Water Params, need help

[SugarFox03]

Hey everyone...I'm the one having problems with all the algae in my 24 gal AquaPod. Here's all the info:

24 Gal Aquapod, set up April 2006
Upgraded the lighting system to 150w MH + 36w actinics
Removed filter sponges, ceramic rings & bioballs and replaced with a mini-fuge which includes about 5 lbs live rock rubble and chaeto.
I have the AquaC Remora protein skimmer (not the nano one)
I have an additional MJ400 in the display for more water movements
I have lots of corals (softies, lps, euphyllia, etc...)
I have 3 fish (true percula, purple firefish, & yellow watchman)
I have a blood shrimp
I have a crocea clam
I have a newly adopted (less than a week) dwarf sea hare (which wont touch my algae, btw)
I have 2 snails (the others died, I know, I need more)
I have around 5 hermits
I have 15 nassarius snails

I tested my water tonight and here are the readings:

Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate 100+
Phosphates - can't tell exactly because I'm blond and lost the card, but its not bad at all, and close to zero.

How can I have 0 of everything except Nitrates? And I thought phosphates played a huge role in algae?

I'm having a ridiculous time fighting hair algae, red bubble algae, green bubble algae, and caulerpa (the least of my worries, this is almost gone!)

Can anyone help me figure this out?

I was using top off water with a 002 TDS, I am now using water with 0 TDS, so hopefully that will help.

I do weekly water changes of 10 gals to help fight my high nitrates.

This has been a problem for months, that no one has been able to understand, as it seems that I am doing everything correct.

I'm at my wits end with this. My corals don't look that great. I lost 1 fish at the beginning of my battle, the rest are fine. I'm losing my brain coral...I need help. I love this tank and this hobby....but why the problems? And why are they so darn persistent? I mean how is it chemically possible to change 10 gals of a 24 gal tank and in less than a week have nitrates over 100 again? And the water I use tests fine, no trates, trites or ammonia.

Any ideas? I'm ready to pull my hair out!!

 

[sir_dudeguy]

How can I have 0 of everything except Nitrates? And I thought phosphates played a huge role in algae?

easy. Amonia is broken down into nitrite, and nitrite to nitrate. Nitrate is not the end product, (it should break down to nitrogen gas i think...it might be a different gas, but you get the point...that gas then leaves the tank). But sometimes if you dont have the right stuff or whatever nitrate will be as far as it breaks down. Obviously you have the bacteria to break down the amonia and nitrite, but not the nitrate.

And phosphates....they do cause alga, but so do nitrates, and with nitrates over 100, its obvious that they are the main cause.

Have you tested your top off and water change water for nitrates? If its tap, that could easily be the cause.

I lost 1 fish at the beginning of my battle,

that would not have been related to the nitrate issue, because nitrates arent toxic to fish, or fish are just VERY tolerant of them. 100 nitrates wont cause a fish to die.. But it is more than likely the cause of your corals dieing/fading.

What do you feed and how much?

Last thing, do you have ANY sort of filter media (besides carbon/phosguard)? Stuff like ceramic bio-media or anything that is meant to grow the bacteria to filter the tank water? Bioballs and biowheels also fall under this category, and imo they are even worse than filter media.

Darn...i just read that you took those out!

How much live rock do you have?

 

[SugarFox03]

I have around 30 lbs in the display (maybe more, I know its at least that much) and another 5 lbs of LR rubble in the rear chamber.

As far as feeding, I feed a small pinch of flake (cant remember the brand, but its a yellow tub with blue lid? has garlic in it) every 2 days. I'm pretty diligent about taking out the uneaten pieces, but I have a pig for a clown fish, so there are rarely any leftovers.

And yeah, I took all the filter media out at the beginning as well, thinking that was the problem...nope.

Someone mentioned to me that it could be a build up of detritus in the rear chambers. I will have to check that out when I do my water change this weekend. I'm thinking now that I just want to do away with this tank all together and get something that doesnt have these blasted chambers, if this is the cause of everything.

 

[sir_dudeguy]

is there a filter pad in the chambers? That would be the only thing really that would get crud buildups in it...

 

[SugarFox03]

No filter pads...I removed everything that came in the back chambers. It was replaced by a mini fuge (5 lbs LR rubble & chaeto) in the right chamber. The left chamber has the powerhead for the main display, the PH for the Remora, and the heater, which is only on at night.

