What's wrong with my tank?

srothenberg

srothenberg

Member
I have had a diatom outbreak for about about a month now and I thought it was subsiding but now it seems its back in high gear. Not only that but the surface of my water when I lift the lids has like a coating brown on it and when you stick your hand in it you see tons of little brown specs on it. I am running an Aqua C Remora skimmer and have lots of flow. I haven't test the nitrates in awhile, but ammonia and nitrites are 0. I have no silicates in the water but I did have a good amount of phosphates in the water when I had it tested. Is overfeeding causing this? Too many fish in the tank? My tank looks like crap because of all of this. Corals seem to be doing well and I haven't lost any inverts.
Steve
 
rotarymagic

rotarymagic

Active Member
get a phosban reactor or run a bag of rowaphos... see if that clears it up... get a tongan fighting conch too while you're at it, they love diatoms and keep the sand bed clean! Cerith snails do too, but crabs kill ceriths for their shells.
 
mcbdz

mcbdz

Active Member

Please post as much info as you can on your tank.
Need actual numbers and facts please.
Tank, size, age, filters,gph, #'s LR/LS, live stock, how did you cycle, What type of warer do you use(tap/RODI), temp-, salinity-, Type of test you use,PH, amm. nitrites, nitrates, phosphates, anything else you test for, live stock
what you feed, how often/much, maintance.
This is a lot of info but give a better pic so someone can help.

Pattie
 
mr_x

mr_x

Active Member
if you are putting your hand in the water and particulate matter is attached to it when you pull it out, you have a tremendous amount of nutrients in the tank.
no one listens to me about this, but those aqua-c remoras aren't worth the dirty water flowing through them. do some massive waterchanges for starters.then i would re-think my nutrient export methods.
 
srothenberg

srothenberg

Member
I think I maybe overfeeding. I am feeding once a day with both pellets and an entire cube of Marine Cusine.
I have 6 fish:
Hippo Tang
Yellow Tang
Blue Throat Trigger
Flame Angel
2 False Percula Clowns
Every single one of them has been healthy and eating since they went into the tank and never had any ich. The Salinity is 1.023 and the temp is around 80.5 degrees F. I have to check the others. I have 125 lbs of LR and 75 lbs of LS.
 
srothenberg

srothenberg

Member
It's a 75, but all of the fish are very small. Not one is bigger then 2". I have the standard Remora, it said it was good up to 75 gallons.
 
keebler

keebler

Member
Originally Posted by srothenberg
http:///forum/post/2811006
It's a 75, but all of the fish are very small. Not one is bigger then 2". I have the standard Remora, it said it was good up to 75 gallons.
You usually want to go with something a lot larger than it is rated up to. You can't really have overkill on skimmers truthfully. Most go with something rated like 2X their aquarium size.
 
emilaya101

emilaya101

Member
I think that feeding a whole cube of food , and pellets is way overkill. If I were you I would at least keep feeding what you feed, but do it on an every other day basis instead of everyday because that way at least you know for sure that you are cutting the feeding in half . JMO
 
forsfed50

forsfed50

Member
I had that diatom problem because of phosphates.
I removed them with a phosphate remover. Bag of
little white rocks. Not sure how much info is alllowed.
Also a sandsifting star to keep the sand stirred.
 
mr_x

mr_x

Active Member
i had a remora on a 30 cube and it didn't do much good.
forsfed50- you put your hand in the water and when you removed it you had debris all over it, and a bag of phosphate remover stopped that?
 
forsfed50

forsfed50

Member
Originally Posted by Mr_X
http:///forum/post/2811327
i had a remora on a 30 cube and it didn't do much good.
forsfed50- you put your hand in the water and when you removed it you had debris all over it, and a bag of phosphate remover stopped that?
Mr X I was not the thread starter just one of the posts. I
did in fact remove my phoshates with the bag , however I
had no debris. My phosphate problem may have no
relevance to his situation but I don't know that it doesn't.
 
mr_x

mr_x

Active Member
Originally Posted by forsfed50
http:///forum/post/2811614
Mr X I was not the thread starter just one of the posts. I
did in fact remove my phoshates with the bag , however I
had no debris. My phosphate problem may have no
relevance to his situation but I don't know that it doesn't.
i picked up that you weren't the thread starter. i can still comment on "one of the posts" if i feel it is relevant to the OP's issue.
i really don't think this is a simple case of "a bag of phosphate remover".
i think the introduction of phosphates is the excess nutrients. remove them, and the phosphate will most likely decline.
 
srothenberg

srothenberg

Member
Well I'm cutting my feeding in half and I plan on watching everything closely and possibly adding a PhosBan reactor in the near future.
 
ibew41

ibew41

Active Member
Originally Posted by Keebler
http:///forum/post/2811009
You usually want to go with something a lot larger than it is rated up to. You can't really have overkill on skimmers truthfully. Most go with something rated like 2X their aquarium size.
+1 with your bioload imo you need a larger skimmer also do you have a ph pointed at the surface?
 
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