Lots of growth.

In the past couple of weeks there has been an outbreak of growth in my tank. From brown algae, green algae, red slime looking stuff on the rocks. Its a 29 gallon nano cube. Went to the LFS and water tested good. Tank is 10 months old. Here are some pictures.

 

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Anything change lately?
What type of water are you using?
Did extra food spill in to the tank and not get removed?
What were the test parameters?

 

My neighbor gave me some corals 3 or 4 weeks ago. I get my water from the LFS. I did start feeding them a little bit more because i got 2 clown fish. the LFS said all the parameters were right on. I just want to know how to get my tank looking good again.

 

It's possible the lights need replaced... not sure if anyone can confirm that though.

 

Thats why I put a picture of the lights hoping someone might be able to tell if they are going bad.

 

I was going to say lights or check your water from the LFS.

 

No way to tell if your lights are going bad from a picture, but since the tank is 10 months old they probably do need to be replaced. Old lights can help encourage algae growth but the bigger problem is in your water. Reguardless of what test results give you, there is some source of nitrates or phosphates present in the water for them to feed on. What happens is the algae uses up the nitrates and phosphates so your test results say the levels are low, which they are, because the algae is using it up. More frequent water changes will help. Next step from that is to run GFO. You dont necessarily need a reactor to run GFO. You can place it in a media bag and run it in the back chamber of your tank. This will in no way be as effective as a reactor, but if money is short it could at least help in removing phosphates. You may also consider a modification such as adding a refugium. You could also look into several types of macro algae that would look good in your display tank without spreading out of control. Reef Cleaners has a great selection of macro algae. Also, what does your clean up crew consist of? A good sized cleanup crew consisting of snails and hermit crabs also work wonders on keeping algae at bay.

To add to this, make sure you are not overfeeding. It is very easy to overfeed. Most food packages tell you to feed as much as your fish will eat in 3-5 minutes. Personally I think this is BS and I always recommend that your fish should be able to consume what you feed them within a minute with as little waste settling to the bottom as possible. If using frozen foods, strain them in a tea strainer before feeding. The frozen media/preservative adds unnecessary phosphates to your tank water.

Adding a small powerhead may help increase flow which can decrease cyano outbreaks in low flow areas as well as keeping particulates to circulate within the water column before they settle on the sand bed increasing the chances of them being filtered out by your mechanical filtration/skimmer (if you run any).

From the pics all I saw was a cardinal and you mentioned you had 2 clowns. Are those the only fish you have? If so, that is about the right bio load for a tank that size.

To cap: change lights, make sure you use RO water for makeup water and top-offs, double check filtration (nutrient export i.e skimmer, macro algae, gfo), weekly water changes, double check cleanup crew, check flow, dont overfeed.

 

I did buy a media bag and some PhosGuard.

 

Good. How long have you been running phosGuard, how often do you replace. I have seen tanks take several weeks to clear up after running GFO and that's in a reactor. Keep using that and keep up with water changes. I don't know how much your media bags cost but it may be worth it to buy a mesh media bag and a pound of GFO from somewhere like bulk reef supply rather than continuing to buy those pre-filled media bags.