Brown algae showing up

[Holesinme]

Yesterday I noticed some brown algae on the bottom of the 120 gallon tank and on one of the pieces of live rock. Before yesterday I was getting green algae on the bottom as well as on the glass. I have some green algae (hair) on some of the live rock. I have about 10 pieces of corals, 2 anemones, 1 clam that all seem to be doing fine. I have had a few fish mysteriously disapear in the tank (2 tiger gobies, 1 giant damsel). I also have 2 sgt major damsels, 1 figi devil damsel, 1 tomato clown, 1 sebae clown, 1 three stripe, 1 lg yellow tang, 1 purple reef lobster, 2 coral banded shrimp, 1 green starfish, 1 sweeper starfish as well as a bunch of snails and crabs. I have 3 Marineland Emperor 280 filters (2 with floss/carbon cartridge and 1 with Phosban), 1 Fluval 404 filter, 1 Magnum 350 filter (with micron cartridge) and 1 Prizm protein skimmer. 1 have 2 48" Coralife Lunar Light strips (total of 520 watts between daylight and actinic bulbs). Yesterday an adult Majestic angel died. I have been checking my levels and they have been as follows:

temp: 78.6 deg
salinity 1.023
ammonia 0.0
nitrite: 0.0
nitrate: 10
ph: 8.2
calcium: 450mg/L
alkalinity: 11dKH
phosphate: .5mg/L (I added the PhosBan to aid in lowering this level to .01)

Can anyone help me understand and correct the new brown algae? I also know that fish die, but the majestic angel started to get white spots on him and then started to swim lopsided and then died. Now the yellow tang seems to be staying behind the rocks out of sight most of the time. Anyone have any idea of what might be going on or any recommendations of what I should do?

Stuart

[Reefland]

Stuart,

Can you tell us a bit about your water change habits and what kind of skimmate that skimmer is pulling? Immediately, I would say that your skimmer is really under-sized for that tank which is leaving some excess nutrients and feeding shte undesirable algae. Let's look there for starters. Also what kind of cleaning do you do with the mechanical filters?

[Holesinme]

Hi:

I change about 5% of the tank every 2 weeks. I use DI water from a water filter connected to my sink. I add Oceanic marine salt. I drain the water from the tank. I then mix about 3 gallons of water at a time and use a heater until the water temp is the same as my tank (about 78.6 deg). I then add the water to the tank and mix the remaining water.

I use a Prysm protein skimmer. The protein skimmer is a hang on skimmer. It is pulling about 1/4 of the holding container every 3-4 days (the holding container is 9" wide x 1 1/2" deep x 3" high. The substance that is pulled out has a yellowish green color and started out as foam. The skimmer runs 24/7. Do you think a larger protein skimmer would pull out more?

I changed the carbon/poly pads every 30 days in the marineland emperor filters (I have 3 of them on the tank) I changed the micon cartridge on the magnum 350 when the flow starts to slow (around every 3 weeks). I have not changed anything in the fluval 404 yet (It is only on the tank about 3 weeks)

What do you think?

Stuart

Stuart,

Can you tell us a bit about your water change habits and what kind of skimmate that skimmer is pulling? Immediately, I would say that your skimmer is really under-sized for that tank which is leaving some excess nutrients and feeding shte undesirable algae. Let's look there for starters. Also what kind of cleaning do you do with the mechanical filters?

[Reefland]

Stuart,

The protein skimmer is definitely under-sized for that aquarium. Something that is driven with a pressure rated pump and a good method for bubble production is recommended. I use a My Reef Creations, the Euro Reef are great and the AquaC skimmers are very nice as well. You should be pulling a very dark (coffee color) smelly skimmate.

The filters could be cleaned more often but personally, I would remove them after getting a larger skimmer. These mechanical filters are helpful for running a bit of carbin but beyond that, they provide no real advantage.

These would become my key areas of focus.

[Holesinme]

Hi Scott:

I looked up the My reef creations protein skimmer and if I am understanding it correctly it is designed to sit in a sump. I do not have a wet/dry system. I have 3 marineland 280 filters which besides carbon/floss use bio wheels, a fluval 404 utilizing foam, carbon and bio max, and a magnum 350 utilizing a micron filter. Do I need to use carbon in all of the marineland emperor filters?
I am using phosban in one of the emporor filters to lower the phosphates in my tank (was .5 currently .3). What filter medium would you change more often and how often would you change it?

Which filters would you eliminate after the installation of a good protein skimmer? Would I need to switch over to a wet/dry sump system?

What do you think?

Stuart

Stuart,

The protein skimmer is definitely under-sized for that aquarium. Something that is driven with a pressure rated pump and a good method for bubble production is recommended. I use a My Reef Creations, the Euro Reef are great and the AquaC skimmers are very nice as well. You should be pulling a very dark (coffee color) smelly skimmate.

The filters could be cleaned more often but personally, I would remove them after getting a larger skimmer. These mechanical filters are helpful for running a bit of carbin but beyond that, they provide no real advantage.

These would become my key areas of focus.

[Reefland]

Stuart,

I would change out the carbon more frequently, it is much better to change out a quarter of the carbon weekly rather than the entire batch monthly. Carbon looses it's capabilities fairly quick so leaving it all in for a month is pretty useless. Phosban, I personally wouldn't bother with. If you have a phosphate problem them water changes with phosphate-free water is a better option here. Another option would be to drip kalkwasser nightly which not only precipitates phosphate from the water, but also maintains calcium and alkalkinity.

If I were you, I would ditch all of the mechanical filters except for one to run carbin through. The rest of them aren't really benefiting your system other than providing a bit of water flow and this could be accomplished more effectively with a powerhead or two.

I would also look into the addition of a sump, not a wet/dry. This would provide you with some additional water volume, the ability to hide all of your equipment that is currently in your display (heaters, etc.) and open the door for a better, more effecient skimmer.