Mobile Bay Reef Keepers

My reef tank has become almost a nuclear wasteland... I finally got a
skimmer from Scott, which is churning away and will hopefully help, and I
did a 50 gallon water change last week. Here's some pics (try not to
cringe):

First off, to show you how bad the water quality is, here's a CHEAP
Amiracle skimmer, doing a poor job of being a skimmer, and it pulled this
much out in 4 hours... I checked it this morning and the cup was 1/2 full
of brown water. Scott, if you're willing, you're probably gonna get this
skimmer back, it really sucksola. It's not really making "froth", just
producing really bubbly water.



My poor cleaner shrimp making it's way across the wasteland... As bad
as it looks, I haven't lost a single invert or fish... I have a cleaner, two
peppermint shrimp, and two serpent stars, and TONS of hermits and
smails, all doing great.



The toadstool I got from mike.... one of the best looking coral I have right
now... it's a trooper!



A patch of Xenia... the stalks keep developing "open wound" looking
things, I dunno about that...other than that, the Xenia seems to be doing
OK.



The Kenya tree I got from Scott... doing well, but not growing at all.
There's a different group of Xenia in the background.



A Kenya tree frag... again, doing well, but no growth lately.



*drum roll* the best evidence there's something wroooooong with my
tank.... the Frogspawn I got from the couple downtown is all but dead.



Riccordia, doing well for the most part...



The tank overall... I'm overran with cyano and brown algea. I unplugged
my MH's yesterday, and am going to run the tank with 220w worth of
VHO's only. I fear the MH's are just too much, the tank is BRIGHT with it
on, and also the MH bulbs are several years old.



Right side.



Left side.



I'm gonna go cry now

It's not the end of the world and its fixable. Here are steps i would take.

1) Use Salifert test kits and check these things Silicates, Nitrates, Alkalinity in your RO water. Next check same things in the tank and compare. A poor source of water can cause these things, even if you have an RO it does not mean it is functioning properly.

2) Keep up large water changes, this will fix things and get your aquarium back into proper shape even under the most critical water conditions. Of course the water changes are only as good as the source water, that is why #1 is critical. Even after water changes the algae will take time to go away. Salt is cheap, use it. P Cola is the cheapest i have seen around.

3) A good clean up crew after the water conditions are better. Do not by any means add anything to your tank until all other problems are fixed, why waste money on critters if they could croak.

4) Pay attention to your corals reactions to everything. Your Frogspawn will open back up when all is well.

5) Good quality skimmer and get a play to put some macro algea in your sump and get a super bright flourescent light to put over it. You would be suprised what this stuff can suck out of your water. Some reefers still do not use a skimmer but just use nutrient export via macro algea.

6) Be positive that your salt level is correct. Small swings are ok but a bad hydrometer can give you a bad salt reading. This is why i now use a refractometer.

7) Patience, patience. The best way to fix a problem is knowing when your tank is telling you something. When you see a coral close or something that just does not look right, be guaranteed that something is "off". My tank even tells me when the lights are about to go off, some corals close 15 min before, some polyps extend less right before. Your corals know when something is happening, just listen to them.

the horse whisperer speaks... j/k kev

If you want to bring me the skimmer back thats cool. I was going to keep it around for a spare, but give it a week to get broken in. They are cheap but they do work. I would run the skimmer full blast for a while, then check water parameters. You may be able to adjust the venturi valve to get better/smaller bubbles. What is your salinity (it has some to do with bubble size)?

Wow, I have never seen a frogspawn look like that!

I agree with everyone's thoughts. Just another thought, I see only one powerhead and the return offering flow. Not enough flow may cause the cyano bloom, increasing the flow within your tank (more or stronger high flow powerheads) might help with the overall condition of your tank. I am in the process of adding more flow in my tank also (closed loop). Just my 2 cents.

ShagMan, good luck, I know you can bring it to its full potential.

Please keep everyone updated.

I've been closely watching my frogspawn, since he seems to be the quality indicator of my tank.... he's *slowly* starting to recover... I think I'm gonna go for another 50 gallon water change next week, the water change is the only thing I've really done... the cheapo skimmer has not skimmed anything else this week so far, it's still at 1/2 cup full.

How did you adjust the venturi? I have a smaller version of the same venturi on my bakpak and I found that if you turn it off and slowly turn it back on you will get the best bubble quality just after it starts. What about the salinity? Low salinity will cause stress in corals and larger skimmer bubbles.