my reef is crashing HELP

[sponge man]

so here's the short version. i have a 40 breeeder reef, i set it up about 2 years ago. coral sand (basically crushed coral) on the bottom, 90+ pounds of rock, 2 96 watt vho's, seaclone skimmer, aqua clear 300, 2 aqua clear 50 powerheads and hot magnum for a set-up. the problem started when i set it up and fed way to much, but my lack of testing didnt show nitrates off the chart for the last year and a half. hair algae started growing rapidly in the last few months and so i learned about my nitrates. (yes i finally started testing) i took out all but a 1/2 of substrate. my nitrates are now 0 the hair alage is now out of control to the point where i'm about to throw all the rock away. and my ammonia went up to .25 in the last week. everything else tests good.a lot of red alage started growing on the glass in the last week. to make it all worse, for the last 2 days my green tree leather is very unhappy, but nothing else is affected. whats going on on? what do i do? any help would be great. thanks in advance. :eek1:

 

[Bandsaw]

How old are your bulbs? Is your skimmer producing skimmate?

Can you tell us more about your parameters (salinity, any nitrites (NO2), Alk and Calcium levels, water changes).

What are you using for filters.

Hair Algae requires nutrients to thrive. If the hair is growing that fast, you have some nutrients somewhere? Getting a NO3 test of zero is inconclusive at this point as the hair could be using it up as fast as it is generated. Have you tested for phosphate yet? Although the same is true for phosphate testing as it is for NO3 when you have a bad outbreak of hair.

 

[sponge man]

ph has always been 8.3 so i never checked alk. i have not put anything into the tanks as far as food in months. skimmer is still working good although i dont know what its skimming. bulbs are maybe are less than a year old. little to no phosphates. salt is 1.026, unknown calium level, 5 gallons replaces every 2-3 weeks. no nitrites or nitrates.

 

[techigirl78]

Did you just remove the substrate? With removing 1/2 of it, if you didn't enought LR, it could cause a cycle. Thus, you see ammonia.

Also, what is your total flow between the filters/PHs?

The leather isn't very happy because of the ammonia.

Also, how many fish do you have and what are their approximate sizes?

 

[MarksReef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6564992#post6564992 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by sponge man
i never checked alk. unknown calium level,

Get some test kits, I like Salifert, and check these levels.

 

[clsanchez77]

I did something similar with my first tank, it was 20 and about 2 years of winging it, CC bottom, 20lbs of live rock, skilter 250 and heavy fish load/heavy feeding.

I ended up removing all the live stock, and curshed coral. Went in with 3" sandbed and another 20#'s of live rock, let it cycle and started over with stocking. Even with that, I was fighting hair algae for the rest of that tanks life. I suspect the 2 years of high nutrient load 'loaded' the rock with dissolved phosphates. I also ditched the skilter and replaced it with a CPR backpak, and then upgaded again to a sump with a AquaC Urchin Pro.

I also started monitoring and supplementing Alk and Ca to get Coraline growth. There is an article somewhere here that the Coraline will outcompete some nuissance algae if the Phosphates are not completely out of whack, high phosphates will impede biological calcium deposition needed for coraline.

If I had known everything I knew today, I would have added the new 20lbs's and 'cooked' to drive out the phosphates on the old 20lbs and/or used a phosphate filter. There are some studies and lots of threads on both cooking and phosphate filters.

I would recommend a simiar course of action and maybe a phosphate filter as rock cooking is not always feasible (plus not everyone agrees with it ) Also, read up some threads on your skimmer, you may want to upgrade, it does not do well in reviews.

Salifert is the best, but I used Seachem in the past and probably will on my next one as well, no reason, just can buy it locally. I would monitor pH, nitrates, phosphates, Alk and Ca at a minimum. Also monitor the nitrites as you re-cycle.

Nitrates and phosphates will be higher than tested as they get bound quickly in the algae, so be pulling/siphoning that stuff out as fast as you can. Consider adding macro algae to your tank to compete.

Finally, make sure you are using RO/DI (if you can) so that you are not adding additional Phosphates or Silicates.

 

[pappadow]

I would do 20% water changes every 3 days until the algae is under control.
and start a fuge.

 

[PiePuncher]

The skimmer is not a bad skimmer, it just needs some work done to it. After mods, I would rather have the seaclone as opposed to an unmodded CPR pac. If the skimmer is not modded, at least shorten your riser tube on it. By shortening the riser tube, you will get tons more bubbles and much darker skim than you will without modding.

 

[sponge man]

the powerheads move about 270 gph each. between the filters about 550 gph. i removed at least half of the substrate but left all the rock. theres at least 90 pounds in the tank. the thing is i cant really see it because of the alage covering it almost completely. i'm wondering if its not filtering any more. they are no fish just a few hermits, a pencil urchin and a very well behaved choc. chip star.