Urgent Need help!

Hi there,

Ok so recently i had a major problem with algae.

It had pretty much taken over my rear glass and live rock.
I added a po4 reactor and scraped the rear glass and pulled as much as i could off the rocks.
I did a 20% water change right after doing this and used a small net to catch the algae that was floating around the tank.
I also lowered the lighting time for a few days from 8hrs a day to 3 hrs a day (in the hope that this would starve the algae of light and help it die back?!)

The good news from this is the reactor has lowered my po4 levels to zero!!

The bad news is a few other things have happened as a result.......

Two of my corals (some moon favia and a piece of candy cane coral) are showing a little of their skeletons.
All my green star corals have closed down too.

My fish seem ok, and my hermits seem to be doing their thing as usual.
I only feed my fish 2-3 times a week, so overfeeding shouldnt be a problem.

My tank stock is as follows.....

2 common clowns, one green chromis, and one false gramma.

Corals are...
clove, green star, favia, zoos, and candy cane.

cuc consists of hermit crabs an emerald crab and a chiton.

My params as of this morning are.....

Ph- 8.0
s.g.- 1.027
po4- o mg/l
Nitrate-15 mg/l (HIGH-normally 0 mg/l)
Nitrite-0 mg/l
Ammonia- 0.5 mg/l (HIGH-normally 0 mg/l)
Kh- 13*dKH
calcium-500 mg/l (a little high-normally 400-450)
temp- 26*c
Ro/di TDS-001

The ammonia, nitrate and calcium all seem higher than usual!!!!

I cant see any reason for the slight spike in ammonia, can the major algae clean up cause this to happen??

Can anyone think what could be the problem,and what to do to help?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!

Thanks colin.

 

Colcol
couple of things I would do

increase the wetness of your skimming - getting that decaying algae out quickly will help
your skimmate will be dark green if you skim like this

run carbon if your not already as the water quality deteriorating due to decaying algae may be causing those corals to close down

get a picture up of the receding corals, if they are decaying thats going to hurt your water quality also and affect other corals

IME I have had LPS corals close up after introducing GFO to the system, even changes for the better if they occur to rapidly can upset corals
I have learned to use less than I need and then build up the QTY again giving the inhabitants time to adjust
getting the image up may help to asses the condition of these corals

the GSP should come around - IMO just give it a few days

dont alter any parameters - focus on getting your water cleaned and filtered with the skimming and carbon

Iwould also be tempted to use Seachem prime to neutralise that ammonia
or add Hagen cycle to boost my bacteria and process it quickly

it could be there as a result of deteriorating conditions, decaying corals etc
it could be there due to bacteria die off as a result of lower oxygen levels caused by longer periods of darkness where the algae is using oxygen and giving out CO2

just my opinions

Steve

 

View attachment photo.JPG



Here are some snaps.

you can see it showing through on the favia, and if you look at the candy cane, the heads look ok but the skeleton is showing a little near the base.

Im running carbon steve and i replaced it when i done the last water change!

Have turned up the skimmer so it is skimming wetter.

colin

 

Follow Steve's suggestions they should get you through.

 

Curious, when you change your carbon do you keep the old stuff in a net bag or anything that you can leave in your sump for a few days/week?

 

If you have alot of algae die off it could be the cause of the Am, No3 spike. Because they live off the those two things when they die, the toxins can be release back into the system. So getting that old dieing algae out will help

 

To be honest i run the carbon in a media sack and throw out the old and add some new?!
Thats what ive always done?

Can you tell me correct procedure for changing this??

 

You are doing correctly. Add a bag (sock) of Ammosorb or something similar.

 

Too much reliance on chemicals and additives aren't going to help you, take it slow and easy nothing ever happens good quickly in a reef tank. Try to find the route cause rather than trying to combat the symptoms.

How old are your bulbs?
Have you been cleaning your pumps regularly?
Is your sand bed stagnant or are there large dead spots lacking flow?
How often are you feeding/how much? A good established reef tank does not require daily feeding. Unless you have some ultrafinicky corals or fish

 

Steve's answer is right on the money. I also had some coral deterioration after refilling my phosphate reactor. I think too much gfo in the reactor is bad for corals. I now use about half the recomended among and every thing is ok. Didn't see if u have a refugium with macro. They help suck up certain nutrients out of the water and help prevent algae problems in the display tank.