Need help with tank please

[adam582]

Hey guys. Well im having a real nightmare here. Dont know what to do. 2 of my fish just died from ich and the other 3 i have are on their way out. About every 3 - 4 hours my glass is full of green algae and I have to scrape it off. To the point where if I dont you almost cant see through glass.

I have been doing 10 percent water changes every Sunday, using ro water and ESV Salt. I have no hard corals just softies. 75 Gallons with 30 gallon sump with built in skimmer. Temperature is at 80 degrees. Just changed light 2 weeks ago 4 bulb tek 40inch t5 with 4 new bulbs but algae was growing at a much smaller rate on glass. Increased when I got new light. Changed lighting schedule from 10 hours a day to 6 couple of days ago. Raised light 2 inches. Still not helping. As a matter of fact its getting worse. Inverts are doing fine. Went to local fish store and they told me that my alkalinity was too low and i needed to dose. So i spent 20 bucks on a stupid purple bottle or something and just tested my alkalinity.. and its high... 3.9

Also running 2 little fishes reactor with esv carbon

Amonia 0
PH 8.4
Nitrate 20
Nitrite 0

Whats going on?!!?! Can anyone help me?

 

[rickb]

10% a week might not be enough. I had some algae get out of control and I've been doing 20% twice a week for two weeks and only seeing results now.

 

[James404]

I would suspect a lot of nutrients in the water if you are having to clean the glass off that quickly. I would do another water change to get those nitrates down more and decrease feeding. Are you running any GFO for PO4 removal? This is probably all unrelated to your fish deaths though, if your fish are eating then they should be able to pull through the ich but I would recommend getting them into QT with either hypo or copper if possible. The soda bottle trap works well. I just got about 5 fish out of my tank with one.

 

[Imbarrie]

What is the history of this tank?
How long has it been set up?
Was it completely cycled?

 

[pauliwalnuts]

+1.
But you do have a high nutrient problem for sure. Instead of the carbon use gfo in the reactor and do two 10% water changes a week until you get ther nitrates down.

 

[adam582]

tanks been up for maybe 4 or 5 months... and ill try the more frequent water changes.. ty guys

 

[allenjj]

Phosphate

I would second the phosphate question and test your phosphate levels. Running a GFO reactor helped bring mine down and cleared algae blooms.

 

[KathyC]

Adam..what are you feeding and how much & how often?

Sorry for your losses.

Do you plan to do anything to treat the ich?

 

[JonnyJ]

His equipment is all pretty much high end and he hasn't skimped out or done anything wrong except for not QTing his fish ...That is the reason his fish are dying. Some of the fish were covered in ich the last time i saw them. I didn't qt my last 2 editions and i think i just got ick myself. CAN ONLY BLAME OURSELVES FOR THAT.

He had a bad outbreak of ich a few months ago, he caught, qted and hypoed all of the fish and left his tank fishless for about 6 weeks+ or so and then purchased new fish that werent qted. [The ick could have been from the multiple new additions or who knows if the original fish even kicked the ick to begin with]

As for the algae:

I did not get to see the algae but he said its coming back green and fast.

if its brown and everywhere it can be a diatom bloom since the tank is still immature and may have cycled...

He had upgraded from a 55 a few months ago and used his old sand and new sand, few snail deaths etc [that explains the nitrates, plus the addition of multiple fish including a tang and didn't help, probably keeps having mini cycles]

He doesn't overfeed and he is running a reactor with carbon..I suggested that he could lower his light cycle from 10 hr to 8hr and too see if that lowers the algae. His tank is not in direct sunlight. Then russ suggested he change the carbon since he hadn't done so in around 3 months i think? [correct me if im wrong]

that was a few days ago and im guessing that didn't help


I would suggest borrowing a phosphate test from someone to check it out before using GFO or whatever you guys use...


He doesn't have any other nuisance algae present...


He also mentioned that he hasn't been successful with growing chaeto. He's running a good light on his fuge and he said its actually disappearing.

 

[rkaragozler]

Adam reach out to Picod she has all my test kits, check all your parameters. then posts back.

 

[adam582]

Well I did a 25 gallon water change 2 days ago and a 10 gallon change last night. Changed carbon put in brand new filter sock. Algae seems like its going down. Can't tell yet its too early. Room still smells bad from water but trying to air it out. The water I replaced in the water change was green and smelled pretty bad. On a scale of 1 to 10 and 10 being pure green the water was a 4. Purple tang is still alive somehow. But he still has ich and is eating still. Oh and scooter blenny alive as well eating mysis

Sent from my DROID2 GLOBAL using Reefs

 

[adam582]

And everything jon said is right

Sent from my DROID2 GLOBAL using Reefs

 

[STHILL]

i had a similar problem in my tank at work and i lowered my heat down from 80 to 75 and it helped alot just a thought

 

[adam582]

I can't lower the heat on my tank. It stays at 79 to 80 and I don't use a heater. I don't have a chiller. Added some cold water to top off and now im at 77. Green algae is coming back on glass. I don't think I can stop this. Maybe this isn't the hobby for me