sberto
Member
Well, Im posting in the New Hobbyists part because I dont think I'll ever pass being a rookie at this. Anyhow, this will be a long read, but I need some help.
Ill start, 5 years ago (I know...), I started a 90g reef tank with a canister filter, lots of powerheads and current USA Marine PRO LED lights. For the most part, everything was going good....had a few clown fish, yellow tang (died about 6 months ago), some softies, an RBTA etc. My levels were excellent, no real issues with anything. Other than the occasional water change, the tank pretty much looked after itself.
Fast forward to about 4 months ago, I saw on the local buy and sell a tank shutdown. 90g tank with overflow and a 30g sump, some fish and live rock. So, knowing I wanted to add a sump to my tank, i figured this would be a great deal. Use the tank and sump and some of the liverock etc.
I purchased the system, and merged the two tanks together, used some of the live rock and sand. When I picked up the tank, the live rock had quite a bit of algae on them. So I tried to use only the rock that didn't have much algae on it. Started the tank up. Shortly after, my Current USA LED's crapped out, so I put the T5's on that came with the second tank (but I went and bought new bulbs first).
Anyways, since then, my tank has basically exploded with algae. The rocks are covered in green algae (I do not think its bryopsis, it is soft to the touch and does not give the look of a fern, but I could be wrong). The sand bed has a very light layer of cyano, but i also have lots of flow. Ive tried everything. I took each rock out, scrubbed it (almost) clean, put it back, continual water changes, I've tried adding a yellow tang but it died, it seems to come back even harder after I clean it off. I scraped the glass today, 2 hours later I can see a green film on the glass again. The weird thing, my refugium in the sump has no algae at all...cant even grow chaeto, it just disintegrates.
I have NO idea what to do. Are T5 lights prone to grow algae vs LED lights? Should I go out and buy the best LED's there are to offer?? Thats really the only hardware that is different in the tank (and different between my DT and sump). I use tap water with conditioner...I have always used tap water, as do most reefers in my area.
My levels are:
Specific Gravity 1.025
Ammonia 0
Nitrate 0
Nitrite 0
Phosphate >0.25ppm
dKh 4.4
Ph 8
Thank you in advance!
Ill start, 5 years ago (I know...), I started a 90g reef tank with a canister filter, lots of powerheads and current USA Marine PRO LED lights. For the most part, everything was going good....had a few clown fish, yellow tang (died about 6 months ago), some softies, an RBTA etc. My levels were excellent, no real issues with anything. Other than the occasional water change, the tank pretty much looked after itself.
Fast forward to about 4 months ago, I saw on the local buy and sell a tank shutdown. 90g tank with overflow and a 30g sump, some fish and live rock. So, knowing I wanted to add a sump to my tank, i figured this would be a great deal. Use the tank and sump and some of the liverock etc.
I purchased the system, and merged the two tanks together, used some of the live rock and sand. When I picked up the tank, the live rock had quite a bit of algae on them. So I tried to use only the rock that didn't have much algae on it. Started the tank up. Shortly after, my Current USA LED's crapped out, so I put the T5's on that came with the second tank (but I went and bought new bulbs first).
Anyways, since then, my tank has basically exploded with algae. The rocks are covered in green algae (I do not think its bryopsis, it is soft to the touch and does not give the look of a fern, but I could be wrong). The sand bed has a very light layer of cyano, but i also have lots of flow. Ive tried everything. I took each rock out, scrubbed it (almost) clean, put it back, continual water changes, I've tried adding a yellow tang but it died, it seems to come back even harder after I clean it off. I scraped the glass today, 2 hours later I can see a green film on the glass again. The weird thing, my refugium in the sump has no algae at all...cant even grow chaeto, it just disintegrates.
I have NO idea what to do. Are T5 lights prone to grow algae vs LED lights? Should I go out and buy the best LED's there are to offer?? Thats really the only hardware that is different in the tank (and different between my DT and sump). I use tap water with conditioner...I have always used tap water, as do most reefers in my area.
My levels are:
Specific Gravity 1.025
Ammonia 0
Nitrate 0
Nitrite 0
Phosphate >0.25ppm
dKh 4.4
Ph 8
Thank you in advance!
). I have the return pump, maxspect gyre on pulse mode, and a Hydor Korilia in the other corner (its a bigger one I can't remember the GPH though). The thank hasn't move and gets very little natural light, if not any. I feed 1 cube of mysis shrimp every other day. And no, the canister is gone.