Help revive our tank.

T

trainride72

Guest
We are looking for some assistance with our reef tank. It was doing really well and now over the past couple of months we have been having trouble keeping things looking healthy.
We have a 14gallon bio cube tank. We have had the tank for approx. 2 years now and it was going well until a couple of months ago. We are hoping that someone will be able to give us some assistance in troubleshooting what our problem could be.
Here is a little bit more about our tank:
14 gallons
1-10,000k, 24 watt, daytime light which is generally on from approx 1:30p-11:00p
1-Actinic 24 watt bluelight that is on from approx. 12/12:30p-11:30p/12a
2-LED blue lights that are on 24/7
1-UV Filter
We have 2 fans in the tank. The 1st is the original one and the 2nd one is just used from additional water flow. I am not sure of the size of the 2 fans.
We do a water change approx. every 3-4weeks, and when we refill the tank we use reef salt and tapwater.
We tested the water of tank the other day and this is what the results showed:
Salinity: 1.026
Calcium: 480
High pH: 8.2
Nitrite: 0
Ammonia: 0
Nitrate: 0
We have been dosing thank with Calciunm, Iron, and Purple Tech about 1-2 times a week. We have also been feeding zoo and phyotoplankinton.
As far as living things in our tank this is what we have:
approx. 6-7 pieces of live rock,
1-toadstool leather
Mushroom polyps
1-clownfish
2-damsels
1- wrasse
1-brain (just recevied ou
We have had no problems with the fish just items. For exampy our lethare does not have any growth on it. We also have a lot of red algae growing and are unsure if that a good algae ot not.
Thanks in advance for anything you can do to help
 
T

trainride72

Guest
yes we have regular jet for the bio cube and a extra bio cube power head made by bio cube .Ever since we got the red algae we have really had issues with anything growing .We do water changes about every 3 weeks as well.Should I try to wash the rocks of with water to get the algae off.
Thank you in Advanced
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member
Wecome to the site...
Tap water may be the problem, it has stuff added to it to kill all bacteria, the very thing we need to keep our tanks alive. Tap water can change according to what the water treatment people add. So just because tap hasn't poisoned the tank yet, does not mean that isn't the problem...run some carnbon and see if things improve, and then when you do top offs or a water change use RO (Reverse Osmoses) water from your grocery store or walmart for 37 cents a gallon.
 
socks002

socks002

Member
I thought i read that you are using reef salt and tap water, It is recomended to use RO/DI water, or atleased RO.
 
snakeblitz33

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
I agree with Flower, switch over to RO water for water changes and top offs. A pic would be great if you could get one. Don't pull your live rock out of the tank and scrub it, with proper husbandry, the algae will go away on it's own. One thing that I notice is that you are leaving your lights on for almost 12 hours a day. Decrease the photoperiod to 8 hours a day and see if that helps. Algae feeds off light and nutrients in the water column. Most likely from what you are describing it's cyanobacteria. But, I don't understand why your Nitrate reading is 0. Either you have a faulty test kit or you didn't test before you posted.
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member
Also you have been dosing the tank...have you been testing as you go so you even know you need to dose? Keeping up on water changes you wouldn't or I should say shouldn't need to dose because the new salt has everything you need already in the right amount...if you use reef salt..
 
T

trainride72

Guest
We will work on changing the lighting.
As far as the Nitrate reading goes what is it supposed to be? We have always had a 0 reading for our Nitrate. What can we use to increase this?
thanks,
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by trainride72 http:///t/387872/help-revive-our-tank#post_3416264
We will work on changing the lighting.
As far as the Nitrate reading goes what is it supposed to be? We have always had a 0 reading for our Nitrate. What can we use to increase this?
thanks,
LOL...You misunderstood...0 is very good, you certainly don't want to increase it. Snake is saying with everything going on he thought the nitrates would be high, and asked how old your test kits are. They go bad after a year and give false readings.
According to the parameters you put down in your first post......Your calcium is not high, it's on the money perfect.
You did not test for Alkalinity or KH...either or is still needed to know what is going on in the tank.
The red algae...is it soft? Does it lift off the rock like a mat? or Is it hard, and you can't scrape it off with your finger?
Soft = cyano....this is fed by extra nutrients caused by over feeding or high phosphates or low water flow to that area or all of them...
Hard and can't scrape off = Coraline algae a good and much desired algae and very pretty covering all plastic and the rocks.
 
snakeblitz33

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
What test kit are you using? How old is it? Are you following the directions to the letter? Something doesn't sound right.
 
