The sand is new, just added in May/June and is maybe an inch deep. I had removed all the old sand and redid this tank at that time. Ohhh, I know my numbers are higher than indicated on the tests, can see it in the tank...:mrgreen: the tank really went green while we were on holidays last month.

I will read up on vodka dosing. My maintenance on the canister I think is pretty good. Amazing what's in there. Everything is cleaned, scrubbed, rinsed and refilled with tank water. Sponges are cleaned and replaced every 3 months.

I'm waiting for the lights to come on and I'll get working on the tank.

Something else I didn't mention is there is a film on the surface water. I'm hoping that with the adjustments made to the skimmer (was overflowing) this surface film will start to clear up.

Should I rearrange the power heads?

Ah ok, since it is shallow, do you vacuum it? That can help quite a bit.

While you're reading up on vodka dosing check out Kalkwasser + vinegar dosing. It is maybe a bit more effective with algae troubles plus vodka dosing requires 1-2x per day dosing where Kalkwasser + vinegar only requires maintenance when you have to refill (weekly, bi-weekly?) although startup costs more.

Sponges should be replaced every week or they will become nitrate factories by housing nitrifying bacteria and trapping detritus. To keep costs down, buy bulk sheets of cut-to-size media.

Try pointing one of the powerheads towards the surface to help with the film.

I hope you meant replace your sponges every 3 months, and not wait that long to clean them. Without a sump, your canister sponges act like filter socks in a sump, and catch all the detritus and bits stirred up in suspension by your pumps, and esp with your in-tank cleaning. They should be cleaned once a week, and more often initially. Otherwise, they will indeed contribute to your nitrate and phosphate issues.

Not sure what type of skimmer you have, but hopefully your tank overflow is set to skim off the surface water to your skimmer. That should get rid of your surface film. And there should be an adjustment capability on the skimmer so that it does not overflow.

Your pumps should be positioned so that all areas of your tank get flow, esp all the rocks and sand bottom. That's where detritus likes to build up.

2 Power heads are pointed at the surface. I've brushed and removed as much as I can of the algae, vacuumed the sand and basted rocks plus a 25 gl water change done.

Sponges are cleaned each time I clean the canister and are replaced every 3 months. If they need to be replaced more often I'll do so.

The skimmer was dialed in but now have to reset it. I've run tubing into a bucket just in case, the overflow is quite low on this skimmer.

I'll test the water in an hour or so and see what's going on.

Now more reading! :lol:

Oh, and because I had the water level so low, noticed I've got tons of green bubble algae. Think I'll be picking up an emerald crab as well. Cleaned out all dead corals and snail shells, one absolutely reeked.

That's great! Don't pilfer too much flow for the surface though since you do need to have flow throughout the tank.

I would not recommend rinse and reusing sponges. In freshwater tanks, sure. In saltwater tanks, no. Rinsing the sponges doesn't kill the nitrifying bacteria. If you don't kill the nitrifying bacteria the sponges become biological filters which pump out nitrate.

Most of the sponges that you buy at the LFS that are made for each filter are expensive to change out so often which is why I suggested you start sign cut-to-size media.

Which skimmer did you buy anyway?

Wait about 24 hours so the nutrients have time to leech out of the rock and sand equalizing with the nutrients in the water column.

Not all Emerald Crabs will eat bubble algae, I've found only about 1/3 to maybe 1/2 do. You may need to add a few of them. Be aware that the males get quite large and can grab and eat small fish.

The trouble with clean up crews though is they don't tolerate high nutrients, so don't go too crazy on a clean up crew yet as they may not have very good survival in your tank right now.

With all due respect to Myka, as she definitely knows her stuff, I am not sure I agree totally with all of this statement. The reason I say that, is that I use a sponge filter with one of my sumps, only because it was built for that, and there is no room for any filter socks. It is a large sponge filter and I only have to clean it once a week. I have never replaced it and it is several years old. When I clean it, a lot of ugly crap comes out of it. And I have no doubt it has nitrifying bacteria. But because I clean it frequently, the crap gets rinsed out and does not have a chance to turn into nitrates. And this tank has zero nitrates. And BTW, this sponge filter is a lot easier to clean than my filter socks which I use in my other tank sump. They too can become nitrate factories if not cleaned frequently.

That is perfectly fine, your tank is obviously able to handle the nitrate produced. There are also denitrifying bacteria within our systems, they are anaerobic and mainly live in the live rock and sometimes in DSBs. Their main purpose is to convert nitrate to mainly nitrogen gas and oxygen. A nitrate buildup occurs when there is more nitrate than the denitrifying bacteria can handle. In a tank that is suffering excessive nitrate, limiting all possible sources is very important.

Well, this is the tank/sump that I run my bio pellet reactor on, so you could be right, any nitrates are readily dispensed with...

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