Question about my 3GAL PIco

[sanchez]

So I've had this 3gal pico at work for almost 2 years now, and it's been horrible. Well not really horrible, but it's been a mess.

 

I started out with crushed coral from one of the LFS's tanks and some rocks from there as well. Things went well for the first few weeks after the cycle, then corals started dying. No corals have lived successfully in this tank. Then the algae started, I do weekly water changes of about one gallon, every week and algae still grows. It's not hair algae, it's cyano and another thing that looks like cyano, but green. No matter what I've tried I can't get it to go away, so I stopped caring about it. I used to try to remove it all the time, but it would just come back. Oh, and snail that I have added die after about 3 months.

 

I still do the water changes, the algae comes and goes, about every 2 months it will die, then come right back. The only thing in the tank is a YWG and one hermit. They don't seem to mind the algae so I try to keep their water clean.

 

The lighting on the tank is the current 1x24w SunPaq and I also have an AC70 fuge that had chaeto in it, which never really grew because the bad algae was eating all the nutrients.

 

I'm thinking of starting over, new sand, clean EVERYTHING, new rocks, as well as seeding it with a rock from my home tank and some stupid xenia that is growing out of control at home.

 

If I do this, I'm going to be using regular aragonite, a rock from my tank at home to seed and some liverocks from my LFS (which I shop at weekly, not the shady one by my office).

 

So now you know the scenario, on to my question haha.

 

Question is, if I do this:

 

A). I know there will be a cycle, will it be a long one? I have nowhere to take my YWG (I have a YWG at home, so I'm not gunna put him in my home tank). I don't have a QT tank at home or at work.

 

B ). Is this even a good idea? Should I try again or just let it go the way it's been for the past 2 years, aside from the algae, the fish and crab are doing well, the fish has doubled in size and the crab is about 4x the size of when I got him.

 

C). Am I overthinking this, should I just do it?

 

Here it is during the cycle, zoas came with the cool cave rock, so I left them in there:

 

Here it is now (and for the last 18 months or so):

 

And the YWG being a doof:

 

 

Thanks for listening and for any advice!

[echopiece]

I don't think you are out of line for wanting to try a new setup with new rock/sand. However, a few more questions should be asked so this can be eliminated in the new setup. Are you using, RO/DI water for water changes and top off? How much do you feed the tank? How long are your lights on? How old are the bulbs? Also, I would suggest running a small bag of chemi-pure elite in your AC70.

 

I have turned my lights off and covered my tank for 2 days followed by a large water change. This seems to get the algae back in check for the most part. Things can get out of control very fast in these small tanks. I recently went through an algae outbreak and let my tank go for a period of time. I never dipped corals before introducing to the tank which led to many annoying vermetid snails, worms and bad algae. I too threw in the towel and started over, which was something I wanted to do for a long time. Many lessons are learned the hard way, but after you do it once hopefully you wont make the same mistake twice!

 

Possibly you could start with some dry rock and seed it with a few small pieces of cured rock form a know good source. Your cycle will be bit longer maybe, but I think its worth it. That original rock could have had something bad leached into it, causing all the problems. Who knows?

 

Good luck!

[thadscottmoore]

When did you last change out your light bulbs?

The water your using- RODI?

Maybe try a more aggressive cleanup crew...

More circulation- pico power head perhaps?

Peroxide treatment? - there is a thread on this that runs daily..... Peroxide saves my tank

 

what do you use in your HOB filter?

[sanchez]

To answer your questions, I am using RO/DI from one of the vending machines outside a market by my house, the same RO/DI I use in my reef at home with no problems, the salt water I get from my LFS, the same as my home tank.

 

The bulbs are just as old as the tank, about 20 months, so they could stand to be changed I bet. My lights are on 10hrs a day from 9AM to 7PM. Another thing I was thinking about is maybe I'm getting light leak from the fluorescents in my office which is causing the algae bloom, who knows really.

 

The HOB was just for water circulation with a ball of chaeto in it. No chemipure or phosban or anything.

