Algae

You're absolutely right. But why did this start now, out of the blue? What can I do to save my tank? I read somewhere to keep the lights off for three days, someone else said three weeks. Any validity to this?

 

Killing the light for 3 days can help a lot, but I read that you have A leather coral. Im not sure of the lighting requirements for this. Maybe someone else knows, but I think for 3 days it would be ok. Also cover the tank with a blanket or something if you can to keep all light out. The fish might be dying from lack of oxygen as the algae bloom is using it up.

 

One suggestion that comes to mind, other than shutting the light for a while, is investing in some phosphate absorbing material. You don't necessarily need to buy a media reactor (although they aren't too expensive - just picked up a phosban reactor for about $50, with an extra $15 for the pump), but you could just use a media bag with some rowaphos or phosban to help absorb the extra phosphates. The bottom line is that without phosphates the green algae can not grow.

So if you are not having luck with water changes, get some phosphate absorbing material (best with reactor, if possible).

One last point - a 29 gallon tank is too small for anthias, IMHO. Based on the research I have done, they require space (like around 50gallon minimum per anthias) - others here may disagree with this.

Hope this helps.

Jeremy

 

First, most new tanks have algae. I always warn customers that they will have an ammonia cycle followed by an algae cycle and they don't need to do water changes until the bloom is over. You'll have brown diatom bloom, then green hair and then red slime as the green hair dies off. I have seen green hair algae so bad that the rocks can't be seen, at this point I recommend cutting the daylight bulbs off and leaving the actinics on. Then add 1/4 dose of a good quality alkaline buffer every day. GHA doesn't like it when the KH gets around 12 and will die off. When it dies off, make sure you have some chemiclean or seagel in the filter to absorb the phosphates and organics that it releases into the system before you get a really bad red slime (cyano) problem. No more corals, or fish for that matter until the algae is gone. Do some research on Nano-Fish and chose more wisely. 2 anthias and 2 true purculas is about how I would stock a 55 gallon tank, not a 29.

Ginny

 

Well we have been using saltwater from our local fish store but it didn't help and actually seemed to make it worse, so we went back to tap water. Do we just need to stick with the store bought salt water ? How many water changes do we need to do and how often can we change the water without it affecting the fish ?

 

It depends, the LFS saltwater could be mixed with tap water for all you know. Ask them, are they using RO/DI water to mix their salt, if they are do water changes with their water only. Getting an RO/DI for a 29 gallon when you have a water source isn't cost effective unless they charge an arm and a leg for water (which they shouldn't).

Right now though, time is the only thing that will help you. The fish are affected by the size and age of the tank, water changes will stress them out, but not as much as being in a tank that is too unstable and small to house them.

You have the equivalent of a high school bathroom stall with 4 smoking teenagers in it. If you only took out 10% off the air and replaced it with clean air, you would still have 90% smoke but they are still smoking so the air isn't getting any cleaner. To fix this problem you have to add an air vent to such out the smoke so that the people can still get oxygen and/or you could put the teenagers in a bigger room (say a gymnasium) so the smoke is more diluted, or remove 2 of the smoking teenagers.

Your fish are in a tank full of waste (creating an acid environment) and doing a 10% water change still leaves 90% acid water. You need to provide an outlet for removal of the waste, because you can't stop them from producing it. You should have mechanical (filter pads, filter sock, protein skimmer), chemical (phosguard, carbon, purigen, chemiclean, something), and biological (macro algae in a refugium, live rock) filtration sufficient to reduce the waste and/or increase the volume of water for greater dillution.

 

I'd buy RO/DI water and add my own salt mix, and do small water changes over time so the fish don't get as stressed. Like everyone else said, the tap water has ridiculous amounts of phosphates and silicates that are helping algae growth.

I'd also buy some ROWAphos, and decrease the amount of full daylight you're giving the tank.

Next, I'd get a PH stabilizer (or just baking soda) to help the PH stay constant.

No matter what you do to better the water quality, your Anthias is going to stay stressed because of the tank size.

I'd also look into an air pump... this can help decrease stress.