New Tank Syndrome Blues. Someone please help me.

[phildoingthings]

Hello all.

I am about 3 years into this hobby. Started with a 20gal Aqueon I got off Craigslist, and last September upgraded to a brand new RSR 250. I decided to start it with dry rock so I could glue my scape together and make what I wanted opposed to the much more expensive live rock option. Now it being February I have a few problems….
The tank cycled with no issues. I have my original 3 tank members from the start of this hobby still going strong (2 clowns and bangai cardi), as well as some random inverts. However my algae is completely out of control. It seems that almost overnight my scape is completely covered in algae and I want to quit the hobby. I blow down the rocks every day and sift out the debris with a net as best I can. I even scrubbed the few rocks that I have that aren’t glued together in a 5 gallon bucket last water change (Sunday) but already the film of algae is returning.

I had a beautiful purple tang that was added about 3 weeks ago who caught Ich, and I put him into QT with copper immediately and he only made it about 5 days in there until he had a random seizure when I went to feed him and he died overnight. I assume he caught ich from the stress of me blowing down the rocks and scrubbing every day but again I could be wrong I’ve never had a fish get Ich before.

I guess my issue is why why why will the algae not stay at bay? Maybe I have misdiagnosed what kind of algae it is? Do I not have enough good bacteria established to fight it? I also have a few small pieces of coral that have been doing well, and an anemone that is thriving so I don’t think it’s a water quality issue.

I just want this to stop and I’m about ready to just bust the tank down and sell it. I’ve had it at this point and I just want help from someone who knows more than I.

Parameter are all in proper range, temp constant 77.5-78 °F, Salinity 1.024-1.025

running only 2 AI Prime 16HD’s (underpowered for my tank size apparently)
And I run 2 MP40s on the back walls next to the overflow at about 10-20% speed(variable)


Please. Help.

 

[phildoingthings]

This is the tank as of today…obviously Dino’s have almost entirely subsided (gonna give props to the UV on that one) and there’s just really hair algae to worry about now..I’m not even scraping my glass anymore there’s no new algae growth and I can even see some coralline growing on the back glass as well as some purple spots coming on the LR.

I added a few members to my CUC so right now the tank has:

10 blue leg hermit

15 astrea snails

2 emerald crab

8 nassarius

7 red legs

12 cerith

5 Trochus

 

[I never finish anythi]

While people have success with UV keep in mind it will kill off some good bacteria also. Certain dinos enter the water column at night and if you have that type and run UV at night only you will be successful. Other dinos just go into the sand overnight so UV does not help with those. Stay the course with the corrections you made you will get there. Overstock Tigger pods they will munch away on sand dinos

So the Dino's that go in the sand at night ? What happens to the Dino's if you remove all the sand ??

 

[Lavey29]

So the Dino's that go in the sand at night ? What happens to the Dino's if you remove all the sand ??

I speculate that most of your visual problem goes away however it does not correct the original source that caused your dino problem to begin with.

Also keep in mind that there is a lot of good bacteria in sand too.

 

[greeno1645]

Hey. Tank has been up for 5 months. I don’t know what you mean by strain it but I put the frozen food in a shot glass with tank water until it’s defrosted and then just dump it in…however now that the tank is running fallow I feed 1/4 teaspoon of mixed pellets 3x a week for the inverts. I am also going to be switching to mainly pellets for regular feeding and using the frozen only as a treat in the future. The lights were turned down to only on for 6 hours but since the UV sterilizer was installed it seems that all the nusance algae has been eliminated and now I’m just dealing with some hair algae. I did not add copipods….I wanted to wait to add them u til the tank is no longer fallow. I also don’t have a fuge in my sump (not enough space in the Red Sea Sump especially with the reef mat in there) I have to say a lot of the nasty algae has subsided since adding the UV. Like almost entirely.

When I defrost frozen brine, for that matter, any frozen food, I do it in a glass of RO water, then pour it through a fine mesh net, dumping the RO water down the sink rather than pouring it into the tank

I don’t feel confident that the liquid that is frozen with the brine shrimp is all that safe for a small tank (I have a 30 gal), and at the very least, it adds nutrients that might effect algae blooms.

I’m trying to learn strategies for new set ups- hope you don’t mind my inq

My 30 gal tank is new, just 5 weeks, I used live sand, and I added copis the 3rd week as soon as I saw color from algae

I have green algae on the rocks, but nothing hairy or seemingly out of control, and nothing in the sand.

I think the copis had a lot to do with controlling growth in the sand- the population has grown incredibly.

Snails and hermits seem to keep the rocks in check.

With your tank, how quickly did the nuisance algae go from ‘not a problem’ to ‘problem’?

Was your clean up crew just overwhelmed?

 

[phildoingthings]

When I defrost frozen brine, for that matter, any frozen food, I do it in a glass of RO water, then pour it through a fine mesh net, dumping the RO water down the sink rather than pouring it into the tank

I don’t feel confident that the liquid that is frozen with the brine shrimp is all that safe for a small tank (I have a 30 gal), and at the very least, it adds nutrients that might effect algae blooms.

I’m trying to learn strategies for new set ups- hope you don’t mind my inq

My 30 gal tank is new, just 5 weeks, I used live sand, and I added copis the 3rd week as soon as I saw color from algae

I have green algae on the rocks, but nothing hairy or seemingly out of control, and nothing in the sand.

I think the copis had a lot to do with controlling growth in the sand- the population has grown incredibly.

Snails and hermits seem to keep the rocks in check.

With your tank, how quickly did the nuisance algae go from ‘not a problem’ to ‘problem’?

Was your clean up crew just overwhelmed?

I appreciate all info so thank you for sharing.

Honestly it became a problem about a month after turning the lights on...and from what i understand 2 AI Prime HDs is way underpowered for the Reefer 250. Maybe the CUC was too small but Im a believer in the start small and add more as needed method.

 

[phildoingthings]

Quick Update…..
Attached are photos of the tank now after having the UV set up. I went away for a week and a half so I had my girlfriend holding it down in the meantime. Seems like the nasty Dino’s went away from the UV…still have some green hair algae but I am slowly picking away at manual removal. Haven’t done a water change in 3 weeks and Params are ok….will be doing a water change and test tomorrow with a Red Sea test kit. Definitely a lot of coraline growth especially on the back glass.