Getting overwhelmed with problems and maintenance

[merkmerk73]

My tank is about 7 months old now.

I change about 25 gallons of my 120g every week, so my parameters are great (other than my dKH is a little low around 7)

I've been through most of the newbie stuff like some dinos that popped up, and a cyano outbreak, and the first round of GHA

But right now I have massive algae and GHA all over my fuge - which is propagating to the DT, again.

I have a big lump of chaeto, but the light just grows algae all over the sump (WHY are these fuge sections clear???) - to the point where I'm using a shop vac to drain the whole sump and scrub it all clean.

It's starting to beat me down and I don't know when it's ever going to get more stable to the point of where my water changes and glass cleaning is enough.


I'm sure that I'm overfeeding, but my PO4 and Nitrates are very low....so it's probably just algae consuming everything.

Corals and fish are happy. Any tips?

 

[twelvefive]

Can you post pics of tank under whites?

 

[exnisstech]

Your 7 months in and I hate to say it but your probably a long way off from just doing water changes and cleaning glass. I'm 7 years in on one tank and still waiting for that day
I don't even worry about algae in the sump. I also don't worry about keeping the sump clean.

 

[old salt reefer]

Stable= about 2 years depending on your rock( I will never use just CarbiSea life rock again, it has no porosity).
algae= urchins and lots of turbo snails. I have very little to no algae in any of my tanks.
This is what works for me.

It takes time, but it does get better.

 

[GARRIGA]

Could place black acrylic or PVC around the Fuge area and extend those sheets high enough to block the light including lowering that light. Seems light spillage your main issue in the sump. GHA just more efficient at growing with less trace available. Latter might be to low to the chaeto’s needs. Iron and manganese often quoted as needing to be supplemented.

As for Fuge competing with main the light might be too weak. I’m experimenting with an xr15 and the turf algae is pearling because at full integrity and spectrum the algae is likely on maximum photosynthesis and might be what’s needed to outcompete the display lights. BRS did a test on this and confirmed that theory.

It’s all a balancing act and macroalgae no different than corals. Needs a certain light intensity and minor plus trace. Also needs co2 which some systems might be lacking because lack of fish.

 

[CasperOe]

Stable= about 2 years dependyuping on your rock( I will never use just CarbiSea life rock again, it has no porosity).
algae= urchins and lots of turbo snails. I have very little to no algae in any of my tanks.
This is what works for me.

It takes time, but it does get better.

Yup, the urchins are a great addition! I added a seahare also, does a brilliant job in my small tank with lots of algae..

For the fuge, i have acually changed the glass baffles in mine with black acrylic in stead! Works a treat! Also found a light source that has no spread out of where i want it..

 

[Rusty_L_Shackleford]

Stable= about 2 years depending on your rock( I will never use just CarbiSea life rock again, it has no porosity).
algae= urchins and lots of turbo snails. I have very little to no algae in any of my tanks.
This is what works for me.

It takes time, but it does get better.

Rock is the big one. It's all that microflora and fauna that drives the whole ecosystem. If you take a bunch of bare dry rock and start supplying it with nutrients and light...SOMETHING us going to fill the void. And it's probably going to be the nuisance algae because of how prolific it is. If you have other more beneficial stuff that can gain a solid foothold first then you're in a wayyy better position. Ime dry rock and bottle bacteria leads to lots of algae problems. I started with mostly dry rock, but I added some good live rock from a few different sources. Just picked up a couple of pounds here and there and added it to my dry rock. Then i waited. I fed the tank a bit and kept the lights off. Until i could see life starting ro proliferate. Pods, feather dusters, etc. Then I added fish and kept the lights running very minimally, at 5% for just a few hours a day. Then I slowly increased the photo period until I was at full hours and then slowly increased the intensity. Tank is 5 months old now, coralline everwherywhere and fully stocked with frags. I've had no ugly stage and 0 algae issues.

As far as as your current issues, I don't know what you have in there but do you have the ability to black out the tank? Also maybe take stuff out and spray it with peroxide? Peroxide will nuke hair algae. I use it when some comes in on a frag. Just dropper some peroxide on it wait 10 sec and rinse with tank water and plop back in. I even use it for hair algae if a spot pops up. If I spy a clump, just use turn off the pumps, squirter a couple ccs into the base wait a few min and turn pumps back on. It's gone the next day. But you're Def going to need herbivores and nutrient control for the long term. Mexican turbos and urchins. Do you have a fish that can help? Tang, foxfire, rabbit fish, etc?

 

[merkmerk73]

I can black out the fuge but last time I did that, a week went by and it barely affected the GHA. Not quite the apocalypse I was hoping for.

I've used a sea hare to clear up major GHA before, and I'm doing so again, but the most frustrating thing is how ridiculous my whole sump has gotten due to light from the fuge light - the little 3d printed blockers I have barely do anything - sadly

I'm going to adjust my lights again to do a shorter peak photo period with whites and then lower into blues and I'm going to reduce the intensity/duration in my fuge as well because the chaeto may be growing but my GHA is exploding there. The amphipods love it, at least.

I have some turbos and other CUC including a Tang but my Tang is a lazy butt who doesn't even nip at the ulna that showed up again (Algaebarn needs to warn people about sea lettuce.)

 

[Reefbeast]

I might be wrong here but if you have a ton of GHA in the sump shouldn't it be eating up all the nutrients in the water? If it is then all you need to do is scrub it off your rocks in the main display and get a good CUC to take care of the rest of it. I would not clean out the sump!! If you do ill bet the GHA in your display will get worse..

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

I might be wrong here but if you have a ton of GHA in the sump shouldn't it be eating up all the nutrients in the water? If it is then all you need to do is scrub it off your rocks in the main display and get a good CUC to take care of the rest of it. I would not clean out the sump!! If you do ill bet the GHA in your display will get worse..

I agree that the gha is doing the job that chaeto or caulerpa usually does. You still need to remove some as it grows in order to actually remove the nutrients from the system (or 8fvtge algae dies, it will dump the nitrate/phosphate back into the tank), but don't remove it all.

What specific sump/fuge light are you using? I use a cheap aluminum clamp light ("shop light") and it only lights my fuge chamber directly. Maybe you need a different light source for the fuge?

 

[marinesnow]

How many fish do you have? How often do you feed?

I heavily stock my tanks, and I'm a believer of high-in-high-out nutrient import/export. Adding a filter roller was a game changer for me, the amount of food and detritus that gets pulled was eye opening.