Algae, Nitrites, Nitrates - arrggghh

[capj64]

Since getting my tank in March, I've been on this forum daily reading for hours at a time, trying to learn. I also google "everything" in hopes that someday I'll have a tank with beautiful fish and corals like some of the tanks I've seen here.

Saying this...I know that I'm doing something/everything wrong. After the first couple of months (new tank syndrome?) my 29g tank was starting to look pretty good and test great.

That is up to three weeks ago. It was time for the weekly PWC so I had my daughter pick up 5g of water while she was in town. She came home with "drinking" water, not the "distilled" water that I always use (except for the short time I used treated tap water, MISTAKE) but I went ahead and used it instead of waiting to do the PWC on another day. That week red algae and green algae started taking over my tank so on the next weeks PWC I used distilled water and did a 20% instead of 10%. Nothing changed. Same thing after the next PWC. Meanwhile I found a good snail deal on reefcleaners.com and thought, "well hey, can't hurt"...got'em and added them yesterday. Today my tank looked even worse.

Oh, and during this whole algae crap out, my fish, xenia, zoas, feather dusters, shrimp, and crabs are doing great. Even my hitchikers...baby urchin (I think rock boring) and the sea whip/fan.

Tomorrow is the weekly PWC...this is what I have tonight:
salt - 1.025
temp - 78F
Ph - 8.6
Alk - 1.7-2.8
ammonia - 0
nitrites - 0.1
nitrates - (not sure how to read the card, but it's not 0) 20 low end???

As I can I'll be getting a RO/DI system. I'm already working on a sump.
Other than that and the PWC weekly...I'm sure what else to do.

 

[capj64]

And the Nerites Snails that I added yesterday have laid eggs EVERYWHERE

 

[thincat]

Wow, never heard of nirites laying eggs in an Aq. are you sure that you are not over feeding or that any fish are dead?

 

[capj64]

Great...I'm pretty sure it was the Nerites Snails' eggs. And yes, at the beginning I was over feeding. I was feeding twice a day, but now I only feed once. Also, about 2 month ago I started turning all the pumps off while feeding and it's helped alot with left over food. I tried feeding everyother day, but the Chromis were not happy at all with that! Actually I felt like I was starving them, guilt took over I feed my xenia, zoes and sea whip once a week, the day before the PWC.

Oh, and should I mention that the algae, the red and the green, are like dust. When I clean it off of the glass (green) or the rock (red) it just blows off like a dust cloud.

 

[thincat]

That is almost acting like diatoms. How old is your setup? A good way to feed fish that need extra feedings is to feed different types of food. Say pellets and then a little zooplanton and so on. A major feeding and one that only the very hungry will go after.

 

[capj64]

It's five months old. I do have some hair algae, but it's not too bad. All of my fish and inverts are accounted for. The only thing that died lately is the snail that my pepperment shrimp tore apart last night

I feed them pellets, few at a time until they don't seem interested and then I give them a pinch of marine chips, which the chromis just about jump out of the water for. Oh, I forgot...I also feed them brine shrimp (frozen), I was doing it once a week right before PWC but I forget alot of the time, so they probably only get the brine twice a month. When I do feed it to them I rinse like I've read to do and then net them into the tank.

Dexter, my clown loves that...so much that he won't eat at the next feeding. I think he's waiting for the brine

I do have crushed coral, but it's pretty fine. When I move it, bubbles come up...I thought that was a good sign cause of the gasses?

 

[dannyb]

No need to feed the xenia or sea whip, Unless its like phytoplankton.

Zoo's will take mysis or brine, But they still dont need feeding at all. I feed my zoos, But only once a fornight to once a month..

 

[capj64]

I don't know what it's called, can't look right now, but it's something like phytoplankton. My zoas are really tiny so the brine that I feed the fish sometime are way too big for them.

 

[Jimbo7]

I never feed my coral except for my acans and duncans, and would suggest the same to anyone. If you have fish in the tank their waste will provide filter feeding corals all that they need.

In most cases a hands off approach will give you more coral growth then anything else. I feed a combo of mysis, pellets, and gel food, only one per day, every other day.

 

[mrg02d]

Youve got to minimize feedings. Id feed every other day and put a stop to feeding the corals. I have a similar problem and have concluded that its because my 20g is simply overstocked. Maybe not overstocked in a crowded way, or in a way that crashes the system, but in a way that means constant "ghost algae".

I think this dusty brown stuff has found a way to live off the most minute levels of extra nutrients. I run 5 times the GFO I am supposed to run for my size tank as well as maintain a mass of chaeto in the DT. I also feed once every other day and only so much that each fish (two clowns, a sixlines wrasse, and a strawbery baslet) gets a few mouth fulls. I rinse all frozen food and use quality pellets. My white lights only come on for 6 hours a day now. Ive had this problem for a year.

