I have an ugly tank!!!

J

jringold

Member
My tank officially has cycled to the point of UTS. And it is UGLY! It is ugly enough to scare a buzzard off a gut wagon! I dropped a small clean-up crew in this week (I have an RSM 250). However, I think this might be too big of a job for them. I’m thinking of getting a lawn mower this weekend. I had planned on getting one anyway, so this might be the right time.

Here is my question- I have bunches of green alga on my LR. But my phosphates keep coming up zero. I thought (maybe mistakenly) that increased phosphate was the root of the green hair algae. Actually, in general, my chemistry isn’t that bad – unless one of my test kits are bad.

Salinity: 1.023 (I do need to get that up a little)
pH: 8.1
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 10 ppm
Phosphate: 0
Ca++ : 340 (need to get that up as well-using reef builder)

My bio-load is not big at all (of course I am just getting started). I have two Fire Fish, a Orange back, a butt load of hermits and snails, 6 soft coral frags and some small mushrooms. I am having skimmer drama but I haven’t been real concerned looking at my tank chemistry.

Hopefully this will just pass.


Morgan
 
Adrienne

Adrienne

Well-Known Member
Hi, for a newly cycled tank you have a fairly high bio load in it. How long has the tank been running for?

The reason your phosphate is showing 0 is that your algae is using it all up to grow.
How much are you feeding your fish and how often, and what is your tank maintenance schedule like?
 
Kman237

Kman237

Active Member
Adrienne, is right your algae is eating up all your phosphate. I ran into this same problem with my RMS 250. I did a water change weekly. Close to 50% for about a month. That way you can take out most of the phosphate and the algae will starve. I also started running GFO and still do now.

If you haven't already I would lower the amount of time your lights run. I took mine from 8.5 hours to 5.5 hours then to 5 hours. This really slows down the algae growth. Allowing your self some time to find the true cause before its really bad.

I had some really bad GHA. Once I did a few water changes I started manually removing the algae. This is your best option. I have a lawnmower blenny. He helped some but didn't mow down the algae like I imagined. Keep that in mind before you buy one. They are very cool fish though!

Check out my tank thread. If you look at some of the early picture you will see how bad the algae got in the tank. No fun!

Best of you luck!
 
M

mike1970

Active Member
new tanks can go through many cycles even if it goes away it can come back months latter. i battled hair algae, diatom blooms off and on for months before my water was stable just be patient.it will pass make sure your using good RODI for top off and salt mix
 
J

jringold

Member
Thanks! Now it makes perfect sense of the Algae/ zero phosphate relationship.

As far as the tank age – it is only a few weeks old. However someone I know was taking down their tank so I bought all his live sand (about 4 inches) and live rock (slightly over 100 pounds). I also used about 20 gallons of his water. I was hoping this would really kick start the cycle.

I must be really going overboard on the lights – they are on from 6:30AM to 10:30PM. Would it be a problem to let them come on at 6:30 go off at sometime like 8:30, come on at 6PM and go off at 10PM. I want to be able to enjoy my tank when I get up in the morning and when I get home from work. If this is a bad idea, I guess I can set it to go from 5PM to 10PM or something like that. What is the usual way folks do it?

Oh, and for tank maintenance – I use only a very small amount of flake food soaked in liquid garlic – I did this in a previous life on a reef tank and never had an ich outbreak after that. I test the parameters each evening. Add some Reef Builder usually, clean the glass, add some RO, and cuss at the protein skimmer. Me and the protein skimmer are coming to terms this weekend using some of the tips I have picked up here.

One other thing that is slowly driving me nuts. How the heck to you keep the front corners of the tank clean – since they are curved it is a major PITA to clean them. My magnets won’t work there so I end up having to reach in with a pad to get the brown gunk off.

EDIT: Once I have some serious livestock I'll be feeding more than just flake. It seems to be overkill to do more for the 2 flames and a diamond back.
 
