At a loss

[KatherineM]

SO, I dont know what else to do. I have a thirty gallon tank with two clowns, a dragonette and a dragon wrasse. over a month ago I had a bubble tip anemone die. I managed to get it out of the tank pretty quickly but the poor thing has never recovered ( I did not have the wrasse when I had the anemone, it died by getting stuck in the powerhead)

I have copious amounts of green algae and a bit of red. I bought a new protein skimmer, replaced filter cartriges, used a water treatment, got more cleaner snails, (had several snails die) did hige water changes, and still no change. I need advice. I have no idea how to right my tank at this point. But its ugly and unhealthy and I am at a loss. I dont even know how to dispose of this 300+ dollar investment if I so choose.
Help :/

 

[Rutrag]

I'm guessing that what you don't like is the algae. (Or is the the death of your inverts?) Is it a slimy and thick algae or how does it look exactly?

What are your water parameters? (Especially ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and phosphate, but all parameters are helpful.) How do you test (strips or liquid, brand)? Specific gravity? How do you test that? (Hydrometer or refractometer)

What is the source for your water when you do water changes? (Tap, LFS, grocery store) Have you tested your source water for ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates?

What kind of lighting do you have and how long is it on?

Have you ever used any copper-based medications in the tank?

 

[zambono]

How long has your tank been running? How long was it running before you introduced fish and inverts. You definitely must test your water? If your algae is out of control you will want to remove phosphates , I use chemi pure elite as my chemical filtration. Best wishes

 

[KatherineM]

It has been running for over a year and was healthy and beautiful until the anemone died. The water parameters are fine, slightly high nitrates but not dangerously. The light is HO something, it was specific for reef tanks. I dont remember the exact description.
I had some slime after the snails died but thats gone. at this point it looks like moss. Thick beds of green algae just blankets everything.
I use a hyrometer. Thats all good. I filter my tap water and use store bought salt. But neither of those caused a problem before recently.

 

[zambono]

Maybe someone can chime in if anemones can poison the water upon death. I would definitely look into your phosphates though.

 

[Rutrag]

So is that hair algae? I have heard that can be from low magnesium. I went through a bout with that in my 75. Cutting back on the light (my moonlights were on from about 8pm to 6am - they're pretty bright. Now they're off at midnight.), scrubbing it off the glass for physical removal, and getting my skimmer better dialed in finally got it under control for me.

You say you filter your tapwater. Is that with an RODI unit or what exactly? It also sounds like you have something else going on if you are continually losing snails. What is the actual value of your nitrate reading? Also, be aware that the algae is likely feeding off of your nitrates as they are produced, so the algae might actually be keeping that more in check. Hair algae and red slime are often syptoms of an underlying issue.

As far as the anemone poisoning the tank goes, my experience is they just decompose and foul the water pretty fast.

 

[KatherineM]

Yeah it is an RODI. I am not sure what the exact reading is. I ran out of test strips last week. lol
I treated the water with a nitrate reducer and it didnt affect the algae, so im not sure what the issue is.
Is there something better to clean the glass with than like a metal razor? I heard metal is bad for the water

 

[TLTGF]

If you have a tank full of hair algae, your Nitrate reading would be biased anyway as the algae is probably using the nitrates to feed and therefore it would give a lower reading than the true value.

Also I use an old credit card / debit card to scrape the glass and it works great.

 

[scottayy]

Is this a used tank possibly leeching copper?
I would get out all of the algae you can and do a very large PWC. And repeat if necessary.

 

[Wael El-Dasher]

I recommend you start with one variable change at a time. Limit your HO lights to 6 hours per day. Run moon lights longer if you like. Then watch and see how that affects the algae.

 

[zambono]

Yeah it is an RODI. I am not sure what the exact reading is. I ran out of test strips last week. lol
I treated the water with a nitrate reducer and it didnt affect the algae, so im not sure what the issue is.
Is there something better to clean the glass with than like a metal razor? I heard metal is bad for the water

Magfloat

 

[bskerrichard27]

I had a similar thing happen to my 24 everything died after the anemone died snail clowns star fish hermits even the hitchikers bristle worms .... I took my filter out cleaned it in new water took all my rock out and scrubbed in salt water to get algae off took 75% water out the tank had a mini cycle then I did 15% water change know its been about a month I got new stars and clowns hermits and snails everything is good ...my aproach maybe the wrong one but it worked for me and I did not kill no more live stock

 

[Starchar]

I would recommend that you remove the hair algae by hand as much as possible (scrape, pull, ect.). There is a neat little video on Extreme Aquatics showing a hair removal and tank cleanup on high speed. If nothing else it will likely make you feel like your task is more doable. Scrapers are good but you can also find the plastic scrapers used to clean kitchen stoneware dishes (works great for me and doesn't scratch).

The nem can poison a tank but if you got it out quick you are likely good. It is likely that by the time you posted this if you didn't have a tank die off you were quick enough. If you just don't want to risk it a bag of carbon is like $15.00 and drop it in a chamber to help.

As stated in earlier post light reduction and possibly nutrient reduction will help with algae growth.

I am sure that there are better bits of advice than what I have to offer, best of luck! Don't give up! Just think of how much more you will appreciate the tank once it is looking great again!