Im at my breaking point. I have been battling hair algae and other problems for Months. Have tried everything. Cant seem to get nitrates under control. Have decided to either sell it or completely start over fresh. Before the issues had a decent tank that required normal maintenance. Rock is 10+ years old alway in water but came from a neglected tank. Sand is 2 years old. Have 2 fish. One 10 year old clown and a melanaras wrasse. Has anyone just started from scratch with success or will it just be a waiting game for problems again?
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- Thread starter Zombiex
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I am sorry to read this. Hair algae can be a bitch, especially when you arent able to find the source. Nitrates are rarely the issue in the case of hair algae, although it is indicative of other issues. Typically hair algae is caused by phosphates and lighting. It can be an issue where you po4 is reading near nothing because the algae is eating it all and not allowing it the chance to convert the nitrates. You need po4 to get rid of nitrates.
My opinion...the rock age is a dead give away. It probably reached its breaking point, especially if it was from a tap water or neglected tank. Basically you are hitting 'old tank syndrome'. It is where you can not fix what ever is happening to the tank and it seems impossible to get ahead of the issue. Many people never learn what causes the tank to crash even. IMHO and it is just assumptions as I have no clinical information to substantiate my idea, is that older tanks rock has been saturated with things in tap water, metals and other contaminants over the years. Eventually they can not absorb anything more and end up leaching out the build up back into the tank. At that point their is no fixing it. Just waiting and hoping. As RO/DI is gaining traction and salt mixes are getting better you are hearing less and less about old tank syndrome. It could be a coincidence, or it could have some traction to the idea. You could have a ICP test done, that will test for many trace elements and metals that could be the root cause.
I personally would look at starting over. Sell the rock to a FOWLR set up where someone can use chemicals to control what every issue or use it in a garden. It is going to take a shit ton of work to strip that rock of what ever is in it.
Of course the other option is to wait it out. It could day weeks, months or even years to get things under control though. It is impossible to tell. Lots of HC GFO, Carbon, water changes, biopellets or other removal media. Replace it often.
I personally just switched to a Zeolite system on my frag set up and ultimately will be for my main system. It basically has you adding something daily, some of which can not be done with a doser. It is a lot of work, but only 4 days in and I am already seeing a difference in the tank. The only other thing I did was add a cheato ball after London Fragfest.
My opinion...the rock age is a dead give away. It probably reached its breaking point, especially if it was from a tap water or neglected tank. Basically you are hitting 'old tank syndrome'. It is where you can not fix what ever is happening to the tank and it seems impossible to get ahead of the issue. Many people never learn what causes the tank to crash even. IMHO and it is just assumptions as I have no clinical information to substantiate my idea, is that older tanks rock has been saturated with things in tap water, metals and other contaminants over the years. Eventually they can not absorb anything more and end up leaching out the build up back into the tank. At that point their is no fixing it. Just waiting and hoping. As RO/DI is gaining traction and salt mixes are getting better you are hearing less and less about old tank syndrome. It could be a coincidence, or it could have some traction to the idea. You could have a ICP test done, that will test for many trace elements and metals that could be the root cause.
I personally would look at starting over. Sell the rock to a FOWLR set up where someone can use chemicals to control what every issue or use it in a garden. It is going to take a shit ton of work to strip that rock of what ever is in it.
Of course the other option is to wait it out. It could day weeks, months or even years to get things under control though. It is impossible to tell. Lots of HC GFO, Carbon, water changes, biopellets or other removal media. Replace it often.
I personally just switched to a Zeolite system on my frag set up and ultimately will be for my main system. It basically has you adding something daily, some of which can not be done with a doser. It is a lot of work, but only 4 days in and I am already seeing a difference in the tank. The only other thing I did was add a cheato ball after London Fragfest.
TheGreatWave
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You maybe onto something. I have always assumed older rocks better. My tanks were given to me. They were a 20 and 30 that were combined. When i got them your couldnt see in them for algae and red slime. Toom alot of work and patience but got them under control. Has been almost 3 years. Have had ups a d downs but made it through them. Now it just wont get better. Nothing changed. Maintenance was same (not great but always got done) have had algae issues before but got past them. Now cant seem to get through it no matter what. Have done multiple large water changes. Scrubbed ever peice of rock. Cleaned almost every inch of tank. Cant seem to solve it. Have hair algae. Red slime and some long bright yellow algea. Dont want to give up but feel defeated.
