Rainbow of algae?

[johnmaloney]

That green algae you got there is corraline as mentioned by some of the others here. It will turn more purple as the purple stuff takes over, I have the green stuff to in a new tank. I know it doesn't look great but give it time.

[sonicfish]

The same tank that he has is looking just like mine execpt mine is 180 gallon tank and is about one year old ill have some photos just need somebody to tell me how.

[Frankie]

Sounds like you have a cyano issue then. There are cures for it but it is better to find the cause and eliminate.
What are you topping off the tank with? Tap, ro/di from the lfs, distilled, well water? What salt are you using? If you can post all your test results also including salinity and tank temp we can start from there.
Go get an account on phtobucket.com and upload your pictures there. Then copy the bottom url under that picture and past it here where you type.

[sonicfish]

alright first im using red sea salt next im using tap and ro water just which ever one is avable to me next ammonia and nitrite are at zero phosphates are .1 calcium is at 380 ph normal just cant remember but at the right level salinty 1.024 nitrates is where it gets confusing one place says with strips say 160 then the test kit people that have dr fish on it cant remember the name say 20 nitrates and its a color test.


just having some fun

[Frankie]

Yeah, the tap water is causing your issues no doubt. Your po4, (phosphates) is most likely much higher then that, your just not reading them because the cyano is feeding off of them. I recommend a 50% water change with RO/DI water and follow the top off from now on with RO/DI water. That should eliminate your problems in a few weeks. The salt is a good one but fluctuates sometimes in batches. You need to test it prior to adding to the tank if you want to keep things stable.
What other salt can you get?

[sonicfish]

nothing its the only one allowed in my county for some reason so i cant some thing about the others i dont know my county is wierd

[lcstorc]

The only one allowed in the county? That is pretty odd. Can you order over the net?

[sonicfish]

no if they find out i get a 200 dollar fine and possible time in juv so im not taking the chances

[Varga]

all looks normal to me. All my rock have done that. first turn light green, then kinda brownish then coraline takes over. there's cyano in the last pic which you can siphon out I think that rock has some coraline that was there when you bought the rock.

Tank looks good

[Varga]

comes in red too! to grow cyano like me, you'd need a keen eye and years of experience
I've convinced myself that it makes the tank looks more natural

[sonicfish]

yea it kinda looks like that how do i get rid of it

[Varga]

let me know if you find out how

nothing has worked for me, I have extreme flow, RO water, under feed big time....still comes back. you can siphon it out, but it will most likely come right back.

[sonicfish]

alright what do you need to know the water from what i got and pet store got is the following ammonia nitrites all at zero ph 8.2 salinty 1.025 nitrates some say 20 others say 30 phosphates some say 1 other say .5

[sonicfish]

here is one of the photos

[prow]

Originally Posted by sonicfish

180 gallons set up for a year and has three chromis 1 clownfish 1 blue tang 1 red sea sailfin tang 1 royal gramma and 2 neon gobies

just an FYI, try to use the scentific names on fish and corals everything. common names are easily confused. example your blue tang could be the Acanthurus coeruleus, which gets about 7 or 8" max size and has a mild temperment or it could a the blue tang Paracanthurus hepatus, which gets upto 12" max size or even a Naso brevirostris 24" max, or could be taken for a Acanthurus leucosternon, can be mean suckers. clownfish is used on even more different fish. jsut an FYI.

have about 140 pounds of live rock

should be good

and besides some filter pads in the wet dry a protein skimmer that is all the filtration right now

remove pads and bio balls.

i have cut down my light to 7 hours a day

could do a couple with no lighting.

reduce my feedings to once a day

i would reduce it even more to like 2-3 times a week. the fish you have will do fine on 2xweek feedings.

and am changing crushed coral to sand

good move, do small sections at a time. like divide it in 1/4 and allow a couple weeks inbetween changes, min.

is there any thing else i can do

your going to have battle on your hands here. using tap water is like rocket fuel for algaes, esp green hair algae. only RO/DI water or distilled.

and my clean up crew stinks 6 crabs and 1 snail

yeah you need some creature big time. snails snails snails. what type of crabs do you have?

also the lighting is 4 watts per gallon water

how old are the bulbs and what type lighting? what are the watts of the bulbs?

flow is two peguin 180 gallon per hour the out let pumps from the wet dry then a korella 4 too could you tell me what else to do

its enough flow, but the type flow might need some adjustments. just make sure you have no dead spots.

alright what do you need to know the water from what i got and pet store got is the following ammonia nitrites all at zero ph 8.2 salinty 1.025 nitrates some say 20 others say 30 phosphates some say 1 other say .5

all are way to high. that is just adding food for algae, directly. RO/DI water only.

what country are you in that only allows one company to provide all the synthetic sea salts for the country??