# Need help thank is going down :(



## Luiiizy (Aug 11, 2012)

alright im going to tell you what happened , biocube 29 been running since august of 2012 everything has been going fine it has chaeto growing in the back , intank media basket (chemipure,purigen,filter floss) , aquatic mini skimmer and a heater all in the back.

been keeping up with 10% water changes weekly everything has been running well since then.. until 

my bangai cardinal fish died.. his body was nowhere to be seen about 2 weeks ago.. my best guess is the pistol shrimp killed him? or he died and he brought him to his caves.. im not sure but he showed no signs of sickness or anything the day before.

its stocked with 2 clowns , 1 goby , pistol shrimp , some snails and couple blue hermit crabs (all doing fine)

i feed them brine shrimp daily (i dont really over feed)

anyways my problem now is 1 there is a break out of brown algae everything its crazy which is weird for a mature tank .. im not sure what is causing this? is it the dead fish? maybe still in the tank somewhere rotting away i have no clue!

secondly which is my main problem! my torch coral isnt opening up anymore and now my hammer coral is also not really expanding..

i have a goniopora which opens up when it pleases and gsp , acans and zoas which seem to be doing relatively fine. sometimes i feed them reef roids and phytoplankton 

anyways i tested my levels and my alk is low! my calcium was a little bit on the low side too but everything seemed to be doing fine with weekly changes.. im not sure what the hell is going on i cannot raise that alk.. thinking about ordering some 2 part solution from BRS...

right now i have kent marines tech cb (part a and part b) which are a 2 part solution to raise calcium and alk . also have the magnesium one but my levels seem to be fine. ILL get pics of everything when i have the chance and here are my levels!!

ph 8
alk 6.1
calcium 400
phosphate 0
ammonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 0
magnesium 1395

my calcium and alk levels went as low as 360 and alk 5.5 ... but i did some water changes to get them back up

dosing the 2 part from kent marine doesnt seem to be helping!

also has upgraded LED lighting from rapidled which is 24 leds so its plenty enough for the coral theve been doing fine under it

PICTURES ADDED
sorry for the purplish hue .. it really isnt that purple but i guess on the iphone its come out that way.. hard to really see the brown algae but its basicly covering the sandbed .. rocks and walls.


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## Kweli (Jun 2, 2010)

Im not sure i will be able to help you... but it looks like you arent getting many responses..

Algae can irritate corals and cause them to close up. What is causing the hair algae to grow? Are you using RO/DI water for saltwater and top-offs?
Maybe try phosphate removers. Water changes aswell

When did you get the LED's? Did you start them low and increase them over time, or blast them on full right away? 

Dead fish should turn up somewhere, if its not already eaten. You can get a powerhead and blast your rocks to see if its stuck in a crack somewhere

Not sure I can help much more. Whatever is causing your hair algae may also be causing some of your other problems.


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## PaulF757 (Dec 9, 2013)

Since you haven't been getting too many replies i'll offer what i can. I'm new to this hobby but from all the research I've done i would try running some phosphate. Most problems with hair algae get fixed with phosphate.

Best of luck.


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## loonie (Mar 29, 2008)

You have to use phosphate remover, its a slow process but it helps. You also need to brush off the hairy algae with a tooth brush. You can use API algae remover but again, you need to clean up the algae.


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## Steel_Wind (Oct 26, 2013)

You might ask letigrama to have her seahair beast of an algae eating slug when she's done with it.

Post is here


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## sig (Dec 13, 2010)

do more water changes and stop dosing. Do you have anything in the tank that consume these components that you are dosing.

To run GFO is very beneficial in my opinion.

as Kweli says LED could be a reason also. cool whites in the 6500K range grows algae very well

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## Flameangel (Sep 25, 2013)

One reason for having an algae outbreak is high Phosphate level.Check your PO4 level and maintain 0.03ppm or lower.If your tank tested high then use Rowaphos to decrease your PO4.Secondly,brown or diatoms algae can happen to any established tank,it's not unusual.Just take care of your PO4 and your diatoms will ultimately disappear.


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## sig (Dec 13, 2010)

Flameangel said:


> One reason for having an algae outbreak is high Phosphate level.


this is highly disputed statement 

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## badmedicine (Oct 27, 2012)

Looking at your chemistry results (mainly zeros) it looks like your tank is compensating for what is happening. Not that you have NO NITRATES or PHOSPHATES, it just means that your tank is able to consume whatever is produced.

