ready to give up

[Kurtl000]

So i decided 2 months ago to turn my tank into a frag tank because the wirey turf algae would come back no matter what i did on my rock. For some stupid reason i took all the live rock out. I know foolish I dunno what i was thinking. anyway theres mostly zoos, a clam and a toadstool in there right now. All my coraline is dying, theres some sort of photosynthetic brown sludge growing on the upper levels of the tank. Its not dinoflagellates the snails are fine and it feels literally like jello. My skimmer which has been fine for years is foaming out of control no matter how much i turn it down. I changed salt to tropic marin no change.
I turned the skimmer off things got worse. Now its back on still foaming like crazy. I got a little of my live rock back. What im trying to figure out is why most of my zoas are closed. I got a new colony and after a day it was closed like the others. One colony has been closed since BEFORE i changed over. I bought it 6 months ago never opened. I have leds. Alk is 8, cal is 340 ( i know i just dosed it) ph is 8.0 i dont have test kits for anything else. I lowered the leds intensity and added a little bit of this live bacteria that i got from Quagmire(john). Please someone help me:headwally::headwally::headwally:

 

[li_newb]

I don't know what the brown sludge is but I would say possibly some mechanical filtration? and put some rock back in if it not already totally dry. and ofc water change siphoning out all the nasties

 

[Kurtl000]

I have beeen doing water changes and i have a filter sock in the back. I guess i gotta get more of my rock back.

 

[Kurtl000]

Please? Anyone need more info?

 

[li_newb]

Using RODI?

 

[Kurtl000]

Ya from a member of the club

 

[li_newb]

well any algae usually mean excess nutrients. salinity ok? are your lights on for a long time? ask the person how his filters are in the RODI. most people don't change them often and in turn have high TDS. Get some carbon in there if you don't have any.

sorry I cant be of more help. what kind of flow do you have

 

[Kurtl000]

Salinity is 1.023ish depending on evaporation. lights are on for 8 hours i brought down the brightness some last night. I have an mp10 (25 gallon cube)

 

[quagmire]

Kurt i measured zero tds and po4 from my r/o unit last time you got water from me. I use a hanna hand held tester for tds and API for po4.
To avoid bogus readings from old buckets, my sample water is collected directly from the r/o hose into a clean test tube or new plastic cup. Tested several times.
Don't know what to say about the sludge issue. Maybe you are seeing an accumulation of the bacteria you added. No rock for it to colonize. The stuff i gave you was brown right?

 

[Kurtl000]

Ya the brown stuff you gave me i just added today only a little. I just added some carbon tonight as well.

 

[quagmire]

Ahh, Thought you had added it some time ago and now you're seeing the sludge.
Possible flow issues where the sludge is accumulating?

 

[fishome25]

with a tank that small having that many issues, I would do 100% water changes until things ran right. What is your biological filter?

 

[Kurtl000]

Well i thought that bio might be the issue ive had a block sponge in there to catch micro bubbles in the back overflow so theres that, and i added 3~lbs of rock back in there ill get more in there asap. Unless i'm mistaken the overfoaming for the skimmer has gone down alot since i added the carbon tonight. I'm kinda wondering if that sludge (which produces what im assuming are co2 bubbles) is giving off something.

 

[ohana888]

you may be going thru another nitrogen cycle due to die off from LR. did you check for nh3 & no2 & no3? brown sludge is probably from the biofilm slowly dying from exposure to air. best to clean/scrub the LR with clean sw to decrease any excess nutrients. if there are bubbles, could be a form of cyano. or if possible, siphon as much of it out. keep running quality carbon. i'd also slowly raise the ph to 8.3/8.4 and check your Ca/Mg. good luck!

 

[Kurtl000]

Just so im clear the live rock i took out is in another system safe and sound none of it is dried out. The sludge i speak of is ALIVE it has the texture of jello and does slowly grow back. What i dont get is why two colonies of zoos is open the rest are closed. I moved the closed ones down including the new frag. Perhaps the leds? Should i try a different light?

 

[Gsxr600]

might as well start over. for less than $200 you can order all new live rock from saltwaterfish.com (ive always got awesome rock from them, unlike some of the lfs finds). give the tank and all equipment a good cleaning and then restart with ro/di and a good quality salt. youve been having this problem for what seems like years, since i was working at cc if i remember correct. i have ro/di water for you as well if you need it. the hobby isnt as rewarding when its a headache. a fresh start would make you realize what you've been missing out on. :bounce1:

 

[Kurtl000]

Ya I'm getting to that point I dont need much liverock for a frag tank with a big rack in it no? Just one fish for movement lol