unclenedsfishfactory.com

I have a 45gal. right now with about 30lb of live rock and 20lb of live sand.
I have a wet/dry trickle system with Bio-balls and sump....
A protein skimmer (not sure what type)....
Two power heads (only one is running since my bicolor blenny has made the other power head his home). The tank has been running for two years now.

In the tank I have....

2 Ocellaris Clownfish
1 bicolor blenny
1 sailfin blenny
1 flame Angel
1 yellow tang
1 engineer goby
1 Royal Gramma Basslet
1 Anemone (not sure what type) (just got on Sat)
Some pulsating xenias (just got on Sat)
2 Sea Cucumbers
1 Arrow crab
1 Lettuce Sea Slug (Nudibranch), Green
1 Emerald Mithrax Crab
1 Sally Lightfoot Crab
1 green sea Urchin
2 rocks with Starburst Polyps on them
1 rock with 3 brown Hairy Mushrooms
1 Banded Coral Shrimp
2 Blood Red Fire Shrimp
1 Scarlet Skunk Cleaner Shrimp
and an assortment of Hermit Crabs and Snails.

For lighting I am using Coralife Lunar Aqualights Compact Fluorescent Strip Lights. The 10000°K bulb(96w) runs for 6 hours a day and the Actinic (96w) runs for 8 hours. The Lunar Blue-Moon-Glow LEDs run for about 12 hours a day. I just got these light about two weeks ago so that I can start buying Corals.
I have been having a lot of hair algae problems for the last year or so. I do about a 20% water change every two-three weeks. I use natural sea water from Catalina Water Company. Now that the new lights are up and running it seems like the hair algae is dying...it is turning to a reddish/orange color in the tank. The new problem is I am seeing more brown algae on the glass and a bright green algae on the rocks....also a dark velvet looking algae on the rocks as well. Then there is a light green colored algae that's growing on the sand.

My ammonia is at 0ppm
nitrite is at 0-.25ppm
Nitrate is off the chart
ph is at 8.6

I can't seem to control the Nitrate...I have no idea what is going on here....the fish don't seem stressed....but the Anemone does look like it is stressing out. I was told to do a 10% water change every day until I reach 0ppm on the nitrates. But I need to find the problem first. I don't want to add any chemicals to my tank and I am worried about removing the bio-balls from the filter (I have heard that they are Nitrate factories) and having my system crash. Any advice on what I should do to get the Nitrates under control?

Thank you for your help......

same problem as this thread below

viewtopic.php?t=2425

basically just:
remove filter media (it makes nitrAte)...
add LOTS of scavengers...
don't leave lights on for too long if you don't have enough corals to use that energy
(29 species of corals expected here next Monday)
I suggest minimum of 7 corals
EASY

you can also physically clean the rock

just get a vat of saltwater
put the rock in
and use a new finger nail brush to scrub it
DO NOT USE FRESHWATER
DO NOT USE SOAP OF COURSE
kalkwasser dosing can help retard hair algae too

Ned, Thank you for the advice. If I remove all the media and the Bio-balls will the ammonia and nitrite spike since I am taking out all the good bacteria?

no
the good bacteria
is in and on the live rock

took me years to believe it myself
but it works

Thats what I'd do as well.
However, that's also ALOT of fish for a 45g :

Quote:

2 Ocellaris Clownfish
1 bicolor blenny
1 sailfin blenny
1 flame Angel
1 yellow tang
1 engineer goby
1 Royal Gramma Basslet

Thats more fish than I have in my 90g

Fish poop = manure = fertilizer for algae

I'm admitedly conservative, but I generally aim for about 3" of adult fish per sq foot of surface area - I'm guessing that your 45g has about 3 sq ft of surface area ( = 9" of fish) - and you've got maybe 30-35" of adult fish size in there

What are you doing for water changes ?
With a bioload like that I'd be planning on weekly changes of about 25%

Your existing corals are super-hardy varieties -- other corals would have a problem with nitrate and dissolved organic levels like what your fish are going to put out.

I'd say your maxed on fish population
but not way overcrowded

The Yellow Tang
the engineer goby and
the sailfin blenny
will eventually get too big