Tank Troubles Again

[mcastfalk]

I posted here last year and was at the end of my rope with the tank that I have and getting fish to successfully go from the quarantine tank to the display. Several of the members were helpful and I successfully got the quarantine tank to work properly and transferred some more fish to the display. A year later, I have a whole new set of problems.

First off, the hair algae in the tank is just growing on everything. I basically grow algae and keep some fish and live rock from the looks of it. I've been cleaning the tank about once every week to two weeks. It is a 30 gallon tank and I have been doing 10 gallon water changes. With the mass of the live rock and sand in the tank, this is about a 40% water change, if not closer to 50%. Everytime I change the water in the tank, I end up scrubbing off as much of the algae as possible from the pumps, filter, protein skimmer pump - anywhere. I then siphon it out. The algae still comes back. It has gotten so bad that I am going to try doing 40% water changes twice a week to see if that helps.

To top things off, I think I killed one of my clown fish today while cleaning the tank. I fed the fish before cleaning, then shut everything down and began scrubbing and pumping the water out. Somehow, I sucked the clown fish up in to the siphon. He was struggling to get away and I immedately pulled the siphon up to release the suction. The fish just floated out of the 'vaccum" and to the bottom of the tank. I was able to pick it up, so I tossed the fish in the garbage. I felt really bad and my son (5 years old) was dissapointed.

My main questions are - how do I tackle this hair algae issue? Picking it out of the tank doesn't seem to help much. This isn't a few growths - it is practically the whole tank. My nitrates have always been high and I suspect the bio load is too much for the tank, thus the hair algae. It is just that I've never seen it so bad. My last question would be, what could have killed the clown? He was fine one minute and then he's being sucked (by accident) in to the siphon and he's dead. Do these fish play possum? I just can't figure out what happened.

Any advice is greatly appreciated. I'm really find this hobby to be time consuming, frustrating and expensive - everything that friends told me it would be but I didn't listen.

Michael

[dillan]

are you using ro/di water for your water changes

[CarmieJo]

Hi Michael,

Sorry to hear of your troubles. I've seen siphoned fish die before. I think they may have a heart attack. I know that was tough for your little boy too.

What's the stocking list? Are you using bio-balls? What/how much/how often are you feeding? Do you rinse frozen foods? What kind of lights are you using and how long are they on? How old are the light bulbs?

Sorry for all the questions but it will help get to the bottom of this.

[PhotoJohn]

I would say lower the amount of water you change. A 50% change could be throwing off your tanks parameters. Keep it to 25% or so. If nitrates are a problem try building a tube fuge. It had a video pod cast about it in TR. You may also want to reduce feeding for a time

[mcastfalk]

Originally Posted by dillan

are you using ro/di water for your water changes

Yes. I go to a machine and get my water. I can always test it though, to make sure. But the machine says that it is RO water.

[mcastfalk]

Originally Posted by CarmieJo

What's the stocking list? Are you using bio-balls? What/how much/how often are you feeding? Do you rinse frozen foods? What kind of lights are you using and how long are they on? How old are the light bulbs?

Sorry for all the questions but it will help get to the bottom of this.

No problem.

It is a 30 gallon tank, probably more like 20 gallons of water if you count the live rock & sand.

I have a few hermit crabs and snails Most died, I used to have 30 or more and it is now down to just a few. The main critters are a brittle star, peppermint shrimp, fire fish, 2 pajama cardinals and what was 2 clown fish is now just 1 clown fish after last night.

I have a Penguin Bio Wheel filter, the kind you hang on the back of the tank. I do not have a canister filter. I also have a protein skimmer that is good for up to 65 gallons.

I feed once a day, frozen food that I have previously rinsed and thawed. I put about a 1/2 teaspoon in the tank. It is gone within a few minutes. Sometimes I may drop pellets in and do enough that they float to the bottom for the brittle star and crabs.

I have a 36 inch lighting ballast from Coralife. Two bulbs, 1 actinic and the other regular daylight. I'd have to look up the specifics to tell you the strength, but they are both 96W. I think the daylight bulb is the one that came with the ballast, the other is a replacement bulb. However, the bulbs are on at most for about 4-5 hours per day. I usually only let the actinic bulb stay on and turn the daylight on when I'm feeding. I've had them for about a year, purchased last spring. Since I don't use them heavily, would they still affect the algae? Part of my issue with the algae has been that the bulbs are so bright. They're bigger than my little tank and I noticed more hair algae after I switched to this new ballast. So, I cut back on the time I had the lights on. The tank is mostly dark - where's the fun in that? Very frustrating.