 

When I do it, I'd be getting everything from my trusty LFS, water included so hopefully the cycle wouldn't be too bad as the rock they have is cycling with that water already.

 

Thanks for the tips Any more would be awesome!

[sanchez]

About the peroxide thread, I follow it closely, had to use it on a frag of zoas I got, works like a charm

 

I think it's just too far gone in my current tank to use, I know it works well but I'd rather just start with new stuff as I don't know what's up with it really.

[thadscottmoore]

To answer your questions, I am using RO/DI from one of the vending machines outside a market by my house, the same RO/DI I use in my reef at home with no problems, the salt water I get from my LFS, the same as my home tank.

 

The bulbs are just as old as the tank, about 20 months, so they could stand to be changed I bet. My lights are on 10hrs a day from 9AM to 7PM. Another thing I was thinking about is maybe I'm getting light leak from the fluorescents in my office which is causing the algae bloom, who knows really.

 

The HOB was just for water circulation with a ball of chaeto in it. No chemipure or phosban or anything.

 

When I do it, I'd be getting everything from my trusty LFS, water included so hopefully the cycle wouldn't be too bad as the rock they have is cycling with that water already.

 

Thanks for the tips Any more would be awesome!

 

despite the algae bloom- the rock-scape is nice! I would try and fix the problem before starting over-

 

a pico and a large volume tank are two different animals for salt water tanks- picos is no room for error. larger volume is much more forgiving. how often do they service the machine you buy your water from?

I use to go that route- then I broke down and bought an RODI and have never looked back! It is a world of difference to access it from home rather than toting it from one location to another....

 

good luck with it.

[sanchez]

despite the algae bloom- the rock-scape is nice! I would try and fix the problem before starting over-

 

a pico and a large volume tank are two different animals for salt water tanks- picos is no room for error. larger volume is much more forgiving. how often do they service the machine you buy your water from?

I use to go that route- then I broke down and bought an RODI and have never looked back! It is a world of difference to access it from home rather than toting it from one location to another....

 

good luck with it.

 

The machine that I go to is serviced about every 3 days it seems, I haven't ever gone and seen a serviced on date more than 2 days in the past.

 

And thanks about the rockscape! The part in the center is actually one huge rock that takes up most of the tank, it has a little bridge and a cave underneath as well, perfect for Mustard (the YWG).

[sanchez]

Also if anyone feels so inclined, you can watch a live stream of my tank here:

http://www.ustream.tv/broadcaster/8960543

 

Haha!

 

Oh and about food, I feed the YWG by hand a few mysis a few times a day, so there's not much that gets tossed into the water column, if any at all.

[brandon429]

hey you could easily kill that algae without disturbing your tank, just pm reefmiser from that peroxide thread and ask him what's the right dosage for that volume, minus the rock displacement etc.

 

that fish will not be harmed.

 

there are no sensitive corals in there that would dislike a systemic treatment, guaranteed to fix ya up. that green blanket algae w die in two days totally white.

 

You can also take it out and manually scrub it off in a bucket of clean water, then do a couple back to back partial water changes removing out detritus from up under the rocks for that final dentist quality plaque removing start over. this'll get ya a great start over. if it was mine Id add the right amount of peroxide per reefmiser, wait a couple days then rip out all the water in back to back 50% changes. perfect outcome

 

make follow up pics however you roll

[sanchez]

Cool, I'll give it a shot. I have a bottle of it at home from when I treated my zoas. My only concern is the crushed coral, I kind of want to add new sand anyway as the coral kinda looks poopy at this point, should I just do that after treatment?

[brandon429]

nah if ur going to rip the guts out (I agree cc is harsh when aged) id move the fish out holding temp, switch the sand, rinse everything well, seperately dip treat the rocks now that you are doing a big tank CPR run, put it all back in and not treat the whole tank now. this will get all your nutrients started over

 

don't forget to blast clean this tank occasionally, 'specially w a fish.

 

once or twice a year do back to back 50% changes, about ten in a row if you can make up that much water. export all that waste back out powerfully, these little picos lack the natural flushing mechanisms active on a real reef

[sanchez]

So I got a new tank....

 

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=286260