Please help my tank is ugly

[Rilo]

It's a new young tank that is heavily feed. The abundance of nutrients I'm guessing is one of the main causes of the algae growth. Reduce feeding significantly and get some algae eating inverts to supplement reducing the algae. They won't be the main way of reducing the growth.

That will be water changes with ro/di water. (do larger water changes)
Adding a carbon.
and reducing light period.

Goodluck!

 

[Mag]

My water isn't crystal clear and various forms of algae cover everything. There's an oily film on top of the water, and all of my corals are closed. Also, the tank is almost 5 months old and I have zero Coraline growth. My fish seem happy but all my inverts and corals seem depressed or something. I have a 20 gallon tank with a lousy protein skimmer, HOB aquaclear filter as a refugium, and 165w LEDs. I dont dose anything and I feed mysis shrimp every night. I use fuel 3 times a week for my corals. I have 4 small fish and a shrimp, 2 crabs and 2 snails. I do 2 gallon water changes every weekend and my current water parameters nitrate-1 ph-8.1 salinity-1.025 temp-79

it looks alot worse in person than in the pictures.

Hi if I had that going on... I would first change might light schedule and implement a algae scrubber. Run lights from 11 to 8 and algae scrubber from 8 to 11... had the same problem and that fixed it! Now i just have to fight the red cyano if anyone has any info on that with out having to use chemicals let me know thanks!!

 

[Theresa Groomes]

What’s your phosphate level look like?
Are you using RODI?
Live or dry rock and was it cured?

Algae is natural, but looks like you have it in abundance. This means a nutrient problem .

Can you elaborate on your husbandry?

I battle algae weekly. I feed daily but only small amounts. I think algae is just a way of life. I actually took most of my live rick out and scrubbed them , then rinsed in ro water.

 

[Bpb]

I battle algae weekly. I feed daily but only small amounts. I think algae is just a way of life. I actually took most of my live rick out and scrubbed them , then rinsed in ro water.

You took the rock out of your running tank, scrubbed, and rinsed with RO water, and returned them?

 

[Orcus Varuna]

I battle algae weekly. I feed daily but only small amounts. I think algae is just a way of life. I actually took most of my live rick out and scrubbed them , then rinsed in ro water.

Literally the surest way to continue battling algae forever is to disturb the rockwork let alone scrubbing and rinsing it in RO water. Talk about a full microfauna reset... [emoji2359]

 

[Orcus Varuna]

Like others have said reduce nutrient input and stop dosing all nutrient additives immediately. I would also recommend taking that useless fuge off line and replacing it with the original filter basket. In the filter basket run the original sponge (to add mechanical filtration and remove uneaten food and dying algae. Clean this weekly), and pick up phosguard and a quality carbon and run a 1/3 cup of each in a filter bag changed out every two weeks. In addition to this skim very “wet” to expedite nutrient removal, I would aim for a green tea color. Finally, do atleast a 15% water change weekly. If you follow this you will beat the algae in about 2-3 months. A pretty tank unfortunately takes a lot of hard work and adherence to a strict plan but unlike others have said you can have one without a sump. It just takes a little bit more work but it is possible as I was able to do so quite successfully for many years using the above method.

O and one more thing, with that amount of algae growth nitrate and phosphate tests are pretty much useless as the algae is using it all. All you know is to grow that jungle they are off the charts lol. Cheers and feel free to reach out in a pm if you need additional help.

 

[Bpb]

Agree whole heartedly with the above post. Your “refugium” is making no measurable impact. It’s too small. Running a phosphate media, carbon, and mech filtration in that power filter will be much more effective.

One thing I wanted to touch on. Orcus said a pretty tank is hard work. I agree. But I’ll elaborate that it has to be smart hard work. Early on especially. Removing all the rocks and scrubbing them every week certainly constitutes as hard work. But it isn’t smart work and is causing a lot more problems than it is fixing. Work hard AND smart.