[Reefbaby]

Hi Michael...so sorry for your frustrations. It's tough in the beginning - particularly when things aren't moving smoothly. But, once you learn what to avoid or change, the tank maintenance should become easier...and more enjoyable!

Here's some of my suggestions:

1. You don't have a huge bioload for that size tank. I wouldn't worry about that...but, I also wouldn't purchase any fish until you figure out what the problem is.
2. You will need to get rid of the Bio Wheel filter. If you have a tank with live rock, live sand, and a sufficient protein skimmer for your size tank, you will be better off without a filter. Many of these types of filters end up becoming nitrate factories, which could very well be the problem with your high nitrate levels. Typically, when people downgrade their bioballs, they begin to gradually remove the bioballs. I'm not quite sure how the Bio Wheel is set up, whether there are several wheels and you can gradually begin to remove them. Often when everything is removed all at once it can be a shock to the system. Having said that....it sounds like your system is already having a pretty tough time - maybe completely removing the Bio Wheel (all at once) won't be much worse than where you're at right now.
3. I would NOT recommend doing such high quantity water changes. Your system needs to be able to build up the "good" bacteria levels, and by doing huge water changes, you will also be removing some of the good stuff. I would cut back to 20% per week right now.
4. If the lights are only on 4-5 hours at this point, I wouldn't worry too much about them. Do you have corals? If not, you could even reduce the lighting a bit more until we get this algae under control.

Many people struggle with hair algae at one time or another. Scrubbing off and filtering out is a great way to remove some of the hair algae. It's easy if you set up a canister filter with floss and cycle the water through it while you're scrubbing the rocks. I had hair algae once, in the beginning of my tank set up, and I found it useful to actually pull the bits of hair algae off with tweezers. I kept at it, on a daily basis, until it was short enough that my tangs began to pluck at it and eat it away. You need to be really consistent with this...pull some out each day.

So...your values. Could you list the rest of them, such as phosphates, nitrites, ammonia, salinity, calcium, magnesium, etc? Let's see if we can't figure this out.

How deep is your sand bed?

RO water is NOT the same as RODI. In the long run, you will be better off investing in a RODI system. You can find pretty affordable ones through E-bay.

What type of salt are you using?

[Amphibious]

Originally Posted by mcastfalk

I'm really find this hobby to be time consuming, frustrating and expensive - everything that friends told me it would be but I didn't listen.

We can probably help with everything except the expense. That seems to be without resolution.

The solution to your problem requires more expense but, once you correct a couple of things you should be able to enjoy your tank and get rid of the algae. From your responses, I'm suspect of a couple of things.

Your water source comes to mind, first. The machine you get your water from says it is RO. My question there would be, how often is the unit serviced? Have you tested the water for Nitrates, Phosphates and Total Dissolved Solids (TDS)? Your problems could stem from that. Reefers have found that using RO water can lead to problems and most of us have switched to RO/DI water. A unit such as this will give you Lab quality water. Many of us have bought the same unit on E-bay for around $140 with great results. Here's the link - AQUA-SAFE-MAXIMUS-II-RO/DI-WATER FILTER This will take out everything and give you pure water.

Second, the Bio-wheel filter, I suspect is causing your high Nitrate problem. You need to get rid of it. Canister filters, used continuously, will do the same thing. A DSB is the answer to high Nitrates, either in your main display or in a sump. Preferably both.

What brand of salt are you using? Not all salts are created equally.

As Reefbaby asks above, what are your water parameters?

Dick

[Victoria]

I would love to chim in but will wait for tank and pram info. Sometimes a tank just needs to settle. It seems at times the more we mess with it the longer it take to balance out. Looking forward to helping.
Victoria

[CarmieJo]

I agree with what the others have said. As far as the Bio-wheel goes maybe you could start by scrubbing half of it in some clean RO/(DI) water to remove only part of the bacteria. The next week scrub 3/4, then next scrub most of it and the week after that remove it all together. The bacteria will build back up between scrubbings but I think this would still encourage sufficient bacteria in your sand and rock to handle the bioload. You could still use the filter itself for water flow. Are you using the filter cartridges? If yes how often are you changing them? <Geeze more questions!>