So is it chemistry or is it lighting?

What would you think of vacuuming a portion of the gravel (not all of it)just enough to clean a bit of gravel. Shut your lights off for 24 hours (yes your corals will survive 24 hours of darkness-they won't like it but will survive). Then check your chemistry. If Nitrates are spiked then you know that your problem is chemistry dominant (the prime cause). If the chemistry is still relatively stable, then you have a lighting issue. If its lights then you have to change the intensity or duration (maybe even colour) of light exposure.

Let us know how you do. I am going to follow this as I just bought some LED lights and could gain something from this.


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## badmedicine (Oct 27, 2012)

Another thought came to mind:

The brine shrimp. Are you tossing a cube (or portion thereof) into the tank or are you separating the brine from the "swamp water" they came in.

The shrimp water is far from pristine and could be contributing to the algae growth. For the same reason we don't add the water from the LFS to our tanks, the same reason could be said about water from brine shrimp.

Not sure if its THE ABSOLUTE answer, but could be a contributing factor.


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## Kweli (Jun 2, 2010)

Yep, as mentioned, you may see zeros on some of your tests because your algae, for example, ate up all your phosphates....


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## Flameangel (Sep 25, 2013)

This article might help you to better understand what is happening to your algae problem and how to eliminate them.Just click:
http://www.reeftank.com/html/reeftank_algae_control.html


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## badmedicine (Oct 27, 2012)

Any chance that there could be SILICA somehow get into your tank?

Just got off the phone with a friend (marine biologist) in Bermuda and I had the opportunity to discus your case. He asked if any new sand/gravel/rock was added to your display. 
<2ppm if diatoms are present. I don't know if a test kit is available for this-He has a lab, but getting it to him might be a problem, not to mention he boss might frown on it.

What have you done so far, what changes occurred in your tank and what are your water tests levels TODAY (compared to last time).


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## deeznutz (Aug 21, 2013)

Algaes are such a PITA!

Have you been vacuuming you sand bed during your water changes? This is a big problem as the sand bed will collect a ton of poop. How deep is your sand bed? It should be either 1" or 3"dsb, nothing in between. Remember, DSB shold not be vacuumed. And if so, only the surface should be.

As for you alk, our alk isn't raising because because you are dosing the amount you tank uses.

For example.

Assuming you tank consumes 1 dkh/day
If your tank is sitting @ 6.5 dkh and you dose it to 7.5 dkh at 12:00pm
By the next day(12:00pm) your test will show that it's still sitting at 6.5 dkh.

So in order for you to get it up to a constant 7.5dkh. You'll have to dose double the amount for the first time. Then you have to cut the dose in half and maintain this dosage everyday to keep it constant.

Dose the tank slowly via drip or manual additions to get it to where you want it.

Here's a great calculator. Bookmark it!

http://reef.diesyst.com/flashcalc/flashcalc.html

This should solve your alk problem.

Get it?

HTH


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## Luiiizy (Aug 11, 2012)

sorry guys posted this on my winter break (no work and university) but im back on the grind very busy!!

Going to try and respond to what everyone said.

As of now tested

Phosphates - probably not zero the water has a small hint of blue but not as blue as the 0.25 so its probably a little above 0 
Calcium 380
Alk 5.6

What ive noticed is i basicly cant increase the levels unless i water change.. so im getting on that until the BRS solution come in as i heard its alot more effective.

Been dosing the kent marine tech cb part B to get it up but from what the reviews are saying its more of a maintain levels as oppose to raising them.

ive had the LEDS for maybe 2 months with no problems before getting them.. i started them low and turned it higher (still not at 100%) , as related to the cool whites causing algae .. there 4CW , 4NW , 2 Blues and 14 RB

Will look into the GFO or Rowaphos ! it just seems weird that my tank has been able to be perfectly fine with its current filtration but now all of a sudden there is a problem? thats why im leaning to the dead fish causing it since its only 30 Gallons (considerable less after you take in consideration , rock , sand and media)

Also noticed my skimmer pulling alot of crap in lately..

Going to keep up with the water changes and hopefully i can get it a little better , the algae itself seems to be getting better in my opinion but the corals not so much. 

ive been feeding it the brine shrimp like that for a long time with no ill effects its a very small portion of that cube but i can try to soak it and use just the shrimp and avoid that other crap.

ill keep you guys all updated , also i will test my other levels tomorrow !

