Hello everyone,
I'm a new member here and I could use some help with my reef tank.
So I have a 75-gallon sumpless tank, which was more of a reef tank at one point, and is about 2 years old now. As it sits, I have 3 PJ cardinals, a harptail blenny, a blue neon goby, 2 ocellaris clownfish, and an orchid dottyback. For invertebrates, I have some xenia coral, a single very small ricordea, and a few left hand and blue leg hermit crabs. Unfortunately, I have lost a couple of inverts along the way (but no fish), including 2 scarlet skunk cleaners which lasted about a year, a serpent star which often had an injury in the central disk, and duncan, blasto, and mushroom corals. After these deaths happened (they were spread out over a few months), the tank has become completely covered in algae. The fish are still content, but I need to make the algae go away. My current parameters are as follows:
Nitrates: about 0 (done with API saltwater test kit)
pH: about 8 (done with API saltwater test kit)
Salinity: 40 ppt (done with a calibrated refractometer, I am working to reduce this salinity to 35 ppt)
Magnesium: 1350 (done with salifert test kit)
Alkalinity: 11.5 (done with salifert test kit)
Calcium: 350 (done with salifert test kit)
I also have the following equipment:
SunSun canister filter
Coralife super skimmer
Current USA Orbit Marine LED
2x Hydor Koralia Nano 425
Current USA dual light T5 HO fixture
So I know that Canister filters have a tendency to become nitrate factories without frequent cleaning (which is something I have found to be difficult with my stand), so my idea is to replace the canister filter with a power filter, do more water changes, and add an additional powerhead (I have some that I got from a friend and I don't know the exact model at this time; I do know they are larger than my current ones though). I need some help to make sure I am doing the right thing. Thanks!

hdsoftail1065 · Sep 25, 2018

Welcome to R2R!

I'm not sure if what I done was the correct method or not. I'm sure some of the seasoned reefers can help you more. I reduced the lights run time, toothbrush and turkey baster to remove what I could, added some chemi pure blue, adjusted my flow, upped my WC and kept repeating daily. It didn't vanish over night for me but I finally won the battle.

#welcometor2r

lzrlvr · Sep 25, 2018

That tank looks terrible is it possible you have an algae problem

WWIII · Sep 25, 2018

Welcome to R2R!

I think he knows the tank doesn't look so great, hence the post here. Anyways...

There's a lot going on and some missing information. First things I notice is no phosphate test result. That would be handy to help figure out a path to get the tank going back the right direction! Also, the salinity is high, which you know, but your gonna have to watch the other parameters as you decrease salinity. Calcium, alkalinity and magnesium will likely decrease as salinity decreases. Your calcium is already a little low according to your test, so I would watch that and possibly dose.

Next is that sumpless tanks can definitely be more difficult to keep nutrients (nitrate and phosphate) under control and with that comes the difficulty of keeping algae under control.

What lights and schedule do you use (maybe I missed that?)

Are you using anything in your canister filter? I would recommend to clean out that first really well and possibly use some floss and maybe some gfo or chemipure blue (same thing kinda) in there. I would then limit the lighting schedule to say 6 to 8 hours a day. I would manually clean the tank. Rocks, sand, glass, etc... Then I would just wait and focus on getting all the parameters in line. Including phosphate. As the algae dies off and is removed you will need to clean or replace the filter floss and clean/replace the chemipure.

Also are you using rodi? Again welcome to R2R! You can get the tank back in shape with some work!

Xavierwally · Sep 25, 2018

Hi welcome to R2R.

Looking at your parameters, yes you are right you Salinity is very high. Your Alkalinity is very high, I would bring it down to 8-9 DKH. Unless you are using Red Sea Coral Pro Salt. Your Calcium I would bring it up to 450 so it would go hand in hand with your 1350 Magnesium (1 to 3 ratio).

Now to start fighting against your cyano and algae problem I would :
1- start with a 3 day black out period (cover your tank let no light get into it and turn off your lights and do not feed your fish).
2- Change out SunSun canister filter for a power filter like the AquaClear 110 and get the media basket for this filter from INTANK.
3- turn you lights on for only 6 hours Max per day.
3- Feed your fish alot less than you are. Only feed what your fish could eat in 2-3 minutes.
4- add the new powerheads to your system, don't replace the ones you have.
5- get some turbo snails (6 to 12) to help with the algae.
6- 10 gallon water change 3 times a week.

I hope this helps, just my 2 cents.

DavidL · Sep 26, 2018

Thanks for the replies, everyone! Just so you know, I am quite aware that the tank has an algae problem.

I have bought a Marineland emperor power filter to replace the canister because the thing is a pain to clean and creates a lot of heat, so I was planning on replacing it. I will try to get my hands on a phosphate test kit as soon as I can. Also, my lighting schedule is to turn the T5s on at 6:30 am (before I go to school), have the orbit marine begin turning on about 7:00 am, and turn off the T5s about 6:30 PM when the orbit marine begins turning off. I also make sure to feed my fish only what they are eating, so overfeeding is probably not the issue. WWIII, I do use RO/DI water and I will check for TDS to make sure all is good with that. I also have been manually removing the algae but it has kept growing back. Xavierwally, I will clean and add one of the two new powerheads and then I will see if I need the other one. I don't want to do a blackout because I do not wish to kill my remaining corals (which are pretty much on the brink), but I will see what I can do about reducing the daytime period. I will get more buckets and start doing more regular water changes as well, but some of my CUC members have been dying off recently; I am not sure if I want to replace them right away.
Thanks for the welcomes and the advice! I know this is a lengthy post, but I wanted to cover it all at once.

Katrina71 · Sep 26, 2018

lzrlvr said:
That tank looks terrible is it possible you have an algae problem

Maybe that's why his title says Needs Some Help

Xavierwally · Sep 27, 2018

Sounds good, keep us updated please.

reef lover · Sep 27, 2018

Welcome to r2r!!

DavidL · Sep 27, 2018

Time for an update! (you can actually get quite a bit done when you know where to start

)
So, I've commenced with my plan and have done the following things so far:

Removed the canister filter and replaced it with a Marineland emperor power filter
Added a new powerhead to increase the flow
Arranged so that the T5s won't be turned on until about 9:00 AM
Continued with manual algae removal

Right now, my fish and corals are adapting to the new conditions, so I am gonna leave them alone for the rest of today. I'll get a pic of the tank as soon as I can tomorrow. I am going to borrow a phosphate test kit, and also do more water changes so I can eliminate the cyanobacteria. I have instant ocean reef salt so it should stabilize my parameters after I do frequent water changes. Thanks for all the advice, everyone! It's been super helpful!