Not what it used to be

[bjlsnez]

Hey all. First off ive been having a 75gal tank for a little over a year now and everything was doing fine until the last month or so. For some reason i have a crazy amount of hair algae taking over my tank. I cleaned most of the biggest part out during the last water change. Im now using this product called algaefix. Since i started that product my flowerpot coral once beautiful and lush refuses to "bloom". My derasa clam also is not opening like it used to. Everything else however (star coral, mushrooms, anemone, and fish) are all doing fine. I have 2 clowns, a flame angel, a regal tang, 2 damsels, 2 cleaner shrimp, a brittle starfish, many hermits and snails. I use T-5 lighting with 2 whites and 2 blues, a C-160 canister filter and a cpr backback protein skimmer since my tank is not drilled for sump,and korola 3 and 4 for circulation. My readings are as follows: sal.-1.022, nitrate and nitrite are 0, ph is a little low at about 8.0, ammonia is about .1, cal.-430, phosphates are at .25. Lights are on about 9hrs a day. These are pics of what used to be lol.

 

[spanko]

Well something is feeding the algae. First off you can cut your photoperiod down to about 7 hours per day. Are you overfeeding? It is easy to get into that mode. Your fish should consume the food you put in after 1-1.5 minutes. What is your water change schedule? How often do you cleaned the canister filter.

 

[sbaumann14]

what does your clean up crew consist of?

 

[bjlsnez]

Originally Posted by spanko
http:///forum/post/3031553
Well something is feeding the algae. First off you can cut your photoperiod down to about 7 hours per day. Are you overfeeding? It is easy to get into that mode. Your fish should consume the food you put in after 1-1.5 minutes. What is your water change schedule? How often do you cleaned the canister filter.
i dont think im over feeding the food is gone quite rapidly with this bunch of piranahs lol. i do a 15% water change once a month and clean the filters as well. i change all filters once a month and the coarse foam filter every other month.

 

[spanko]

Too long in between water changes and filter cleaning IMO.
Even though your tests are not showing it you are having a nutrient build up that is fueling the hair algae growth.

 

[culp]

yea the test wouldn't be showing anything wrong because its all being locked up in the hair algae. so even though the test shows nothing it doesn't mean its not there.

 

[sk8shorty01]

I think the tests are showing some signs of decay considering there is a reading for ammonia. In an established tank there should never be anything other than 0 for ammonia, if you have any ammonia your corals are going to suffer. Corals have a hard time dealing with Nitrates, ammonia is much worse. I would increase your water change quantity and frequency. I would go to maybe 20% every other week to every third week until you can get that ammonia out of there and clear up any uneeded nutrients.

 

[hlcroghan]

IMO I am going to recommend water changes once a week. 10% once is a week is far more effective than a lot all at once. Think of it like rain. If it only rained once a month, our oceans would have serious problems.
Blow off the rocks with a clean syringe, do the water change, and clean out your filters, then once a week, continue with the water changes and try to scrub the hair algae off of the rocks.

 

[bjlsnez]

Thanks ill do more frequent water changes. should i also change the filters weekly or keep that on the monthy cycle? oh and i just added a new resident(yellow eyed tang) today and after a dose of eight.four this morning to raise ph and alk the flower pot is starting to open up a little more. hopefully things will work out without too much destruction.

 

[wilsonreef]

You may want to look into a phosphate reactor. Not expensive to set up or run. Around $40+.

 

[bjlsnez]

Thanks again. I did a more advanced test for phosphate and ammonia today and came up with new results so i retested and again got the same thing so the new numbers are ammonia is 0 and phosphate is slighty above 0 i guess about .1 or so. last night i believe i saw a bristle worm attacking my derasa clam is that possible? if so that might be why my clam is so shy now and looks to have little pieces missing from the edge of its mantle. i might just need to invest in an arrow crab or something.

 

[sk8shorty01]

Make sure you do your research on the Arrow Crab as they do have other potential problems in some aquariums. I have no idea if it would be a problem in your tank but I do know that as they grow larger they have been known to capture small fish.

 

[bjlsnez]

well there is one other route that i could go. a guy will show me how to build a trap to catch the worms today so maybe that will be a safer more effective way of doing things.

 

[hlcroghan]

You could also make it simple and buy a wrasse of some kind. Sixlines (aggressive but small) and flasher wrasses really like bristle worms.