Friday night Karma contest

If this was a real situation, I'd say that the problem is that there aren't any pics... but besides that I guess I'd have to wait until tomorrow.

 

I'll give it a go.

 

Too many fish and didnt mention weekly wc of at least 10% and over feeding. Wc with good salt mix should raise some of their parameters. IMO

 

So much for 12 months or less experience!

 

You should do quite a few things to get your tank straightened out for the long haul.

The cause of your algae issue is excess nutrients due to overfeeding an overstocked tank. The nitrate and phosphate tests show zero because the algae absorbs the phosphate and nitrate between the time the food is introduced and the time you test. Algae is an efficient user of these nutrients, and binds them (it needs them to grow) so they can't be seen by the test kit.

First step is to reduce feedings to once every 3 days. Fish won't starve with this feeding regimen, despite what you may believe. Make sure they eat all the food. At least for now, siphon out all the extra food that ends up sitting on the bottom of the tank and on the rocks.


Your second step is to decide on a direction for your tank and stick with it. Here's my personal suggestion for stocking, and advice for each fish:

Blue tangs and pipefish aren't compatible in the slightest. Pipefish need very low water movement, and not to be with fish that are as active as tangs and wrasses. The pipefish is suited best for species-only tanks, or a tank with seahorses, so I would remove them. The blue tangs will outgrow your tank very quickly, and is a heavy polluter in terms of nutrient generation. Two of them will fight with each other, and one will pollute your tank. I would remove them and sell the to another reefer or your LFS.

The Auriga Butterflyfish will eat corals of all types and also gets too big for you tank, so that's another fish to sell or remove. The Hawkfish is very likely to eat the smaller fish in your tank, so again, remove it.

The dottyback can be very aggressive. I would keep a very close eye on it, and be ready to sell it if it gets aggressive. The blennies can be aggressive to each other, depending on which types of blennies they are (perchers or free swimmers).

Having 3 cardinals is a bad idea due to aggression between them. If you ahve a male and a female, you can keep those two. Otherwise, I would only keep one, and get rid of the other 2.

The fairy wrasse might get too big for your tank, depending on species. Come back with that info for this fish.

You should be heavily stocked with this list, although you're not outside the realm of both normal and possible anymore.


Another thing that can help with the algae problem: raise your magnesium level to 1300+, then check calcium. It should go up after raising the magnesium. Get calcium up to >400, preferably 450+. The magnesium levels will help with the algae problem, while the calcium level will help your corals grow and not become stressed out and die.

Be ready to clean the canister filter every week, or ditch it. They can easily become nitrate factories if not maintained very rigorously. The same goes for any bioballs you may have in the wet/dry filter.

Also, forget the LFS. Their job is to make money, not make sure you have a successful tank. Verify everything with 3Reef's crack team of expert question-snipers.


Now, on a more "real" note, can the questions be trickier but not have so many parts that need to be explained? lol

And yes, I only have ~6 months of XP built up with SW. 256 million to go to the level cap ;D

 

+1 on the super overstocked tank. Not to mention you should not be keeping two tangs together in such a small tank, but this is besides the point. The overstocking can have a lot to do with your problem in that your bio load is way too high causing levels to skyrocket and thus produce algae.

Also, I suspect that your lighting cycle is most likely too long and or your bulbs need to be replaced. (Every 12 months MINIMUM).

Also, you might want to cut back on your feeding to every other day. What is happening is that you are dumping so much food into your tank that it is next to impossible for your fish or tank to keep up with breaking the extra food down causing it to become food for algae. You are feeding realitively small fish, not a bloody great white shark.

To help with wastes and extra food I HIGHY RECCOMEND that you invest in a clean up crew like a mixture of hermits, emerald crabs, snails, and so on.

Also, you added your fish WAY TO QUICKLY. Your tank had absolutely zero time to catch up with your newly added bioload and caused your levels to go out of whack. You also might want to check your test results for nitrates because I HIGHLY DOUBT they are at zero and they need to be addressed as well.

Also, your phosphates are going to be a main source of your problem (extra proteins from fish and bioload). Do not let the test fool you because it is only reading zero because your green hair algae is sucking them all up (this is what they thrive on).

You also need to be sure that you are doing media changes in your canister and water changes of 20% at least once a month. Regardless of what anyone says about a canister, you should be able to run a nice tank on it provided that you perform the necessary maintenace on it. I also reccomend that if your canister filter has bio balls in them that you clean them off in tank water from your water change at least every couple of months to get rid of any buildup and reduce the risk of extra nitrates.

I would HIGHLY RECCOMEND that you reduce your fish numbers, get rid of the tangs, get a clean up crew, alter your lighting cycle, and feed every other day.

Also, look into getting a phosphate reactor to run phosphate media to be sure that you keep your phosphates in check and keep this from happening again. Bulk Reef Supply has some nice reactors for a low cost. bulkreefsupply.com

To get rid of some of the GHA now you can remove it manually via a syphon tube or physically removing your rocks and scrubbing them with a toothbrush IN SALTWATER. You are lucky this far in that you have not had a cyano outbreak or even worse a loss of all you inhabitants. ALL THESE ISSUES SHOULD AND MUST BE ADDRESSED IMMEDIATELY.

 

lol;d

 

It would appear that math and specifically calculating dates and times are not their strong point.

 

Lots of good answers and a few well detailed ones. Very good job all.

 

I have 11.9 months reef experience, so my answers count! lol ;D