[BubbleTip]

Ok first I have a new bubble tipped anenome, Its neon green with bright pink at the tips, It was great the first day but the next morning it didnt have the bubble look it was like thinned out, It has moved ALL over my tank , I have one of them HUGE orbit lighting systems and 2 double bio-wheel hang on filters going and a prizim skimmer and a seaclone sandbed filter and 5 power head 2 of which move back and forth, I cant think of anything that might be wrong with it, I thought maybe it needed more light but wouldnt it have moved UP the glass to get more instead of stay at the bottom?? Also my other problem is weird I have had this tank for 1 year last month and JUST these past 2 weeks algae has popped up out of no where and is getting all over everything, some is green others are a nasty brown some is like slime some look like green hard bubbles, I NEVER had this problem the whole time I have had it till just these past 2 weeks, WHAT GIVES??? I checked the water and I just found out the PH went down to 7.2 which I have no idea how it even did that and the nitrate got to 20ppm, I did a water change and the PH went up to 8.0 and nitrate went down to 5ppm, But I dunno how this even happened, Is this the reason for the algae? I have also added supplements to it and never had this problem, I dunno what could be going on, Its not over stocked I know that much, It is a 90gallon bow front tank with only 2 small fish a damsel and a small sail fin tang and about 15snails and at most 10 tiny hermit crabs and 2 small anenomes and 1 med sized one and tons of live rock and live sand, Any help would be great, If theres anything I can tell you about it to help figure it out just ask away, My e-mail is Finalfantasyx666@hotmail. com oand my SN on AIM is trapperman666

[CaseyH]

Anemones are weird things and they will move around until they find the light level and water currents (and food source) that they like. I have had a lot of trouble keeping them for long, and I because of that I have a homeless Clownfish, but he is doing fine. I have heard they are very sensitve to nitrate levels and my levels seem to average about 10ppm (46G bowfront, live rock/sand, wet/dry/skimmer/canister/metal halide lighting). Water changes and not overfeeding (i.e. no food hits the bottom when you feed - the fish get it all) both will help with nitrates. Also, make sure your filter pads are not covered in muck (but be careful when cleaning because the media do house benificial bacteria). You have an awesome cleaning crew (snails/crabs) and they should help take care of any major pollution in your tank. Green, brown (and red) slime/bubble algae can come from the elevated nitrate levels. Keep up with your testing and water changes and keep an eye on the anemone. This is a great site, and I'm sure the site masters will be in touch with you soon.

[chappy]

um i had a single bubble anemone with the pink tips it never looked like a bubble though

it got huge then split and split and split

i ended up selling 13 back to a fish store and keeping 5

i also have the orbitz light system

i wouldnt worry yet about him moving around

when was the last time you changed the bulbs in your orbitz

my original bubble anemone is probably 10 years old

[drew64]

Have you tested your phosphate leval. I have serval tank and one is 125 gal fish only tank. I am having a problem with slim algree too. Found out that my phosphates were high. I am now adding drops to lower it. It seems to help.

[BubbleTip]

No I have not tested that, I didnt even think about it till you just said it, But I'll have to go get a test kit for it since I dont have one, But thanks I will pick one up today and check it out

[BubbleTip]

Well I check it and it read 0, I would of thought there would be at least a lil in there but it says none, But now I noticed that almost all of that hard pink algae stuff that grows on rocks and glass is being covered with the damn algae and now growing like it was before, It was covering the back glass cause I would never scrap it cuz I loved the way it looked, But now there is maybe at most 10 lil tiny dots of it on the glass, Also the *BAD* Algae on the back glass have like lil clear air bubbles all over it, Whats up with that? What am I doing wrong?? PLEASE HELP??? Also if for some crazy chance you happen to live by me and are willing to help I would be greatful if someone stopped by and took a look at it and tell me whats wrong with it, Thanks
Oh yea I live in Mechanicville,NY

[drew64]

That slim algee is Bactria and it does trap air bubble. It's good you don't have any phoshates because it would just come back. There are product out there that will remove it & are reef safe - look for a product that says "red slim remover". Check your local shop. Make sure to read the direction as you need to remove carbon, and turn off skimmers etc.. Good luck it should work but it may take a couple of treatments.

[BubbleTip]

Thanks I'll take a ride down to Eddies and see what they have, Also is that good for the hair algae?? Well again thank you everyone for the help

[reefaddict]

I have notice a great coralation between overfeeding and algae blooms. Cut back slightly and see what happens

[BubbleTip]

These are the pics of the algae problem on my rocks and gravel,

[BubbleTip]

Also my AIM screen name is Trapperman666, I have it on always so you can get ahold of me on there, Which would be great

[BubbleTip]

If its my feeding habit then I got a problem, Reason being is I only have 2 fish in there right now and I only feed them once around mid day and thats it and I only feed them one tiny pinch of food, thats when I use flakes, when I use meaty foods, I use half a cube of the lil cubes they come in the bubble packs, There only 1/2"big before cutting it in half, But if you think its that then I'll try it, Also only a very very small amount of feed ever reachs the bottom BUT that is taken up by the fish in a sec onces they get all the floating food and thats if they make it, Cause I have 6 of these snails that stay under the sand but as soon as food hits the water they pop out and start running well crawling all over the gravel tryin to find food that made it to the bottom

[reefaddict]

I use only two cubes and sometimes only one of those cubes of food for 12 fish once daily. Feeding less also keeps your fish from getting lazy about finding their own food sources in the tank.

