I hate my tank!

[whatcaneyedo]

Your phosphate, nitrate and calcium scare me. At those levels of NO3 and PO4 I'm not at all surprised that you have algae and slime problems. I am surprised that you dont have calcium precipitation.

Marine Invertebrates: 500 Essential.... By R. Shimek provides some excellent insight on keeping snails and The Reef Aquarium Vol 3 by Delbeek and Sprung is the best book I've read on aquarium chemistry and setup. Or spend some time reading through www.reefkeeping.com and www.advancedaquarist.com (two online magazines) for some detailed direction on how to get you system healthier.

+1 for larger weekly water changes.

[Boomboy]

looks like you got alot of help. no such thing as a bad question. i hope things to out for you, i understand what your going through with the cyano, i had it but with corals. work hard at it, maybe invest in a ro/di unit you wont look back. hope everything turns out well.

[lobsterboy]

i know what you are talking about, i started were you started, diatom blooms, red cyno outbreaks, green cyno out breaks, green hair algae every where, snails dying, and i could go on.
have patience, with all of this

for your outbreaks, have you tried, a phosphate remover? and IMO, i have found that stablity by seachem, helps abit for the cyno outbreaks

[i have crabs]

sounds like your using tap water corect? if so stop, i used it for a long time and battled algae the whole time invest in a ro/di unit it will save you in the end
since your using tap water have you been adding prime to detoxify? if you dont i would think that could be the snail problem.

why the heck is your calcium so high? calcium will aid coraline growth but yours is way to high and the type of calcium you add will determine whether the coraline will use it quickly or not,liquid calcium additive is best. but you need to get yours down in the 400-500 range,what tesk kits are you using?

[digital-audiophile]

RO/DI is a big thing. After using filter water you will see an improvement. I was just making up a batch of water last night, test TDS after filter was 001, s/b 0 but I am ok with that, I tested the water out of the tap and it was 410. That is big.

One product I have used in the past that helped with cyano was KZ Coral Snow, you can get the small botle for ~$25 that can help in the short term. You can also use chemiclean or red slime remover but they really only treat the immediate issue but not the long term problem.

Do you have any pictures?

[Tangman]

as others have said, water change! water change! Invest in a RO/DI !, if you don't your problems will NOT stop! Water changes will bring your parameters down, remember the phrase "the solution to pollution is dilution "
as for the algae problems phosphate reducing media is always a good idea and for now, as already suggested, I would cut back on the lights(or turn them off) and make sure the tank has good flow (power heads)
Also start a weekly regiment of trying to suck up as much of the slime as possible ( when doing water changes)
GOOD LUCK and HANG IN THERE !

[Snaz]

Originally Posted by jslaney

-Water top ups performed using tap water that is let out for a minimum of 24 hrs.
- I have changed 20 % of the water twice since beginning
Sincerely,Jon

Letting the water stand for 24HR will only remove chlorine. The copper in the water could be killing your snails and other inverts ie. pods. Other suspended particles in your tapwater will fuel the cyano outbreak. Good water is the BASE of every reef tank. Get a DI/RO until ASAP!

You should be doing more regular water changes, 20% in three months will not replenish the trace elements your tank needs.

[jslaney]

Thanks everyone for the Support. I will try and answer the questions in order.

1)I will try to give my tank more love. Its unfortunate she is such a cruel mistress.

2)I am just using tapwater with no treatment for topups. As I understand it, if you let it sit for 24 hours all the chlorine evaporates off.

3)I think getting my water tested at the LFS is a great idea. I will bring them a sample for sure and let you know how his values differ to mine. I am specifically interested in Specific Gravity

4)Regarding DOCS (dissolved organic compounds?) I did not realize that could happen. I agree water changes should be applied. I have been planning a tank build post for a while. I will try and get it going

5)I acllimated the snails over 2 hrs slowly adding my water to the store water. I used a shot glass to slowly add bits of water every so often. The shot glass was well rinsed and is a tank dedicated shot glass.

6)I have no idea why my Calcium is so high. I will have to do some more reading about it.

7)As I previously said, I don’t use prime as I always let my water sit. I think I will add prime to the water from now on regardless.

8)The live rock was fully cured when I got it.

9)I will try to be more patient in the future

10)If the cyano gets really bad again I will leave the lights off. For now it seems to be holding off.

11)I will have to look into dinoflagulates. Interesting possibility.

12)I am trying to do a lagoon tank so I am not putting a lot of flow in my tank. Its circulating about 4 times its volume in an hour so I think its ok.

13)I thought my nitrates and phosphate levels were really low. I will look into that book.

14)My test kit is a brand new instant oceans reef kit.

Conclusions
-Do more water changes
-Get my water level parameters checked at the LFS
-Start treating my top up water
-Consider getting a phosphate remover and RO/DI unit.

Additional questions

1)How do you test of TDS (Total dissolved solids?). Does that not include dissolved calcium. Is that not a good thing.

2)I have read that increased Calcium can be a good thing for stony corals. Why is it bad for Coraline? I am not treating calcium so it must be coming from my sand and water top ups.

If anyone has any other ideas based on my responses, feel free to let me know.

[e46er]

to test for tds you need a TDS meter they are around 35 bux i think

you calcium is sky high and if your not dosing it i would get someone else with another test kit to check your results for accuracy.

[marie]

Originally Posted by jslaney

...
12)I am trying to do a lagoon tank so I am not putting a lot of flow in my tank. Its circulating about 4 times its volume in an hour so I think its ok....

Have you ever swam in the ocean? I think a tidepool has more flow then what you've got

Soft corals can take (and in some cases prefers) a lot of flow and even lps corals need enough flow to keep detritus and algae off them. I would shoot for at least 10 times preferably 20 times tank volume an hour