whats wrong with my tank?

[drillsar]

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I have a 55gal with a mag 7 for return, 130watts of light I know I need more light, euroreef skimmer, phosphate reactor.

I have ton of algae problems on my sand bed:
Brown, red(cyano im thinking), hair and green slime

I thought it was my phosphates but now since I added reactor the phosphates are 0

My tank parameters:
Phosphate 0
Nitrites 10ppm using salifert 20 ppm using aquarium pharm

Using ro/di water tds meter shows 0ppm

do i need more flow or something?

my friend said it may be because I didnt put rock on the glass, i put sand in first then added rock.. His tank is gorgeous, no problems and im thinking maybe I did mess up..

 

[Hunter21]

How often are you doing water changes and how long has the tank been set up?

 

[drillsar]

tank has been running since October, water changes 15 gal every week..

 

[jokeloma]

are your lights pc's? Do you have the protective plastic lense on? I had similar problem long time ago and if I remember right it seemed that when I did add the lense things got better.

As far as the rock placement I have never heard of that making any difference.

is your return your only flow? describe it do you have a multiple outlet manifold on it?

 

[TekCat]

how much LR and what livestock do you currently have?
also how often and how much are you feeding?

 

[drillsar]

Ok I have 45lbs of rock, Only have the return as flow.. Livestock:
2 hermit crabs, 5 nassarius snails, 5 astrae snails, 10 turbo snails, 1 brittle star ..... had a blenny but he died..

I feed my tank every 2 days with shrimp pellets only like a pinch..

YEs Powercompacts using 10,000K bulbs, have lens on it, maybe 10,000k is whats doing it?

 

[jokeloma]

You might try a sea hare. I would also add a couple of power heads if you aren't using a manifold.

 

[TekCat]

Get more LR, you need to be at absolute minimum 55lbs!!!!! For good LR you also want to make sure there are no stagnant(sp?)areas of water.

You probably don't need to feed at all... since there is no fish, your clean up crew will be more than happy to chew on algea.

Also, limit photoperiod to 4-6 hours a day. Snails and LR wont care much.

 

[stelow]

Try turning your lights off.

 

[dlish89]

I have never heard about the rock touching glass. What is the theory behind that ?

 

[bertoni]

The tank might need more circulation, or more variation, at least. I'd add a couple of powerheads. The 10,000 K bulbs are fine: I use the same. More light might encourage coralline growth, which could outcompete the slime, maybe. A macroalga refugium might help as well.

The tank is still quite new, so I wouldn't worry too much at this point.

You could consider feeding phytoplankton to try to keep animals in the live rock going, if that's of interest. You might be seeing the results of a dieback on the rock, I guess.

 

[drillsar]

dont I have to feed the nassarius snails and brittle?

 

[drillsar]

sea hares are reef compatible? Dont they release a toxin?

 

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

also increase flow......ad 2 maxi jet 1200's -or- 2 Seio 620's

 

[bertoni]

The Nassarius will need some food. The brittle star might as well. If you're only feeding a small amount, that shouldn't be an issue.

 

[mikenpam]

Was your rock cured when you purchased it? If not there could be quite a bit of die off. Have you ever cleaned any of your detrius off of the sand bed? I agree with the others to up circulation to get rid of the algae and maybe add 10 - 20 lb more of rock (cured) for filtration. Also are your lights new or used? I have had my lights now for six months and will be ordering new bulbs next month. I have read that old lamps can cause an outbreak of algae.

 

[fakename]

Here's my opinion.....
First of all, <b>there is nothing wrong with your tank</b>. It is newly set up and can be expected to experience a series of annoying algae, diatom, and possibly even cyano outbreaks.
As pointed out in a previous post, you are a little light on rock compared to the often (almost biblically) referenced level of 1.5 to 2 lbs per gal. That being said.......your current bioload is almost nil, so I can't really imagine that is the issue. Your flow may be a little light, and you might benefit from a powerhead or two.
The biggest issue for your tank is that it is new, and it takes time to settle down. Go slow, feed lightly, and above all else resist everyones suggestions and your own impulses to make quick and expensive upgrades trying to fix a problem that is not really a problem at all......
Regards,
Aaron

 

[mystic7]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6550579#post6550579 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by dlish89
I have never heard about the rock touching glass. What is the theory behind that ?

Some people will say, rightly so, that you don't need to have substrate under your live rock so you can spread it out a bit deeper where there is no live rock. He must have taken it to mean that you SHOULDN'T have substrate under your LR.

 

[dlish89]

OOH , I took it as him saying if LR touched glass then there would be no algae on any of the glass. Wouldn't that be great!!!! Everyone would have LR touching glass then LOL

 

[drillsar]

Ok I got a Penquin 1140 powerhead there where out of maxijets, Where should the powerhead be pointing at? towards sand bed or?