When to start over w/my 20G?

[herozero]

So I'm taking not exactly my licks from a heavyweight starting this hobby, but I am taking them!

Made two early mistakes when I got started on my 20G and now have what appears to be cyano; red/brown slime, big nitrogen bubbles, sometimes clear sometimes a gross brown. Showing some pictures to my LFS guy, he recommends some Blue Vet RedSlime Control.

I follow the instructions, stay up late watching TV and drinking some beers to see how the tank is going (instructions tell you to stop protein skimming during treatment, and do a 25% water change after a day). So I have my new water ready, going to do it before I go to sleep. 130am rolls around I notice my clown half upside-down. My scooter blenny is also flopping around on his top rock. I say screw it and do my water change (in my mild freak out spill a bunch of old water on my stand) and turn the protein skimmer back on. Go to sleep. Fish are back to normal, some of my cyano is gone, but not completely. Pics below are from pre-treatment and pre-mini-syphon

There is NO WAY I'm going to use this redslime control again. I recently added some hermits and a cleaner shrimp a few days ago. Got some big snails and 4 emerald crabs when I started my tank from a less than reputable place, so I didn't have good scavengers in place from the beginning and now I think I am paying the price (the cyano peeks when I feed, I'm sure I am overfeeding and with no hermit crabs to eat the leftovers, hello cyano).

I leave for the weekend and come back Sunday night. A friend will feed and empty my skimmer Saturday. Is it time to bite the bullet, set up a temp holding bay in my big old rubber maid and start over? I have a killer bacteria colony going, with all of my livestock additions, I have NEVER had increases in ammonia or nitrites. If I do start over, do I keep my live rock? Do I start over? I wish there were a magic cure, after scouring the forums everywhere, I haven't found it yet. I don't want to deal with this for the life of my tank.

http://mynyrd.smugmug.com/photos/370965092_w89kM-M.jpg
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[Nick Fr.]

Try Phosguard or a PhosBan reactor with phosban it.
Good Luck.

 

[Illuminati]

Red Slime products like the one you used drop oxygen levels.

Did you use an airpump with a bubbler on the end in the tank while doing your treatment? If not that explains the fish reactions.

 

[herozero]

I kept the pump running on on the skimmer after a few hours just took the collection box off (CPR bak-pak), I read on here that the Red Slime does drop oxygen.

 

[reef2]

keep up on the water changes, feed less, shorten the light period and dont add any more live stock.

ur tank is only 2 month old and is still stabilizing. the algea ur seeing is pretty common. give it some time and it should go away on its own. i wouldnt restart just give it time.

 

[herozero]

patience is not my finest virtue, in addition to putting a part of my old scuba world in my apartment, part of starting this hobby was to improve the whole patience thing. i'll let it sit for awhile and keep my fingers crossed.

 

[TheOtherReefer]

If you dont have any photosynthetic organisms (coral/anemone) kill the lights. RUn the lights for 1 hr for the fish. and what they said above.

 

[James11]

Do you have a turkey baster, suck up the algae the best you can. Run lights at a minimun, do frequent water changes and give it couple of weeks. Nothing goes fast in this hobby. Are you using RO/DI water? If so what is the TDS? What are you water perams.?

 

[hebygb]

This is normal... patience and in most cases fortitude... keep up with the water changes and do not use product like chemiclean etc. These products work great on the cyano, but also kill the very beneficial bacteria that you are culturing in your LR... if you use those products you will have to live throught the cycle again.. and again... Make sure you are using RO/DI make sure it comes from a reputable LFS or if you are making it, make sure your membranes are good... As said before... do not overfeed, trim your photo period. The hardest part is we spend hundreds and even thousands and we ALL have to wait through this ugly period, despite our friends wanting to see what it is that has become an addiction. Again, be patient.

 

[decent37]

yea i would say just try to get as much of the smile out by hand or with a turkey baster. i just think that its werid that your fish had such a bad reaction i have never had any problem using that stuff sorry to hear about it. but dont start over maybe do a couple water changes a week for a few weeks.

