Time to upgrade?

[Abugg]

Have a 10 gallon mixed reef nano, it has been set up for 49 days and is cycled. My stock includes;
1 black clownfish
1 yellow watchman goby
And various corals.
I am thinking about buying a 20 gallon long to transfer it all into. My tank has been getting cramped and I am battling cyano algae. I have reduced my feedings to every 2 days and my lights are on for 6 hours. I changed the carbon this Monday and I have no improvement. What do you guys think, keep this tank until the cyano clears up, or just start fresh in a new tank?
Here is a few tank shots;



Ps. I run an HOB filter with a carbon insert. I do PWC's every other week. All of my parameters test 0 & ph is 8.2, SG is 1.025

 

[Schism]

If you have cyano you have a nutrient problem. Problems happen way faster in small tanks. Those 2 fish create a lot of waste in a small tank. You should be doing water changes weekly to combat this.

Carbon will not get rid of cyano. Siphon out the cyano. Do 25% water change minimum and siphon the sand bed. Repeat this for a few weeks. And you should see improvment. Maybe totally gone. Cyano grows off phosphates and nitrates, having cyano means you have nitrates and phosphates, even if your test kits come back 0.

Check the water your using. Hope its not tap, that would be a problem too. Also transfering to a new tank will not solve the cyano problem and you will create a new cycle to some degree. Your tank is young. It will take months to begin maturing and stablizing.

 

[Abugg]

I did a 30% water change last night an siphoned the sand bed. Everything looks way better today. I will soon be getting a small powerhead to increase flow. Yes I am using RO water. I change the filter media to see if that was causing the problems. I also cut back on my amount of feedings. Hopefully this will help.

 

[Craigj247]

What was your filter media and I hope you didn't change it all at once cause you would have list loads of bacteria that brakes down fish waste... :s

 

[Abugg]

It's only a carbon insert.

 

[Craigj247]

I think your filter isn't good enough for a reef tank... This is the reason for the algae... Don't you have any filter floss and what about your bio media?

 

[Schism]

Live rock is biomedia, no reason to add more that collects junk and becomes nitrate factory.

 

[Abugg]

I thought the only use for carbon was to polish the water?

 

[Schism]

I thought the only use for carbon was to polish the water?

Negative. Carbon in a reef tank does many things, in some tanks its nearly mandatory. Carbon absorbs chemical and toxins. Mixed reef tanks have many different species of corals and chemical coral warfare runs rampant in some of these tanks. Carbon absorbs these toxins. Over time these toxins can build up without carbon causing massive problems with many coral.

Unforseen chemicals are also absorbed with carbon. Aerosols, heavy metals, medications, odors, gases, co2 etc. It can really save your tank from problems on more than one level. In my opinion carbon is a necessity for a reef tank. It does not have to be run all the time but it should atleast be used on a quarterly basis minimum.

 

[Abugg]

Okay. Thanks. And that all I run in this tank on my HOB filter. It runs 24/7.

 

[Animal3625]

Ive been recently battaling Cyno however im just about on top of it, ive been adding bacteria daily Brightwell aquatics Microbacter, ive been feeding the bacterias aswell with Red Sea nopox and installed a Tunze streamer, i also replaced the Carbon with Zeo, just keep sucking it up & regular water changes and patience is all you need, you could also try raising your PH and oxygen content in the water, i used a powder called Paragon however it didnt really work for me!! and to polish your water can i suggest Filter wool, its how do i describe it like candy floss and works an absolute treat! just put it on the top and watch it collect all the gunge!

 

[Abugg]

Thanks alot animal!