Needs a nuke!

[Frogspawn]

Hey guys and girls
i am going to get right to the point and hope it not too late. i have been at school for the past 2 months and totally though my parents would keep my tank up to par. Boy was i wrong! There no bringing back anything i would think
First let me give you a list of all equipment and inhabitants i have or had

-30gcube Sw reef setup
-150 HQI light 14000k
-reefpac bacpac skimmer
-4 maxi jet 900 power heads on wave maker skimmer
-3 inch’s of sand
-30-35lbs of fiji/tonga LR
-one Oclown fish
- one sixline walrus
-one toadstool leather
-one torch coral
-lots of poylups/and shrooms
-pulsing exzina


There’s what i have. My first lost happened the other day. i had a beautiful maxima clam. it was a sad day when i lost him.
my snail and hermits i dont see any more. its like they all disappeared.

How to fix..

Now heres my question, i need to nuke this system and i have tried water changes the past 2 months and i have seen no improvement what so ever. i am thinking about putting my 2 fish in a small tank i once had and doing a major overhaul on this one.. i need help in what to do. i have hair algae everywhere and i think i may be getting other types as well.
Think the worst people. How can i over come this? And what should my first steps be to getting my once beautiful tank back in to shape?
Thanks so much for your help. Anything will do better then what I have already done

 

[austinsdad]

What are your water readings now? Nitrate, phosphate. Any ammonia present?

 

[cmor1701d]

Please post all your water parameters.
When was the last PWC and how much did you change?
Are you using RODI water for your top off and PWCs?
Continue doing PWC of 20% per day to get the levels down quickly.

 

[Frogspawn]

hey guys. i was just informed there was a large water change about 3 weeks ago. like 10g on this 30g tank. i just did my water spec and they all were in very good range. the only thing i seen was my ph was a little off at 7.8 but i cant ever remember my ph ever being higher then 8.0 its always been a lighter green color. never that deep looking color.
ammo-0ppm
natrites- 0ppm
natrates-0-5ppm
ph- 7.8ish

dont have a phospate kit
i dont run carbon.. should i put a small bag in there for a few weeks?
somthing else i think may have cause my clam to die was i cut my lighting way back to help fight the hairalage. i think the only thing it killed was my clam. is this possible?

 

[JoshsReef]

I would grab a phospate test kit as soon as possible, that is most likey where all your algae is coming from. Partial Water changes along with manually removing the algae and maybe try running a phospate reducing media will help and have your tank back up in tip top shape in no time

HTH

 

[Frogspawn]

see i dont have a rodi unit.. i have had my tank for a year now and have had other SW tanks befor this one and i still have yet to buy one. LOL. i use distilled water from foodlion in the red jug. is that ok? or should i use spring or somthing else? i dont trust my LFS as far as i could throw them. i am willing to bet they dont change their filters on the water they sell. any other ideas what i could do? and in a 30g how many hermits or snails or both should i have?
thanks

 

[melosu58]

i use distilled water from foodlion in the red jug. is that ok?

I used it for many years. If I had my choice I would rather do RO/DI but Distilled is the next best thing IMO. The RO/DI unit would be cheaper in the long run also.

 

[cmor1701d]

Get a phosphate kit and start testing.
Distilled water is fine, but test it for phosphates too, anyway.

Snail population should be around 1 per gallon from what I read.

 

[Ziggy953]

I think I would be checking Ebay for an RO/DI unit. They really aren't that expensive and well worth it! Like the guys said check the distilled water for phosphates as well as your tank. I would also be looking at doing PWCs 2 times a week. The first thing to do though is find out what your phostphate readings are and keep checking the other levels in the tank.

 

[Frogspawn]

so what are the main things i am testing for ing my water? PH, ammo,trates,trites,phos, and calcium. is this correct? and if i find no phos. in my water how long would it take for the hair alage to start to fade away? or will it have to be eaten or removed?

 

[cmor1701d]

pH, Alkalinity, Ca and Magnesium are all related and should be in certain ranges. You may want to consider testing for them too.

From my readings I discerned that it is possble to show near zero or 0 PO4 and still have PO4 present. It's just that the hair/other algae are in equalibrium and using it as it becomes available. Once you remove the algae the test kit will then show the presence of of the phosphate.

On my last oubreak of hair algae (probably due to my overfeeding) I got some turbo snails. They are still in the tank, knocking over anything that is not glued down (small rocks, some corals, clams) and look about ready to be called escargot

 

[Frogspawn]

so maybe i should go out and get a few of them. did some one say 1 snail per gallon? or should i get a mix of hermits and snails at a 1:1 ratio? i know from past experience that when i had hermits they tend to feed on the poor old snails, therefor degrading my water quality and wreaking havoc on my tank.

i think if i can get my hair allege undercontrol i just may be able to get my tank back into normal range. once i get the hair allege i am going to hook up my 25watt UV light and that should help with the rest. problem with that is i have no way to get the water to and from the light. the top of my tank is full with equipment .

 

[cmor1701d]

You need to find the source of your PO4. You can try reducing the photo period and feeding to help slow or stop the algae.

What is your SG? Do you have a refractometer to check that?
You can also get a couple of turbo grazer snails for the hair algae. Do not get a sailfin blenny as it will starve shortly after the hair algae is gone.

 

[Frogspawn]

yes, i do have a refractometer. can a low or high sg. contribute to an allege problem? and thanks for the tid bit. i will go out this week and buy a few of those snails. i have cut back feeding to once every 3 days and the lighting period i have not cut back again. like i said before i cut my light back drastically and i belive my corals started to suffer from it. so i bring my lighting back to about 10hrs a da and things seem to be getting healthier as well as the hair allege also. i can tell its darking up and starting to grow again.

 

[cmor1701d]

Not to my knowledge, but a refractometer is more accurate than the swing arms which usually don't get the maintenance that required to keep them accurate.

Start off with 1 snail/gallon and add more if necessary. I say skip the hermit crabs unless you want to find empty snail shells.

Also you should read and follow Hara's 10 Step Plan for Nuisance Algae Control
as that has helped many folks here.