Little Help ;(

[Necsones]

i am battleing green algae hard core right now, also my ammonia is starting to spike a lil.. my tank has been running for 8 months. all my parameters have been really good till a couple of weeks ago where my ammonia started acting up. my ammonia started going up ever since i changed to a different mysis shrimp food i think. here are my recent parameters.

PH - 8.4
ALK - 2.6 meg/l or 7.28 DKH
Ammonia - .25
Nitrite - .05
Nitrate - 0
Cal - 400
Phos - close to 0
Silicate - 0
SG - 1.024
Temp - 78.5

I change my water 5/6 gallons once a week with RO water TDS .04. also i just a couple of days agao switched from a AquaC remora skimmer (which i think was a lil to small for my tank and bioload) to a Reef Octopus Extreme 160.. heres a pic

 

[BigAl07]

I'd say Green Algae!

What size tank do you have now?


How often do you feed and how much?

Are you rinsing the Mysis before adding it to your tank?

 

[Necsones]

i have a 55 i feed one frozen cube of Mysis once a day, i dont rinse the shrimp, should i? and its feeding one Yellow Tang, Rusty anglefish and a clownfish

 

[BigAl07]

i have a 55 i feed one frozen cube of Mysis once a day

A) Sounds like a LOT each day

i dont rinse the shrimp, should i?

Yes indeed. It's most likely packaged with preservatives for extended shelf lif.
Preservatives = ROCKET FUEL for algae

I thaw my frozen Mysis in RO/DI water for at least 30mins. Then I "Strain" this through a small "Tea Bag" strainer (grocery store has them) which gets rid of a LOT of the preservatives.

I have a 90g tank and I feed MAYBE every other day. I do keep NORI in there each day for the Tang to pick at but as for actual "feeding" less is MORE (to a point anyway).



1) I'd closely monitor the "Feeding Regimen" and make changes there.

2) increase the flow in the tank because for that amount of algae (IMHO) to form you have some slow flow in there.

3) Siphon/Turkey Baste/Net as much of the existing out directly before next water change

4) At least for now increase water changes (amount and maybe frequency)

5) Look closely at the rock and other areas for detritus build-up and remove it. The increase in your test results means SOMETHING is decaying possibly left-over food etc

Just go slow and don't panic. This didn't happen over night and it wont go away over night. Just please don't start trying to "Chemically" clean it up with "stuff" by dosing this... adding that... patience and work will win this race in the end

Good luck and Hang in there

 

[Necsones]

cool Thanks so much BigAl
i have 2 Koralia 3 power heads, mostly pointing higher up in the tank, goin to move them more facing down

 

[Newbie]

Wow,
I concur with BigAL on that one!
That seems like ALOT of over feeding.
We have many more fish in the same tank size and we only feed our fish
1/2 a cube occasionally.
The green algea normally comes from overfeeing.
We had the same issue awhile ago to. It went away after doing just what Al said.
Don't panic, as once you get rid of the green, before long you may get some purple too. This is normal and just follow the same instructions!
Good Luck, and have fun.

 

[Necsones]

yeah im just nervous about underfeeding lol

 

[chriswho]

Don't feel bad. I worry about it too. I have a typed schedule of what food to feed on what day, and somehow I got off track. I didn't feed the fish yesterday and I didn't feed them today so as to get back on schedule, and nothing has died, or even seem to notice. Don't worry they're tough. They'll make it.

 

[Intranick]

Al is a smart man.

Chemical solutions are never good.

I really... dont have anything to add, I think he covered all the grounds.. except, It might have been mentioned, but I'm going to say what my book -- I recommend it for the basics "The New Marine Aquarium" by Michael S. Paletta -- you should feed just enough food to last 1 to 2 minutes (i know thats kinda a broad range)..

also dont point the powerhead directly at the sand, obviously, either, .. I had one lose the suction on the rubber suction cups the other day and the powerhead fell all the way down.. i woke up to a crunching noise as the pump was sucking up sand, but it was too late.. all the sand on that side of the tank was in a mound at the other end. -- we all have our mess ups.. all that happened was when I cleaned out the power head , I forgot the clean off the little suction cup

anyways I dont need to point that out, but your response made me laugh at myself for that

 

[sambrinar]

cool Thanks so much BigAl
i have 2 Koralia 3 power heads, mostly pointing higher up in the tank, goin to move them more facing down

I have my PH pointing at the glass so it gives a softer flow, and Nick my suction cup did the same.. sandstorm, oh Joy