Also noted that ive changed all my filter media so the filter floss , chemipure bag and purigen are all new .

THANKS EVERYONE FOR THE HELP THUS FAR!!


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## jamie1985 (Oct 11, 2012)

Hey I have a simar issue with the same tank right now as well. I recently noticed increased algae (on rocks and glass) and my corals were not opening up very much. My nitrates are pretty high though (60+ ppm) which is probably the source of the problem. Anyways where I am going with this is almost two weeks ago I statted using a gfo reactor with 50/50 gfo and carbon and I have already noticed a huge difference in algae. The glass is so much cleaner and I flipped over some of the rocks with algae (to kill it off) and it hasnt gotten any new algae on them. My corals are also starting to open up again. To battle the nitrates even further I am getting an aquatic life 115 skimmer as well...

Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk


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## 50seven (Feb 14, 2010)

Rocks and sand have a great ability to absorb phosphates and nitrates. Once they reach the maximum level of absorption, suddenly there is nothing left in the tank to buffer it, and you normally will get an algae bloom. If you don't deal with it, then it will just feed itself on the nutrients that it produces as the old stuff dies.

From my experience, you have to deal with 3 things: 
-the excess nutrients (phosphate & nitrate) produced by your existing corals/fish from feeding/pooping
-the excess nutrients created by the algae going through it's life cycles
-the nutrients leaching back into the water from your LR/sand.

For a small tank, you should be able to deal with it in a month or so by good WC's and the addition of some kind of phosphate remover such as Phosban and carbon; both ideally run in a reactor. This assumes that you also already have a skimmer.

For a larger tank, you need to purchase nuclear weapons. 

Read all about my battle and how I have been finally having success:

50seven's 35G Ocean Oasis, page 13

Though I would suggest with a small tank volume, you may find better results than I did from using GFO, etc. Also personally I would steer clear of Rowaphos. It's supposed to be a good product, but I found that it also loaded my system with high levels of iron; the main problem from that being unsightly orange scum on all my equipment. I'm sticking with Seachem Phosguard because it doesn't do that.


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## Luiiizy (Aug 11, 2012)

Right now I'm using phosban in my media basket as well as with water changes and the algae seems to be getting better and the water is less cloudy

Corals seem to still be retracted 

My calcium is up to 420 and finally getting my alkalinity to 7.2 , still gonna raise it some more hopefully the corals come back 

Ph is at 8.2 and all other levels like ammonia , nitrite and nitrate are at 0

I will keep you guys posted , thanks for all the help thus far

Also reduced the amount of feelings because right now I don't want to provide nutrients to the algae hopefully those remaining bastards die off soon !


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## 50seven (Feb 14, 2010)

Luiiizy said:


> Also reduced the amount of feelings ...


Do you need professional counselling?


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## Steel_Wind (Oct 26, 2013)

At the risk of opening a hornet's nest = how sure are you on your test kit's accuracy? 

Bad test results and much higher phosphates than you realize might explain much of this.


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## Luiiizy (Aug 11, 2012)

50seven said:


> Do you need professional counselling?


Ahahaha damn you iPhone !! *feedings ahaha

And well I'm guessing there accurate most of them are new the phosphates level at one point of testing were showing to be 0.25 , since putting phosban they've been 0 so we shall see.

If the problem persist I'm going to get salifert kits since my kits now are a mismatch of different brands but they all seem to be working


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## Luiiizy (Aug 11, 2012)

alright so big update

The water is no longer cloudy! well wouldn't say crystal clear but its close to there.

all my levels are testing fine! the calcium is up to 420 and the alk is about 9 dkh.

The goniopora has not opened up , GSP is open , torch coral is still retracted and sadly the hammer coral is retracted (4-5 heads seem to be completely gone  )

the algae seems to be going away and i will post pictures tomorrow!! as only my blues are on at the moment so that isnt camera friendly ahah

thanks for all the help thus far guys!


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## 50seven (Feb 14, 2010)

Good to hear!


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## Luiiizy (Aug 11, 2012)

alright here it is! doesnt look like much  but i can assure you its 100% improved from what it was poor coral tho  ive been waiting to add more live rock but i think im gonna be a little more patience i dont want to throw anything off right now !










VOILA!

so for anyone that has these same problems mainly what i did

- added Phosban (removed phosphates BIG HELP)
- doubled my water changes (now im back to once a week)
- dosed to get my calc/alk back to normal

so far everything is looking good


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