What's in my tank?

[sharonafix]

I have tan-brown slimmy algae type stuff that is growing in my saltwater tank? It is hanging on the rocks and corals in the tank. Tank is 55 gal. I do weekly water changes, but not sure why this stuff keeps growing. I have an undergravel filter along with hang-on-tank protein skimmer.
I only have one Niger Trigger fish in the tank. Feed him one small piece of shrimp everyother day. So I don't think I am overfeeding.
Is there any type of snails that be put in a saltwater tank to eat this stuff? Or anything else that will help clean up this stuff?
I want to add new fish to the tank, but not sure what kind. Any ideas? I had a Huma Trigger and large Damsel that died couple weeks ago, due to much cleaning. I was trying to get all theat stuff out of the water and shocked the system too much.

 

[b bauer]

how long has the tank been running?do you have a water test kit and what are the results.also the flow inside incuding the filter and skimmer

 

[sharonafix]

I have had the tank for 2 years. I had a problem with phosphates and got phosBan Reactor, and doing great now. Nitrates, Nitrites are o.k., ph o.k., salt 16. This is a saltwater fish tank only. I would like to have critters in the tank but don't know if they will survive (snails, crabs, etc).
Like I said, only fish now is the Niger Trigger (very quiet and docile). I want to get some new fish and would like suggestions. Tank is 55 gallon.
Circulation of the water looks good but I am thinking, maybe I need another jet pump down low in the bottom to move that tan stuff around more and so it can filter out.
I do have an undergravel filter and not sure if this is just trapping the waste in the gravel bed and that is what I am seeing, instead of helping to rid the waste.
Any thoughts?

 

[b bauer]

it sounds like cyano what kind of water do you use.ro,di also add more flow ck to see if your ph is clean and working

 

[spector101]

I would try a bristle tooth tang aka yellow eyed tang. I had the same thing happen to me when a friend told me to add one of those to my tank. I havn't had any algea like that since.

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by sharonafix
I have had the tank for 2 years. I had a problem with phosphates and got phosBan Reactor, and doing great now. Nitrates, Nitrites are o.k., ph o.k., salt 16. This is a saltwater fish tank only. I would like to have critters in the tank but don't know if they will survive (snails, crabs, etc).
Like I said, only fish now is the Niger Trigger (very quiet and docile). I want to get some new fish and would like suggestions. Tank is 55 gallon.
Circulation of the water looks good but I am thinking, maybe I need another jet pump down low in the bottom to move that tan stuff around more and so it can filter out.
I do have an undergravel filter and not sure if this is just trapping the waste in the gravel bed and that is what I am seeing, instead of helping to rid the waste.
Any thoughts?
Undergravel fiters are no longer used in SW. They trap too much detris. What are your nitrate readings? What is your substrate?

 

[tokey]

Wow !! I'm surprised it took so many posts to get to your problem get rid of your under ground filter its is a wast trap it also caused your phosphate problem.

 

[sk8shorty01]

Also, if it is a salt tank, I would assume you need to bring your salinity up. You say that your salinity is at 16, which I assume means 1.016 which is quite low. That is well under the bar that most people keep their tanks at and I would also address that problem. Your undergravel filter will also not help, it is just "hiding" the waste rather than getting rid of it, so you will have a nitrate sponge big time down there. I also assume that because you are running an undergravel filter, that means you have some sort of crushed coral as far as substrate goes. This is also going to trap waste and cause you to keep producing large amounts of nitrates. You are going to have a hard time fighting this algae if you dont take care of the CC and undergravel filter first. I would dump that filter and get a emperor400 from walmart (HOB filter) and trash the CC as well. You can get enough sand to cover the bottom of that tank online for probably 60 bucks.

 

[sharonafix]

Thanks for the advise. I use to have a 35 g hexagon tall salt water tank and had problem with water quality. I put a jet pump in the bottom and it worked o.k. but still had problem.
Now I have a 55g bow front tank. I thought the undergravel might help with waste, etc. like in a freshwater tank. But guess I was wrong.
I will rip out the undergravel filter and put another pump in the lower part of the tank and see how it works.
Thanks for information.

 

[b bauer]

do you know how much flow you have?as in gph

 

[triga22]

This is what I did when algea attacked me!
Turned lights off for 2 days straight
Bought 2 new better powerheads with reflectors
Phosphate remover
Phosphate test
Give it time.