Green Algea

onefish2fish

a refugium is just an dedicated area of the sump that has a slower flow rate, usually sand or refugium mud and a marco algae ( im a fan of chaeto )
continue to slowly overtime remove those bio balls. you could even remove 1 a day, or 1 every other day. however you want to do it, just stretch it out over a period of time. nothing happens fast in this hobby, period. even if you go out and spend $50,000 on top of the line equipment and livestock, set it all up - it will prob. be dead the same day. everyone gets anxious but IMO waiting has its pleasures too.
an anemone is something i dont suggest for someone new to saltwater tanks. infact im not really a fan of people having one of any experience level. i was given one ( and im far from an expert by any means) and prob. would not have went out and purchased one other wise. if you want an anemone for the soul purpose of having your clown host it, please do not buy one. clown fish will host anything and everything that they feel comfortable and safe in. this means it could or could not be the nem, and rather corals, rock, ive seen clams, algae scrappers.. really it is where they feel safe. i have heard that in the wild they live 200+ years and i have also heard they are eternal, meaning they live forever. either way that is a very long time and no one has yet to keep one for this length of time. honestly these are best left to the wild or at the very least until you have a well matured tank ( about 10+ months old atleast ) ANEMONE's REQUIRE A REEF ENVIROMENT, meaning your alk, ca, mag should be at proper levels along with your other paramters. you have to keep in mind nems are inverts and all inverts are sensitive to changes of any kind ( with some more so then others ) anemones can and will walk around ANYWHERE in the tank (including glass) finding a spot that they like regardless where you put them. on their stroll they will sting/kill just about any coral it comes in contact with, i have also heard of a bubble tip getting tangled in a torch coral and getting killed by the torch. when a nem dies it has a very very high risk of "nuking" the tank, meaning it kills everything inside of it. im not intending on discouraging you from getting an anemone but rather informing you. regardless RESEARCH BEFORE BUYING ANYTHING.
smaller chunks of silversides or mysis would be a better food choice for a nem. feeding it every 2 weeks to about a month should be alright. nems also require strong lighting, pref. metal halides but t5s will do the trick.
what kind of nem and how did you acclimate it?
alot of corals have a symbiotic relationship with an algae. the algae is photosynthetic so it takes energy from the light and grows, the coral uses this as a natural food source. some corals just cannot produce their own food this way and need to be fed. a sun coral is an example and needs daily feedings for its health, other corals can be fed on occasion depending on what it is. every one will be different, same with their lighting and flow needs.

conger

+1 on what onefish said about the anemone needing a reef environment. I went back and looked at the parameters you listed, and though your calcium and alkalinity are good, I think your nitrates are very high for a "reef". Ideally, nitrates should be kept at zero (or very close to zero) for keeping corals and anemones. I can't recall if you already listed what lighting you have for your tank.

But if I had to guess (and that's all this is, a guess), you've had trouble keeping anemones because of the nitrate levels in your tank, and possibly because they weren't getting enough light. Anemones are notoriously difficult to keep alive in a captive environment!

Nessie

Oh Man this is really getting me frustrated, I have removed approx 25 balls monday and Friday, and will continue this pattern, I have cut back feeding to once a day a small pinch of dried food, I took out every rock and scrubbed them like you would not wanna know how, but I reallly had a sore butt the next day, and i test my levels today and find it still sits on 20 ppm nitratres, and I can see little bits of the hairy green algae appearing yet again on my rockks,HELP PLZZZ what am I doin wrong????

conger

Seeing the algae come back is not a surprise, so don't get frustrated. Scrubbing the rocks removed the algae, but didn't fix the root of the problem so it's return was expected.

Also, nitrate reduction is not something that will happen quickly, but the removal of the bioballs is a step in the right direction. A water change will be more effective at reducing the nitrates, but a couple of things to keep in mind are (1) you should avoid a large water change, as that is stressful to the livestock in the tank, and (2) the nitrate reduction is proportional to the amount of water changed... i.e. if you do a 25% water change, you will reduce the nitrates by 25%. 10% water change reduces nitrates by 10%. And that assumes the new water is free of nitrates.

In addition to nitrates, the phosphates are as much, if not more of a problem. For phosphates, you can get a phosphate reactor (highly recommended), start using RO/DI water for top-offs and water changes, or both. That should keep the phosphates at zero.

But for nitrates, I'd suggest multiple small water changes over the next couple of weeks or more, and definitely keep removing the bioballs. I don't know how deep your sandbed is, or if you have a sump with a refugium, but a deep sand bed (either in your display or in your sump) is a great way to keep nitrates at zero.

In summary, don't stress! Getting rid of this problem will not be a quick process, but you can be successful in time

onefish2fish

can you please refresh me on your setup. everything from lights,skimmer, to water source, to water params esp ca,alk and mag, what else do you feed besides the flakes? anything and everything.

i would personally stop feeding daily. what do you have that needs this diet?

Nessie

Hi guys thanks once again for your help. I will do all the testing tonight and post it for you and tke photo's of the sump to see if you can decide if I have a refugium. But I now have another dilemma, I took out more bio balls today and the tank has gone a milky cloudy color, have i taken too many balls out???? should I put them back in??? I started taking them out last Monday, then again Friday, and now today. Total balls taken out 80 so far, is this a natural process when removing them???