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stevesharp

stevesharp

"Sharks Are Awesome"
Apr 11, 2006
76
0
0
47
Canada, Ontario
I have a big problem with My algae bloom, It's not the bubble type!

It likes to sway back and forth and clog up my filter! It's nasty angel hair! I have tried everything, By everything I mean taking my rock out when doing a water change and with a brush scraping off the algae so more coraline can take hold! This works but is very time consuming, And now I see more tube worms taking branch to my rock! So I really cant do this method anymore! I say I have about 300 tube worms just coming from nowhere, growing on my rock. I cant wait till they reach a good size! Can make some money at the pet store to sell them there!

My tank used to look really wicked! I have about 200 pounds of rock, and it is now all covered in green jungle! I have green sand polyops on a moon rock and they are covered, my young coral I have started are losing light because of this,

My readings are normal, I was thinking of doing a cureing process on my rock, as it will all fit in my blue crate I have for that purpose. But I dont want to kill off anything that needs the light! As well as giving it a boast with Liquid calcium while curing it. I feed my reef liquid calcium about 3 caps a week, as it says on the bottle, but nothing is really taking hold on my rock. Just the Angel hair, and it really makes me mad! As I just can't really get my tank to what it used to be. Well when I clean my rock, it looks good for a bout a week, then BOOM, Crazy it's back again!

Please Help. This is my last straw before I sell the whole show, and go back to Fresh water.

Peace

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Fishieness

Fishieness

AC Members
Jan 14, 2006
2,075
0
0
ct
what;'s yoru feeding schedual? are you using RO water? DI? what are the TDS readings coming out of it? what else do you have for chemical/biological filtration?
id do a large water change with some really pure water, put some cheato in there, feed less, get a protein skimmer (if you dont already ahve one) and run a lot of carbon and phosban, as well as doing frequent water changes.
 
stevesharp

stevesharp

"Sharks Are Awesome"
Apr 11, 2006
76
0
0
47
Canada, Ontario
I feed once a day, at about 6:00 oclock, and I feed them Frozen Brine, or the hard Brine, I give them two pinches, I only have 3 fish, and one of them is supposed to eat the stuff, But my Yellow Tang is stubborn! Was thinkin about another tang in the tank, it's a 55 gallon and it's safe for two in there, I'm using town water, and add 4 caPFULS of Aqua Plus to each 5 gallon bucket that I pull out of the tank. I take out 10 gallons for my water change, should I take out more when doing my change. I do a change every 2 weeks, add my calcium after I'm done, and my liquid reef feed! I don't have any attack packs in my tank.. As I did but my snails keep dying, or something is eating them! I still have like 3 or 4 hermits, I will have to do the Red flash light trick at night! But the scrubbing of my rock might have gotten rid of the cool lookin stuff! I use a protein skimmer, but it dose'nt really skim much, I might have to change the air rock! I use a fluval Canister filter, and would it help if i also used another filter on the back of tank? I have a bag of super carbon in my filter as well, but could be changed! Now I have crushed coral and sand, and heard a sand bed is better then having both! Is that true?

Now what is cheato? And that is what it's called... how many water changes? 1 a week or.... And also should I change the whole water, scrub the rock in my seperate bin, rinse then put back in?? And should I change my lighting?
 
Pallen81

Pallen81

TheSunCoralTamer
Jun 20, 2006
1,260
0
0
43
Lawrenceville, NJ
www.mygodmusic.com
do you test for phosphates? If your nitrate and phosphate levels are high then they might explain the constant explosions of algae. I'm concerned about the town tap water. Mine had really high levels of nitrate and phosphate = food for algae. Yours might as well. It builds and builds over time so a tank may appear great for a few months then as the levels build suddenly its a losing battle with algae because of too many nutrients.

I had to purchase an RO unit and I recommend you look into it. It's saved me headaches with algae that people warned me about if I used my tap water. They said "once you get it, you'll hate it, best to prevent it." words were never so true.

If you have high nitrates that might explain the clean up crew deaths. They generally don't like nitrate over 20ppm and start to struggle.

I would check these parameters and get some more clean up crew. I can see there is a lovely tank in there, just gotta get it back!!! :grinyes:
 
stevesharp

stevesharp

"Sharks Are Awesome"
Apr 11, 2006
76
0
0
47
Canada, Ontario
On a fixed budget at the moment, is there another way then the RO machine? For the time being... Like a chemical to lower or to neutralize the PH and Nitrate?? I have done tests and they were all fine! So I don't know what it is... Could be the lack of the clean up crew, But my Large turbo snails did'nt last long. And I am also using a crushed coral and sand mixture. I read that crushed coral is BAD for a tank. Could the Toxins be coming from my crushed coral?!? My sand looks black in some spots! I take it that is because it is'nt getting air ated enough because of the crushed coral!?!

I love my tank, and salt water, but I really don't have the money right now to invest in something like a RO machine... Is there a Do It yourself model?? Help Please!

My next objective is to sell all thats in the tank, But my wife and I don't really want to... But I'm lost for what to do
 
Catpicklesdog

Catpicklesdog

Hindsight is a wonderful thing!
Feb 25, 2007
4,210
0
0
53
Telford, UK
Real Name
Alison
Cheato is a macro (good) algae that will help lower your phosphates and nitrAtes. You say your levels are good but what exactly are they (especially Phosphates and NitrAtes). How many powerheads do you have in your tank? More circulation can help. Definately get more clean up crew, my hermits are chomping through my little flourish very quickly. I don't recommend you getting another tang as in my opinion your tank is not big enough (I have a 60gal with one Tang and she's outgrown that). I'd also test your water that your using before you put in you tank just to see what your levels are.
 
O

OldManOfTheSea

AC Members
Mar 21, 2007
677
0
0
86
Hillsborough NC
I believe that the very first thing you need to do is to siphon that ugly algae out, not brush it, you only have a mess in that tank. Also if your getting your RO water from your lfs, you best to check it for phosphates and such. Also your nutrients must be very high in this tank. You need a larger cleaning crew then one tang and as it is now, you get no fish to clean it up for you. If you can, do more water changes then what you been doing to help cut down on nutrients.

Many people in the hobby are on a fix budget for im one as well and yet, I will do all what I can to get the best possible for my tanks for if you saw the thread which Mr.Firefish had suggested to me on adding a second carbon cartage and a booster bump. This I will have done when my reef tanks are ready>

But you need a variety of glazers to help your tank, snails, hermits sand shifting starfish, small growing cucumber and if you can handle the hunger of a black urchin might help, mmmmmmm maybe not> LOL

Is that an elegance coral I see? If it is, im surprised that its a live>

All of us in the hobby does things different from one another, you need to make adjustments in order to do the best for your tank for I know a number of people with 180 gal reef and they do a weekly water change of 40-50 gals a week due to their over feeding and such. So please try to make adjustments in your maintenance schedule differs from what your doing now, you should see a change after time and if not, go over again and make further adjustments until it does.

Keep a record of what you do on this tank ;)

Buddy
 
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