29 gallon bio cube cannot keep clean more than a week need help

[cmhowell21]

The tank has been set up for 2 or more years now I have custom filtration a small refugium protein skimmer all my levels are right where I want them everytime I test I have a crushed coral substrate sufficient love rock with much coralline algae mostly purple my tank looks beautiful for about a week then I start a water change clean glass and start another week over. I guess I need help identifying the main cause of the problem. Here is a pic of the tank after 1 week in between water change and glass cleanup. Please help!

 

[DanRamirez57]

Too much light maybe?

 

[cmhowell21]

I run my light on a timer actinic lights on for 12 hours and others for 8 hours so it starts off 2 hours just actinic then goes full lights after 2 hours until the evening then finish with last 2 hours just acted I also has a couple blu moon light LEDs

 

[Sniperhank]

I'd cut the lighting of actinic to 10 hours to start things off.
To battle algae, you have to understand what it feeds off of, nitrates and phosphates, along with the lighting over the tank. So, cut back 2 hours to address some of that... then onto the nitrates/phosphates.
Are you using ro/di water with your water changes and top off?
How long has the tank been set up? There is a chance all that crushed coral has all kinds of junk built up in it causing this issue.
How often do you feed? Cutting back to 2-3 times a week for fish will be of great benefit. Not feeding ANY type of coral/filter feeder food will be a great help as it is basically phosphate in a bottle.

 

[cmhowell21]

The tank has been running over 2 years i used to buy ro water but the lfs closed I have been using distilled since then when I do my water changes I syphon the crushed coral the water is always pretty dirty from that my tank will look beautiful for a few days then right back to the above pic before long

 

[cmhowell21]

That's about what I do for feeding also I only have 2 clowns n anenome about 20 star polyp corals on a rock a few mushrooms on another I had some other corals but the algea took some of the over. I also have a cleaner shrimp some snails and hermits. I feed a pellet food for marine fish made by hikari I rarely feed the anenome via a baster

 

[Sniperhank]

If you have high intensity lighting, you don't need to feed your anemone. That is one way to cut back on the nutrients coming into your system.
Distilled water is doable in reef systems, I have been using it on my mixed reef for some time and am quite successful at it...though it does bring in some algae issues with it.
How often do you feed your tank? You can easily get away with doing so 2-3 times a week.

 

[cmhowell21]

The lighting is stock with the cube I never over feed and the anenome feeding would be like once a month if that thy eat about 3 times a week it all gets eaten i try not to feed any less than that as soon as I feed even the hermits start trying to get to it like thy are starving

 

[Jerinanyon]

Did you add tons of live rock to your tank after it cycled..? My rocks took a year to look that good. My guess is you added lots of live rock because you wanted purple coralline. (That is if the tank is quite new).

 

[cmhowell21]

I have had it running for over 2 years I started with aprox 15 pounds live rock then just added some as I went it started slow but took off the purple coralline algae even gets all over the glass if I don't keep it clean that was a really bad pic of my tank tho. I am currently switching from the crushed coral to a sand bed I will post a few pics after I finish up

 

[iluvsaltwater]

Have you checked your phosphate levels?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[cmhowell21]

Yes and getting good reads I can't see there being a lot of spikes considering the length of time I have been going I'm hoping that the sand bed instead of the crushed coral may keep thing a little more in check I've been reading a lot of good things about it in comparison to what I have now.

 

[Starchar]

Is your tank close to a window or does it also have direct sunlight access? Also, when you do your weekly change/cleaning how much water when you do your pwc? Just curious. Has this always been a problem or did it develop recently? Sorry for so many questions, just trying to explore other possibilities.

On a side note. How long have you had your nem and what kind? You indicated that you are using stock lighting with the bc29 but is that the hqi version?

 

[cmhowell21]

My tank does take a little bit of natural sun in the morning the tank is 29 gallon and I do 5 gallon water changes usually bi weekly I've had the tank for about 4 years I have kept the same type of annenome 2 times now the first one actually split into 2. About two and a half years ago I lost everything in the tank basically starting all over because I was living in another state and my tank was not getting maintained well the new annenome has been in 4 or 5 months now. My tank is a standard bio cube no specialty lighting.

 

[cmhowell21]

Sorry it is a bubble tip anenome I believe. My clowns love it sometimes pretty rough with it tho

 

[Starchar]

So I would guess that the sunlight is a big part of the algae problem. On the other hand it is possible that the sunlight is making it possible to support the nem as the stock lighting on the non-hqi biocubes are t5 bulbs if I am not mistaken. I am not sure how well bubble tip nems will do under the stock lighting without the sunlight addition although someone with more experience will likely chime in on this topic.

As a solution, have you considered doing weekly water changes of 3 gallons? This would be a tad more than 10% and then maybe doing a 25% once a month or so? Also, the substrate that you are using allows for detritus to collect but weekly syphoning during your cleaning may help with that.

 

[BigRedsReefs10]

If your having algae issues you should be doing 25% weekly if not 2-3 times a week. You have a nano take advantage of it and get your issue under control now. Then I would strongly recommend doing weekly wc's of 10-20% to maintain your stability, and keep the nutrients in check

 

[cmhowell21]

I think maybe some is fueled by the sun light. I already am changing to sand I don't mind doing my water changes but I'm tired of constantly running the gravel vac also I'm pretty sure that my bristle worm population has greatly decreased or completely gone I had a coral banded shrimp but decided to return him didn't realize till it wiped most of them out. Hopefully between the sand a little bit of light adjustment and some repopulation I can get thing in check

 

[cmhowell21]

Sand is taking a lot longer to settle than I expected just a waiting game now

 

[cmhowell21]

Thanks for all the input everyone I love my salt water tank I just am trying to find easier and better methods to prevent me from doing as much work to the tank I am very busy between everything I do and trying
To keep up with a large amount of things is challenging. Thanks again!