I'm panicking... Can someone help.

[Lego1602]

The sandbed is extremely covered in dark what looks like sludge. and there is algae all over. What can I do to get rid of some of it and have the tank clear again.

 

Water parameters are:

GH: +/- 180

KH: 0

PH: 7

NO2: 0.5

NO3: +/- 80

 

Its a BioCube 14 gal. its been up for 6 months.

I have two Clowns and one Damsel, an Emerald Crab, some Hermits (that seam to be resting all the time), some Snails and 3 Nassarius Snails. I have no clue whats going on. Can someone help?

Also I recently added a small frag of Zoads and they open the first day, they are closed since.

[ReefWeeds]

The dark spots on the sand bed look to be cyanobacteria to me. There's lots of info here on how to get rid of it.

 

Not sure on the second picture, but just try removing the heater and scrubbing that stuff off.

[D Z]

Nitrates being at 80 is your problem. What is your water change schedule?

[dpoltsdsu]

I agree, your nitrate level of 80 is extremely high. You need to feed less and do more water changes to lower that number? What are you running in the back chambers> If there's bioballs back there, they can be contributing as well.

[jojopus]

Nitrates being at 80 is your problem. What is your water change schedule?

 

This. Do a decent sized water change and retest your parameters.

 

Your Nitrite (NO2) being elevated is bad. Perhaps you started a new cycle by increasing your bioload to quickly or overfed the tank badly at one point or another.

 

Your PH is too low as well. It shouldn't be neutral like that. Most of what I've seen indicates that a reading from 7.8 to 8.5 is optimal.

 

Good luck.

[ReefWeeds]

Nitrates being at 80 is your problem. What is your water change schedule?

 

Good point! I read that as 8 for some reason.

[Tamberav]

I would siphon all that sand out and do a 100% water change if all you have is some zoa's. Just match temp and salinity.

[Newstead]

When you do the water change, use a turkey baster and siphon out the back chambers, getting to the bottom. A lot of uneaten food, etc. can collect back there and rot, driving up nitrates.

[Lego1602]

Awesome, I'll do this, I also checked on the other posts.

Thank you very much

[Lego1602]

Everything back to normal, did a 70% water change and it helped tremendously, Also bought ChemyClean and its the best. Thank you guys, also bought a yellow tang, that dude did some work with that hair algae... lol Super Sayaing Tang, Thanks again for the help.

[DudE31]

Everything back to normal, did a 70% water change and it helped tremendously, Also bought ChemyClean and its the best. Thank you guys, also bought a yellow tang, that dude did some work with that hair algae... lol Super Sayaing Tang, Thanks again for the help.

I hope you are joking about the tang. If not please do some research and take it back to the LFS.

[D Z]

Everything back to normal, did a 70% water change and it helped tremendously, Also bought ChemyClean and its the best. Thank you guys, also bought a yellow tang, that dude did some work with that hair algae... lol Super Sayaing Tang, Thanks again for the help.

Woah man. A yellow tang in the 14G is not good for that fish. No offense to you but, respectfully, you gotta take that thing back. It is usially recommended to have 150+ gallons of water for a yellow tang. They swim long distances in the wild and just need to have more space to swim to be housed in a healthy manner.

[Lego1602]

i know they have to be in a big aquarium, he is about a quarter size, and yes he is now on a bigger tank already. Thanks for your concern.

[D Z]

i know they have to be in a big aquarium, he is about a quarter size, and yes he is now on a bigger tank already. Thanks for your concern.

Awesome. Glad it was able to help mitigate your algae issue. Unfortunately we see too many people that buy tangs and have no idea what is required to keep them healthy. Unfortunately, a lot of times its the fault of the Lfs for selling it to them without even asking how big their tank is or educating them on the requirements. I just wanted to make aure that you dodnt fall into that trap.

[RIP Sebastian]

 

XD

[darkdancer333]

I had a Bio-Cube 14gal .. get rid of the bio-balls and put in the cheap 50 dollar skimmer from Coral.

Also in the rear compartment under the power pump there is a sponge... This must be cleaned every 2 weeks. In mine I did a 5-6 gal water change every 2 weeks.