Hi, I've been setting up my tank for about 4 months ish. My water parameter is perfect. No phosphate or nitrate or anything and I'm still fighting with something looks like a green slime algae in the sand bed but never on live rock.Does anybody have an idea why is it happen?
I need help!
- Thread starter jack154
- Start date
So i should siphon out all the algae I see right?
I'm running chemipure elite mix with phoslock. Creative aquarium recommended me to use phoslock , so I try it out.
My tank is 4 month ish. I feed my fish pellet during the week and I sometimes feed mysis shrimp during on weekend like a treat for them. Since I started to setting up the tank. I'm using phoslock.
:blown:
11 am thru 10pm
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aguila88psi
Zoa Addict
Do you carbon dose?
janes_mw
Active member
Siphon excess, water changes of say 10% weekly for a few weeks, be truthful with yourself on what your feeding (should be gone by the fish in less than 5 minutes). Tank is pretty new at 4 months and you will go through this stuff. Skim wet for a while, change filtersocks (if using) daily while you work through this. Make sure filter socks are 100 micron or less if using. There are some newer products like Cyano Clean out there that work, but I would use as last resort. Nutrients is usually the problem ..... where ever they come from.
No
Should I feeding my fish only once a day and more flow close to the sandbed?
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janes_mw
Active member
"less is more" with respect to feeding. I only feed once a day. Just like the dog, they try and guilt me with their sad eyes 
, but nobody has ever died in my tanks due to starvation! Flow in the tank you will get alot of comments. I like to keep the tank with a standing wave on the surface of about 3/4 to 1 inch. Not sure what you keep for circulation, but the Vortechs and Tunze's can shake things up a bit. You definitely don't want a sand storm by any means. There really is no right answer .... mainly nutrient control and good husbandry.
, but nobody has ever died in my tanks due to starvation! Flow in the tank you will get alot of comments. I like to keep the tank with a standing wave on the surface of about 3/4 to 1 inch. Not sure what you keep for circulation, but the Vortechs and Tunze's can shake things up a bit. You definitely don't want a sand storm by any means. There really is no right answer .... mainly nutrient control and good husbandry."less is more" with respect to feeding. I only feed once a day. Just like the dog, they try and guilt me with their sad eyes
I'm using Jebao WP-25 . Thanks for the advice about the flow.
MrHarvard
"ship it"
You my friend have a case of the new tank "uglies" and most of us in this hobby have went through it at least once along the way. There has been a lot of good advice already given but I will try and explain it and give you some direction. First of there are several factors that can cause this. The first factor (and probably how it began) is your sand/substrate. Depending on what type of sand you added odds are it released silicates and phosphates into the water column when u fist added it when setting up your tank.. The next thing that happened is you started adding life to your tank in the form of either fish or coral or both. When you have a new tank it's easy to get excited and want to add things but a lot of times doing so to quickly will overload your bacteria and it won't be able to keep up with the bioload. (Simply put the "stuff" aka bacteria, that keeps your water clean can't keep up with the fish poop). The next thing that added to the problem is over feeding and also your choice of food. Pellets are fine and can be used without problems but I recommend using frozen (rinse it before feeding unless it's Rod's) for reef tanks especially new ones. Pellets and flakes are full of phosphates and if you over feed even the littlest bit it will cause a rise in both phosphates and nitrates. All of these things combined equal high phosphates which equal algae growth. I know it seems like it will never go away and you can remove it all only to find it back the next day.. Getting rid of this issue is easy and straight forward though it takes patience and you have to stay at it. Fist thing is to siphon as much of the algae out as possible. Try to avoid stirring it up into the water column and get as much of it as possible. The next thing is to cut back or change feeding. If you insist on using pellets try feeding every 3 days and half the amount until you get this under control (switch to Rod's trust me u won't be sorry). Next depending on your corals cut your lights back or if possible leave them off for a few days. The last thing is your filtration depending on your set up make sure you are replacing or cleaning anything that catches or removes waste (sponges, filter socks, sponges, filter floss, mesh bags, etc...) If your running a skimmer run it wet for a week or so. Lastely and the most important thing is continue to do weekly water changes (make sure your RO water has a 0 TDS reading) promise you that if you do these things it will be gone before you know it. A couple of other pieces of info. The reason your levels are testing in line is because the algae is consuming all the phosphates giving u a false reading and tricking u into believing you don't have an issue. You can ignore all the things I have suggested and run GFO, carbon dose, or use a phosphate remover but it will only act as a buffer and not correct the problem and eventually it will cause you a even larger headache down the road. I would never recommend using any of these things on a new tank unless you have made the mistake of over stocking it to soon and you are at risk of killing everything.....OK....I think I covered everything I hope I didn't ramble to much and that this makes since. Good luck and keep us updated.
Thanks for the advise. Do I rinse the frozen with ro/di water or tank water, and if I have a chance of setting up another new tank, should I runs with dry sand and dry rock so I wont get any silicates.Would using dry sand and dry rock take longer to cycle the tank ? And what should i do with the algae bloom when the new tank is cyclying, should i siphon it out or just leave it alone?
How do I add picture to the thread?
janes_mw
Active member
I use Photobucket and in there copy the image code and paste into your posting. I am sure there are other ways, but that's how I do it
