Hello my 30 gallon/120 litre tank has been setup since September 2016, so it has been around 5 months since I started the tank.
So as expected I had a diatom stage which went away after the first month/ into the second month. So that was fine and I was ready for it.
However into the third month I found I had a thin layer of cyanobacteria growing on my sand and dealt with that using extra flow, less feeding and gravel vacuuming during water changes.
Then I found that after the cyanobacteria went away, there was green hair algae or something similar growing on the surface of my wier( which is in the corner of the tank).The algae didn't seem to grow on the rock. The algae then grew on my mag-float . I scrubbed it all of and that's when it went very wrong.
An almost moss-like thin layer grew all over the front of my rock and then cyanobacteria grew all over my sand bed as well. So naturally I increased the flow and reduced feeding to combat the cyano. Worried that it would come back even worse, I went and bought a sea hare to eat it. The sea hare only ate from the back wall and it seemed he couldn't eat from the rock so for his own well-being I took him back.
LFS recommended me a product called remalgae to just kill all the green algae. It did work for a couple of weeks however it is now growing on the back wall and my scrubber again. Cyano hasn't come back I don't think, but after it went away a new brown layer formed on the sand. It isn't a thick layer and it can be sucked up - im not sure if it is the dead cyano or diatom. However my first diatoms didn't look like the brown I have now.
I also get this powdery algae on my glass and especially in the corners making it hard to scrub off.
So the current update is:
Green algae on the back wall and scrubber
And a brown layer of something on my sand.
And powdery green algae on the glass.
The positive side is that all but one of my corals are doing amazing. My Duncan is growing 8 heads and my torch seems very happy in a fairly high flow area.
I have filter feeding worms in the tank and some sponges.
Parameters:
0 ammonia
0 nitrite
0-1 nitrate ( red sea test kit somewhere between 0-2)
Ph is 8.4
I feed pellets to my clownfish and flakes to my chromis.
Occasionally I feed mysis.
I skim and change my filter socks every 5 days - yes I know that this isn't very good but I'm at school and I'm increasingly busy every week due to tests and work.
I also use nopox but haven't in a week so I could see if my tank was okay on its own. I'm going back to nopox tonight. 15% weekly water changes and I never skip out of doing it. Water from lfs.
Please can someone tell me what I'm doing wrong!! Thanks
So as expected I had a diatom stage which went away after the first month/ into the second month. So that was fine and I was ready for it.
However into the third month I found I had a thin layer of cyanobacteria growing on my sand and dealt with that using extra flow, less feeding and gravel vacuuming during water changes.
Then I found that after the cyanobacteria went away, there was green hair algae or something similar growing on the surface of my wier( which is in the corner of the tank).The algae didn't seem to grow on the rock. The algae then grew on my mag-float . I scrubbed it all of and that's when it went very wrong.
An almost moss-like thin layer grew all over the front of my rock and then cyanobacteria grew all over my sand bed as well. So naturally I increased the flow and reduced feeding to combat the cyano. Worried that it would come back even worse, I went and bought a sea hare to eat it. The sea hare only ate from the back wall and it seemed he couldn't eat from the rock so for his own well-being I took him back.
LFS recommended me a product called remalgae to just kill all the green algae. It did work for a couple of weeks however it is now growing on the back wall and my scrubber again. Cyano hasn't come back I don't think, but after it went away a new brown layer formed on the sand. It isn't a thick layer and it can be sucked up - im not sure if it is the dead cyano or diatom. However my first diatoms didn't look like the brown I have now.
I also get this powdery algae on my glass and especially in the corners making it hard to scrub off.
So the current update is:
Green algae on the back wall and scrubber
And a brown layer of something on my sand.
And powdery green algae on the glass.
The positive side is that all but one of my corals are doing amazing. My Duncan is growing 8 heads and my torch seems very happy in a fairly high flow area.
I have filter feeding worms in the tank and some sponges.
Parameters:
0 ammonia
0 nitrite
0-1 nitrate ( red sea test kit somewhere between 0-2)
Ph is 8.4
I feed pellets to my clownfish and flakes to my chromis.
Occasionally I feed mysis.
I skim and change my filter socks every 5 days - yes I know that this isn't very good but I'm at school and I'm increasingly busy every week due to tests and work.
I also use nopox but haven't in a week so I could see if my tank was okay on its own. I'm going back to nopox tonight. 15% weekly water changes and I never skip out of doing it. Water from lfs.
Please can someone tell me what I'm doing wrong!! Thanks
