Scared my tank is going to crash

[Matthew Morrison]

I would say take a deep breath and don't change anything for a couple solid months. The reason you the alk isn't dropping is because the corals aren't growing. Kalk isn't going to change that, stability will. Get the test kits and monitor, do some water changes, hold off on coral and fish purchases for a while. The tank is really young and it needs time to settle down. Just my advice, but I think the worst thing you could do is rush around and start changing everything and dumping various chemicals into the tank to get rid of algae. Steady as she goes.

Thank you

 

[Matthew Morrison]

If you can, relocate the tank. Surround by 3 big windows is not an ideal location for it.

Thank you

 

[Matthew Morrison]

Thank you to everyone who replied so far. I read every word and will do my best to implement your suggestions.

 

[Neo Jeo]

Thank you

I do believe that's your main issue. Just to much light. White light causes algae growth and thats prob a lot of white. Read what I wrote because im assuming moving the tank is not an option.

 

[kashman100]

For the first year your tank will go through several stages of the "uglies". I would add another mp 40 for flow and just do weekly 10-15% water changes. Maybe cut the lights back a little. The water changes should be enough to keep your parameters in check until you get more coral and set up for dosing

 

[Chef Tommy]

I dealt with that odd algae when I started my 75. It took about 6 months for the full cycling of my dry rock. The algae you are dealing with was my first stage, then along came cyano, and finally green hair algae. It was a pain to deal with it but one day after cleaning as much of the hair algae off as I could, it never came back. I was running a fuge the whole time with no growth but now the display is clear of algae and the chetomorpha has taken off.

I’m running Triton myself now and I’m going on month 4. I like the Triton method mostly for the fact the concentration of chemicals lasts awhile. I’ve got about 40 frags that are all finally encrusted and doing well.

I’d suggest testing but don’t be frustrated to see 0 readings. The algae you are dealing with most likely is taking up all the nutrients.

I’d suggest not changing anything and continue on a waiting process. One poster suggests water changes and I totally agree, even with Triton, if some parameters are out of check and too high, they will suggest small water changes over a 6 week period for example.

Also a gfo reactor might be a good investment. I did add one reactor in the beginning for gfo, now the cheto has taken off I use it for carbon.

This is an amazing forum with so many helpful reefers. Keep asking away, there are many posters that enjoy helping out [emoji4]

 

[Matthew Morrison]

I do believe that's your main issue. Just to much light. White light causes algae growth and thats prob a lot of white. Read what I wrote because im assuming moving the tank is not an option.

I did read what you wrote. You taking the time to help me is appreciated. I will paint the sides and back. What paint do you recommend? And how should I apply it.

 

[Neo Jeo]

I did read what you wrote. You taking the time to help me is appreciated. I will paint the sides and back. What paint do you recommend? And how should I apply it.

I used a small roller and a brush. I did prob 3 coats. Open your windows it’s smelly!

 

[Neo Jeo]

Maybe you can get away not painting the left side black? Try it out first? Seems like that’s a nice viewing side .

On the other side maybe get some black felt from a craft store? That way if you ever sell the tank down the road it’s not painted? Just a thought. Most people do paint the back black.

 

[Matthew Morrison]

I dealt with that odd algae when I started my 75. It took about 6 months for the full cycling of my dry rock. The algae you are dealing with was my first stage, then along came cyano, and finally green hair algae. It was a pain to deal with it but one day after cleaning as much of the hair algae off as I could, it never came back. I was running a fuge the whole time with no growth but now the display is clear of algae and the chetomorpha has taken off.

I’m running Triton myself now and I’m going on month 4. I like the Triton method mostly for the fact the concentration of chemicals lasts awhile. I’ve got about 40 frags that are all finally encrusted and doing well.

I’d suggest testing but don’t be frustrated to see 0 readings. The algae you are dealing with most likely is taking up all the nutrients.

I’d suggest not changing anything and continue on a waiting process. One poster suggests water changes and I totally agree, even with Triton, if some parameters are out of check and too high, they will suggest small water changes over a 6 week period for example.

Also a gfo reactor might be a good investment. I did add one reactor in the beginning for gfo, now the cheto has taken off I use it for carbon.

This is an amazing forum with so many helpful reefers. Keep asking away, there are many posters that enjoy helping out [emoji4]

Thank you so much for taking the time to help me out. I really really really appreciate it.

 

[laverda]

Sun light is not the problem! People raise corals using natural sun light all the time. Most use something to reduce the amount of light hitting their tanks, since our tanks are very shallow compared to the ocean. Look in to some sort of shade cloth. You should probably only run you lights for viewing and to add some blue if you desire. Sunlight is much more intense then any lights your likely to use. Here is a large out door system using natural sun light. > http://www.garretts-acropolis.com If I recall he only lights a very small section with one MH. As you can see Steve used a tinted cover to reduce the amount of sun light hitting his corals. He also has a very large sump underneath full of live rock and macro algaes.
I have a 300 gallon tank full of cured live rock outside. I quarantined my fish in for around 9 months in it before I set my reef tank and I did not have any algae issues. I does grow cheeto well.
All reefs have algae. Herbavours keep it under control in most areas in the wild. They can definatly help in our tanks. Growing algaes in a sump can really help keep it out of the display. In your case if you can use the natural sun light in your sump it will help a lot. I have found ATSs to be much more efficient than cheeto snd other algae. If I light my ATSs 24/7 I can drive my nutrients to zero and kill my cheeto very quickly. My corals did not like zero nutrients. I cut the light vycle to my ATSs by 50% and nutrients went back up, corals are happier, macro algaes are growing again. Now I just fine tune my light schedule to get the nutrient levals I want.

