I have a 30 gallon Oceanic cube which has been running for about a year and 9 months now. It has a 2-3" sand bed, about 40 lbs. of live rock, a variety of coral (both soft and hard), an RBTA, 2 clowns, and a variety of clean up crew (hermits, snails, peppermint shrimp, a serpent star, etc.). I have a 150 watt MH (14K Phoenix) with 2 18 watt pc actinics over the tank, a CPR bak-pak type skimmer, and 4 mj 900 powerheads hooked to a wavemaker for flow. I was using IO salt, but recently (a few weeks ago) switched to Reef Crystals (I read somewhere that IO salt might contribute to cyano). I use RO/DI water (new filters/membrane/resin about a month ago, even though the TDS was at zero, it is still at zero after the replacing everything) for top off and for my salt water mix. I will retest all my water parameters tonight or tomorrow and update with that info, but the last time I checked everything (a week and a couple days ago) the nitrates were up very slightly, but everything else looked ok. I didn't test for the phosphates because I have bought 2 different test kits and neither seems accurate. What I mean by this is that I will get a result showing very low to no phosphates and immediately retest and show mid-high phosphates. I think the phosphate test kits leave a lot to be desired in the accuracy department.
Anyway, with the basic info down, I will move on to the reason for my posting.
In January I moved from central NJ back to PA. Unfortunately, I had to be out of my apartment on 1/31 and I didn't close on my house until 2/15. In the meantime, the tank was reset up the same day I moved it at my parents house. Once I closed on my new house, the renovation work began (it needed a lot, even though it was built in 2001, the prior owners were foreclosed on and had trashed the place). Due to the renovation, the tank did not get moved to the new house until late April. During its stay at my parents house it was very neglected. The only thing done to it during that time was water top off (with RO/DI water) and B-ionic supplement every few days. The bak-pak skimmer is finicky, so there were times where that was flowing, but not producing skimmate. I was staying at my new house because it was 40 miles closer to my new job, but the new house wasn't tank ready yet (floors torn up, painting being done, etc.).
While the tank was at my parents I lost quite a few corals, including (forgive the spelling) my pocillipora, which I had grown from a frag, a purple cap frag, a green cap frag, a few varieties of zoas, a birdsnest frag, a large purple tip digi colony (except a tiny piece that I fragged off, but that might not make it either), my really cool blue clam, and most of my orange digi colony. I might be missing a few losses, I try not to think about it. I also began having a hair algae outbreak. Prior to this my tank was always pristine, no algae of any kind, other than coralline and a bit of brown diatom when it cycled originally. Since I moved it to my house, not only has the hair algae worsened, but now I have red slime on top of it, literally, the red slime is growing on the hair algae (and on my live rock, and on certain pieces of coral). When I do my water changes I vacuum off the slime algae and try to manually remove the hair algae, but the very next day when the lights come on there is more red slime. I also tried reducing my light cycle to 5 hours a day, but there does not seem to have been any effect. At this point I am even afraid to feed the fish, anemone, sun coral for fear of adding load to the tank.
Can anyone give me some advice on this tank, I am tired of seeing it a mess and nothing I do seems to help! I am seriously considering removing all the liverock and scrubbing it with a brush and returning it to the tank as a next step. However, I tried this with a few smaller pieces already and the hair algae came right back. I also tried adding a sea hare, but it just hangs out on the glass or hides in the rocks, I dont think it has touched the hair algae. To make matters worse, my favorite fish - a six line wrasse, jumped out shortly after I moved the tank (he must have squeezed out by the back there the skimmer inlet is, the rest has egg crate over it). Now I have a booming population of bristleworms. I don't think they are bothering anything, but they are just plain gross.