TheGreatWave
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Ya im just letting you know what i have tried so far. I hate to get rid of it. But am at end of my rope. Have tried changing light intensity and shortening schedule. Threw out cheato and got new because it wasnt real healthy. Tried bio pellets for 3-4 month with zero changes. Have seen very minor changes. But no solutions. Have upgraded fuge light. At a loss
If you really want info, do a ICP test. They cost a bit but will really tell you where you stand.
If it comes back clean other then nitrates then I would look at heavy water changes and get biopellets up and running again. They can be tricky to get going. The right amount, flow, and out put from the reactor should be right in front of the skimmer input. They also take about 8 weeks to even start and you need detectable po4
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If it comes back clean other then nitrates then I would look at heavy water changes and get biopellets up and running again. They can be tricky to get going. The right amount, flow, and out put from the reactor should be right in front of the skimmer input. They also take about 8 weeks to even start and you need detectable po4
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Experiencing the same type of issue - tank running for 8 years with minimal problems. The tank was always high nutrient with NO3 usually 10-50 and PO4 .1-.5 ppm but great lps growth and some sps as well. My problems started with a PO4 spike 6 months ago - not sure why - no changes made but they went to at least 3ppm. This has caused RTN on my sps, cyano and diatom outbreak. I’ve done everything such as GFO, large H2O changes, carbon dosing (for high NO3) and I’ve only been able to get PO4 down to .5-1 ppm and NO3 20-50. I’ve scaled back carbon dosing as the cyano is getting worse. I’ve changed RODI filters hoping any silicate that may be feeding the diatoms will be stopped and I’m hoping it will break (in a good way) at some point but I think the source has to be the rocks. Similar to you I inherited some old rock when I started 8 years ago so the rock must be at least 12 years old. I’ve ve added more lr since then but I think it all must be leaching the PO4. I have no other explanation. I did a tear down 3 months ago to move the tank to a new stand and I did a complete rinse of the substrate and removed a lot of the rock to increase space and flow. I’m not thinking of starting over, yet, but I completely understand your frustrations. Keep us informed of what you decide to do and good luck!
Keep in mind that the big 5 are not the only reason for trouble. But for some reason they are all that we test and assume okay otherwise. Other water issues might be causing the high po4 and/or nitrates. It would be worth doing an analysis on the water before moving forward.
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TheGreatWave
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kapelan
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- Kitchener, Ontario
If you do not have any coral, this problem can be fixed in one week as:
1. Shut down the light.
2. cover your tank with a blanket to avoid any light from window or from home light.
3. During one week enjoy reading about aquarium balance
4. After one week remove blanket and be surprised with crystal clear water.
If you can manage, try taking a rock out and sitting it in a bucket of water with a small powerhead. If you test the po4 before and after you should be able to confirm if your rocks are leeching nutrients or not. Might help you figure out what the problem is. After that you could setup a small tub and run GFO or lanthanum chloride to remove the phosphate and cycle in a few rocks at a time.
cica
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I had high NO3 (50++ ppm) and high PO4 (1.7 ppm).
Set up a sulfur pellets reactor for nitrates. In about 2 months my nitrates are below 10 ppm.
Set up a lanthanum chloride reactor for phosphates about 5 weeks ago. Now my PO4 is 0.98 ppm. Still high but I don't want too fast change and also my rocks are full with phosphates and now leaching it out while the LaCl3 is removing it.
If you go the lanthanum chloride way, make sure you remove the precipitation with a 1 micro filter before the water from the reactor reenters the tank.
Set up a sulfur pellets reactor for nitrates. In about 2 months my nitrates are below 10 ppm.
Set up a lanthanum chloride reactor for phosphates about 5 weeks ago. Now my PO4 is 0.98 ppm. Still high but I don't want too fast change and also my rocks are full with phosphates and now leaching it out while the LaCl3 is removing it.
If you go the lanthanum chloride way, make sure you remove the precipitation with a 1 micro filter before the water from the reactor reenters the tank.
kapelan
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What hair algae needs?
- Nitrates + Phosphates as a food
- Light as an energy
If it misses any of these 3 component - it will dye.
- Nitrates + Phosphates as a food
- Light as an energy
If it misses any of these 3 component - it will dye.