Help is needed

Hi Gavin. I read through all the responses. Like some have said, excess nutrients are a main culprit but there are others such as leaching from substrate and/or rock. You have two distinct problems, algae and bacteria. Chemi-Clean or Red Slime Remover are safe when directions are followed and absolutely work. A phosphate reactor is, in my opinion, essential. Make sure to use GFO (Granulated Ferric Oxide) as the medium, not Aluminum. Stop all the water changes or you will disrupt the whole system. If you don't mind a little Green plant in the tank, I would recommend some Halameda to suck up the unwanted nutrients. I would also recommend a small bottle of Prime and use as directed.

 

When should I resume regular water changes and how often? I was doing them every 3 weeks when doing 10% changes.

Can I use a protein skimmer and put phosphate media in it? I checked for phosphate reactors and they all seem relatively bulky and i dont know if they will fit a 14 gallon tank...

 

I wouldn't put media in a skimmer unless it has a media compartment like a Deltec MCE600 etc. Skimmers aren't like filters, meant to store carbon, etc in.

You can easily hang a phosban 150 reactor off the back of the tank or in your sump (if you had one) coupled with a maxijet 400 pump: Phosban Reactor

I would use something like Rowaphos in it & dial the valve to get the media "boiling" on the surface.

 

Like mentioned, not unless the skimmer is designed for it. I use this reactor;
ViaAqua Poly-Reactor (Multi-Media Reactor) It comes with a pump. I recently started running both carbon and GFO. You can buy an extra divider and sponge to keep the 2 media seperate. You would simply cut out a notch for hanging it and for the tubes. Cut openings in the hood, not the aquarium frame. I didn't catch the 3 week water change of 10%. I have the 14 gal. bio and I do 3 week changes of 25%. The small volume of water warrants a larger change, even 30%. I thought you were changing water more frequently to try and combat algae.

 

What I did the last bad outbreak was slime remover, lights out for three days (towels over tank for complete darkness), slurp up as much slime with water change, then started using RODI water. That didn't become noticeable until about a month, month and a half later because of the water still in that wasn't high quality. Blasting water current at it will help, but it might just form somewhere else since it was moved.

Remember, when changing water out, the excess nutrients are only being removed proportionally to the water change. If you do 50%, only half is gone, another 50%, 25% is gone, etc. Results take a bit, at least what I've seen myself. Hope this helps.

 

which is why i said HALF the time..

 

Well, maybe.....if you happen to catch a lot of the nutrients in the column of water you change then maybe. The usual case is that you are diluting, not removing.

 

Well chances are whatever you tested (water column) you are proportionally removing those from where you're siphoning (water column) right?

 

If I understand you correctly, yes.