Reef Discussion
I'd be taking a close look at your phosphates. At times, a tank can tolerate reasonable levels of free and organic phosphates with no real visible ill effects if everything else is in reasonably good balance, until an event disrupts that balance, in your case, power outage.
Just my $0.02
Just my $0.02
What @Elias and @Buddy both said. Probably a phosphate problem, and tap water isn't going to help.
Perhaps increase your water change interval for a while (perhaps a couple of changes within a week initially then once weekly for a while). If nothing else, it might help reduce that nitrate issue until your system starts to settle again.
Just don't do anything irrational like dump all your water, or start filling the tank full of algaecides or anything like that. Just test those phosphates, then work on getting your params back to reasonable through more regular water changes. Clean out what algae you can in the mean time.
Perhaps increase your water change interval for a while (perhaps a couple of changes within a week initially then once weekly for a while). If nothing else, it might help reduce that nitrate issue until your system starts to settle again.
Just don't do anything irrational like dump all your water, or start filling the tank full of algaecides or anything like that. Just test those phosphates, then work on getting your params back to reasonable through more regular water changes. Clean out what algae you can in the mean time.
The higher the bioload on the tank ie. the more fish you have , The higher the chance of a nitrate problem ( unless you export it somehow ), What test kits did you use for the nitrate ? As David said , Testing the phosphate lvl and going from there would be your best starting point ...Along with weekly water changes for a while
Hi newbiereef,
Just checked out your TJ has the algae got worse sins you changed the lighting? Looking at the pics it looks like it has always been present in minute amounts indicating there may have always been a small issue and something has exacerbated it?
Don't be dishearten I have been on your position before and most in the hobby have had algae issues at least once :)
Are you running anything in your sump or just the skimmer? any macro algae in the middle chamber?
Just checked out your TJ has the algae got worse sins you changed the lighting? Looking at the pics it looks like it has always been present in minute amounts indicating there may have always been a small issue and something has exacerbated it?
Don't be dishearten I have been on your position before and most in the hobby have had algae issues at least once :)
Are you running anything in your sump or just the skimmer? any macro algae in the middle chamber?
A bit of flooding at the local reservoir and the quality of your water source can change... a lot. "Filtered" can also be quite misleading - what does it filter out or more specifically, what doesn't it filter out? If the filter material doesn't deal with phosphate, then the filter isn't really relevant in this context. It might however take out the copper, which is a good thing, but does nothing to help in this situation. Better than nothing, but don't have an expectation that it does everything.
More importantly - on to some regular water changes, and I think you'll sort yourself out over the next couple of months. As for test kits - I have the same problem with phosphate test kits.. different answers on every one that I try lol. I reckon a hanna phosphate checker is a good investment (though I haven't bought one myself yet).
Good luck, and keep us posted :)
lighting hasnt changed in 2 years @ megsez
@Luke lost power for 36 hours got gen set after 24 lost flame angel and bristle tooth tang
@Luke lost power for 36 hours got gen set after 24 lost flame angel and bristle tooth tang
