What is going off with my tank?

[danemma]

I've got some purple stuff like algae I think it's that cynaeo (something like that) and got like green moss on live rocks and my corals look like there dying and got lots of air bubbles on live rocks and as you can see everything I have mentioned in all the pictures all I've done differently is change my lighting to Mars aqua

 

[S-t-r-e-t-c-h]

That's definitely cyano, with some green hair algae to boot. Any idea what your nitrate and phosphate levels are?

 

[danemma]

Just checked them and nitrite 0.25ppm and nitrate is 0ppm

 

[danemma]

And any ideas on how to control or get rid ov it

 

[ChiCity]

Looks like you joined on Saturday, so I'm guessing your tank is new....
If so, it's just growing pains.
Your system will go through various stages of the uglies before it settles in.
The only thing you can do is keep params in line and avoid dumping too much crap into the tank

 

[danemma]

It's been running for just over a year now and only recently found this app and it is a life saver

 

[DSC reef]

If it's been running for a year and your picking up nitrites then that is a little concerning. Something with nutrient export is lacking I would imagine.

 

[danemma]

How do you mean concerning what can I do about it I want to fix it

 

[OREGONIC]

.25 nitrate is not concerning in my opinion, mine hold steady between 2 and 5. Undetectable phosphates seem more concerning, I had 0 phosphates for a while and had a cyano issue at the same time. Chemiclean works wonders for cyano and i have never had an ill effect from using it. I shoot for 1-5 ppm nitrates and .03-.04 phosphates. I run an algae scrubber and have next to no algae in my display which I believe is thanks to the algae scrubber. All corals are healthy and colorful, mostly lps, zoas and nems, but i do have a monti cap, a stylo, and a hollywood stunner that are very colorful and healthy as well. I do feed pretty heavy aswell.

 

[DSC reef]

.25 nitrate is not concerning in my opinion, mine hold steady between 2 and 5. Undetectable phosphates seem more concerning, I had 0 phosphates for a while and had a cyano issue at the same time. Chemiclean works wonders for cyano and i have never had an ill effect from using it. I shoot for 1-5 ppm nitrates and .03-.04 phosphates. I run an algae scrubber and have next to no algae in my display which I believe is thanks to the algae scrubber. All corals are healthy and colorful, mostly lps, zoas and nems, but i do have a monti cap, a stylo, and a hollywood stunner that are very colorful and healthy as well. I do feed pretty heavy aswell.

The post said nitrite, you keep your nitrites at .2-.5? Nitrates aren't a concern but nitrites are. I keep my nitrates at 5-10 ppm, nitrites should always be zero.

 

[danemma]

I haven't got a test kit that does phosphate just the auto master test kit which is just ammonia pH nitrite and nitrate so how do I lower my phosphate levels and I will be getting a test kit that does all the rest like calculations etc...

 

[DSC reef]

For me I never considered a tank cycled until I actually see nitrates register and 0 for ammonia and 0 for nitrites. There's definitely a nutrient issue or an export issue if the tank has been running for a year. Maybe I'm missing something here.....

 

[danemma]

The only new thing I have done is added more powerful lights and before that I got a frag pack off eBay maby got it from the frag pack cuz everything was fine till the lights and frag pack

 

[ThunderGoose]

If you increased lighting suddenly that can trigger algae growth and coral die back.

Get some good quality test kits - you need alkalinity, nitrate, phosphate, calcium and magnesium. If any of those are off conditions can reduce coral growth and make algae worse.

Are you dosing yet? I needed to start dosing at around 8 months.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

How do you mean concerning what can I do about it I want to fix it

Water changes and a refgium. Both will bring the ph up and lower the nutrients and co2 the cyano and algaes feed on.

 

[danemma]

Yeah I've got an auto dose and dosing what my LFS recommended for coral growth I'll look what it is and put a picture on tomorrow

 

[danemma]

I dont have a sump yet got everything ready like skimmer and overflow box etc just not the sump at the mo I've got a little skimmer in the tank and a canister filter but thank you to everyone for there I put and will post that picture in here on what I'm dosing

 

[OREGONIC]

The post said nitrite, you keep your nitrites at .2-.5? Nitrates aren't a concern but nitrites are. I keep my nitrates at 5-10 ppm, nitrites should always be zero.

Oops i miss read that ;Facepalm nitrites should always be 0.

 

[DSC reef]

Oops i miss read that ;Facepalm nitrites should always be 0.

Lol. I hate when that happens.

 

[Cnidoblast]

What filtermedia are you using?? I stil struggle a bit with algae but seachem's purigen has proven extremely helpful for me when combined with waterchanges! Also if you have some phos i'd run a small amount of GFO (chemipure elite is fine but rinse very well!)