still have an algae problem after a month

[Anthony.Luciano710]

ok so i still have an algae problem. its not as bad as it was when i couldn't see through the glass after 2 hours because it was full of algae. well now i barley ever get any algae on the glass because it is now all in the form of hair algae and cyano which i heard is really bad. the tank has been set up since November 5th 2010. the cycle went by in like 4 days because i got like 200 pounds of live rock and 120 pounds of live sand and its a 125 gallon tank. i use reef crystals salt and ro/di water. i change 10 gallons every week but recently i did a 40 gallon water change, and then a 20 gallon water change to try to get rid of this algae. i have a piece of junk oddysea ps 160 which is just taking out water and it has never skimmed anything out of the tank yet so im gonna get a reef octopus cone skimmer 1000 for christmas. i just put in about 34 oz. of chemi pure elite to get rid of phosphates and silicates. also i had a bottle of phosphate remover and i basically used the whole thing and theres still algae. i have only 6 small fish and a few different types of coral. i had no success with lps corals i had 2 and they both died. my sps are living doing good though but i dont know why because i know there supposed to be harder to keep. and my calcium level is at 500ppm. and back to the algae problem... i cant figure out why but when i shut the lights off it grows twice as fast its just so wierd. my reefkeeper elite pc4 short circuted or something and broke and all my lights went off and i came home after like 8 hours with no lights and the hair algae got from like 2 inches to 5 or 6 inches and the cyano bacteria spread from my refugium to the live rocks now.

 

[THEDLO]

i think ur moving way too fast for a tank that just turned a month adding chemicals left and right, but thats just me. where is ur tank located? is it getting direct sunlight?

 

[Anthony.Luciano710]

well it is under a a small basement window so it does have natural light but its not really being hit direct because the sun doesnt really sine right through the window because theres a tall house right across the driveway so its like a shadow but i am getting a curtain anyway but i just dont see how the aglae can grow faster when it has the natural light vs that same natural light and the metal halides and t-5s. also if i can completly get rid of the phosphates i wont have to worry about the light because it wont grow.

i think ur moving way too fast for a tank that just turned a month adding chemicals left and right, but thats just me. where is ur tank located? is it getting direct sunlight?

 

[THEDLO]

algae grows faster with direct sunlight. u need to eliminate both phos and nitrates. how r u feeding?

 

[Anthony.Luciano710]

to be honest im a bad feed i barely give them anything. i only have 3 fish that eat flakes so i just put a couple of flakes. then the rest eat copepods and the fish that eat flakes also pick on copepods so im not really worried about that but occasionally i do give them a cube of frozen mysis shrimp

 

[rperrice]

Maybe you need a stronger or larger clean up crew.

Sent from my PC36100 using Reefs

 

[basiab]

Your tank is not mature yet. You need to give it time. Nothing resolves this issue over night. Stop adding stuff and keep feeding your fish. Get a decent skimmer an Do 10% gallon water changes a week and over time it will work out. A cleaning crew will not hep you until you get things under control.

 

[Will C]

Your tank is not mature yet. You need to give it time. Nothing resolves this issue over night. Stop adding stuff and keep feeding your fish. Get a decent skimmer an Do 10% gallon water changes a week and over time it will work out. A cleaning crew will not help you until you get things under control.

agreed, let the tank settle in - probably 6 mos. You will be happy when you good husbandry solves the problems rather than chemicals. This is part of the 'fun' - beating the problems naturally, nobody dumps chemi-pure in the ocean!

 

[jadakiss]

1.rodi make sure ur tds meter reads 0 if not change the pads, if u dont have a tds come to my crib and ill check
2. feed light
3. need to upgrade skimmer, get ur self a rs80 or anything in that field.
4.water change every week
5.phosban reactor with media (change every 2weeks for at least 2mths then if u want once a mth)
6.run carbon
7..make sure ur bulbs are not old

 

[naples]

Your tank is not mature yet. You need to give it time. Nothing resolves this issue over night. Stop adding stuff and keep feeding your fish. Get a decent skimmer an Do 10% gallon water changes a week and over time it will work out. A cleaning crew will not hep you until you get things under control.

+1 i dont think your tank went through a complete cycle yet slow down and let nature take its course

 

[IamRobG]

I slowly started adding Turbo snails to clean up after it was cycled. I have 4 turbo snails and a lawnmower blenny. That took care of all the excess.

 

[afernandez]

ok so i still have an algae problem. its not as bad as it was when i couldn't see through the glass after 2 hours because it was full of algae. well now i barley ever get any algae on the glass because it is now all in the form of hair algae and cyano which i heard is really bad. the tank has been set up since November 5th 2010. the cycle went by in like 4 days because i got like 200 pounds of live rock and 120 pounds of live sand and its a 125 gallon tank(1). i use reef crystals salt and ro/di water(2). i change 10 gallons every week but recently i did a 40 gallon water change, and then a 20 gallon water change to try to get rid of this algae. i have a piece of junk oddysea ps 160 which is just taking out water and it has never skimmed anything out of the tank yet so im gonna get a reef octopus cone skimmer 1000 for christmas(3). i just put in about 34 oz. of chemi pure elite to get rid of phosphates and silicates. also i had a bottle of phosphate remover and i basically used the whole thing and theres still algae(4). i have only 6 small fish and a few different types of coral. i had no success with lps corals i had 2 and they both died. my sps are living doing good though but i dont know why because i know there supposed to be harder to keep. and my calcium level is at 500ppm(5). and back to the algae problem... i cant figure out why but when i shut the lights off it grows twice as fast its just so wierd. my reefkeeper elite pc4 short circuted or something and broke and all my lights went off and i came home after like 8 hours with no lights and the hair algae got from like 2 inches to 5 or 6 inches and the cyano bacteria spread from my refugium to the live rocks now(6).