As others have pointed out it is a waste of money to try to keep SPS until you know your parameters and they are stable. In addition it makes it very hard to do much more than guess at what is causing your issues.

 

[Matthew Morrison]

Sun light is not the problem! People raise corals using natural sun light all the time. Most use something to reduce the amount of light hitting their tanks, since our tanks are very shallow compared to the ocean. Look in to some sort of shade cloth. You should probably only run you lights for viewing and to add some blue if you desire. Sunlight is much more intense then any lights your likely to use. Here is a large out door system using natural sun light. > http://www.garretts-acropolis.com If I recall he only lights a very small section with one MH. As you can see Steve used a tinted cover to reduce the amount of sun light hitting his corals. He also has a very large sump underneath full of live rock and macro algaes.
I have a 300 gallon tank full of cured live rock outside. I quarantined my fish in for around 9 months in it before I set my reef tank and I did not have any algae issues. I does grow cheeto well.
All reefs have algae. Herbavours keep it under control in most areas in the wild. They can definatly help in our tanks. Growing algaes in a sump can really help keep it out of the display. In your case if you can use the natural sun light in your sump it will help a lot. I have found ATSs to be much more efficient than cheeto snd other algae. If I light my ATSs 24/7 I can drive my nutrients to zero and kill my cheeto very quickly. My corals did not like zero nutrients. I cut the light vycle to my ATSs by 50% and nutrients went back up, corals are happier, macro algaes are growing again. Now I just fine tune my light schedule to get the nutrient levals I want.

As others have pointed out it is a waste of money to try to keep SPS until you know your parameters and they are stable. In addition it makes it very hard to do much more than guess at what is causing your issues.

thank you very much for your help and insight. I really appreciate it!

 

[cracker]

laverda has a good idea I had a curtain of sorts on the back it looked pretty god & did cut out any light from the window behind.
Are You planning on getting some test kits? We can give You more insight concerning on the algae if we know the Nitrates & Phosphate levels.

 

[Mr.Hyde]

It appears to be a bacterial problem and there is an easy solution! Lugals iodine, a couple of drops (I do one drop per fifty gallons daily will take care of your problem within about a month. You will need to stop dosing any type of carbon (vodka, vinegar, sugar and so on) run your skimmer and clean it every week. Use iodine sparingly, as it can limit your biological filtration. Lugals will stop Dino, Cyano along with other tank issues. I have used it for years in my sps tanks with heavy bio-loads to control unwanted bacteria’s.

 

[Matthew Morrison]

It appears to be a bacterial problem and there is an easy solution! Lugals iodine, a couple of drops (I do one drop per fifty gallons daily will take care of your problem within about a month. You will need to stop dosing any type of carbon (vodka, vinegar, sugar and so on) run your skimmer and clean it every week. Use iodine sparingly, as it can limit your biological filtration. Lugals will stop Dino, Cyano along with other tank issues. I have used it for years in my sps tanks with heavy bio-loads to control unwanted bacteria’s.

thank you

 

[chris jones 105]

What it looked liked before gray gunk
With gray gunk
Tonight after I brushed off the rock
How my tank is kind of covered with towels to block out sun

Theirs your problem right their surrouding your tank, windows, way to much natural light.my guess for what it's worth, good luck.

 

[Matthew Morrison]

Theirs your problem right their surrouding your tank, windows, way to much natural light.my guess for what it's worth, good luck.

Thank you

 

[Robink]

Nice tank and stand! Sorry you're having problems. I believe you're moving a little too fast and you need to slow down.
Your first priority should be to get your own test kits, when keeping coral you really need to know your parameters.
I suggest you quarantine any new fish you would like to add to your tank. You can get cheap dollar a gallon tanks at petco or another chain.
Check out the threads on quarantine on the forums here, great info. You should read over all the valuable information there, it will save you loads of trouble in the future.
I run radions on my tank also on the sps ab+ coral lab program. You should turn down the intensity on your lighting to about 50%, 100 % intensity is too much for any corals with those lights. And shorten your lighting time, Mine come on at 10 am and off at 8pm, sps, lps and zoas and everything is happy.
I would start out with fish only and add them slowly so your biological filter can keep up. Also you may have some kind of hitcjhiker in there, I think I read that one of your fish was missing half his body? If so you'll probably have to get out a flashlight and be checking after lights out.
Take your time and have fun! This is a great hobby and if you go slow and read the information available on this forum you will learn a lot and be more successful!
And yes location for the tank will cause an algae problem if it's getting direct sunlight. You can get black out curtains to help with that.

 

[Barry_Cuda]

It appears to be a bacterial problem and there is an easy solution! Lugals iodine, a couple of drops (I do one drop per fifty gallons daily will take care of your problem within about a month. You will need to stop dosing any type of carbon (vodka, vinegar, sugar and so on) run your skimmer and clean it every week. Use iodine sparingly, as it can limit your biological filtration. Lugals will stop Dino, Cyano along with other tank issues. I have used it for years in my sps tanks with heavy bio-loads to control unwanted bacteria’s.

I wish I'd known about that with my first tank. I eventually tore it down because I couldn't get rid of the dinos.

 

[Mr.Hyde]

I wish I'd known about that with my first tank. I eventually tore it down because I couldn't get rid

I am sorry to hear that. My goal is to have as many reefers enjoy their tanks without the heartache. I have been there before not for the reason you stated but, I have had to tear tanks down and it is not a pleasant feeling.