Totally Fed up!! Can anyone help?

[fishnugget]

I have been struggling with my tank for a long time now. Last year I found that my tank was loaded with copper. We have no idea where it came from. I finally tore my tank down and started over.

Now I have had many corals die in the past few months especially except fpr leathers and zoos. I now have been fighting cyno for the past few months. This is no longer fun. First I tried the darkness method for 4 days. It cleared up and came back a week later. Then I tried red slime remover. It worked for a week then came back. Next I tried Chemi clean. It came back a week later.

I turned my Calcium reactor off a month ago. I did this to not put any extra nturients back in tank. My glass gets covered with algae film daily. I am running 3 250 watt de 14K Phoenix. I was running 3 400watt 10k Reeflux. I have 2 Tunze 6100 and controller. I have a 210 gallon tank. I am at the end of my rope.

I am feeding 5 times a week. My nitrates are 5. My Phosphates are .01. I have been using Blue Line Drops to control phosphates.
Rowa Phos nor Phosban in reactors really worked for me. I use reef Crystals.


Does anyone have any suggestions? I am spent emotionally and financially and physically. This is no longer fun.

 

[Sk8r]

By the data available, you either cleaned out or changed your tank.
You are losing corals, fighting cyano, and have a ferocious amount of phosphate.
You don't mention ro/di water. Are you using ro/di and what is its TDS? [total dissolved solids] If you don't have a TDS meter, get access to one and test that, first: it will determine whether the water you are putting into your tank is the origin of your problems.
What feeds these plagues? Phosphate and nitrate. It comes mostly from conditioned tapwater and fishfood, particularly dry fishfood.
Can you test for phosphate? A glance at your tank shows you have it in far greater abundance than your test shows---Why? Because phosphate and nitrate that's actually incorporated into the algae doesn't show on tests. You have far, far, far more than those tests show.
What effects do phosphate and nitrate have? Coral browning and slowly dying.
Your calcium reactor is not the source of algae-producing nutrients. It sustains your corals, but only in the presence of balanced water and an actual demand for calcium---which if you have lost your corals, or if they are shutting down, you do not have.
Next question: how old are your bulbs and did you get them from a reputable dealer? One source of algae problems could be bulbs producing the wrong spectrum of light. Or sunlight reaching your tank from a side window. Do reef bulbs go until they burn out? No. They merely change spectrum when depleted and cause algae/cyano blooms. So do unshaded windows, because the spectrum is wrong.

Phosban reactors cannot uptake phosphate FROM algae: they can only uptake the .01 that your test is showing as 'free' phosphate.

A 30-50g refugium lit 24/7 and containing a big wad of cheatomorpha algae would do you the most immediate good: it grows like crazy under PC lighting and will rob the display algae of nutrients during the dark phase, especially if you scrape it off the glass and let it flow through the refugium.

Avoid treatments like Chemiclean: it kills bacteria [cyano is bacteria] but it doesn't discriminate and also kills bacteria in rock and sand, worsening your situation in some cases to the point of biological collapse.

I don't know Blue Line. For that reason I recommend stopping that, unless someone advises a go-ahed, and going to a refugium: you've spent so much on this and you're so close, it's a shame not to do the three things that will fix the algae/cyano problem: a refugium [takes a couple of months to really get going], new lights [how old and are they reputable: lights live 6-8 months, period], and a ro/di with a TDS of 0, with frequent water changes---preferably after scraping the wall algae so as to get as much as possible.

HTH.

 

[fishnugget]

Thank you for your responce.

Bulbs are 2-3 months old. I was having this problem with my 400 watt set up. I thought by changing it would help. It did not. Just cost me $800.00. 3 250 watt is fine for me needs. Originally thought I might have too much light and it was crteating problems. I have an Ro/Di system from filterguys. TDS meter shows 12 going in and 0 coming out of DI chamber. Filters are 3 months old. I am on top of that.

I don't know how to fit a refug under my tank. How can it easily be plumbered in. Originally uused miracle mud system Got rid of that 3 years ago when had problem growing chaeto . Any suggestions for adding a refug, setup & pliumbing.

