Help me reclaim my 29G BioCube

[Pupator]

tldr: Once beautiful BioCube is now overrun by algae and death. I've read a ton of threads tonight and am going to try and save the thing over the next week.

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Background:
About 12 months ago I bought a fully established 29G BioCube from a guy who was moving. I set up the tank in our house and for 6 months everything was great. Water params were always normal, coral was beautiful, and fish and inverts were happy and healthy.

Then we moved.

In the new house the whole thing has been a disaster. I was having to do way too frequent water changes to keep the algae at bay, the coral all slowly died and only two fish are left. Because I've been traveling recently, the algae has completely taken over and the tank is an ugly mess. I want my beautiful tank with vibrant coral back.

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The plan:
I've read 20+ threads on algae and 20+ more on BioCubes last night and tonight. Main causes of algae seem to be: poor water quality (I'm not overfeeding, but it could be something else), insufficient water flow (using the stock BioCube setup), and/or too much light (using the stock lights, but could have the timers wrong).

I purchased carbon, media bags, and filter fiber today. The plan tomorrow is to:
1) execute a significant water change, probably 60%. This will be done by vacuuming out the sand and rock to get as much algae as I can;
2) pull out all the live rock covered in algae, scrub it off, keep the worst offenders out of the tank and put back the cleaner pieces with a few lbs of new, clean live rock;
3) put the carbon in the media bag and drop into chamber 1 or 3;
4) begin using the filter fiber on top of the tray in chamber 2, planning to replace every 1-2 days as needed;
5) reprogramming the lights (I've got to figure out what the right mix is - right now they're all on for 8 hrs/day and the white and blue LEDs are on 24/7)
6) Get back into the habit of re-testing water params a couple of times a week to see if I can learn what the problem is.

My goal is to get the tank clean and great-looking by the end of the week, and within a month to have it very stable. At that point I'd like to add back coral to get some good color in there.

I am completely open to advice. The 6-9 months things were going really well in this tank it was probably because someone else had set it up so well and all I had to do was feed the fish and bi-weekly 20% water changes. The only thing I know about this hobby is what I've learned from reading on these forums and checking out YouTube videos on Biocube setups.

 

[ffmedic]

What water are you using? Tap or RODI

 

[Pupator]

I had been buying salt water from the LFS, but they stopped selling it last week.

My plan for tomorrow was to buy RO water from my local Walmart (which has a water refill machine that claims to be RO).

 

[Megaloptera]

I had a similar problem. We moved, the tank went down hill quick with green hair algae. I removed the sand bed and hand pulled the algae off each rock. The algae was only a symptom of my underlying problem. My live rock was packed full of detritus. So I shook every rock in a bucket of tank water before returning it to the tank. Then I would daily blow off my rock with a small power head and clean my skimmer daily. The last threads of GHA dissipated over the next month. I have been hair algae free for months now. I blow off my rocks only weekly now.

 

[stingeragent]

Don't get water from the machines. Those are made for drinking and usually have added minerals for taste. Get distilled water instead. If you are gonna keep this tank going, just break down and buy your own ro/di unit. 140 ish on BRS. Probably the best investment you can make for your tank. Next, I wouldn't bother with pulling all your rock and scrubbing it. Fix the problem, and the algae will die off on it's own. You shouldn't have any light running 24/7 on your tank. That is probably your # 1 problem. Filter fiber isn't going to help with your algae issue at all. If you have a lot of crud floating around in your water, it may help with that but for algae it won't do anything. The rule to follow is, keep your tank and maintenance consistent. Get a water change schedule, that can fit with your schedule and stick to it. You have to force yourself to not miss a w/c day. If your supposed to do it sunday, and you say, oh I'll do it next week, you are mentally allowing yourself to do the same thing again in the future (this was my curse for about 6 months and my tank went to crap). W/C's are so much easier if you can make your own water which is why an ro/di unit of your own is so important. If you gotta go to the store to buy it and traffic is bad, or the weather, or you had a long day at work, you'll find an excuse not to go. Once you get a consistent schedule down, if you are still having issues with algae, it is either nitrate or phosphate that is the issue. At that point you get into bio pellet reactors, gfo, vodka or vinegar dosing, etc. But before you start messing with all that, you have to get a baseline of where your tank is with regular maintenance and then adjust from there. On a 29 gallon tank, you should easily be able to avoid all those reactors and such if you can get a good water change schedule down, drastically reduce your 24/7 lights, and make sure you aren't over feeding.

 

[jraker]

best water is RODI water. get yourself a RODI unit. trust me, it is worth it. run gfo in a filter sock or in a reactor. pull algae out by hand. vacuum sand. do lots of water changes

 

[Aframomum]

I actually use the blue water machines you find in the grocery stores - Glacier Water is the one I use but I've seen the one in Walmart. I did take my TDS to test their water and it read 7, which is kind of what you would expect after just the RO unit alone.

I added a DI portion to my equation in the form of Zerowater pitcher. You can find them in the water pitcher section of Walmart, next to the Brita filters. Mine was $34. My TDS after this was 0. It is a decent DI for its price and I was able to fill up my 40b w/ 29 sump and still have a 0 TDS reading.