 

[herozero]

i can't tell you how much i appreciate the support! i was afraid to get out of bed and check on them this morning!

I get my water from a shop down on Santa Monica Blvd. (for you LA types), the shop has tons of filters and RO. I don't have anything to measure TDS, but my water parameters are pretty solid (0 ammonia, nitrite and nitrate). Got my temp under control from 77-79, ph about 8.2, salinty 1.022.

I have no corals, the lights have been killed. Feeding half to a quarter of my previous regiment. the "bubbles" are gone but it looks like the "carpet" hasn't gone away yet. needless to say the redslime control is in the trash. kudos if it works for ya, can't say it did for me (who knows, i'm keeping my fingers crossed).

turkey baster idea is genius! just don't tell my girlfriend i used it. better yet, i'll buy her a new one. thanks for the tips, i'll do some frequent water changes and let you all know how it goes. this noob appreciates your help!

 

[llebcire]

Look at the bright side - your tank is going through the very normal "new tank syndrome"!

What is your current water change routine? I started a tank August 1st and did water changes every Sunday and Wednesday for the first 4 weeks. I do a 2 gallon change in a 14g tank, with the rock and sand I'd guess I have 11 gallons, so roughly a 18% change every 3-4 days for me. I'm down to once a week after the first month.

Also - I wonder if you have enough flow? Are you planning on adding more powerheads? What's running the hydro? Areas of low/no flow will often allow these types of algae to thrive.

Were the rocks completely cured when you added them? You say that you've never had any ammonia/nitrites, which is possible, but makes me wonder about the validity of the test kits. Also - what about nitrates? Have you tested for nitrates?

You can cut the lights, but I ran mine full cycle from day one.

Overfeeding can be a cause, but it sounds like you've addressed that.

I know it doesn't seem likely - but this stuff will start to magically disappear soon!

 

[herozero]

Well, I fear the worst has happened. All my fish are DEAD.

I was doing water changes every 3-4 days. After 5 days of keeping my lights off, I turned them back on and was preparing to do my second water change in the week. After turning the lights on I noticed my scooter blenny was laboring in his breathing and was not moving so hot. I checked the water parameters again and found that for some reason my ammonia had jumped to 1.0ppm (or whatever the measurement is on the API water tests). So I added my water, pH, salinity are fine. Ammonia drops. Nitrites and nitrates at zero. Clown and other inverts are fine. A few hours later, blenny is dead. Major bummer.

Two days later, I am about to leave for a trip. Girlfriend said she will feed my clown. Water parameters are good. Before she goes to bed one night, she doesn't see the clown. Until she looks at the pump attached to my CPR Bakpak, where Mr. Clown is unhappily DEAD. According to her, he was acting normal, no abnormal behavior. I don't know how he would get stuck and not be able to swim free, I have a feeling he died and was then sucked in.

I am now the proud owner of a shrimp, some snails, some hermit crabs, and one emerald crab. Awesome.

FYI llebcire, rocks were cured (from LFS) and I ran my lights full cycle from day one too and didn't have an cyano problem until introduction of (my mistake, too much) food. I have a Marineland Mini-Jet powering the hyrdo-flo. I sits at the end of the tank opposite the skimmer pump, and does a pretty good job of circulating water I think.

Carpet slime cyano is back, not so much with the nitrogen bubbles, but it doesn't look like the dino I had before.

Moral of the story: don't use chemicals for algae problems. Also about to make/buy an overflow and make a sump, no more in tank pumps and overhanging skimmers for fish to get caught in. Whether or not I drill or do an overhang box is still up for debate. I will also be starting over. I can keep my current animals alive in my 25g rubbermaid I used for water changes (always had a tough time getting the salt to dissolve, any thoughts?) with my current rock and sand. Getting new rock from another LFS (aquaticoutlet.com) and will start it when I figure out my overflow box situation. I am by no means done with the hobby, but damn it if I have to stare at rocks for 6 extra months, so be it. I'll get it right.