What to do?

I have a 20 gallon tank that was doing well but recantly has just went down hill quick and I just cant seem to get in front of it to help it recover. I have terriable GHA and have just been letting it grow untile I can pick it off the sand and every thing else it has grown on including the zoas and frogspawn.

My API test kits are showing 0-nitrate, 0-nitrite, 0-phosphate, 0-ammonia, 420-calcium, 1.025 salinity and I have a Odyssea 75 gallon rated skimmer on the back.

I am going to the police acadmey at the beggining of january and wont be back untile the middle of march. I will only be home on the weekends and my wife dosent know how to really take of the tank to maintaine it vary well. she got the idea of adding water evertother day and emptying the collection cup but thats about it. I dont dose just water changes form time to time since I dont have alot of corals in the tank.

so the BIG question, do I leave it up and runing or do I downsize to a 10 gallon and re-do everything so it will be easier for her to maintain.

for the ten gallon I would keep the skimmer and use a canister filter I have lying aroun to run ECOBAK or even carbon. I have leds that would just move over to the ten gallon and I have a diy type of ATO that lasts about 4 days give of take. It would have my zoas, frogspawn, two misbar clowns cleaner shrimp and a YWG. It would have fresh sand and reef rock with no GHA, and a CUC from reef cleaners from the begining. I have a 75 gallon build that im working on but it wont even be close to ready before I leave and I wont have time on the weekends.

option two, I keep the 20 gallon up and running and try to help it along. I dont have a real CUC but was looking into it from reef cleaners. I also was looking into getting a lawnmower blennie to help with the GHA patches. the sand thats in there now along with all the rock was in there since I first started tha tank and used fresh sink water for topoffs but I dont want to remove the sand since it would probably kill everything in the tank. I dont have a ton of money to put into either tank but I dont want to give up reefing for 3 months just because its inconvient, + I really like my clowns and all my other tank inhabitants and dont want to see them suffer because of me.

if you need more info on the tank as it sits I will post updates perameters tonight. I really need help with this.

 

The smaller the tank the easier it is to kill everything. If anything I would upgrade to a larger tank not a smaller one. Can you take a picture of the algae?

 

Yea smaller isn't necessarily easier, its almost the opposite. I have a 20 gallon and I had BAD GHA for a while. Get a turbo snail from your lfs, get a big one too. Mine ate it all in a week. Reef cleaners will def hook you up, im actually waiting for an order as we speak. I ordred one before and i was pleased, there's a bunch of snails in there. Teach your girl how to mix salt and make a siphon. I do about 2.5- 5 gallon water changes weekly, and it seems to be doing alright.

I had my room mate "take care" of my tank and that was a mistake, he just didnt grasp tank management. If your really worried about your tank while your away, just take a break from the hobby and dedicate all your time toward your schooling. when you get back on your feet, then go big

 

Personally I wouldn't make any changes to tank size just yet. Find the source of your phosphates. I bet it's your water. Are you using tap water? If so, there's your source
Even the smallest amount of phosphates can cause an algae outbreak. The API test can only read so low...there could still be phosphates.

I suggest a po4 (phosphate) remover. Like Chemipure Elite. Added to your canister filter or in a higher flow area will do wonders. Also having harvested as much of the HA as possible you may want to try a Mexican Turbo Snail. Just make sure your corals are securely attached to their spots. Turbos love to bulldoze

Introduce you wife to us! Let her know we're here to help any time day or night Good luck in the academy!!! Thank you for choosing such an awesome career. I have officers in my family and am very proud for what they do

 

i agree use filtered water!! get a clean up crew. and your set in the right direction ;D

 

I doi have a RODI unit and as best as I can tell I dont think its the source, my thought drifts tword my sand bed and for this reason- I bought 3 nassarius snails a few months back and the immeditaly dove into the sand and it began stirring up a bunch of crap so I just let it roll untile the water had a spike in nitrates 5ppm then a 3 gallon water change got it to 0 but within a week one of the snails died and again the nitrates went to 5 ppm so I did a water change of 3 gallons anf it went back to 0 this trend repeated after the 2 snail was evicted from his shell by a hermite crab but again I got it to 0 with no issues.

I did have my YWG die in the tank about 3 weeks ago (had him for 2 years) and the shrimp picked him clean so I thought nothing of it but about a week after I started having GHA BAD... so I fixed the skimmer I had lying around and put it back on there on 10/30/11 I put it on and started getting noticably clearer water but the GHA still kept growing so I let it grow out and it took over almost everything so I cleaned it out tuesday of this week amd took a few before and after pics. I will take pics tomight to show the GHA growth in a week or so and of the algea when I picked it.

as for the CUC I have in there now I do have a large Mexican turbo, about 10 blue leggs Harm crabs, 1 Nassarius snail, 2 type of permide shell shaped snails and a skunk cleaner shrimp.

I really dont want to get rid of the livestock I have since the clowns and skunk cleaner were rasied in the tank for quite awile now. for me Its kind of like getting rid of a dog that you have had for about a year, it dosent sit kosher.

as far as upgrading I have the 75 but there is no way I can have it up and running by january 1st and the wife dosent want me to spend any money unless it can be used on the 75 LOL

 

I say keep it going, get a nice CUC from reef cleaners, and just keep up with your water changes and make sure your wife knows what to feed, and how much, are you running a sump on your 20g?

 

no sump, just skimming for filitration, have about 900 gph between three powerheads and have 3 boost led bulbs over the tank.

 

just sent in my form to reef cleaner to try and get John to give me a hand with this. LOL I will tell you what though if there was a market for GHA I would be rich ;D

I will post pics of what it looked like I have been at work all day but they should be on here in about 2 hrs

 

alrigh per request here are the pics

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