Starting over with my tank!

Cyano Bacteria. Just keep up with your water changes, and siphon out as much as you can each time. 3 day blackouts also work well against it. As young as your tank is, don't panic, if you keep the water clean it should go away on it's own.

Thank ya Phil, weird thing it came after I did a tree day lights out..lol. But yeah I'm still doing water changes every other day 1/4 of the tank. All my reading are good now except the PH it gos from 20 to 40. Nitrates is 0.

That rock you see it on has sponges on it, do you think if I took it out totally in water and cleaned it with tooth brush it won't hurt the good stuff?

Since you don't have any fish, are you feeding the tank anything? what I've getting at, is are you adding nutrients to the system in any way?

Hat you tank is finding its own way at the moment, honestly you just need to leave it alone and let it run its course.

It's time to slam on the brakes and let your tank settle in. You are going through every one of the frustrating stages of a new tank, and suffering along the way. You keep trying to throw solutions at each problem, which time can often resolve best.

Definitely reduce any feedings, and let us know exactly what livestock you have and what food you are offering. How much too.

Thanks everyone for the info! I started out with like half liverock and half dry rock and the dry rock is the rock with the green algae on it. But, I notice that the green agae is start to go away and nice colors are starting to happen..very pretty under actinic lights.

I did go throgh all this before, but its been awhile. I like asking questions to assure myself that i'm going in the right direction. See I wasn't. I enjoy learning and re-assuring myself on things. I truly appreciate all the information and push-for-success everyone here at this site gives me.

List of livestock:
1-cleaner shrimp
2-peppermint shrimps
5-hermits
5-snails
"A lot of hitchhikers"

Thats it!

I feed my critter only a pinch of fishfood every 2 days (flakes)
I put 1/4 tsp of Purple Up-Calcium every other day
Once a week I feed my corals 1 square frozen coral food. Forgot name...will get name tomorrow.
30 ml of Instant Ocean Nitrate Reducer (Melev interviewed them on this product, I watched the video earlier today!)

Thanks Y'all,

HAT

You really don't need to feed anything to your tank at this point. Just let it ride this out, and skim, skim, skim. Clean the collection cup and riser daily. Did you get a Remora yet, or is this still the SeaClone?

The seaclone is foaming now nicely. I clean the cup every other day; the riser needs to be cleaned also? Won't that make it have to start all over to gain a slime coat or something like that?

I know I need more clean up crews too! My wife and I went to PetCo to look for snails, hermits and a emrald crab, they had nothing. I will stop feeding the critters with fish flakes, but I can still feed my corals huh?

The riser tube will gunk up. All you do is clean it in tap water, and it will resume nicely. I've done the same with every skimmer I've ever owned, and always had the same results. It doesn't shut it down unless you do something like wash it with soap perhaps.

I was involved in a skimmate study a few years ago, and we were required to clean the collection cup and riser tube with rubbing alcohol, then start up the skimmer to collect whatever it would pull out in 24 hours. Even that didn't shut it down.

What corals specifically do you think need to be fed at the moment? Zoas? Leathers? GSP? They'll be fine for the time being.

A full cube of frozen food is a lot. Even my 7" diameter frog spawn and similar sized open brain only get a couple mysid shrimp and a little cyclopese every couple weeks. Heck, my fish get less than 1/2 cube a day. Corals get most of the their needs from the light and bacteria in water column. I'm convinced the best way to feed most corals is to simply clean the glass with a mag float each day right about lights out time. That brushes all the micro algae and bacteria into the water for them to catch.

Thank y'all, Yeah I have Zoas, mushrooms, SPS-all types and GSP. I think that's it. I'm goig to stop feedings all together right now.

I clean my glass everyday with the mag float. I've also been picking up as much of the algae off the substrate as I can and getting it out the tank.

I will start cleaning the riser too! After I do my daily cleaning the tank looks awesome, water quality looks great. And now that I'm dosing the Instant Ocean nitate reducer my readings will be in check.

Thank y'all,

HAT

My son brought me to the LFS today. I got more saltwater, 5 snails, 5 regular hermits, 2 red leg hermits and a emerald grab. I needed more cleaning crew members! ;-)