Do I have a water chem problem??

Hey 3reefers!

I have a 75 gallon reef aquarium that i am slowly developing into a full reef. I left for a semester to attend a school abroad leaving my sister (who knew nothing about aquariums in charge). Everything survived and i'm getting everything back in order and back to full color, but i've encountered three problems, which i've never had before.

1) Some of the "branches" on my kenya tree coral have just broken off and hang on the side of the coral until the current takes them away, and the branches plant their feet in other places creating new corals. Is this simply reproduction?

2) my rose bubble tip anemone's tentacles are positioned farther away from the mouth, leaving the mouth exposed. The ones on the very ends of the anemone are small and shriveled. also instead of forming a bubble at the tip, they are just expanding into long tentacles.

3) Lots of hair algae. Bought a yellow tang to eat it but it likes to eat the mysis shrimp instead.

any knowledge on either of these issues would help greatly!

i'll try to get some pictures up for a better explanation

Ammonia: 0.25
Nitrate: 5
Nitrite: 0
pH: 8.4
KH/GH: 214.8
Calcium: 430
Phosphate: 0.25
Magnesium: 1220
Iodine: 0.028

* i'm doing my best to get rid of the ammonia through water changes

 

You should have no detectable ammonia, unless your are feeding too much, something died or disturbed the sand bed or the test kit is wrong.

Water changes sound like the best way to go currently and get the phos under control to prevent a worse algae issue.

She must be dosing something or maintaining water changes to keep those alk and ca levels.

 

The ammonia is decreasing with the water changes, i just found out that she tried to add an LTA but after slowly deteriorating, she pulled it out before it died... i suspect thats the ammonia issue.

the alk and ca are set with the salt mix i use

what can i do to lower phosphates? its been at a steady .25 for months and water changes aren't working

 

RO/DI or if you do not have a unit get walmart RO/DI or buy from a LFS that has decent levels.

Phosban, phosguard, GFO, research them and pick what might work best for you.

You can try some macro algae or an algae turf scrubber (ATS) but it takes awhile to see results from either.

Change your water source, feed less and get medium that works.