tank failure?

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neil_04

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
Apr 23, 2009
Messages
102
Location
houston, Tx
Ok so i went a little longer than normal on my water test and i decided last night i better test since one of my corals was looking sick, i know i should have kept up on testing... so my results were alarming, i have 0 nitrates and 0 nitrites and very low amonia i dont know what happened or how this could happen the tank is almost 1 year and 4 months and up to now everything has been going good minus fighting the green algae that wont seem to go away no matter what i do. im starting up my 60 gallon salty tonight so im not to worried about my other one i just hope i can keep everything stable y i get this one up and going any ideas or hints to whats going on would be extremely helpfull thanks everyone
neil
 
what is your water change schedule? how do you export nutrients from this tank?

i would do some large water changes immediately to save the rest of the inhabitants.
 
i do my water changes every sunday afternoon once a week, 15% everytime, i have a protien skimmer if thats what you were asking and korillia power heads and a 6 bulb t5 light fixture
 
Did something very large die recently? Over a year old tank and ammonia now? You say "very low ammonia". I say there is a problem or you got a bad test kit. I'd try to confirm that reading ASAP.
 
and most importantly what do you consider very low? its better to just give the actual reading as the test kit doesnt measure very low.
 
it matters if your trying to fix a problem. if its .25 it might be a spike from new stock. if its .50 you likely have a diffrent problem. just saying its very low or i have a little ammonia doesnt really help at all in solving problems.
 
UM...... other than the ammonia you have great readings or did I miss something there? zero's across the board wouldn't be alarming I wouldn't think? Of course the algae could be using the nitrates?
 
Algae is using up your nitrates and phosphates. It uses those, along with light, to make food for itself. Without those things, it would die. Having any algae is an easy and reliable test for nutrients. (Just doesnt tell you have many ppm you have).

You need to track down the nutrients door way into your tank.
1)PWC water/Topoff water
2)Food/over feeding

Since you are battling algae and doing a 15% PWC weekly, you are likely over feeding, or using bad food.

Another thing to check is your lights.
1)On too long
2)Old bulbs color shifting

I wonder if dying algae will release nitrates and phosphates directly into the water column? Maybe you are pulling the algae out and letting it drift around?

Matt
 
If ammonia is present, you can also dose some Prime to neutralize its toxicity until you get some aerated, fresh SW made up to do a water change. I'd also do a livestock accountability check. Ammonia in a tank as old as yours usually is a sign of something dead in the tank.
 
all live stock still there my shrimp molted but i donnt think this is what caused the amonia, ive cut way back on feeding for about a month now to see if i could get rid of the algae
 
ok i cut back on my time a few hours i did it slowly over a few days to not disturb anything i dont know if that was needed or not.
ammonia at 0 ppm now but i have prple algae growing on my sand and one spot on some rock not sure what it is but it appears to be spreading any ideas?
 
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