Just remember, you have to pour the RO water from the store into the Zerowater pitcher to complete the RO/DI equation, and this can be...time consuming.

In days past there was a product called Tapwater Purifier which was a DI resin unit that you attached to your faucet - this is sort of the same principle except it is now in the form of a water pitcher.

Of course this is a bit unconventional as you will need to eventually get an RO/DI unit so you can stop lugging gallon jugs from the store. But in the short run it does work. Another member suggested the distilled water route and that is also an option I use in a bind but you can wind up with many empty gallon jugs laying around after awhile.

 

[Joke]

How long do you leave your lights on

 

[Lunabud74]

Help me reclaim my 29G BioCube

Try a poly filter pad. It did wonders for my 12 gallon a few weeks ago when GHA and other nuisance algae sprouted out of nowhere.

I also changed the stock pc lighting to the AI prime led light. Did both at the same time, so I'm not sure which did the trick.

Hope yours turns around soon.

 

[droog]

Don't get water from the machines. Those are made for drinking and usually have added minerals for taste. Get distilled water instead. If you are gonna keep this tank going, just break down and buy your own ro/di unit. 140 ish on BRS. Probably the best investment you can make for your tank. Next, I wouldn't bother with pulling all your rock and scrubbing it. Fix the problem, and the algae will die off on it's own. You shouldn't have any light running 24/7 on your tank. That is probably your # 1 problem. Filter fiber isn't going to help with your algae issue at all. If you have a lot of crud floating around in your water, it may help with that but for algae it won't do anything. The rule to follow is, keep your tank and maintenance consistent. Get a water change schedule, that can fit with your schedule and stick to it. You have to force yourself to not miss a w/c day. If your supposed to do it sunday, and you say, oh I'll do it next week, you are mentally allowing yourself to do the same thing again in the future (this was my curse for about 6 months and my tank went to crap). W/C's are so much easier if you can make your own water which is why an ro/di unit of your own is so important. If you gotta go to the store to buy it and traffic is bad, or the weather, or you had a long day at work, you'll find an excuse not to go. Once you get a consistent schedule down, if you are still having issues with algae, it is either nitrate or phosphate that is the issue. At that point you get into bio pellet reactors, gfo, vodka or vinegar dosing, etc. But before you start messing with all that, you have to get a baseline of where your tank is with regular maintenance and then adjust from there. On a 29 gallon tank, you should easily be able to avoid all those reactors and such if you can get a good water change schedule down, drastically reduce your 24/7 lights, and make sure you aren't over feeding.

+1

Lights for 8 hours only. GFO in a reactor (or media bag if only option).

By all means scrub the rocks, but don't expect to turn things around in a week and be stable in a month. A pristine tank by Christmas is more like it. Choose a couple of corals to get yourself as a xmas present as reward for a job well done.

Likely you have phosphate laden rock - that will take time to fix. Patience and good habits, your tank will be nice again. And do get an RODI...

-droog

 

[chefbill]

And if you are using stock lighting, the power compact fluorescent, these need to be changed every 8 months to a year or you get a color spectrum shift.

 

[Pupator]

Thanks everyone, great advice!

So it seems now the plan is:
1) Do the vacuum & water change today still (store water but will test for TDS=0);
2) Take out and scrub the rock in the tank water;
3) Buy replacement bulbs for the stock lighting;
4) Reprogram the timers. 8 hours only. (Does that include the "nighttime" blue LEDs?)
5) Get an RODI unit for future water changes (can't do that for today).

 

[chefbill]

The LED's do nothing for coral growth. They're just for color. I have no idea if they're strong enough to fuel algae growth. If I recall correctly they are a 1/4 watt. There is no need leave them on 24/7. A dark cycle is actually helpful to the fish and inverts from what I have read. The term moonlight should actually be mood light

 

[jayball]

Thanks everyone, great advice!

So it seems now the plan is:
1) Do the vacuum & water change today still (store water but will test for TDS=0);
2) Take out and scrub the rock in the tank water;
3) Buy replacement bulbs for the stock lighting;
4) Reprogram the timers. 8 hours only. (Does that include the "nighttime" blue LEDs?)
5) Get an RODI unit for future water changes (can't do that for today).

for 1 and 2 Instead I would blow detritus off with a baster and manually pluck algae of the rocks instead during the water changes. Personally, I have found that actually scrubbing the rocks can be counterproductive.

Once you get the RO/DI set up try doing 3-4 medium water changes () with blowing off the rocks each time and plucking algae a week

For 3, yes your bulbs are probably twice past the optimum lifetime.

For 4, Yes, but after acclimating at 8 hours with the new bulbs and your issues start going away you can bump it up a bit. Including the blue led's I would run for no more that 12-14 hours. That way you get a little more time to look at the tank.

For 5, Yes. The convienience alone is worth it. If you have topping off with RO only water you may have been building something up.

You have probably saturated your rock with bound phosphate over the past year. Running a phosphate remover like GFO would probably benefit you. By stripping the water column of phosphate you will force the rock to release it's bound phosphate and make it available for removal. Use 20-30 % of the recommended amount and replace 2X a week for a couple weeks then see how fast it bounces back up.

