algae issues

[JGomez31]

hi my name is jon and i am new to this site. i have had my 30 gallon aquarium for 20 yrs with fish only and recently have upgraded my lamp for corals. i have a medium sized frogspawn, medium size leather coral, medium size sebae anemone cleaner shrimp, 2 emerald crabs, 5 turbo snails. anyways since i have upgraded my lighting i started getting a fuzzy dark green hair algae not too long. changed the bulbs in my lamp and now the algae is a dark reddish brown color still stringy tho but looking like dead algae. i have been doing a 5 gal water change every week and sifting the gravel but 2 days later the floor is dark again. what is causing this and is there anyway i can section out my tank and remove the gravel little by little and change it with sand?

 

[Boomer]

You have diatoms, a form of algae on the gravel. Your nutrient level is to high. What are the Nitrate and Phosphate levels ? Keep up the water changes that will help allot and slow down on the feeding. Yes, you can remove the gravel little by little and replace with sand. We may have to go to some extremes if it does not get better.

 

[JGomez31]

Thanks. My kit only test for ph, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. My nitrates were really high like 80 and now down to 40. There is no feeding going on on the tank now. Only a half cap of phytoplankton every 5 days and feed my sebae once a week. I had a half black angel and 2 tank raised perculas. They died on friday. I was treating for ich but realized it was velvet last night when a cyst bursted and hundreds of little white dots were swarming the tank. I skimmed the water with a net and removed them except for a few. Do you think if i sectiond out my tank in 3 parts i could change to sand? If so how long should i wait between each change and what kind of sand do you recommend?

 

[Boomer]

Do you think if i sectiond out my tank in 3 parts i could change to sand?

Yes, that sounds good or 4 parts, with at least two weeks between each one. Your Nitrate's are waaaaaaaay to high and I'll bet your Phosphate is also

I was treating for ich but realized it was velvet last night when a cyst bursted and hundreds of little white dots were swarming the tank.


That was not ick or velvet but some crustacean ( mini-shrimp like Copepods) egg capsule. You can not see ick and especially velvet in the water column they are way to small.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copepod



What were you treating with ?


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copepod

 

[JGomez31]

I will get a kit for phosphates. I was using kick ich but only got to the first dosage and the clowns didnt make it thru the first 3 days. Also i have 5 turbo snails. They ate almost all the algae and now moved to my rocks. They poop waay too much. Do u think i should take a few back to the store?

 

[ecchybridLE]

Please also check your ph. Ph can also play a roll in those diatom outbreaks.

 

[JGomez31]

my ph is between 8.2 and 8.4. Nitrite 0 Ammonia 0. So i am guessing my Nitrate and Phosphates are the cause of it.

 

[irvp13]

Also how long are your lights on? I'd do more water changes to bring down the nitrates and phosphate, make sure you dont use tap water because you could be putting them back in. also you could cut your lighting period to lets say 4 hours and the slowly bring it back to whatever you like adding an hour more everyweek.

 

[mbgrubb15]

agree with irvpq3. and you can siphon out the algae on the bottom when you do a water change.

 

[JGomez31]

My lights are on from 12-9 blues and 1-8 blues and whites. My cuc is doing good work on everything just gonna change 5 gal today because of alot of poop. I tested my phosphates and it reads .25.

 

[nyguardian21]

I think you should start over if you used any type of medication for your fish, start with a new tank, sand and rocks. And at the least get a hob fuge.
Works for me, i have so far been able to see "bad algae" (cyano) start in the fuge and given me a chance to fix the problem before it moves over to my display tank.