Help with established tank! Pics included!

Hiya People,

I have had my tank for about 2 years now and i never really got it to the level i wanted,

River and reef system 94ltr it holds:

1 x Royal Gramma

1 X Percula Clown

1 X Yellow tail blue damsel

1 x Emerald crab

But my main problem is algae! the purple slime and hair algae! its driving me nuts its making my tank look like a Armageddon aftermath!

Ive tried a quarter water change but the slime just keeps coming...

should i do a water change 3 parts water of the tank?? hmm lost my wording there but i hope you know what i mean!

any advice welcome!

also will a protein skimmer help me get rid of this sort of problem?

 

A protein skimmer will definitely help reduce phosphates and nitrates. Have you checked your nitrates and phosphate parameters? That is almost always the cause of algae problems. A simple water change definitely helps, but won't resolve the problem overnight. You will need to do multiple water changes until your nitrates and phosphates are down (I would aim under 20 nitrates) and under .1 ppm phosphates for a softy tank.

I would also do lights out for 3 days after you get your parameters in check. This usually helps a lot with cynobacteria outbreaks.

 

You could try to increase water flow.

 

What kind of water do you use for water changes?

 

Lighting and age of bulbs please? Older bulbs can be a big contributor to this.

I think addition of a decent power head within the display would go a long ways in assist your battle as well. Look to the medium Koralia Evolution or similar.

RO/DI water only for top offs or water changes, even if you have to buy it from LFS or bottles.

Please monitor or post nitrate and phosphate levels.

You can also try some Phosban or GFO.

 

The way we have cured our tank from cyanobacteria algae in the beginning was lights out for four days straight and like magic gone never had a problem with cyanobacteria algae. Also checked my bulbs to assure they were not working properly and feed schedule in that order with much success.


E

 

Great advice guys , definatly do the lights out but as stated..once nitrate and phosphate levels balance out..

Always have problems reading them accurately and monitoring!

Have dip stic test will do one now and show results.

Brb one sec.

Oh and I use only RO/DI water.

Also lights are the ones that came with the tank so 2 years old..daylight bulb and one blue bulb both on at the same time for about 9 hours.
(sorry been a while I've forgotten the technical names for the bulbs)

 

Change your bulbs and do a lights out. It will help.

 

+! and add a couple large water changes to it. In a week or so it'll look like a new tank.

 

Thanks guys i think your right..here is the results of the test..i always have issue reading it..but i think things are getting better..as you all stated perhaps a another water change..










10sec


20sec


30sec+

Any advice welcome..i read it as things arent great nitrate wise but i think the nitrate was worse before..so is this the cause of the slime? and hair algae?