Serious problem. I really need help...

svSabine · Mar 10, 2015

Good evening everyone,

I'm unsure what's going on in my tank. I've had this up and running for two years now and the tank has always been great! Now, I have a massive algae bloom (Cyano AND something that's greenish/brown) and I just can't figure it out.

Specs:
180 Gallon display, 80 gallons of sump located in the basement
Carbon reactors
GFO Reactors
Refugium
Mechanical filtration (socks)
Reef Octopus Skimmer
1,100gph turnover,plus (2) in-tank controllable circulation pumps (approx 5,000gph)
1"-3" sandbed (depending on where you look in the tank)

Tank Values
-------------
Nitrates 0
Nitrites 0
Phosphates 0
PH 8.27
Salinity 1.026
Temp 78.5
Calcium 510 (a little high)
Magnesium 1350

Lights are on from about noon - 9pm

I feed 1 cube mysis or brine each day, with some nori for the tangs

I have about 80 snails and crabs (total) in the tank, and a relatively light bio-load. There's no reason this should be happening but it's really frustrating!!!!
It feels a little like this all started around the time that I added the reactors.. but I'm not sure of that. I added the reactors to get rid of a small amount of algae in the tank. Now it's everywhere (see pics).

Not sure if it's relevant, but my skimmer randomly looses it's **** and starts overflowing. It'll do that after being totally fine (and untouched) for a week or more. I'll just come down one day and BAM! It's craaazzzyyyy!

I need advice.. please help! (Photos Below)

fishroomlady · Mar 10, 2015

what have you been doing to get rid of it at this point?

svSabine · Mar 10, 2015

I've tried weekly water changes, I added a lot of nessarious snails to move the sand bed around, I added the GFO to eliminate all phosphates, I shut all lighting down for 3 days at one point, and I did a vastly reduced lighting schedule. I've tested and retested the water but can't find any excuse for this.

I've avoided chemicals because I feel like they just mask the real problem. I'm trying to get to the source.

SamsReef · Mar 10, 2015

a few things i notice.

1) skimmer overflow has a clear role to play as it is returning everything back in the tank when it does that...do you skim dry or wet. if you skim wet, this problem will be even higher.

2) how are you measuring your nitrate, phosphates. there is no way it is 0. if it was our corals would be dying, especially the leather.
3) check for alkalinity as well. sometimes, when corraline stops growing, it leads or unwanted algae...

Hope this helped.
Sam.

Breakthecycle2 · Mar 10, 2015

Not to high jack this thread, but what is dry skimming?

jdl513 · Mar 10, 2015

Dry skimming is not dry in the physical sense.
It is dialing the skimmer in to recover thicker concentrate of organics....less volume...darker color.

Anyway....question for the originator.

What kind of lighting are you running?
If the lighting spectrum has shifted due to age it could explain the cyano bloom you are seeing.

Did you change over to a new batch of salt recently?