Help please algae issues

[Reef Pilot]

Originally Posted by Coralgurl

Sponges are cleaned and replaced every 3 months.

I'm waiting for the lights to come on and I'll get working on the tank.

Something else I didn't mention is there is a film on the surface water. I'm hoping that with the adjustments made to the skimmer (was overflowing) this surface film will start to clear up.

Should I rearrange the power heads?

I hope you meant replace your sponges every 3 months, and not wait that long to clean them. Without a sump, your canister sponges act like filter socks in a sump, and catch all the detritus and bits stirred up in suspension by your pumps, and esp with your in-tank cleaning. They should be cleaned once a week, and more often initially. Otherwise, they will indeed contribute to your nitrate and phosphate issues.

Not sure what type of skimmer you have, but hopefully your tank overflow is set to skim off the surface water to your skimmer. That should get rid of your surface film. And there should be an adjustment capability on the skimmer so that it does not overflow.

Your pumps should be positioned so that all areas of your tank get flow, esp all the rocks and sand bottom. That's where detritus likes to build up.

[Coralgurl]

2 Power heads are pointed at the surface. I've brushed and removed as much as I can of the algae, vacuumed the sand and basted rocks plus a 25 gl water change done.

Sponges are cleaned each time I clean the canister and are replaced every 3 months. If they need to be replaced more often I'll do so.

The skimmer was dialed in but now have to reset it. I've run tubing into a bucket just in case, the overflow is quite low on this skimmer.

I'll test the water in an hour or so and see what's going on.

Now more reading!

Oh, and because I had the water level so low, noticed I've got tons of green bubble algae. Think I'll be picking up an emerald crab as well. Cleaned out all dead corals and snail shells, one absolutely reeked.