need help!!!

[lukesbiocube]

hi i have a 14 gallon biocube and it seems to not be working out. right now my only option i feel like is to start over. The sand is constantly growing purp brownish algae, the coral isnt opening up right and the rocks are not growing coraline even though i use purpup twice a week and i seeded it. Could anyone please give me some good advice on what to do and how to get my tank looking good? btw the hydrometers reading 1.024 and theirs no ammonia. Also the water seems to be geting clowdier by the day.

 

[BL1]

How long has your tank been setup? What your stock? How often and what do you feed?

And of course, welcome to the site!

 

[lukesbiocube]

hi thank you and 6 months, i have a leather coral, polyp, the clam, 5 snails, hermit crab, and 2 new corals that i forget the names of right now. i feed them brine shrimp once a day and phytoplankton every other day

 

[Savannah]

How long has this tank been running for? What are your other readings like Phosphate, Nitrates, Nitrites? Your Phosphate could be causing the algae... How often are you feeding? Also I notice in your picture that you have 4 fish in a 14 gal.... The rule of thumb is 1 small fish for every 10 gallons. I personally have a 28 gal...and only have 2 fish. Im glade the ammonia is reading zero but corals dont do well with Nitrates/Nitrites. The water may be cloudy if it is time to replace the carbon media...if you have it.

 

[lukesbiocube]

well thats the thing im going to take my water in tomorrow to get all the info for that however these are all things i didnt know..... im thinking about adding a protein skimmer but no i do not have a carbon media. I just dont understand why the coraline wont grow.

 

[BL1]

It could be due to poor water quality, also purpleup isn't a miracle coraline grower and it isn't needed. If you keep your calcium and mag levels where they need to be you'll grow it with no problems.

I think your biggest problem is the amount of fish and over feeding. I've got 6 fish in my 75 and only feed 2 cubes of food every 2-3 days. The cloudiness in your water could be an algae bloom.

When you go to the store you should get a test kit like the API master salt water kit. It'll be much easier and accurate to keep tabs on your water quality that way.

 

[Smitty]

Welcome to the site...are you using sink/tap water in your tank, that could be the problem right there...if so, then start doing 10% weekly water changes using ro/di water. You can just buy your water from the lfs.

 

[Savannah]

Carbon Media help clear/ Filter the water. I think you should buy a reef test kit... Since you have such a small tank you don't have a lot of wiggle room when it comes to these toxins in the water ammonia, nitrates, nitrites and such. How often do you do water changes? Do you us RO/DI water... or treated tap? Here is a link on water https://www.livingreefs.com/water-chemistry-t31270.html Coraline takes a long time to grow.... and it also depends how much you started out with in the beginning to seed it... I heard fellow reefers scrap their coraline with a razor to spread it quicker. But I think you need to focus more on reducing the purple/brown algae and water quality.

 

[lukesbiocube]

i usually do them every 2 weeks and most of its reverse osmosis water but lately ive been using tap due to money. i guess my question is what would you guys do in my situation.

 

[BL1]

For one, I'd definitely cut back your feedings. Then, if you do have 4 fish in there I'd return at least two of them. And finally, I'd make sure to only use RO/DI water and replace 10-20% every week until your tank starts to come around. It's not really too much if you think about it, only 1.5-3 gallons a week.

 

[Savannah]

And get a reef test kit!

 

[lukesbiocube]

ok thanks! also whats a good way to clean out the live sand?

 

[BL1]

You should add Nass snails to your CuC, they'll turn the sand bed for you.

 

[wontonflip]

+1 Brian

I live just 30 miles south of you, luke :D There are a couple more of us in the NOVA area. What LFS do you go to? The best one near you is in Herndon, VA -- Marine Scene. Check them out if you haven't!

Also, switching to tap contributed a lot to your algae bloom. DC Tap is awful! So make sure you use rodi (or distilled water from Walmart or someplace) to do your water changes. And definitely get rid of 2 of your fish if you do have 4 -- plus they should be eating mysis, not brine, because brine is like candy -- fish love them but is not nutritional.

The coralline will grow on its own if your water conditions are good. Pretty soon you'll be wishing it was all gone! :)

 

[Reef Nutz]

I agree with BL1. After you get your water test back with high trates and high phosphates those water changes will have you going inthe right direction. you could through in pellets to help, could vodka dose to help and use phosban to help. There are quite a few things that are in your favor.Then again I did see your tight on the $$. So I would recommend Vodka Dosing, as this is a cheap way to keep trates and phosphates in check.

 

[Sir Alex]

I live just 30 miles south of you, luke :D There are a couple more of us in the NOVA area. What LFS do you go to? The best one near you is in Herndon, VA -- Marine Scene. Check them out if you haven't!

I just looked at their website. They're only 2 hours away!

Looks like a great place, but the prices seem a little high. Do you agree?

 

[Bifferwine]

I think your potential problems have been addressed -- overstocking, overfeeding and using tap water can lead to algae problems and make corals unhealthy. Purple Up does not contain any coralline -- only ground up sand and calcium. Unless you started out with coralline, using Purple Up is not going to make some appear.

Welcome to the site!

 

[Slimkasey]

I've found really cheap way of RODI water is see what your local grocery store is offering I get a four gallon refill for $3.00

 

[wontonflip]

I just looked at their website. They're only 2 hours away!

Looks like a great place, but the prices seem a little high. Do you agree?

Prices are high, but you have to take into account that their fish are SUPER healthy. I've been to fish stores dedicated to saltwater, and their livestocks are cheaper, but sickly, and their tanks are filthy. This place is THE place to get livestock. Dry goods you can get elsewhere, but they're awesome at this place. EVERYONE is super friendly and super helpful, and quite knowledgeable. Plus you can reserve a fish online, and they'll hold it for I think 24 hours. So far, i've bought a foxface, a kole tang, a lawnmower blenny, and a coral beauty from them, and they've been super healthy and super voracious since day 1. One thing to note, too, is that they're part of WAMAS -- this area's marine club. so if you have membership w/ WAMAS, you get discounts.

 

[Sir Alex]

Probably the cheapest way to get RO/DI water in the long run is to get a decent RO/DI unit for about $150.