Just about ready to call it quits!!!

Home_Depot · 12-30-2006, 03:53 PM

After a long battle with algae I took out 90% of my rocks and cooked them for about 8 weeks took down my tank and drilled it got everything back up and running now for about 2-3 weeks and I am back in the same place I started I have algae growing like mad and I am getting PIS*ED and thinking of just giving up I don't know what is causing the algae to grow I feed about every 3-4 days no flake food. I think it is zooplankton. I know my ro/di needs new filters TDS is 2 but after it runs for a while it goes to 0 I still have not got a test for ALK,CA. But I have PH,Nitrates,Am,and they are all good. just getting VERY

. I only have 3 fish and some corals. It is a 75 gallon with a turboflotor 1000 skimmer 20gallon sump I have 3 MJ 1200,I turn my actincs lights on at 7:30am and go off at 9:30pm and daylights come on at 8:30 am and go off at 8:30pm.

Here are some pics!!

THANKS
GARRETT!!!!

mtfatwork · 12-30-2006, 04:02 PM

what kind of lighting? Are your bulbs old?

Superman · 12-30-2006, 04:02 PM

Unless you want to actually post your water parameters this thread is meaningless. In the past, those that say "all parameters are zero" or "everything is as it should be" aren't testing their water at all. So please post us actual numbers if you have them.
In order to determine the problem we must know what your PH is during the day and then at night. This will give us an idea of the stability of your water. If your PH is low, or is all over the map, then algae are given a big chance to take advantage of phosphate nitrite or nitrate and good lighting.
Your lighting cycle is VERY long, a peak lighting cycle of 6 hours is about as long as I would go IMO with actinics on an hour or two before and after.

ksarauer · 12-30-2006, 04:04 PM

What type of salt are you using? This may be the source..

I'd get a bunch of snails to take care of the algae, about 1 snail per gallon. (To regain control of the algae, 1.25 to 1.5snails per gallon works best for me) I believe this is fairly common when starting up a tank. It took about a month for my algae to kick in, got a bunch of snails and it took care of it in about a months time.

Home_Depot · 12-30-2006, 04:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mtfatwork

what kind of lighting? Are your bulbs old?

VHO's and they are about 6-8 months old

I will go and test right now

Home_Depot · 12-30-2006, 04:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ksarauer

What type of salt are you using? This may be the source..

I'd get a bunch of snails to take care of the algae, about 1 snail per gallon. (To regain control of the algae, 1.25 to 1.5snails per gallon works best for me) I believe this is fairly common when starting up a tank. It took about a month for my algae to kick in, got a bunch of snails and it took care of it in about a months time.

I had some RC but I did not have enough so I got some coralline to finish my fill. The LFS told me I could mix salts

redwinger · 12-30-2006, 04:19 PM

IMO flake food is just gas for the fire my friend. They are loaded in phosphates. Also from what you are telling all I can do is speculate the causes. You have algae from an abundance of nutrients in the tank which would lead me to believe that you are feeding to much to often and with a photperiod as long as you have it is just making things worse. Cut back on the feeding and start feeding frozen rinsed in rodi water to get rid of any excess P04. Then cut your photoperiod in half of what it is now. Bad bulbs are not going to cause the algae to grow faster or slower. If there are no excess nutrients in the tank the algae will not grow regardless of bulbs. Get your nutrient import down and increase the export(wet skim,water changes), a few snails to clean up the mess and you will be good to go. The salt mix's can be mixed but some salts have higher p04 contents than others and might also be the culprit.

Home_Depot · 12-30-2006, 04:40 PM

I am not using flake food and I only feed about maybe a 1/2 teaspoon of zooplankton. I will cut my light in half I have some snails I have noitced I have about 30 baby ones and only about 4-5 big ones so I will get more.

My readings for the test I just done are
Sallnity-30ppt
specific Gravity 1.022
Nitrate-0
Nitrite-0
Ammonia-.25 kind of high
P.H.-8.3
That is all I have test for. I plan one getting Alk,CA test soon as I can aford them

What is "wet skim" I have heard that but not sure what it is

redwinger · 12-30-2006, 04:51 PM

What kind of test kits are you using? Ammonia at .25? Wet skimming is just turning the skimmer up to produce more of a watery tea skimmate.

Home_Depot · 12-30-2006, 04:56 PM

it is this one http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Produc...&N=2004+113074

Ok I will try the wet skim too.

redwinger · 12-30-2006, 05:35 PM

Invest in a better nitrate test kit(salifert). Those are worthless for testing nitrate IME.

Home_Depot · 12-30-2006, 06:11 PM

ok I plan on getting salifert test kits but they are kind of spendy for me at the moment

maxseeley · 12-30-2006, 06:25 PM

Ammonia is too high - should be zero.

That type of algae growth is completly normal. You just need a clean up crew. There is no aquarium that would be free of algae without a clean up crew. This cleanup crew should include a fish (lawnmower blenny, bristle tooth tang, ...) and hermit crabs. But don't add fish while your ammonia is @.25.

I run all my aquariums with a 12 hours photoperiod. But for now you might want to reduce your photoperiod becuase your tank is cycling and you are going through a mini curing process.

tico mike · 12-30-2006, 11:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Home_Depot

After a long battle with algae I took out 90% of my rocks and cooked them for about 8 weeks took down my tank and drilled it got everything back up and running now for about 2-3 weeks and I am back in the same place I started I have algae growing like mad and I am getting PIS*ED and thinking of just giving up I don't know what is causing the algae to grow I feed about every 3-4 days no flake food. I think it is zooplankton. I know my ro/di needs new filters TDS is 2 but after it runs for a while it goes to 0 I still have not got a test for ALK,CA. But I have PH,Nitrates,Am,and they are all good. just getting VERY

. I only have 3 fish and some corals. It is a 75 gallon with a turboflotor 1000 skimmer 20gallon sump I have 3 MJ 1200,I turn my actincs lights on at 7:30am and go off at 9:30pm and daylights come on at 8:30 am and go off at 8:30pm.

Here are some pics!!

THANKS
GARRETT!!!!

Cut your lighting back for craps sake. you have lights on for 14 hours or have I had too much wine? your daylights on for 12 hours? You wonder why you have too much algae? Cripes is my math off or what?

Cut the lighting to 10 hours and 8 hours respectively...

Sea monkey · 12-31-2006, 12:19 AM

i agree with mike 100% . this is the cause of your problem

Quote:

Cut the lighting to 10 hours and 8 hours respectively...

perfect.

that and tons of people have issues with algae with new tanks. As the tank matures and finds an equilibrium the issues solve themselves .