Dark Brown,maybe Alage,whio Knows

[mbu man]

hi,ive posted a few times on here now,about various things to do with my marine aquarium.
i think this is about the fith or sixth time now that im back asking the same thing
ive had my tank up and running for about 4 years now
everythings going great, marine life is growing and fish are doing fine aswell
i had an issue about a 2 years ago,one day tank was nice and bright,the next day as the lights came on,everything was nice and white,purple......
within a few hours their was brown (algae) all over my substrate and over some of my rocks!
lights go off,it goes away,same thing the next day and so on.........
18 months of doing serious gravel and water changes,it will not shift
everyone i talk to in fish shops and friends all seam to have no idea why or what (neither do i)
was told not to do anything to tank till it goes,so i did,and it went (at last)
my lfs shop said to me that if it has gone for a while that i should be ok doing water changes again, but i didnt as i didnt want to go through all that again!!!
noticed that my leathers seamed to be shrinking very slighty,so a trip to my lfs said check kh, i did it was low around 6 drops,was told it should be around 11 drops, so i raised it slowley over few months....
yep its back again!!!!!
gave that idea up!!

ive left my tank now for 5 weeks of having this poxy brown what ever it is
now its just starting to go away again,at last!!!!
what the hell do i do? i need to do water changes but as soon as i do it comes back with a vengance!!
any help would be great and if neeed more info then please ask!!
really dont know what to do!

 

[mbu man]

anybody???

 

[seffieuk]

Sounds like diatoms and cyano to me. Can you post:

Water stats:

Nitrate and phosphate in particular

Light cycle time
Feeding routine and amount
How much live rock
How much flow
how much water do you have in the tank
are you running a phosphate remover or when was it changed
are you running a nitrate remover or when was it changed
are you running a skimmer
do you have any filter sponges in the tank
Lighting, when were the tubes changed and what are they

so many questions, but to help you we need to know the answers

Seffie x

 

[mbu man]

hi
water stats will do,not 100% what they are today,im off out in a bit.but.....
lights come on at 3pm and go off at 11pm
fed 2 cubes of frozen food every other day or every third day
i have 2 external filters fluval 405`s,2 i beleive they are 2000 lph power heads, and 1 900 lph
live rock,erm theirs loads of it exact amount i cant remember,my lfs advised me on the amount when i first go the tank
tank was a 300 litre,but i would say more now 230-250 litres,cause of live rock
i always use rowaphos,i try to change it every month
v 600 skimmer,wet skimming change the cup at least once a week
tubes were changed about 2 months ago they are t5 atnic 54w,4 of them,ive changed these 3 times since i started to have this issue as i thought that it would be the lights
i used to run nitrate removing sponges but i dont any more as ive had it b4 during and after using them
filter sponges,no none in my external filters,just live rock rubble.
thanx!

 

[seffieuk]

hi
water stats will do,not 100% what they are today,im off out in a bit.but.....

Ok, post them when you have done the tests

lights come on at 3pm and go off at 11pm

That light cycle is fine

fed 2 cubes of frozen food every other day or every third day

Do you defrost on kitchen paper or rinse the food?

i have 2 external filters fluval 405`s,2 i beleive they are 2000 lph power heads, and 1 900 lph

For a tank your size you need at least 5000 lph flow - this will be one reason you have cyano, you havent got enough flow through your live rock

live rock,erm theirs loads of it exact amount i cant remember,my lfs advised me on the amount when i first go the tank

Can I see a photo please - could you have too much?

tank was a 300 litre,but i would say more now 230-250 litres,cause of live rock

Ok

i always use rowaphos,i try to change it every month

Ok

v 600 skimmer,wet skimming change the cup at least once a week

is it on 24/7?

tubes were changed about 2 months ago they are t5 atnic 54w,4 of them,ive changed these 3 times since i started to have this issue as i thought that it would be the lights.

They will nedd changing approx every six months, so its not the lights

i used to run nitrate removing sponges but i dont any more as ive had it b4 during and after using them

Lets get your results first - then it might be a good idea to buy some purigen and put in your external

filter sponges,no none in my external filters,just live rock rubble.

do you clean out the live rock in your filter?
thanx!

What is your stocking?

Seffie x

 

[Morri]

Are you using RO when changing your water if so are you buying it or making it check the TDS of the water you are adding also test for phosphates in the fresh water you are adding.

 

[mbu man]

hi
water stats will do,not 100% what they are today,im off out in a bit.but.....

Ok, post them when you have done the tests

lights come on at 3pm and go off at 11pm

That light cycle is fine

fed 2 cubes of frozen food every other day or every third day

Do you defrost on kitchen paper or rinse the food? i just drop the frozen cube onto one of my powerheads
i have 2 external filters fluval 405`s,2 i beleive they are 2000 lph power heads, and 1 900 lph

For a tank your size you need at least 5000 lph flow - this will be one reason you have cyano, you havent got enough flow through your live rock the 2 external filters are 1300 lph each plus 2 powerheads that are about 2000 lph and a small one thats 900 lph, i make that 6200 lph??

live rock,erm theirs loads of it exact amount i cant remember,my lfs advised me on the amount when i first go the tank

Can I see a photo please - could you have too much?

tank was a 300 litre,but i would say more now 230-250 litres,cause of live rock

Ok

i always use rowaphos,i try to change it every month

Ok

v 600 skimmer,wet skimming change the cup at least once a week

is it on 24/7?yep 24 hours a day

tubes were changed about 2 months ago they are t5 atnic 54w,4 of them,ive changed these 3 times since i started to have this issue as i thought that it would be the lights.

They will nedd changing approx every six months, so its not the lights

i used to run nitrate removing sponges but i dont any more as ive had it b4 during and after using them

Lets get your results first - then it might be a good idea to buy some purigen and put in your external

filter sponges,no none in my external filters,just live rock rubble.

do you clean out the live rock in your filter?i do yes but not that often
thanx!

What is your stocking? 5 chromis,3 tangs, 2 blennies, 1 goby, boxing shrimp and about 10 hermit crabs

Seffie x

 

[seffieuk]

Right, so your tank is about 54 gallons?

Do you have the test results?

The frozen food needs to be rinsed, the water it contains is full of phoshates

Where are the internal powerheads placed? The externals don't really help much with the flow around the live rocks

You are also over stocked - are the tangs juvies? They really should have a tank of 75 gallons even for the smallest of tangs? So unless you are planning on upgrading soon it looks like you will have to rehome them

As Morri said, where do you get your water from and have you tested it?

You haven't mentioned having any snails or conch?

so my plan would be:

• Get some mexican turbo snails and some sand sifting snails like Vibex or maybe even an orange lipped conch.
• start rinsing the frozen food
• test the water before putting in the tank with a TDS meter
• rehome the tangs
• too many hermits for the size of tank - consider rehoming four or five
• post tank stats on here
• post how often you do a water cahnge and how much water you change
• change the position of powerheads and increase flow

hope that helps

Seffie x