Bad things

[iyachtuxivm]

I have had a salt tank for alittle over a year and a half now. It was a 12gal nano that I got as an established tank from a friend that no longer wanted it. It was about 2 years old when I got it. He gave me the live rock and inhabitants minus the corals. Live rock is about 25lbs crushed coral bottom a few snails and a few hermits. I added some star polyps and a couple mushrooms and an orchid dottyback.
Everything was going great, I had had it about 3 months when the tank started leaking. I have had freshwater my entire life and had a spare 10gal. I transfered everthing to the 10 and cannablized the light from the nano, I had an extra hob whisper filter that was going to be "until I decided what to do". Everything was thriving growing spreading even the mushroom divided not once but 3 times. So i left well enough alone.
About 3 months ago bad things started happening my mushroom picked up and left, yes it left I think it climbed up in the filter tube and got chopped by the impeller. my wife saw it reaching for the tube. The smaller ones died. The polyps migrated off the rock and I cant find them. Then the algea went nuts. I checked the water it seemed fine nitrate a little higher than it had been between 10 and 20 ppm. Then the red slime moved in.
I have gotten rid of the slime but the algea is still very thick. I have increased my water changes about 2 per week now but still the algea. The orchid is very happy and has been the entire time, tuff little fish. The only thing I left out was that the orchid ate all the copepods. Any help would be greatly appriecated. And sorry for the long post but I thought back story was important.

 

[scopus tang]

Crushed coral substrate is not live rock. Were you doing regular water changes and testing chemical levels on a regular basis? The "slime" algae usually shows up as a result of reduced water movement. Have you changed the filters on a regular basis? What is your flow rate in the system? Lights? Any additional powerheads or filters?

 

[iyachtuxivm]

I have 25 lbs of live rock. The crushed coral is substrate. The filter is a 300gph and I change the pad monthly. The light from the nano is a power compact which I changed the bulb in just before winter. I was changing the water monthly but now have been doing it weekly about 2 to 4 gallons. I worry that that much messing around is going to stress the dotty and i'll lose him too. No other power head or filter. No skimmer if you can recomend one great.

 

[mcbdz]

Welcome to SWF.
A 10 gal. nano is a difficult size.

What type of water are you using? Tap or RO/DI?
Please give actual numbers for water Para.
Most likely need to replace cc with sand, change your filter media frequently, and makesure your gph is at least 15x-20x your gallons with no dead spots. Also what and how often are you feeding?
Algea is usually a sign of increased nitrates or phosphates.

 

[scopus tang]

Sounds like the filter system should be turning the system over enough, but you may want to consider adding an additional powerhead to move water in the dead zone were you are developing the slime algae. Doing so should cause it to bunch up and you should be able to simply scoop it out. Sounds like you are on the right track for maintainance. Do you test for chemicals? I would be curious to know what your ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels are (if you don't have a test kit, consider getting your LFS to test these levels for you). In a 10 gallon tank with that much rock, you are probably running only 8 gallons of water or so, personally I wouldn't change more than 1 gallon per week ~ otherwise you're changing the entire chemistry of your tank everytime you do a water change and probably stressing the heck out of that poor fish. Be sure and use RO/DI water for your water changes and use a reputable salt mix - match temperature, salinity, and pH of your tank with the water changes. Small tanks like your running are difficult to keep.

 

[iyachtuxivm]

The funny thing is that its been fine up to that point. The red algae was everywhere out of nowwhere. The green is filimentis. Thanks for the welcome btw. I have been testing my water about monthly give or take a little. My values are as follows
ammonia-0
nitrite-0
nitrate-10-20ppm
ph-8.4
SG 1.025
The nitrate is alittle higher then usual its usually 5-10ppm. SG is a little high too 1.021. I feed the dotty mysis and a formula one pellet. When I had the corals I would squirt mysis on them. I havent seen any of the snails for a while and I only have one hermit left. I just thought the dotty was eating them as he is voracious. i have too put new hermits in every once and a while.I feed about 3 times a week.

 

[aquatica-tech]

I think the SG would be fine