Almost ready to give up

C

casethekid

New member
Well...a few months ago I posted about some insane nitrate levels. To date, the problem has not been resolved, and what's worse, is the hair algae has started to kill things off. I have done everything that I can think of. Water changes, different filtration, more skimming, macro algae, RO/DI water...everything. I might just tear everything apart and start from scratch if I can't figure this out. I have never had this problem before.
 
You have no filter media, bioballs, etc? Those are known issues on nitrate.
Have you tried running phosban? That can reduce phosphate, which will help or eliminate the hair algae problem.

If you feed fish flake or pellet, that adds phosphate to the tank. It can fuel algae if you don't have a way to get it out, like a 'fuge or phosban or an efficient cleaning crew.
 
casethekid -- I can understand the frustration, sometimes I feel like I'm banging my head against a wall too. Don't break the tank down yet; give us all your parameters, equipment and tank specs including the present population and clean up crew, and as much info about your maintenance routine as possible. A pic never hurts either. Bomb us with information! I've seen it work before, we'll all brainstorm and break things down to help you solve the problem :)
 
To get my trates down,which were at 200 ppm at one point, I did 13 20% water changes. One every day for 13 days. Now I do a 20% every other week. Lots of work, but my trates havent risen above 5-10 scince.
 
just read your post again, as far as insaine nitrate levels go, ime, massive water changes, 50 percent at a time
 
Re: Almost ready to give up

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7641826#post7641826 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by casethekid
Well...a few months ago I posted about some insane nitrate levels. To date, the problem has not been resolved, and what's worse, is the hair algae has started to kill things off. I have done everything that I can think of. Water changes, different filtration, more skimming, macro algae, RO/DI water...everything. I might just tear everything apart and start from scratch if I can't figure this out. I have never had this problem before.
Click to expand...



OK ENOUGH WILL HELP YOU. START POSTING Be honest, no one will bite:cool:
 
Ok, I have a HOB skimmer (CPR backpack). Since my giving up rant...I have changed the lights (which were about 1 1/2 years old) and purchased a pump for my large Berlin XL. I have some pics of my first plumbing job on my tank.

Anyway, after I figured out how to run all the pipes for my new, larger skimmer, the scum started bubbling to the top almost immediately. I think that I am going to do some very heavy duty water changes now. Here are some pics of the tank in its current state and the new skimmer

Eww...
DSC00052.jpg


Here's the skimmer..
DSC00048.jpg


the new 950gph pump
DSC00049.jpg


Plumbed and ready
DSC00050.jpg


Bubbly? Good enough bubbles now?
DSC00051.jpg


As far as feeding, I feed my fish mysis shrimp or brine shrimp about 3 times a week. I also have tested for phosphates, alkalinity, salinity, pH, and so far everything seems to be in order
 
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Have you tried some turbo snails and maybe a foxface? They will help consume the HA. When you do a 10 gallon or so water change, use the water you took out of the tank and use it to place your rock in one at a time and start scrubbing with a toothbrush. After you take all the HA off of each rock you can place it back in the tank. This is a time consuming and hard job to do, but you will get your HA problem down to where it will be easier to manage. You just have to figure out what is causing the outbreak. I'm willing to bet that if your lights were 1 1/2 years old, that is part of the problem. Process of elimination is sometimes the only way to really find out what exactly is causing the problem. Hang in there though because it can be beat and you will thank yourself for sticking with it.
 
You'll love that skimmer ! I run one of those and have to clean it every 3 days. You have the right pump for it . Just keep it in tune and watch it go !

Exporting those nutrients is the most important thing you can do to help shorten the outbreak of any nuisance algae . Good luck !
 
Here is a pic of the skimmer not 3 hours later...who needs a "break in" time

DSC00054.jpg


DSC00053.jpg


Thank you all for the kind words of encouragement and support. Now I am off to change lots of water and scrub rock..this is a great lifesyle!! :rollface:
 
Water changes have always been the key for me. For some reason Carbon seems to work well also whenever I am having issues. I am not sure if carbon will help at all but it won't hurt.

Does the tank ever get direct sunlight? I thought one of mine never did untill one morning when I got up bright and early and found out that the first 10 minutes of sunlight in the morning would shine through the window and right onto my tank!!!

-=E=-
 
kappanight, you are exactly correct. 1.5 years on those bulbs is too long. Algae will grew quickly if not changed in time. I know this from personal experience. CHANGE EVERY SIX MONTHS TO BE ON THE SAFE SIDE!
That is one of the main factors of your algae problem in my opinion.
 
No, the tank doesn't get any direct sunlight because the window it's next to faces south. I gave the rocks a good scrubbing and it looks 10 times better now. I also changed about 40 gallons of water (in a 75) over about 2 hours. I think that I will let that settle for a bit and then start making some more saltwater for another change here about Wednesday.

Thanks again for the advice everyone. After doing this for 10 years, I still learn something better and new every time I come here to RC. :D
 
I think that my flow is a little on the low side compared to what I have seen some of these cray flow-maniacal people push. :eek1: (Note the dripping sarcasm) Anyway, I think that another thing I will need to do is purchase another pump to run a closed loop system on. I have a 75 so I need to look at the flow calculator to see how many times I should be turning the water over to ensure correct and proper flow to all parts of my tank.

On another note, would it be beneficial to get some more "starter" sand, like from the bottom of LFS rock tank or something to re-seed the sand? I haven't seen any pods or mini stars for about 5 months..
 
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