I would like to add a sump and a better skimmer. In fact, the stand has already been slightly modified to accommodate a sump. I have a sump I purchased, a new skimmer for the sump, a CPR overflow box, a sump pump (I think a mag 7 or something like that), and an "aqualifter pump". I also have all the hoses and fittings I need ready to go. To be perfectly honest, I am really uncomfortable with adding the sump by myself since I know so little about them. I need a bit of guidance on this because I am very afraid of overflowing the tank or sump, especially since the flooring is all new in my house.
So, that is the situation. I am open to constructive criticism, suggestions, comments, sympathy, lol. I do want very much to make this tank right. I tried to set it up the right way, but this neglect really set me back and I am having trouble correcting it! I apologize for the lengthy post, but I wanted to try to explain this as clearly as possible.
Thanks,
Tina
Anyway, with the basic info down, I will move on to the reason for my posting.
In January I moved from central NJ back to PA. Unfortunately, I had to be out of my apartment on 1/31 and I didn't close on my house until 2/15. In the meantime, the tank was reset up the same day I moved it at my parents house. Once I closed on my new house, the renovation work began (it needed a lot, even though it was built in 2001, the prior owners were foreclosed on and had trashed the place). Due to the renovation, the tank did not get moved to the new house until late April. During its stay at my parents house it was very neglected. The only thing done to it during that time was water top off (with RO/DI water) and B-ionic supplement every few days. The bak-pak skimmer is finicky, so there were times where that was flowing, but not producing skimmate. I was staying at my new house because it was 40 miles closer to my new job, but the new house wasn't tank ready yet (floors torn up, painting being done, etc.).
While the tank was at my parents I lost quite a few corals, including (forgive the spelling) my pocillipora, which I had grown from a frag, a purple cap frag, a green cap frag, a few varieties of zoas, a birdsnest frag, a large purple tip digi colony (except a tiny piece that I fragged off, but that might not make it either), my really cool blue clam, and most of my orange digi colony. I might be missing a few losses, I try not to think about it. I also began having a hair algae outbreak. Prior to this my tank was always pristine, no algae of any kind, other than coralline and a bit of brown diatom when it cycled originally. Since I moved it to my house, not only has the hair algae worsened, but now I have red slime on top of it, literally, the red slime is growing on the hair algae (and on my live rock, and on certain pieces of coral). When I do my water changes I vacuum off the slime algae and try to manually remove the hair algae, but the very next day when the lights come on there is more red slime. I also tried reducing my light cycle to 5 hours a day, but there does not seem to have been any effect. At this point I am even afraid to feed the fish, anemone, sun coral for fear of adding load to the tank.
Can anyone give me some advice on this tank, I am tired of seeing it a mess and nothing I do seems to help! I am seriously considering removing all the liverock and scrubbing it with a brush and returning it to the tank as a next step. However, I tried this with a few smaller pieces already and the hair algae came right back. I also tried adding a sea hare, but it just hangs out on the glass or hides in the rocks, I dont think it has touched the hair algae. To make matters worse, my favorite fish - a six line wrasse, jumped out shortly after I moved the tank (he must have squeezed out by the back there the skimmer inlet is, the rest has egg crate over it). Now I have a booming population of bristleworms. I don't think they are bothering anything, but they are just plain gross.
I would like to add a sump and a better skimmer. In fact, the stand has already been slightly modified to accommodate a sump. I have a sump I purchased, a new skimmer for the sump, a CPR overflow box, a sump pump (I think a mag 7 or something like that), and an "aqualifter pump". I also have all the hoses and fittings I need ready to go. To be perfectly honest, I am really uncomfortable with adding the sump by myself since I know so little about them. I need a bit of guidance on this because I am very afraid of overflowing the tank or sump, especially since the flooring is all new in my house.
So, that is the situation. I am open to constructive criticism, suggestions, comments, sympathy, lol. I do want very much to make this tank right. I tried to set it up the right way, but this neglect really set me back and I am having trouble correcting it! I apologize for the lengthy post, but I wanted to try to explain this as clearly as possible.
Thanks,
Tina