(1)your tank DID NOT CYCLED- in 4 days
(2)thats good. one Question, when you first started your tank did you fill it with RO/DI water?
(3)try to dial it in until you get something going work with what you have. the sro 1000, is rated for 125 i think if you can try to go bigger the better like the 2000 its rated for 200+ i think you should be better off.
(4) good on the chemipure if you dont have a reactor put it where it can flow thruw passing water(do you have a sump?). like these guys said stop dosing stuff.
(5) can you post your parameters? how fast did you add these fish? sorry to hear your lost but your going to fast, and nothing good happens fast. you should try for someone to hold these corals & fish for you until your tank settles down.
(6) by the sound you have cyno heres a link:
http://www.manhattanreefs.com/forum/general-discussion/69344-getting-know-cyano.html
What lighting do you have? and how long are you leaving them on?
another thing is how much flow do you have? how many power heads & What model?

 

[afernandez]

pics would be nice...

 

[jadakiss]

slow down!

 

[mbg75]

update with test #'s?

 

[Anthony.Luciano710]

my nitrate is at 0 and my phosphate is also showing 0 and the chemi pure i just put inside an extra fluval 405 i just had laying around and the odyssey skimmer absolutely doesn't tune theres no way... i can put it extremely low and the next day its overflowing the collection cup. i may be able to convince my parents to le me get the reef octopus 2000 but im not sure since it like $40 more. maybe... i never really thought about it but i might. also i did a water change today i change about 10 gallons per week but im really trying to accomplish around 7 or 8 gallons because with my tank and my brothers tank the salt goes by quick and im the one paying for it.

[/COLOR][/B]

(1)your tank DID NOT CYCLED- in 4 days
(2)thats good. one Question, when you first started your tank did you fill it with RO/DI water?
(3)try to dial it in until you get something going work with what you have. the sro 1000, is rated for 125 i think if you can try to go bigger the better like the 2000 its rated for 200+ i think you should be better off.
(4) good on the chemipure if you dont have a reactor put it where it can flow thruw passing water(do you have a sump?). like these guys said stop dosing stuff.
(5) can you post your parameters? how fast did you add these fish? sorry to hear your lost but your going to fast, and nothing good happens fast. you should try for someone to hold these corals & fish for you until your tank settles down.
(6) by the sound you have cyno heres a link:
http://www.manhattanreefs.com/forum/general-discussion/69344-getting-know-cyano.html
What lighting do you have? and how long are you leaving them on?
another thing is how much flow do you have? how many power heads & What model?

 

[Anthony.Luciano710]

you seem like you know a lot. so i want to ask you another question... i want to do a diy led fixture. im not going to use crees because there to expensive but i found another reliable source. its a 125 gallon so its 6 feet long and every 2 feet i want to put 20 3w white leds and 20 200mw blue leds the whites are about 8000k and the blues are 475nm the total will be about 188 watts do you think this will be enough because im willing to go the extra step to make it 228 watts but with leds i dont know how many watts per gallon i should have. and also should i just get more 3w leds to make more spread or the same amount of power but with 5w leds for better penetration. i dont really know what to do but im alot more comfortable with the 3 watts because its $6 for 5w and $3 for 3w so i get more for my money with the 3w lights.

[/COLOR][/B]

(1)your tank DID NOT CYCLED- in 4 days
(2)thats good. one Question, when you first started your tank did you fill it with RO/DI water?
(3)try to dial it in until you get something going work with what you have. the sro 1000, is rated for 125 i think if you can try to go bigger the better like the 2000 its rated for 200+ i think you should be better off.
(4) good on the chemipure if you dont have a reactor put it where it can flow thruw passing water(do you have a sump?). like these guys said stop dosing stuff.
(5) can you post your parameters? how fast did you add these fish? sorry to hear your lost but your going to fast, and nothing good happens fast. you should try for someone to hold these corals & fish for you until your tank settles down.
(6) by the sound you have cyno heres a link:
http://www.manhattanreefs.com/forum/general-discussion/69344-getting-know-cyano.html
What lighting do you have? and how long are you leaving them on?
another thing is how much flow do you have? how many power heads & What model?

 

[jadakiss]

forget about leds u need to fix ur problem with ur algae

 

[mbg75]

ammonia #'s?

nitrate and phos at 0? not skimming, and u have algae probs?

 

[Anthony.Luciano710]

Ammonia has never gone up so far after the cycle

ammonia #'s?

nitrate and phos at 0? not skimming, and u have algae probs?