Need help/direction badly!!!!!!!!!!

[ReefChum518]

This post was from about almost two weeks ago..............Have a build up of algae on my sand bed that I can't seem to get rid of, brown to purple in color, perimeters are all good/with in reason( 36 gal fish and rock, few hermits, one nerite one cereith, 4 chromis. Any ideas what causing this? Tank is a little over 2 years old,

UPDATE: did massive water change, changed direction of power head, changed lighting schedule, and cut back on feelings to every other day, absolutely no luck what so ever. Getting beyond frustrated!!!!!!

Please please please HELP!!!!!!!!


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[ReefChum518]

Well after posting this and taking the pics, I was looking everything over, and my temp is at 83, which seems a bit high, checked my heater, and I'm guessing my human error changed the temp weeks ago and it was cranked up........could this be my problem with all that cyano?


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[Sniperhank]

Cyano doesn't feed off of heat, it feeds off of nutrients. Nitrates and phosphates.

 

[ReefChum518]

What is the ideal temp


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[BigRedsReefs10]

I run mine at 78. But as Hank said that has nothing to do with cyano, you have excess nutrients in your system, just continue with wc's and reduce feeding and be sure to rinse any frozen food well.

 

[ReefChum518]

Retested my
Nitrates and phosphates

Phosphate I would say between 0.0-0.25

Nitrates about 20 to 40 ppm


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[ReefChum518]

This post was from about almost two weeks ago..............Have a build up of algae on my sand bed that I can't seem to get rid of, brown to purple in color, perimeters are all good/with in reason( 36 gal fish and rock, few hermits, one nerite one cereith, 4 chromis. Any ideas what causing this? Tank is a little over 2 years old,

UPDATE: did massive water change, changed direction of power head, changed lighting schedule, and cut back on feelings to every other day, absolutely no luck what so ever. Getting beyond frustrated!!!!!!

Please please please HELP!!!!!!!!View attachment 250609View attachment 250610View attachment 250611View attachment 250612View attachment 250614


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Tank isn't two years old more like 2 months


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[BigRedsReefs10]

Retested my
Nitrates and phosphates

Phosphate I would say between 0.0-0.25

Nitrates about 20 to 40 ppm


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Api test kit? You need a low range phosphate test as you want a level around .05 and lowering the nitrates too. A few 50% wc's should get your nutrients back in check, and then just watch the import and up your export and it should go away

 

[ReefChum518]

Yeah just you basic test kits, any recommendations for
Other ones? I've been doing 40% changes about every two weeks, I'm guessing now that's not enough! I will
Go to weekly water changes then! Might be time to look I to ro system, cause this running to the LFS is getting old


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[BigRedsReefs10]

Salefirt and red sea make good test kits, but the best IMO for phosphates is the Hannah checker

 

[ReefChum518]

Ok I'll look into it thanks a bunch to both of you! I'll repost when things get better


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[Ingy]

With the elevated nitrates in your tank, it appears that you're putting more nutrients into the tank (food) than you're taking out. Other than water changes, what method(s) are you using for nutrient export. Water changes help a bit, but even with a 40% WC every 2 weeks, your nitrates will climb until what you add in 2 weeks is the same as what you remove every 2 weeks. In other words, your nitrates will climb until they are 1.5 times what you add every 2 weeks (the 60% you leave behind every water change).
Are you running a skimmer or resin media? Any macro algae?
Nitrate destroyer did work for me in an old tank with elevated nitrates, but it requires a skimmer to work. Kinda like vodka dosing.

 

[ReefChum518]

Yeah I have a protein skimmer running as well as a carbon filter

If there's anything else please let me know.

The cyano now is getting more like I carpet, haven't had time yet to suck it out or do another type of removal......I hoping tomorrow I will be able to do that. If that will even help it

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[Sniperhank]

Yeah you'll need to. Can see the cyano in your picture. But like said, it's a nutrient issue and you'll need to battle it just like algae.


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[ReefChum518]

Ok let the battle begin!


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[ReefChum518]

Update: removed the cyano by hand last night, I would say I got about 90% of it. So I'll
See what happens in the on coming days and update more then!


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[Sniperhank]

What have you done to address the nutrients that are causing it?

 

[ReefChum518]

Cut back on feeding? Should there be anything else I could do


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[bond300]

10% water change a week, using RO/DI water and 3X flow will do the trick!

 

[gaker]

First, don't get discouraged. It will get better.

What is your lighting schedule? How many hours a day are the lights on?

Can you get a bag of ChemiPure Elite in your filter area? Carbon + GFO would help get the phosphates down.

In my experience, with a new tank, some just go through a case of the uglies while things settle in. On my first tank, I had this happen around 2-3 months. I started skimming, used chemipure, upped the clean up crew, more water changes, etc and things settled down in a month or so.

Chemiclean can also help to get cyano under control while you work on getting nutrients (phosphates/nitrates) down.

Also, getting your own RO/DI system is so worth it. First, the LFS could be lax on changing their filters and you could have crud in the water you're getting from them. Second, yes, running to get water is such a pain.