Frustration (1 Viewer)

[aggie4231]

Things just kept frustrating me. Its either Hair algae, cyano, heat issues, m. digitata not doing good, etc.

I dont know what to do. I have a skimmer, phosban, feed as little as possible, low watt powerheads. All, levels check out. I just can't figure anything out.

I almost feel like I need to take a break from reefing. I don't spend as much time as I used too just watching the tank. The only thing that says to keep trying is the amount of money I have invested in the tank. I just can't afford to quit. I could barely afford to take a break and switch to freshwater.

 

[AquaNerd]

do you have a sump/refugium with some macroalgae...maybe your nitrate is high? do you test your water?

 

[aggie4231]

I test my water. I have never had high nitrates. I only feed a little flake each day. My macro died off.

I'm not a newbie, so this is really frustrating.

I just wonder if my sand bed has been exhausted or something. I do get a lot of sand movement upfront, and that is were the cyano is.

I wonder if it might be time for an overhaul.

 

[AquaNerd]

how long have you had your sandbed and how deep is it?

 

[aggie4231]

current since Sept. Mostly ~2". Where sand is moved my tank inhabitants moved sand or flow moves it, max 4".

Ive had help from several folks.

I got rid of most of the hair algae by taking out the rock that it was on. The only spot is on my black sun coral, where the tissue has recided.

 

[scottk]

Water changes?
Water movement? How much X the tank volume is the total flow?
Too much/too little light?
How high is the temp getting?

:?

 

[aggie4231]

1/3 every month. 2150 gph in a 58. 195 watts of T5, same lighting Ive had since MAcna.

I really didn't mean for this thread to turn into a help me out. I have asked a couple of reefers and a LFS who has been doing this for around 10 years. We have gone through everything.

 

[AggieBrandon]

Have you checked the flake food you are using for phosphate? Most flake food adds phosphate to your tank. You might not get a positive test result for it due to the algae etc consuming it before it's high enough to register on a test. I always hated when stuff like that happens. I know there were a few times where I would move a coral just a bit and it would start to rtn on me. That always sucked

good luck and hope you solve your problems

 

[rxonco]

I'm almost totally convinced that cyano, hair algae, etc... can have almost cyclical outbreaks for seemingly no reason at all.
I usually have an outbreak of cyano about once or twice a year. Nothing in the tank changes, but I'll still have the outbreak. I'll fight it for a few weeks, and then it slowly goes away.
My only recommendation would be to keep up what you're doing and wait it out.

 

[CBBSteve]

Things just kept frustrating me. Its either Hair algae, cyano, heat issues, m. digitata not doing good, etc.

Hi, Justin.
I hear your frustration, it almost seems like you can't enjoy your hobby because of all the "stuff" going on with it. I've been in that place too.

I always thought I had so many things wrong with my tank that it would never be good enough. Then I finally decided the best way for me was to pick my single worst problem and attack it with all my energy. In my case it was a valonia outbreak. That's the only thing I concentrated on and I quit worrying about ineffective flow, micro bubbles, VHO vs T5, corals, aquascape, etc...

Now I've got the valonia sorta under control and all of a sudden, it seems like my tank is looking ok.

You might want to give some thought to that approach.

Good luck,
Steve

 

[AquaNerd]

there are things you can buy that kill that algae. there's a little bottle of powder called red slime remover or something like that. might kill any other algae in your tank though. if you don't want to go that way...try a populated refugium with a macroalgae.

 

[aggie4231]

there are things you can buy that kill that algae. there's a little bottle of powder called red slime remover or something like that. might kill any other algae in your tank though. if you don't want to go that way...try a populated refugium with a macroalgae.

Not being mean. But I'm not new to the hobby. I used spend all my non-working hours at Fish Gallery. I know my stuff.

 

[AquaNerd]

sorry...didn't realize. i guess when i post i forget who i'm posting to. i guess i should have paid more attention.

 

[aggie4231]

thats ok. Ive done it before.

 

[Guest]

well, whether this helps you or not, I don't know, but it's helped me deal with less than prisine conditions.

We all want our reefs to be picture perfect, all the time. When in fact, they don't represent a real reef at all. Real reefs have plenty of algae. So when I'm at my wits end with cyano, or the like, I try to sit back and realize that it's all part of the natural way this stuff goes.

Then again, it's still ugly as all get out, and I hate looking at red sand....

FWIW, in my smaller tank, my cyano ~seemed~ to start going away when I raised the PH a little. May not have had anything to do with it whatsoever, but it was there for months as I tried everything else....

 

[tvu]

Phosphates, phosphates, phosphates. Something is introducing phos in your tank.
My old tank had a case of red slime once. I found out it was my flake food.
Red Slime Remover works well for a quick fix but it does kill bacteria so good bacteria may be affected but overall my tank recovered no problem in the past.

Good luck. I can see you are extremely frustrated. Don't fret, something can be done about it. There are more things in this world to be concerned about.

Best,
thuy

 

[crvz]

Hey Justin, sorry to hear about your troubles. I was there about 2 years ago, I suppose. LOTS of algae growing. I had the same size tank you had. I did just about everything I could think of to figure out the problem, but I didnt have sustained success until I kind of shifted paradigms. I removed my sandbed and left the rocks in a tub for a while (~4 months), and seriously increased flow (i went from about 20x to near 100x, which was ludicrous and unnecessary). I don't know that I'd try to convince someone to do the same, but it worked out well for me. Good luck, let me know if you want any advice.

 

[Guest]

Hello,

I'm for the above thread, when I was getting into the hobby I ask a lot of questions, and this one reefer told me who has been doing this for thirty years and even had his own fish store, there is no right way or wrong way to bring the ocean to our living rooms. In the broad oceans to be. its survival of the hungriest. And even fishcraze with most beautiful tank I've ever seen has talked about problems to. Boy do we ever like that commercial, (SET IT AND FORGET IT). well not in this hobby. Just remember when we buy a new sports car, if we don't continue to maintain it, it will fail and we will loose interest in it.
Hope that helps


Lloyd, mobile#832-381-7008

 

[aggie4231]

I've wanted to do a mixed tank with some seagrass. Being in Port A, I can get a couple types really easy. To do it, I might have to take out part of my sand bed and add some sugar size sand, and redo the aquascape. I know that this will disrupte everything. I can take my monti's to the LFS here and have hime hold them.

I just cant decide which side to place anything on. If I do seagrass on the Left, I'll see powerheads on the left side too. This side is the first thing you see when walking into the house. I guess, I'd rather see this than a wall of rock.