I would now think that detritus would just accumulate at the bottom of the chambers whenever anything was kicked up in the tank. This happens weekly when I do water changes, or I slip and add top off water too quick.

 

[sir_dudeguy]

hmm...this might be a stupid question, but what test kits do you use?

 

[SugarFox03]

Aquarium Pharmaceuticals and Salifert. All readings are backed up by tests done on the weekends by my LFS, my tests are accurate, unfortunately.

 

[Rosseau]

hmm... how much chaeto do you have? and does it seem healthy?


My nitrates were huge for a while, over 100. I got a handful of chaeto, bigger than my fist, brought my nitrates to 0 within a week (10 Gal, 5 G sump).

I'm lead to believe it was the chaeto that brought it down...


Something could have died somewhere and is slowly breaking down, like those snails maybe. If that's the case they should eventually stop. Unless you want to go hunting.. but i'm too lazy to do that.

 

[Phong33]

Nitrates do play a big role in algae as its excess nutrients for them. Its also why your corals don't look so good. What kind of substrate do you have (sand, crushed coral) and how much of it?

 

[SugarFox03]

20 lbs of live sand.

And when I bought the chaeto it was a sandwich baggie packed full. Its bigger now, and looks healthy. I put a 6700k light on it at night, the reverse thing (I forget what its called.) Should I get more?

My corals dont look good because of all the darn hair algae covering them up. Its now growing on my clam, I'm really mad about that.

 

[Doglover_50]

I cleaned my pump and the tank got the fallout bomb blast from crap back there. I netted what I could, though I don't think the mystery material was a problem.

You did not mention alk and calcium. Though maybe you are testing for them, this has been the bain of my existence with my reefs. If you aren't testing, I'd do it asap! Quite a few times I've seen withering corals turned around overnight with calcium. I personally love turbo calcium if you are in a critical level. I use the Kent superbuffer for alk.

On a different note that doesn't apply to your problem---do your fish eat instantly when you feed them? That is, are all 3 aggressive eaters? I'd suggest that you buy some frozen food (petsmart sells)--emerald entree, marine cuisine, or the variety pack)---would be better for your fish. Just a share--I turn off my pump when I feed--and this takes 5 minutes--I feed my fish by hand in the pm.---I melt some of the frozen, distribute to the clowns (and the goby I had in there, would use a plastic fork to make sure he got enough--he was a weak eater). I turn off the pump for my flakes in the a.m. as well, though I don't do that by hand. Then I turn pump back on. At most, one little frozen bit makes it to the bottom, and the shrimp and crabs take care of that. I mention this wondering if flakes may be swept back into your chambers to sit and rot.
***Instant Invervention for hair algae***I just bought a 24g jbj nano used, rocks had hair algae everywhere. I put in ~10 astrea, 3 ceriths, a few nassarius for good measure, and ~6 red leg and blue leg crabs. Thought nothing was happening--noticed 4 days later it was 75% gone! People recommend lawnmower blennies too.
Wow this got long!

 

[Doglover_50]

PS--buy the smallest possible sunction vacuum (or just use wide hose) and start the siphon and see what comes up from your chambers. You could go one by one. Also, my snails go back there. Possibly try a flashlight to make sure you don't have dead ones in the bottom of your chambers--though you'd see that in ammonia.

 

[SugarFox03]

Cal & alk are fine. I use AragaMilk for that. I didnt post the results because I didnt think they would make a difference with my problem I'm actually going to be purchasing a new tank this weekend. A local reefer has a nice 26 gal bowfront he's no longer using. He said he too had a nitrate problem with the all in one tank he had and switched to a tank that didnt have those chambers and he's never had a problem since then. I'm probably going to make a 10 gal fuge to sit next to it so I can keep the chaeto & rubble going. While I'm doing the switch I will rinse off all the rocks real well and pick off as much of the algae as I can so it doesnt transfer. Does this sound like a good idea? I've been battling this algae for too long, and switching tanks just sounds so easy...actually it doesnt, but it sounds like a fix to my problem! I'll clean out the tank, put the stock hood back on and in a little while use it for a softie tank when I get my new house.

I'm going to make a new post about what to do to transfer the tank over. I know its going to be an entire weekend adventure. (fun!)