new 130d and having a few problems, with coral and red algea. with pics

a16xso

Member
hi guys, ive just signed up to reef sanctuary as it looks really usefull and ever one seems friendly.

i brought a 2nd had 130d about a month ago now. with fish and rock coral etc... bascailly everything you see in the pic.
after getttin it back home and setting it all back up everything seems fine, i tested the nitrate and it was low.
i was feeding the fish frozen food, i cube everyday. but then i notice the nitrate gettin high shot up to 40, so ive cut that down to feeding one cube everyother day and that seems to be helping. plus ive done 2 20%water changes. will do 3rd this weekend.

but now i seem to have loads off red algae on my sand bed, and a coral i had in the bottom rigth hand corner just stays scrivelled up now and is loosing colour. ive add a photo. if you look in the 1st pic its out you can see the diffrreance?????

what can i do to get rid off the red algae and get it to stay away, and how do i no if my coral is dead or alive or whats up with it.

hope someone can help, thanks


ABF3E767-40BE-44A4-8E17-9460F68C105C-578-000000493516A4F6_zpsfc8a91d5.jpg



56C35856-7209-45F1-9C31-8763053357CC-578-000000666C39369C_zps21489d82.jpg


not sure if ive copied the link rigth in the photobucket so hope they show, and excuse the qualtiy they were taken on my iphone lol
 

nanoreefing4fun

Well-Known Member
RS STAFF
Welcome to RS

The red algae on the sand is cyano - it is directly related to overfeeding, you are on the right track by changing your feeding schedule from daily to every other day

here a post with some tips... many of them apply to cyano too - hope this help, you can defeat !

http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/red-sea-max-owners-club/66048-brown-green-algae-new-tanks.html

Start a tank thread in the RSM Club so we can follow along with your tanks progress. RS is the nicest reefing forum on the net !
 

a16xso

Member
ok ill have a look, thanks for the reply. do you no y my coral has srunk and stayed like it thou????
 

PSU4ME

JoePa lives on!!!
Staff member
PREMIUM
Have you measured phosphates? If your able to run media I would look into some seagel or GFO.
 

a16xso

Member
hi, no i havnt checked the phoshate level to be honest. i was told the colour charts on them is hard to distinguish so have brougth a testing kit for that,
 

ksicard

Member
Try a red sea phosphate test kit, very accurate and a high quality test kit! I use phosban and matrix carbon in my 130D, But I actually just bought chemi pure elite and purigen to give it a try. Either combination of the two will take care of your phosphates and other needs. Also make sure to cut back on your lighting, some times I'll reduce my lighting down to 4 hours when I encounter algae blooms.
 

a16xso

Member
ok good advice i didnt think off cutting the ligthing dwn, will that have any adverse effects? there on 8hrs at the mo. ive brougth chemi pure and purigen and will change them tomorrow when i do a water change, ive also brought a new rsm 130 sponge filter, hoppfully all this will sort it out
 

reefer gladness

Well-Known Member
A couple observations.

1. When you do water changes you should be vacuuming the sandbed at the same time so you can remove as much of that cyano manually as possible
2. Live rock is your biological filtration system and it doesn't look like you have enough LR, at a glance I'd say you need about 50% more LR
3. I didn't seen any evidence of a clean-up crew except for that sea star which is not reef compatible. I'd find another home for that star and get a large, diverse CUC.
4. The tank is too young to have an anemone of any sort. Keep a close eye on it and be prepared to remove it if it starts dying. They need stable, pristine water.
5. Stock RSM 130D tank doesn't have a lot of water flow. You can upgrade (replace) the stock return pumps and/or add a small powerhead on the right side.

Good luck!
 
Keep up with te water changes, as reefer gladness said, vacuum the cayno before you do your water change, and test ALL of your parameters. Also, before each water change, start removing the gha by hand. it's tedious, but helps a lot. More flow toward the bottom and at any dead spots will help. One last observation, get rid of the starfish in the first pic. Generally, stars with bumps are bad. Since you lowered your feeding schedule, the star will eat whatever it can get, including pods and other beneficial fauna, corals, coraline algae, etc, etc. You're on the right track, but remember, patience in this hobby is a definate virtue. Nothing good ever comes quickly.
Happy reefing!!
 

a16xso

Member
hi, thanks for the replys. i did vacum the sand when i did my last water change, but i will remember to do that every time from now on. especially when there is red alge there.

the red star and anmonne were both with the tank when i brought it, so they seem to be doin ok, but i read up abit on the red star fish and more people are saying remove it then keep it so ive been watching it close but looks like its goin to have to go. i just really like it and so does my son so its hard to take it out lol are there any other star fish that will be compatible with my tank????

ive got a few snails in my cuc but there really small so dont no if i have enough or need to get more???

but thanks for the advice, its helpin me alot.
 

nanoreefing4fun

Well-Known Member
RS STAFF
I love snails for cuc ! Mine keep my tank 99.5% algae free... around one per gallon is what I like

Asterea, Trochus, Cerith, Nerites,Margarita & Nassarius

You can start off a new tank 1/2 this many, than add more in a month or two
 

ksicard

Member
ok good advice i didnt think off cutting the ligthing dwn, will that have any adverse effects? there on 8hrs at the mo. ive brougth chemi pure and purigen and will change them tomorrow when i do a water change, ive also brought a new rsm 130 sponge filter, hoppfully all this will sort it out

You shouldn't need to replace the sponge, a good rinsing of the sponge will be sufficent and should be done weekly or more depending on how fast it gets mucked up if it gets to dirty it will restrict flow. Also no, even if you had coral it wouldn't hurt them to have a 4 hour light cycle for 1-3 days. If there's less light than that means there's less growth for things like algae. I personally dont remove algae during blooms till I fix the growth cuz otherwise it just comes right back, but cleaning it out when doing WC wont hurt and will help the tank look better. But I'd get a reading on your parameters and you are using RO water correct? As for the starfish, I'd go with a sand sifting star, brittle star, or a serpent star (red serpents are particularly awesome). But give your tank some time to mature before adding stars, they tend to be sensitive. Taking things slowly is always a better route.
 

a16xso

Member
hi, thanks for the advice everyone. ive turned the lighting hours down done a 25% wc and siphoned the red alge off the bottom. i already brought a new sponge filter so fitted it neway. im not planning on adding anymore live stock just keeping a close eye on what ive got and keeping everything under control. oh actually ive added a cleaning scrimp and 2 more snails to help keep things cleen
 

Andy

Active Member
cyno is a pain. It lives on phosphates nitrates and light. If i where you i would lower my lighting schedule to 5 hours a day and concentrate on water changes to bring down nitrates. Only use RO water as im sure u kno tap water is full of phosphates and you will never get rid of ur cyno if u put phosphates in ur tank. You said you have lowered what you feed which is cool as overfeeding leads to nitrates but it mite be that ur putting a full cube in. i feed mine twice a day but in small amounts so they eat it all up as opposed to haveing loads left in the tank. try a third of a quater of a cube twice a day. syphon what u can out with WC ensure flow is good in ur tank with no dead spots and it will go.
 

a16xso

Member
yer im doin 25% wc every week to get the reading down to minimum and siphoning the sand, all my red alge is nearly gone now.

thats what i was doing with the frozen fish cubes. i was putting in a whole one each day. as i read the packet and it said feed once or twice a day. thats why my nitrates went right up. surprising how quick it rises really, now im just feeding them half a cube every other day as the cubes are very easy to cut in half.
ive also moved my rock away from the glass to help clean and ive notice the flow is much better around the outside are on tank on the sand bed. thanks for your advice.
 
Top