 

[fishnugget]

I do use spectrum 2 times a week. Other than that, I feed mysis daily with cyclopeze. Thats it.

 

[Sk8r]

How big is your sump, and can you free up a chamber of it by putting your skimmer on an eggcrate lid for a particular chamber, or by putting your return pump exterior to the sump via a bulkhead connection? Move the skimmer up is the easiest fix, and devote that chamber, 20g or more, purely to refugium, which, ideally, should be 3" of fine washed aragonite sand, a PC light on the eggcrate above it, a few pounds of coral rubble, and a soccerball sized ball of cheato. Leave the PC light on 24/7. Do NOT use caulerpa, for various reasons. And be sure you can stop the sand from wandering into your return pump.
What kind of skimmer do you have, brand and model?

An alternate way of doing this is to get an inexpensive entertainment armoire and install it next to the tank, putting your refugium and gear into it, so you have all the room you could possibly need.

Cheato can be apparently tricky to grow in the absence of 2 things: high flow---it likes a lot of water moving through it; and a strong light. If it has those 2 things it will thrive.

How strong is your return pump? Good flow? Brand? Size? Type?

The refugium will do several things: its algae will uptake both phosphates and nitrates as fertilizer for its own growth, depriving algae in your display; it will also grow pods, which eat film algae and phytoplankton, and thirdly: corals can eat pods, so it's good in that regard, too.

Filterguys is reputable. 0 is unbeatable. Do water changes weekly. It takes a long time to eliminate phosphate by that method, but every little bit helps.

What is spectrum? Mysis and cyclopeeze ok. Look at the spectrum label and see if phosphate is anywhere in there.

Here's my sump rig---I put it in the basement. You can see the cheato growing in the middle chamber under the skimmer.

The cheato is now 3x that size and produces a lot of pods. The skimmer exit pipe connects with a hose back to chamber 1 of the sump, which just gives everything a second runthrough and eliminates microbubbles, another thing that annoys corals.

 

[DidYouSayReefer]

I was having similar problems. I started dripping kalkwasser and my algae has disappered. I had crazy hair algae plu everything was coverd in a film. The kalkwasser killed the cyano in about a week and the hair algae is almost all gone after a month. Kalk will definately help with the phosphate and not to mention add calcium. Just my 2 cents.

 

[fishnugget]

My skimmer is a Large Geo . I have it in sump. My sump is 36l, 16w, 18h. My pump is external. It is a dolphin ampmaster 2700.

Could I add an acrylic box to put skimmer in or add as a refugium next to sump. I dont have tons of room.

 

[fishnugget]

Would you do this in leu of me starting back up my calcium reactor or in addition? I never heard of this solution. I am intrigued.

 

[sinister52]

what is wrong with caulerpa, in a fug?

 

[fishnugget]

m

 

[bertoni]

Kalk might help with algal problems in a number of ways. Raising the pH can encourage coralline algae to grow, for example. Your tank would likely need the reactor as well, though, since limewater is fairly dilute.

Caulerpa can help, too, but if any of it makes its way to the display tank, that can get messy.

 

[Sk8r]

I advise against caulerpa because it is toxic, it can take out a tank if it spores, it can take over a tank if it gets rooted, it has roots, it reproduces from any small rooted segment that gets loose, nothing eats it that goes well in a small reef, and there are many much nicer algaes to use in a fuge.

 

[tgfrench]

give us a pic of your stand that might just help. i ran a 11"x32" sump with skimmer and external pump and kalk mixer under a 55 gal.

 

[fishnugget]

mmm

 

[Percula9]

Do not use caluerpa, if it gets into your tank you will never get it out. Try and clean the filters and the substrate of detritus. A kalk drip will precipitate phosphates out of the water. You can run it with your calcium reactor, but keep an eye on the calcium, PH and alk level. I find cyano doesn't like high PH and alk. Perform water changes more often to reduce the nutrient levels.