Im willing to bet the motherload that I wouldnt have this problem with just two fish. The "ghost algae" needs something to live, and its existence is proof that something does exist. No other algae is present. My acroporas are keeping pretty shades of blue too. Its got to be the feedings. We got to minimize food in the tank. All those corals will get plenty from the lighting. Id stop feeding them completely and feed the fish every other day.

Matt

 

[capj64]

Gesh...still over feeding? ok, I'll try what y'all suggest and see what happens

But I'm still pretty sure that it was the "drinking" water that caused all the mess. Cause if anything, my feeding habits have improved over the months. I used to feed them alot. I never saw them picking at rocks or chasing pods or eating algae off the glass like they do now. They're actually acting like fish now, not little lazy poo machines

When I do my PWC today, should I scrub everything or leave the algae for the new snails? If I hadn't just put the snails in there I wouldn't ask.

Weird how water, salt and a glass box can make you feel like a total idiot

 

[melosu58]

I definitely agree with every other day feedings for your fish. I`m thinking that your phyto is the biggest contributor here. Your tank is too small for feeding that stuff and will foul your water quality up pretty quickly. I`d be willing to bet that if you stop the phyto, feed every other day, do frequent PWC`s with at least RO water and siphon out as much of the nuisance algea that you can that your tank should be OK in a month or so.

 

[mrg02d]

Gesh...still over feeding? ok, I'll try what y'all suggest and see what happens

But I'm still pretty sure that it was the "drinking" water that caused all the mess. Cause if anything, my feeding habits have improved over the months. I used to feed them alot. I never saw them picking at rocks or chasing pods or eating algae off the glass like they do now. They're actually acting like fish now, not little lazy poo machines

When I do my PWC today, should I scrub everything or leave the algae for the new snails? If I hadn't just put the snails in there I wouldn't ask.

Weird how water, salt and a glass box can make you feel like a total idiot

This brown dusty stuff seems to be a real jerk. Got to really get crazy with it!
Scrub the tank when you do PWC so that you can suck some of it out. That way you remove them along with whatever food they found to store up in themselves. Less food means less them.

Yeap, these tanks gave me OCD!
Matt

 

[Jimbo7]

Gesh...still over feeding? ok, I'll try what y'all suggest and see what happens

But I'm still pretty sure that it was the "drinking" water that caused all the mess. Cause if anything, my feeding habits have improved over the months. I used to feed them alot. I never saw them picking at rocks or chasing pods or eating algae off the glass like they do now. They're actually acting like fish now, not little lazy poo machines

When I do my PWC today, should I scrub everything or leave the algae for the new snails? If I hadn't just put the snails in there I wouldn't ask.

Weird how water, salt and a glass box can make you feel like a total idiot

haha "little lazy poo machines" probably made my morning.
I forgot to mention the drinking water. Definitely a cause in the algae bloom. I would scrub everything and suck it out. The snails will find something, there will always be algae.

 

[capj64]

ok, took the toothbrush to everything. At one point I wondered what a water pick would do, lol.
While I was at it, I scrubbed the 10g too.
Some of the algae on the side and back glass of my 29g is impossible to scrap off. It's almost flourescent green. I'm going to get a razor blade for the next PWC.

Thanks so much for all the help and tips. I feel like I'm back on track

 

[Jimbo7]

ok, took the toothbrush to everything. At one point I wondered what a water pick would do, lol.
While I was at it, I scrubbed the 10g too.
Some of the algae on the side and back glass of my 29g is impossible to scrap off. It's almost flourescent green. I'm going to get a razor blade for the next PWC.

Thanks so much for all the help and tips. I feel like I'm back on track

Great! You'll get there soon. One day you'll just look at the tank and it will be gleaming and you'll realize you haven't had to touch it in weeks. Its a satisfying day

 

[milhous3er]

I used to use water from water bottles that were just laying around the house undrank to put some FW into the tank. Now that i've quit doing that, I only have a small amount of GHA, about 1/2" square of it. So maybe that is your culprit. I feed once every 3 days, and my fish seem to be doing great !!

Also try to switch out your brine shrimp. Your clown gets nothing nutritional from the brine, except for some fiber (more poo !!). Switch over to Mysis as its alot more nutritional. I know this is alittle off topic, but all advice is welcomed right ??

 

[capj64]

Yeah, thanks. Mysis, is it frozen also? I'm using distilled water until I can afford a RO/DI. It's getting moved up on the list

 

[Jimbo7]

Yea, get hikari or PE mysis. They are the best brands.

 

[capj64]

I wanted to let y'all know that I've used everyones tips and it was about two to three weeks after starting this thread, my tank started looking amazing. I still continue to only feed every other day and everything is going great. Thank you so much...wish I had listen to y'all sooner :/