Tank Neglect, trying to get things back on track

[Glott3133]

I've spent the last several months traveling, and my tank has suffered. Mostly because I relied too heavily on my Apex and the reading that It provided from the Trident. My Alkalinity was way off and killed almost all of my acros. I also picked up two Bellus angels (male and female). They looked very healthy, but something must have been wrong, because I lost both of them and a big population of fish.

Today, I still have 4 fish (flame angel, bristle tooth tang, diamond goby, and a maroon clown). I also have a couple of mdntipora's, and hammer corals, with some misc. other corals.

But I'm having issues maintaining my calcium and alkalinity levels:
CA - 472 and I have the doser turned off. It seems to rise on it's own.
ALK - 7.78 and it has been fluctuating between 7.7 and 8.6, and not sure why with the same dose.
Salt - 1.027
Ammonia - 0
Nitrites - 0
Nitrates - 0
Phosphates - .03

I am getting lots of brown and green algae, even on corals and rock. My refugium is running very well.

What am I missing? What can I do to get this tank back on track?

Thanks

 

[Crustaceon]

Manually remove the nuisance algae from the display. Use your hands, old toothbrush, whatever. Stay on top of it. That right there will have the biggest impact. When your nutrients are out of whack, everything else usually will be as well and having a display that's acting essentially like a gigantic refugium will do that.

 

[bhargs99]

I agree with Crustaceon about keeping up with the algae in your display. Looks like your refugium is running too well and you bottomed out your nitrate. You either need to add more bioload (more fish) or remove some macroalgae in your fuge. You could also reduce your photo period until your nitrate comes back up.

Edit: Don't try to change too much at once, take it slow and watch for changes.

 

[Glott3133]

I agree with Crustaceon about keeping up with the algae in your display. Looks like your refugium is running too well and you bottomed out your nitrate. You either need to add more bioload (more fish) or remove some macroalgae in your fuge. You could also reduce your photo period until your nitrate comes back up.

Edit: Don't try to change too much at once, take it slow and watch for changes.

I have a ton of macro algae in my refugium, should I reduce it to about a softball size? I have enough to fill a 3 gallon bucket.

 

[Karen00]

It's also possible the algae in your tank is sucking up nitrates along with your fuge. You have to tackle the algae first. The loss of fish is weird if it doesn't look like disease. Maybe low oxygen or the algae released some toxin that affected some of them.

 

[Glott3133]

It's also possible the algae in your tank is sucking up nitrates along with your fuge. You have to tackle the algae first. The loss of fish is weird if it doesn't look like disease. Maybe low oxygen or the algae released some toxin that affected some of them.

I'm hesitant to add new fish, in my display tank, so I bought a 90 gallon to server as a quarantine tank. It is in the finishing stages of cycling with live rock and sand. I can use some of my macro algae from my display tank to put in this new tank (or just throw some away). But I will go in and start scrubbing some of algae off of the rock.

 

[bhargs99]

I have a ton of macro algae in my refugium, should I reduce it to about a softball size? I have enough to fill a 3 gallon bucket.

That's a lot of macro haha. I suppose it depends on the size of your tank. My brother runs a soccer ball size macro ball in his fuge for a 150 gallon lightly stocked tank. I can no longer run a fuge in my nano because it wipes out nutrients too quickly. Start by reducing it in half, wait a week to see what your parameters are and if you are still at 0 for nitrate, reduce in half again.

Might not be the best idea to reduce it to a softball size all at once, but over time that might be where you end up at.

 

[Karen00]

I'm hesitant to add new fish, in my display tank, so I bought a 90 gallon to server as a quarantine tank. It is in the finishing stages of cycling with live rock and sand. I can use some of my macro algae from my display tank to put in this new tank (or just throw some away). But I will go in and start scrubbing some of algae off of the rock.

Yes, definitely hold off adding anything new to the tank until it's sorted out. Setting up that secondary tank is the way to go. It's amazing how disruptive algae can be to an ecosystem.

 

[Glott3133]

That's a lot of macro haha. I suppose it depends on the size of your tank. My brother runs a soccer ball size macro ball in his fuge for a 150 gallon lightly stocked tank. I can no longer run a fuge in my nano because it wipes out nutrients too quickly. Start by reducing it in half, wait a week to see what your parameters are and if you are still at 0 for nitrate, reduce in half again.

Might not be the best idea to reduce it to a softball size all at once, but over time that might be where you end up at.

Makes sense. I have a 150 gallon tank, with very little fish. I will move slowly.