T

trainride72

Guest
LOL...ok i understand now and I think that we may have some more answers for you.
We believed that our Nitrate test kit was old and faulty so we went out tonight and bought a new test kit. I just finished testing that and found that it was 80. So i guess that explains some of our problem. However what can we do to fix this?
Also we tested the Kh tonight and that was 16 drops or 286.4.
The algae that we have growing is the soft-cyano and I am assuming that once we get the water all situated that this will hopefully be fixed.
Also I have attached some pictures of the tank to see if that helps.
We are also looking into installing an RO system in our house or buying RO water from the local aquatic store. Otherwise is there any other places that you know of that we can purchase RO water. We looked at our local walmart tonight and they didn't have it.
Thanks for all of your help.
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member
Okay...try weekly water changes to get the parameters back in check. Any grocery store sells RO water. SuperWalmarts have the RO water.
Cyano...run a phosphate remover like Purigen, do the water changes and be careful to not overfeed. Also make sure there is plenty of water current throughout the tank.
Your Alkalinity is high KH should be between 8 and 12...again water changes is the cure.
Make sure your bulbs are in good shape and replace them, even if the bulb isn't burned out it changes the spectrum and can cause algae. So Change the bulbs according to the type.
MH = once every 9 months to a year
Flourescent = each year
T5HO = ??
LEDS = ??
Stick around don't be strangers.
 
snakeblitz33

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
Well, told yah!
14g biocube = do 5g water changes every week with freshly made salt mix using RO/DI water. Water from supermarkets like Super Wal-Marts and grocery stores sometimes contain an unusual amount of TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) because they don't change their filters as often as they should. I suggest either buying an RO Unit for your home or purchasing water at your live fish store. Usually, at a live fish store if you ask to see their TDS reading, they should test their water right in front of you. A TDS reading of no more than 5 is "ok". 0, of course is the best.
Do your water changes once a week without fail. Cut your lights down to 6-8 hours per day, instead of the 12 you have them on now. That will help get rid of some of the cyano. Take a turkey baster and blow off the rocks right before a water change. Increase your filtration and use two filters at a time instead of one. Only change one filter per week. Do not use chemipure or any other phosphate remover on a nano tank. Phosphate absorbing media is aluminum oxide based, and could shock your system, drop your pH, and it's not fun. I don't recommend using any phosphate absorbing media in nano tanks when some simple water changes will do just fine.
Flower hit the nail on the head when she recommended to change the bulbs. If your light seems to be more yellow then when you first got them, change them. Yellow spectrums of light is one of the causes algae and cyano outbreaks.
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by SnakeBlitz33 http:///t/387872/help-revive-our-tank#post_3416358
Well, told yah!
14g biocube = do 5g water changes every week with freshly made salt mix using RO/DI water. Water from supermarkets like Super Wal-Marts and grocery stores sometimes contain an unusual amount of TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) because they don't change their filters as often as they should. I suggest either buying an RO Unit for your home or purchasing water at your live fish store. Usually, at a live fish store if you ask to see their TDS reading, they should test their water right in front of you. A TDS reading of no more than 5 is "ok". 0, of course is the best.
Do your water changes once a week without fail. Cut your lights down to 6-8 hours per day, instead of the 12 you have them on now. That will help get rid of some of the cyano. Take a turkey baster and blow off the rocks right before a water change. Increase your filtration and use two filters at a time instead of one. Only change one filter per week. Do not use chemipure or any other phosphate remover on a nano tank. Phosphate absorbing media is aluminum oxide based, and could shock your system, drop your pH, and it's not fun. I don't recommend using any phosphate absorbing media in nano tanks when some simple water changes will do just fine.
Flower hit the nail on the head when she recommended to change the bulbs. If your light seems to be more yellow then when you first got them, change them. Yellow spectrums of light is one of the causes algae and cyano outbreaks.
Snake...under 10 is good, my home unit is 4 and that is unusual....what makes the TDS high is non-use..the more you use the water the less pressure on the filters. A very public Wal-mart where the water is flowing all the time actually has better TDS readings than many home units. They do change out the filters because they are watched by FDA and they have a chart and date posted of their last test.
 
snakeblitz33

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
Flower - you don't live in Louisiana, lol! You don't know how bad our Wal-Mart is. Good to know that it is Federally regulated though. :D
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by SnakeBlitz33 http:///t/387872/help-revive-our-tank#post_3416427
Flower - you don't live in Louisiana, lol! You don't know how bad our Wal-Mart is. Good to know that it is Federally regulated though. :D
Your right, I do have a tendency to live in my little box. All Wal-marts, McDonalds and any chain are not alll equals. We have a little card on our water at Wally world with the last TDS reading, and a date. I do know the more the unit is used the lower the TDS. So for anyone buying water by the jug...find a busy place to get your refills.
 
T

trainride72

Guest
Flower what do you mean by MH lights? I believe that we just have to worry about changing out the lights once a year. In fact we just changed them out. However we were looking for clarification on what the abbrieviations stood for as far as the lights.
Thanks for all your help
 
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