It may also benefit you to get a small power head. Even something like a 400GPH will keep detritus from settling a lot better.

Pics are always welcome to help diagnose issues.

 

[soulpatch]

give some pics so we can see how bad it is.

You need to find the source of the bloom as to where the nitrates and phosphates are coming from which is fueling the algae. That said there are some methods to outcompete the algae for its food.

GFO can strip the water of phosphates and such but best to use a reactor as opposed to a bag of it.

NoPox/vinegar/carbon dosing to build up the bacteria to process everything. I personally ran red sea nopox with great results.

dipping rock - THIS WILL ONLY CLEAR CURRENT ALGAE - but when you pull the rock to scrub it dip it first in a 50/50 saltwater/peroxide bath for a couple minutes, then scrub, then rinse and put back in tank. The peroxide breaks down the algae killing it. It wont stop more from growing as you have a source feeding it in the tank but it is a nice short term solution to help enjoy the tank as you fix the other issues.

water - get an RODI unit. Without knowing what they readd to water after the RO stage it is hard to really know what you are putting back into your system. And without a quality DI stage you are leaving a lot of metals and such in the water that should be taken out. An RODI unit should pretty much be mandatory to be in this hobby.

 

[ghatter]

3) put the carbon in the media bag and drop into chamber 1 or 3

No one else mentioned this so I thought I'd throw it out there... If you put the media bag into either of those chambers you won't get a lot of water flowing through it. I'd put it in chamber 2 if at all possible since that's the only one where water HAS to go from the top to the bottom. Chamber 1 the water can just go in the top overflow and then over the top wall into chamber 2. Chamber 3 the water comes in the bottom where the pump is.

I don't have the stock setup anymore on my Biocube but if I remember correctly there were different sponges in that second chamber. Take one of those out (the black one maybe?) and replace it with the media bag.

Also definitely replace those bulbs if they're the original PC bulbs that came with it. They may very likely be contributing to your algae issue (and coral problems) by having a different wavelength than they did when new. And add a powerhead in the tank to get more water flow in the display area (the stock pump should be fine for the back chambers as long as it's not all clogged up).

 

[soulpatch]

One should not be running any sponges in the back of a biocube. If you are this may very well be the issue. And be sure to remove the small sponge most people overlook between chambers 2 and 3...

 

[Reef Frog]

I think your plan sounds good. I'd consider adding these tactics:

Consider looking in to using hydrogen peroxide when scrubbing the rock outside the tank. You'll eliminate the strands you'll inevitably miss and you will destroy rhizomes deep in the rock, making any future algae start from scratch. Depending on many factors, be advised that a mini cycle can occur so having fish in a QT tank for a short time is a great idea. Read up on it before proceeding.

Effective nutrient control & export after the big cleaning will keep regrowth at bay. GFO is easy & effective. Change it out frequently especially in the beginning. Use a reactor if you can but using it in a loosely packed mean bag will work too.

Feed lightly, keep up on detrius control and water changes after the big clean.

If you put in the effort the results can be rapid and long lasting. GL.

 

[Quiet_Ivy]

Plan sounds good, make sure to pick up some Prime and an ammonia test or badge. That much disturbance is almost certain to kick off an ammonia spike.
Good luck!
ivy

 

[Pupator]

Okay - so the day is over and because you all were so kind to offer advice and help I wanted to make sure to report back regarding what I actually did.

1) I removed everything (except the sand) from the aquarium and vacuumed the heck out of the sand. I ended up doing this because when cleaning the filters in the back chambers I found a lot of grey goo, which I eventually realized was sawdust. We had our floors sanded and refinished a few months ago and apparently the efforts I took to protect the tank were insufficient. I removed 60% of the water through vacuuming.

2) I hand picked (in tank water) as much algae as I could from the rocks. I chose not to scrub or soak them in peroxide at this point, but I am open to doing that in the next week if today's efforts appear insufficient.

3) Since I was causing so much tank disruption anyway, I went ahead and removed about half of the bioballs in chamber 2. Many of the threads I read here said I shouldn't use them. I took out half now and will take out a handful or two per week until the rest are gone.

4) In the additional space in chamber 2, I put a bag of Chemipure elite to help with the phosphates. I also put a bag of carbon and, at the very top, a phosphates-reducing sponge filter. My plan is to remove that after a couple of days so I put it on the very top.

5) I found a (new-to-me) somewhat-local store that sold salt water. I ended up putting 15 gallons back into the tank. I added a capful of Prime. I ran everything for a couple of hours and tested the water:
pH 8.4, Ammonia 0, Nitrates 0, Nitrites 0. Temp 78 degrees.

6) I put all the livestock back in and prayed. So far, everyone has survived.

7) I reprogrammed the light timers. 10k light from 9a-4p. Actinic blue from 2p-5p. Blue LEDs from 5p-9p.

8) I ordered new bulbs from Amazon that should be here tomorrow. I also got some fake coral because my wife requested there be some color in the tank while I'm trying to get things under control. It looks pretty horrible, but what can you do?