Please help!!

[Ashv5]

So its been around 2 months with my 40gallon bowfront reef tank. I have some questions about the equipment and water quality.

1. I have a cpr bak pak protein skimmer and it is producing tons of bubbles in the chamber but the collection cup is not foaming. I tried to move it up and down multiple times and I know for sure that it has broke in. The collection cup fills in slowly and every morning I check, it has some gunk collected but i see no bubbles. Can anyone guide me to adjust it? I have the acella pump.

2. I have a diatom outbreak in my sand and glass and i always clean it up using the magnetic algae scraper but it has got me nowhere. The water is crystal clear and my live rock has bright green algae on it. It's not hair algae for sure. Can someone tell me what this is and how to stop it? I have tiny specks of coraline growing here and there on my LR. I purchased the rock dry.

Here is a pic of my water tests.
Carbonate hardness- 7
Calcium- 480
Nitrate- 0
Phosphate- I really cannot match the color but it's either between 0.25 and 0.5ppm

3. I have the coralife 4 bulb t5 fixture for 30in long tanks. It has been doing really well with a mixture of actnic lights and white. I have this on for 10 hours a day. Is this light sufficient? It seems extremely powerful and my zoas really like it but they seem to strecth a bit. I have an extremely low stocking with only 2 clowns and about 7 snails.

*ALL THE WATER I USE IS RODI/DISTILLED AND PURCHASED FROM A STORE. FOR TOP OFFS, I USE BRITA FILTERED WATER (0 phosphate, 0 nitrate)

 

[Fudsey]

Does the green color come off the rock if you kinda scrub it with a tooth brush?

And welcome to R2R ! ! !

 

[MTBake]

Your tank looks good to me. Just going through some new tank stages.

My dry rock started with that same green algae you have now. It should get covered by more life as your tank matures. This will take time for sure. Couple months at least.

Same goes for the diatoms. They will also dissipate with time.

My advice is to keep doing what you're doing. Let the tank mature for a while. More snails wouldn't hurt either. I like astrea snails for diatoms.

 

[aquanicssd]

Phosphates (to me) seem high. I've almost never had a phosphates problem (using the same test kit), but I've always done weekly water changes or upgraded to using a refugium with chaeto. Just my two cents, will try to add more unless someone else chimes in.

 

[aquanicssd]

I do agree with other though, it is still a bit new.

 

[Fudsey]

If the green on the rock doesn't come off with a tooth brush it, more than likely, is the start of coralline.

 

[Ashv5]

WOW! I didn't expect for replies this fast! Thanks guys! Anyway, i tried scrubbing the green algae off with my nail but nothing happened. Its firmly on the rock. I hope everything goes well! By the way, are my lights good? and how do i make my zoanthids spread across my LR?

 

[MTBake]

Your lights should be fine for lower light corals. Zoanthids, mushrooms and other soft coral will do well. Some easier lps corals should also do well with that light also. I like duncan coral for beginners. Pretty much bulletproof stuff. And the zoanthids will start to spread once they get used to your tank.

 

[Ashv5]

Thanks. Does anyone use cpr-bak pak skimmer? That's one of the pieces of equipment i'm having a lot of trouble with.

 

[MTBake]

Sorry, I don't have experience with that skimmer. I use an Octopus. I forget the model, I think it's BH-2000? Had it for over 6 years now and it works fantastic. Sorry I can't help with yours. Here's a pic after emptying mine 2.5 hrs ago, maybe it'll help...

 

[Jeepguy242]

Your bio load is low the skimmer won’t skim much

 

[MTBake]

And one more thing, invest in a ro/di unit. It will pay for itself quickly. I struggled badly in my first 3 years or so until I got one. Even if you're in an apartment, a unit can be setup so it's not permanent or intrusive.

 

[Ashv5]

Thanks. Yeah my skimmer is not skimming anything like the reef octopus. Your probably right about the bioload its way too low.

 

[Ashv5]

Do you guys prefer to use the white light or blue actnics?

 

[MTBake]

My Kessils are set at 50% as far as color. I think that is around 16k if I remember right. I have 2 Kessil 360w. I also use 2 ati coral plus t5s for supplemental light. I have a 40 breeder.

 

[Ashv5]

Yeah, i cannot control the amount of light with my fixture. I used to have box leds but they fell in the water and died. Aren't kessils extremely expensive? They are amazing lights as far as I know.

 

[MTBake]

The color is pretty much user preference. I like a middle of the road kinda color.

 

[jimo12]

try to be patient, look in the idea of making a sump underneath your tank with an overflow box and a proper skimmer if changed 3 hob skimmers and never had success until i made my sump and got myself a proper skimmer. i think you should try some ricordia that are easy zoanthoes are tricky and dangerous, maybe later

 

[aquanicssd]

I've had good success with the tunze, but that's more equipment in the tank

 

[Ashv5]

Yeah, i do want to set up a sump. Are they extremely noisy? I want to add a refugium with chaeto too. How much would it cost?