Please help reef tank

[Avagb22]

My tank is a 60gal breeder with a 20gal sump, I’ve had my tank for a little over a year now and I’ve been having a lot of off and on problems with hair algae, bubble algae, and aiptasia. I’ve been manually getting rid of it more times than I can count. I have 2 clownfish, 1 skunk cleaner shrimp, a tiger conch, a few turbos, and 3 pitho crabs (pithos to help with bubble algae). I also put in about 13 berghia nudibranchs in January and haven’t really seen them since, my aiptasia problem hasn’t gotten better. I run my lights on a timer for 9hrs daily, my sump light stays on for 10hrs. All are LED lighting, reef aquarium lights are NICREW 100W each. My salinity level is 1.025, and my water parameters are; high range ph: 8.0, ammonia: 0ppm, nitrate: 40ppm, nitrite: 0ppm

 

[wvned]

How often do you do water changes and how much?
Do you test phosphates? You need to.
What power levels are your lights running at?
I cant tell what's in the tank. Any corals? Fish only?

40 nitrates isn't terrible but is bordering on it. Forget testing ammonia unless you have a major die off. You should not see nitrites in a running tank and can forget testing them.
You didn't mention Alkalinity or phosphates. Phosphates are plant food for algae. Alkalinity controls pH but isnt super critical if you dont have stoney corals. It can be maintained fine with water changes alone if you only have fish.

Turning the lights down will slow the algae growth. The trick is to have the light just bright enough for things that need it. Then you must build a clean up crew that will eat algae faster than it grows.
No it isnt easy. We all have to do this stuff. It's how the hobby works.
Go to Reef Cleaners and look at a crew for a 60 gallon tank. It's a lot of animals. All Algae Crew (60 Hexagon)

At your stage I would do a 12 gallon (20%) water change every 3 days until the nitrates came down to 10 and then do 6 gallons (10%) a week after. Once things are under control if you need to skip you can.
You need to know phosphate levels too. No way around that. You will never beat algae with high phosphates. It is fixed with water changes too though.
Keep the sump light as bright as possible and let the algae grow there. Pull it out and toss it. More nutrient export.

 

[Reefing102]

@wvned hit it pretty good with regards to algae, though bubble algae, in my experience, is easier to rid with manual intervention than nutrient control.

With regards specifically to the Aiptasia, have you noticed an increase since adding the Berghia? Nothing in your stocking list screams “I eat those Berghia.” If you haven’t noticed an increase, I’m curious if they’re munching the babies and ignoring the large ones.

Hope this helps some!

 

[Avagb22]

Ok thanks for the help I really appreciate it, I try to do water changes once every 2 weeks but I haven’t done one in probably 3 weeks the last one I did was a 13gal change. I use reverse osmosis water to mix with reef crystals, and just for a water top off I’ve never used just tap water I always use reverse osmosis.
I do have some corals I’ve got a good amount of zoas, and polys, I’ve got a Duncan coral that’s always been doing good, I’ve got a firework polyp coral but unfortunately aiptasia and the hair algae have been killing it so I tried moving it and that helped a little bit but the aiptasia is in the middle of the frag, I think it’s still alive but not doing good. I’ve got a rainbow montipora that was doing great until the hair algae took over and is somehow growing in the middle of it so I keep trying to blow it off of it.
I’ve never tested for phosphates and alkalinity I didn’t know so thank you for telling me that, any recommendations for a kit to test for that?
I’ll post pictures of what my lights run at daily.
I would like to eventually get more corals and fish but right now would obviously not be a good time lol.
I’ll definitely look into reef cleaners for a good cleanup crew I actually bought from them before but I didn’t realize my heater had gone out and killed off most of it. I heard hermit crabs eat nudibranchs, I’ve got maybe 3 left from when I first got my tank, so I’m wondering if that’s what happened to my nudibranchs :/ what other recommendations would you have for a cleanup crew if I didn’t want hermits?

How often do you do water changes and how much?
Do you test phosphates? You need to.
What power levels are your lights running at?
I cant tell what's in the tank. Any corals? Fish only?

40 nitrates isn't terrible but is bordering on it. Forget testing ammonia unless you have a major die off. You should not see nitrites in a running tank and can forget testing them.
You didn't mention Alkalinity or phosphates. Phosphates are plant food for algae. Alkalinity controls pH but isnt super critical if you dont have stoney corals. It can be maintained fine with water changes alone if you only have fish.

Turning the lights down will slow the algae growth. The trick is to have the light just bright enough for things that need it. Then you must build a clean up crew that will eat algae faster than it grows.
No it isnt easy. We all have to do this stuff. It's how the hobby works.
Go to Reef Cleaners and look at a crew for a 60 gallon tank. It's a lot of animals. All Algae Crew (60 Hexagon)

At your stage I would do a 12 gallon (20%) water change every 3 days until the nitrates came down to 10 and then do 6 gallons (10%) a week after. Once things are under control if you need to skip you can.
You need to know phosphate levels too. No way around that. You will never beat algae with high phosphates. It is fixed with water changes too though.
Keep the sump light as bright as possible and let the algae grow there. Pull it out and toss it. More nutrient export.

 

[griss]

I posted a response in your other thread

Also, here'a a handy chart for water parameters.

 

[Avagb22]

@wvned hit it pretty good with regards to algae, though bubble algae, in my experience, is easier to rid with manual intervention than nutrient control.

With regards specifically to the Aiptasia, have you noticed an increase since adding the Berghia? Nothing in your stocking list screams “I eat those Berghia.” If you haven’t noticed an increase, I’m curious if they’re munching the babies and ignoring the large ones.

Hope this helps some!

I forgot that I think I do still have a couple of hermits left so I’m guessing that’s probably what happened to my nudibranchs :/ I thought I didn’t have any more at the time when I had bought the nudibranchs then a couple of weeks later I saw a couple of hermits :/ but yes I’ve definitely seen an increase of aiptasia I’ve got a really bad infestation they’ve taken over pretty much everything as well as the hair and bubble algae

 

[Avagb22]

I posted a response in your other thread

Also, here'a a handy chart for water parameters.

View attachment 32412530

Thank you!!

 

[griss]

As I mentioned in the other thread, I have seen reports of Peppermint shrimp eating Berghias but, I have not had that experience myself.

Your tank is large enough and you don't have too many fish so, you could add an Aiptasia Eating Filefish. I have no experience with this fish but, I have heard some have been known to pick at zoas and LPS.

 

[Avagb22]

As I mentioned in the other thread, I have seen reports of Peppermint shrimp eating Berghias but, I have not had that experience myself.

Your tank is large enough and you don't have too many fish so, you could add an Aiptasia Eating Filefish. I have no experience with this fish but, I have heard some have been known to pick at zoas and LPS.

Ok I’ll definitely look into them

 

[wvned]

I have had peppermints that eat them a ones that didn’t. Same for file fish.
Test kits Salifert or Hanna are what I use.
Turn both light channels down 5%
We are visiting Dr Jeanna for a week so typing on phone. Short answers
Urchins and conchs are my favorite algae eaters