my tank is covered in algae

[jonny_raff]

My tank is covered in algea abd everytime i lift a rock to scrub it off all this gunky stuff falls off of it and into the tank! I use tap water and i think that is the issue and i recently bought an
RO/DI system but I have no idea how to set it up! The person told me that the part was in yhe swamp cooler section at like Home Depot or Lowes but Home Depot didn't have anything! Before things got really bad I had a crash in oxygen levels abd lost a wrase and 2 tangs and the tank got extremly cloudy!!! Im so confused on what to do! On top if that my CUC is all dying off and my amonia is rising!!! Its now at .50. Please help cause i have know clue what to do!

 

[Breakthecycle2]

How big is the tank? How much flow do you have? Have you added any new live rock?

 

[jonny_raff]

The tank is 55 gallons, im not sure on exact flow... i have two powerheads and two HOB filters cause its my first SW tank tank and i had know clue what i was doing..., no new rock

 

[Breakthecycle2]

How long has the tank been set up?

 

[jonny_raff]

About 5-6 months

 

[Breakthecycle2]

There is dieoff somewhere. How many fish do you have? How many pounds of live rock?

 

[jonny_raff]

I have 5 fish... one of my small tangs died a little while ago... and a lot of coral too!!! I had two anenomes and they both died as well! I have about 100lbs with 15lbs of dry rock curing!

 

[Breakthecycle2]

Did the anenomes die first?

 

[jonny_raff]

Ya they were the first to go

 

[Breakthecycle2]

Thats your problem. They basically poisoned your tank. You need to do about a 50-75% water change - NO TAP Water - to get the parameters under control, then worry about the algae.

 

[jonny_raff]

Ok thanks! But is that the cause of the algea

 

[Breakthecycle2]

Your tap water probably was.

 

[jonny_raff]

Will the algea go away if I use RO water?

 

[Sillyfishies]

Yes, eventually. Your system seems to have a lot of problems.

I would recommend doing a huge waterchange with RO/DI water.

 

[Breakthecycle2]

In all honesty, I would rehome any living things and do a 100% water change,

 

[jonny_raff]

I hate to say this but i never found the second anenome and I tore up the whole reef but never found it... do you think it might be in the sand burred? Its so late i gave up and was going to try to find it tomorrow!

 

[Dav3]

Anemones won't "poison" the tank when they die. Just A LOT of excess nutrients as they just erode away.

As stated you have several issues.

Tank is way too young for one anemone let alone two. Which is probably why they died. Plus they require great water quality which you won't get with tap. Also your tank is too small for any tangs.

You probably don't have the biological filtration to handle the die off from the nems and caused an ammonia spike which has claimed the tangs and will likely kill the rest of your fish.

As stated you should probably rehome all of your livestock and do a 100% water change and wait for a new cycle to complete. See if your lfs can hold them temporarily.

Regarding your rodi there are a lot of vids on YouTube on how to set one up.

 

[jonny_raff]

Could I just do a few huge water changes? I got the piece to hook the rodi system to but im not home right now! It just seems that if I do a lot of waterchanges id be fine!?

 

[Dav3]

You can if you want. I wouldn't go less than 50% water changes then. You have lethal levels of ammonia that you need to get rid of ASAP. As things die they will just add to it.

 

[jonny_raff]

thank you guys so much! The amonia went down significantly and the algea is dying off!!! So happy and thanks for the advise!