J

jringold

Member
Thanks - that was very helpful. It's Saturday morning and I am gearing up for a tank day. Planning a 20 gal water change with LFS water and then me and Mr. Skimmer are going to become close friends even if someone or something gets hurt! :)
 
spiraling

spiraling

Well-Known Member
The other reason for 0 phosphates might be your test kit. In my experience (and lots of other forum posts) the API kits are not sensitive enough for phosphates. If that's what you are using and want to measure them accurately then I would suggest a Red Sea kit or equivalent.

jringold said:
I must be really going overboard on the lights – they are on from 6:30AM to 10:30PM. Would it be a problem to let them come on at 6:30 go off at sometime like 8:30, come on at 6PM and go off at 10PM. I want to be able to enjoy my tank when I get up in the morning and when I get home from work. If this is a bad idea, I guess I can set it to go from 5PM to 10PM or something like that. What is the usual way folks do it?
Click to expand...

That's an interesting question. I do that on my freshwater planted tank and it really helps prevent the algae growth. The theory is that the plants only uptake the nutrients for about 4 hours, then the algae has a free for all. So if you cycle your lights 4 on, x off, 4 on, then you can have the plants starve the algae. It worked for me. I'm not sure what else in the saltwater tanks are consuming the same nutrients. I'll be curious to see other peoples responses. It might just be fine to do it for your aesthetic pleasure too. :alien:
 
J

jringold

Member
spiraling said:
The other reason for 0 phosphates might be your test kit. In my experience (and lots of other forum posts) the API kits are not sensitive enough for phosphates. If that's what you are using and want to measure them accurately then I would suggest a Red Sea kit or equivalent.
Click to expand...

I think mine happens to be API. I'll see if my LFS has the Red Sea. If not then I'll add it to my ever growing Marine Depot shopping cart!

So today has been pretty productive, tank-wise. First I did a 20 gallon water change (I have the Max 250) - so about 30%. Then a major glass cleaning. I added a good dose of magnesium. Finally, the RSM skimmer and I are back on speaking terms. I replaced the air valve with one that can be fine tuned easier and now it seems I have much better control. Now I have froth at the opening of the tube and it’s not dumping huge amounts of salt water in the collection cup. Oh, and I set the lights to come on at 2PM and go off at 10PM. Checked chemistry – pH 8.2., zeros across the board except nitrates at 5ppm.

I couldn’t help myself – I added a Starry Blenny. He should be very happy with all the GHA. So now I am looking at the tank saying “what can I mess with next….”
 
D

Danreef

Well-Known Member
About the lights ON. Length time.

From a biological point of view I will not do 2 light cycles in 1 day. Simply it isn't natural. In biology life has cycles. Example, algae photosynthesis has a light and a dark cycle, hormones have cycles, etc . Look info on Internet.

In the same way, an excess of hours of light isn't good (too many hours the lights ON)

We have these tanks for our pleasure, but unfortunately some rules need to be followed always, if not you will have an unbalanced system. That means ISSUES. And then the tank is not more pleasant ........ You wrote it in the title "My Ugly Tank".

Bottom line : 12-13 hours of light top. That includes 1-2 hours of sunrise and 1-2 hours of sunset.

If you do not have the equipment to do the sunrise/sunset I will go with 8-10 hours of full light.

You can start/end that cycle in the period of time that better suit your life style. But I will never split it in 2 cycles.

Just my opinion !!!!!..... But has solid biological concepts.


My tank RSM 250:

sunrise 9:30 AM to 10:30 AM...... LED strips
Full light from 10:30 AM till 8:30 PM ..... LED strips + T5
Sunset from 8:30 Pm till 9:30 PM....LED strips

I travel a lot, but when at home and work in the office I am back by 7 PM. Enough time to watch the tank carefully and feed the fish. Then dinner and bed by ~10 PM after checking that all the gadgets that help me to have the tank working automatically are doing their job.

I have 1-2 hours of full light and the full sunset to enjoy it . On the sunset there is an explosion of colors.

Plus, from time to time, I go at ~ 11 PM ( after an hour the tank has been in darkness) to check the polyp extension of my SPS, mainly the Acros.

Cheers
 
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