at wit's end, need help! pic heavy

salty420 said:
the tank is in the sunroom so it even with the blinds shut it gets tons o natural light...
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think that might be the problem? i was always told to keep the tank out of the sun, as it will cause algae blooms in tank with good params. maybe?
 
A tank can be successfully kept in even the brightest of windows. The problem is that the water parameter tests are more than likely a false reading, I say this because there are obviously factors that are creating nitrates but the algae is eating it as fast as it can be produced causing there to be none in the water column that is being tested. I would still suggest my previous advise and start to look at the cause of the nitrate that is feeding the algae.
 
okay, siriously, you have to do some water changes and keep algae off the corals or it will kill them, before you get all your stuff, like bulbs and red slime algae remover. make sure you didn't order some media instead of the other stuff because the names are similar. also, extra flow would help if you don't have a good one.
 
well i actually have the maxijet 900 in there not the penguin in addition to the standard tank flow (which is all i've ever used in there) so there should be plenty of flow. i could always throw in the penguin 1100 and really stir things up!
i am doing water changes trust me everyone tho i did slack for a while which i think contributed to this whole ordeal starting (do your water changes everyone!)
and the tests are not faulty i know they aren't - i've even double checked with dip-stick tests. the tank was full (and i mean full) of macro when all this trouble started, in fact i think the macro is what killed off the shrooms to start with (choked them out) the tank has no nitrates. there are only 3 fish in a 29g tank and i hardly feed the tank at all - where would the nitrates come from jojo? especially since im doing insane water changes... this is why i am sooo confused it makes NO sense! i use RO water as well...
 
Do you make your own RO/DI or do you buy it??

Have you tested your source water??

Do you have any dead inverts/corals possibly??

Do you feed frozen?? If so do you thaw/strain the freezer crap out of the food before you feed??

What salt are you using?? How old is the salt and how is it stored?? Salt can absorb crap from the air that you wouldn't want in the tank.

Algae of any kind needs certain things to live, light and a food source are the two major ones. Without either of these it WILL die, SO it is definitely getting both. If you can't figure out where the food (trates) is coming from kill the lights and it will be a temporary fix while you figure out the problem. After 3-4 days give the tank light and most of the algae should be gone, then watch where it comes back first, if there is a dead spot, or something decaying in a certain area it should come back there first.
 
salty420 said:
...the tank has no nitrates. there are only 3 fish in a 29g tank and i hardly feed the tank at all - where would the nitrates come from...
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Algae and cyanobacteria will thrive when the conditions permitting them to thrive (nitrate, phosphate, etc) are present in the tank (which may or may not be at detectable levels on certain test kits). Keep in mind that algae and cyanobacteria (especially when at nuisance levels) are quite capable of utilizing these compounds as quickly as they're produced in the tank.

For example, if a tank is producing 1ppm of nitrate and phosphate daily and the nuisance algae is utilizing 1ppm nitrate/phosphate daily, then a test kit can conceivably test negatives for both of those parameters (just like ammonia and nitrite is constantly being produced in the tank but is near-instantly converted by bacteria and thus always is undectable in a well established tank, even though it's actually present in the system).

Additionally not a whole lot of nitrate or phosphate is required to fuel them. To 'starve' nuisance algae and cyanobacteria out, first manually remove as much as possible, then do a significant water change (which you have been doing), then explore methods of improving waste export (removing potential 'nitrate factories', stirring up the substrate and removing clouds of detritus in conjunction with your water changes, and soaking/rinsing frozen foods in RO/DI water (and utilizing RO/DI water with a confirmed 0ppm total dissolved solids (TDS) reading. Also employ a more proactive phosphate removal practice, if possible (i.e a phosphate reactor with granular ferric oxide media, etc) and utilize a protein skimmer.

These nuisance organisms are capable of sustaining themselves for a while with the 'nutrient's they have stored up. Additionally, when initial die-off does occur, they breakdown and release the nutrients which in turn sustains the remaining algae or cyano in the tank (which is why manually removing as much as possible is key).

Also,the type of test kit (or device) may play a factor as well as some are much more accurate than others. As an example, a PO4 kit which only tests down to 0.25ppm may not be capable of detecting lower (yet still significant) levels and and may erroneously display them as 0ppm (e.g., 0.12ppm might show up as 0ppm on such a test kit and 0.12ppm is 3x-4x higher than ideal PO4 levels recommended for a reef tank). Excluding "0ppm" you may want a test kit which can accurately detect and measure levels below 1ppm for phosphate and below 5ppm for nitrate.

You may want to consider increasing flow (i.e. adding an additional maxijet 900, or comparable powerhead to what's already in the tank).
 
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jojo22 said:
Do you make your own RO/DI or do you buy it??
bought it

Have you tested your source water??
the tap water? only in my fw tank and it shows pretty high nitrates

Do you have any dead inverts/corals possibly??
lost the cleaner shrimp recently due to this fiasco :( and yep looks like i'm loosing loads of shroom, palys, and yellow polyps

Do you feed frozen?? If so do you thaw/strain the freezer crap out of the food before you feed??
yes i feed frozen and yes i strain

What salt are you using?? How old is the salt and how is it stored?? Salt can absorb crap from the air that you wouldn't want in the tank.
i use reef crystals out of the bucket. top is screwed on tight.

Algae of any kind needs certain things to live, light and a food source are the two major ones. Without either of these it WILL die, SO it is definitely getting both. If you can't figure out where the food (trates) is coming from kill the lights and it will be a temporary fix while you figure out the problem. After 3-4 days give the tank light and most of the algae should be gone, then watch where it comes back first, if there is a dead spot, or something decaying in a certain area it should come back there first.
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so should i go lights out, blanket the tank and no food for 3 days?
 
As in source water I meant the RO that you buy. I got a batch from walmart one time that had copper in it and wiped out my entire tank. That would be the first place I started to look. Second all these things you are "loosing" are dying in the tank and create nitrates. I would black out the tank, check for and remove anything dead, and turkey baster out as much cyano as possible at least twice a day and do a large water change on the third day taking special care to remove any cyano along with anything that is dead.

Where do you buy your water? A lot of places don't change their filter media enough and the quality goes down hill over time. Go buy some and test it before use, you could be making the problem worse with every water change. Also use a good test kit and make sure it is not outdated.
 
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