 

[Theresa Groomes]

Like others have said reduce nutrient input and stop dosing all nutrient additives immediately. I would also recommend taking that useless fuge off line and replacing it with the original filter basket. In the filter basket run the original sponge (to add mechanical filtration and remove uneaten food and dying algae. Clean this weekly), and pick up phosguard and a quality carbon and run a 1/3 cup of each in a filter bag changed out every two weeks. In addition to this skim very “wet” to expedite nutrient removal, I would aim for a green tea color. Finally, do atleast a 15% water change weekly. If you follow this you will beat the algae in about 2-3 months. A pretty tank unfortunately takes a lot of hard work and adherence to a strict plan but unlike others have said you can have one without a sump. It just takes a little bit more work but it is possible as I was able to do so quite successfully for many years using the above method.

O and one more thing, with that amount of algae growth nitrate and phosphate tests are pretty much useless as the algae is using it all. All you know is to grow that jungle they are off the charts lol. Cheers and feel free to reach out in a pm if you need additional help.

Hey thanks for that. I previously posted about removing my rock due to algae. That was because of brown hair algae or at least that's what the local pet store said. They recommended arythromycin and I'll NEVER do that again. I now read posts on here as you all seem to know more that they do. Having said that, I did 10 to 15 percent water changes weekly and get brown diatoms the next day. Nitrates are at about 5, ph 8.4. I use RO water.Any suggestions?

 

[Bpb]

Hey thanks for that. I previously posted about removing my rock due to algae. That was because of brown hair algae or at least that's what the local pet store said. They recommended arythromycin and I'll NEVER do that again. I now read posts on here as you all seem to know more that they do. Having said that, I did 10 to 15 percent water changes weekly and get brown diatoms the next day. Nitrates are at about 5, ph 8.4. I use RO water.Any suggestions?

If they’re truly diatoms then your RODI water is allowing silicates into the product water and not functioning optimally. Before we get down to the brass tacks of anaerobic bacteria maturity and the complexities of enzymatic action to liberate inorganic phosphate from aragonite, as well as the intercellular conversion of NO3 to NH4 for metabolic function, we need to ensure all the basics are all in order. Not trying to sound like an elitist smarty pants, truly, but those topics help to explain what is happening when you get an algae bloom. And further understanding them helps in reducing the ugly stuff

 

[Theresa Groomes]

Ok so what basics do you speak of?

 

[Bpb]

Ok so what basics do you speak of?

What particular RODI unit are you using? How old are the filters, what’s the operating pressure, and have you been verifying it is producing 0 tds with a calibrated tds meter?

 

[Orcus Varuna]

Ok so what basics do you speak of?

Hey Theresa, what @Bpb says is spot on. The most important things to figure out first are what RODI unit you are using, do you have a TDS meter, what pressure is the unit operating at, how old are the filters in the rodi and are you on a municipal water supply (if your on municipal you can look up the annual water report posted by your township)? Post that info along with pictures of the algae and your setup, and will see if we can help get you on track. Cheers

 

[Katrina71]

Your tank is not ugly. Your tank is becoming a swan. We all go through stages we like more than others. It's all about balance. Give it time. Minor changes can give you amazing results!

 

[Theresa Groomes]

What particular RODI unit are you using? How old are the filters, what’s the operating pressure, and have you been verifying it is producing 0 tds with a calibrated tds meter?

Geekpure, just changed the filters

 

[Theresa Groomes]

5 stage

Geekpure, just changed the filters

 

[o00brandon00o]

5 stage

@Theresa Groomes Politely recommend you start a new thread so you can get personalized and focused attention without taking away from the OP's topic and progress.

 

[Theresa Groomes]

Ok sorry. I'm having problems but thanks anyway.

 

[Dolelo96]

I use rodi and the rock was old rock that had been sitting in my closet for 2 years I had a fowlr tank a while ago

I’m still focused on “old rock that had been sitting in my closet for two years”. You said it was used in your fowlr tank. A few questions..

Was it dry or live when you put it in the previous tank?
How long was it in that tank?
Any algae problems in the old tank?
Was it cleaned/rinsed before storing it?
Did you “cure it” before placing it in the new tank?

I’ve learned that rock can cause a lot of problems in a tank if not handled properly

 

[Dolelo96]

Ok sorry. I'm having problems but thanks anyway.

@o00brandon00o suggestion was to help you get help that was focused solely on your problems and give the OP that same courtesy. That’s the beauty of being able to start your own thread, you get all the attention