[chappy]

erm i only feed every 3 days maybe im underfeeding?

[BubbleTip]

Well I take it I'm over feeding then, Cause Right now in my main tank there is only 3 fish, A damsel that I have no idea what kind it is lol, Its all like a smoke black and has yellow ONLY on its tail, a year ago when I got him/her it was all BRIGHT yellow with vertical black lines, And then I have a sail fin tang and a mandrine goby that is a nut, He/she sits there doing nothing but as soon as I and ONLY myself walks up to the tank it goes on like a freak out mode and comes to the top and waits to see what I'll do, If I put my hand or anything in he picks at it like a mad fish, And if I put food in there he gets the best parts by running everyone off and taken what he wants then settling down so the other two can eat, But I was wondering why? Cause EVERYONE and the people I brought it from said it would NOT eat ANYTHING I put in there and would only eat live pods, So what gives? They said it wouldnt eat when it was in there care but now its a damn pig lol, Dont get me wrong I love it that its a plump lil goby but its just weird, But heres something that everyone is going to bug over and I KNOW I did WRONG, But I have not done a water change for around 12 months, It looked great and I also wanted to see if it was true thath I had to do a lil water change every weekend, Everything was great and everything grew great till NOW!!, So it could be there right? Dont get me wrong I didnt leave it for 12 months without checking with tests kits, I did there everyday for 6 months then every 3 days for 3 months then once a month there after, I know I shouldnt of done that, But like a dumbass I thought it was great and nothing would go wrong and then I get slapped in the face with all the algae, So go ahead and ***** me out lol but I know I did wrong but I really wanna fix this not cover it up, Like you said I want a fix and not a bandaid, But after I you all of what happened what can I do to fix this problem?? Thanks and go eazy with *****in me out lol

[medic]

I would agree with the over feeding part. I used to have a damsel as well and the thing really tormented everyother fish I put in my tank so i tried to kill it by not feeding it, since it killed or stressed out my other fish to death. I went about 8 months without feeding it. And he was the only fish in my tanks so no food was given at all. After 8 months i found it a new home and got it out of my tank. They seem to do realy well finding other sources. And you want them too. I really don't like to use flake because of how concetrated it is, and if there is just a small amout that gets left over it can really cause a spike. I think it is something like twice, or more of brine, plankton, or other combos out there. I like to mix it up for my fish so I alternate between brine and plankton and I feed about everyother day or so. I use sea weed for my tangs and feed them about 3 times a week.

Water changes you got to get on those! Really helps keep your water quality enviroment healthy for you fish, coral hard and soft, polyps ect... I can really say that I slacked off on that when I first stated and now that I do it weekly/7-10days I have seen a big diffence in the way that my reef looks. I have a 90gallon tank and change 5-7gallons a week. Since you have alot of things going on I would do water changes every 5 days for a few weeks and see how things are looking. You don't want to change out to much too fast because then you can end up taking aout alot to the good things in your water.

How big is your tank? In my tank I try and keep 30 snails and 20 craps. I also love having shrimp so I try and keep at least a few pepperment shrimp. The nice thing about having shrimp as well is they are really sensitive to your water quality and will be the first to die if something gets out of wack.

Hope this helps and keep us in the loop, as to how your tank is doing.

[bspstang]

Algae blooms are going to happen (it happens in nature too). The thing you don’t want to do is over react. Do your water changes, watch how much you are feeding, and remove any decaying objects (vacuum your tank and rocks). Then wait a week, and then test your water. Give it time; a reef tank is a mini ecosystem if you keep messing with it won’t repair itself.

How long has the tank been running? Newer tanks (under a year) that are still cycling will have small blooms until fully cycled. You might not see what is out of whack, because of the back and forth draw of nutrients; it might not be there when you test.

Clean, change water, change bad habits (feeding too much), and be patient. Then test again and repeat.

[reefaddict]

couldn't agree more BSPSTANG

[medic]

Very well put bspstang

[Manuelonski]

Im not sure but I think i have some kind of Algae growing in my sand, there just brown spots all around. The tank has been cycling for almost 3 weeks and Ive had the lights on for a week. It only has the live rock and sand, I turn the lights on atinic 8am till 10pm , white lights 10am till 8pm and moonlights 24 hour.
Can somebody tell me what this is and what should I do?

Also please let me know how to attach a picture to the thread.

Ill appreciate your help

[g13]

Patience grasshopper and keep water parameters good. PH can and does change on a daily basis for many reasons. Nothing good happens overnight but thing can go very wrong quick.