I'm thinking warfare. need advice..

Filter floss/sponges ... same thing.. they MUST be rinsed at least 2x a week for them to be effective.. if you know you can't do that then I would say it is better to not use them vs use them and have them all clogged with waste sitting there in the tank. They do help out A LOT.... if you rinse them regularly and replace them as needed. I wouldn't spend a lot of money on fancy expensive pads that have media embeded in the pad though because those are a waste of $.. too expensive and don't last long. Better off getting cheap filter pad/floss material.
 
so does this mean i should just buy the normal oceanic filters as opposed to these polyfilters that cost like 6 bucks more and need to replaced every 3 weeks
 
well i just did a 10% water change with different salt (starting using new salt about months ago and figured i would switch back since didn't have problem then), added carbon. cleaned all the slime off the sand, added addional oxygen and cleaned one of the filters removing the sponges. I'll give that one a week to settle back down then swap the other filter with live rock. Well see how everyone looks tom night. Thank for all the great help. I'll let you know how it goes.
 
Conski said:
so does this mean i should just buy the normal oceanic filters as opposed to these polyfilters that cost like 6 bucks more and need to replaced every 3 weeks
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:D Yup. I was the same way.. replacing those stupid square filters on the Rena Smartfilter every 3 weeks @ $5+ per filter, 2 at a time, and still having bad filtration. The DIY method for me isn't actually all that much cheaper, but it is 1000x more effective. Live rock rubble in the bottom + chemi-pure+rowaphos+blue/white filter pad does much more filtration than the stock $5 filters ever could. I bet my DIY ends up costing about the same because I spend $8 a month on chemi-pure and the small cost of the rest of the media I use probably comes out to the same price. The filter pad cost $6.39 for a 24"x15" sheet and I use a 3"x5" piece each month when I change out the chemi-pure and rowaphos, so I get 5 months worth of filter pad for that price. I do rinse it out in the sink bi-weekly though, but it lasts a month before needing replacement if you rinse it regularly. I have a large container on Rowaphos so I just use about 1/8th of a cup of media in a filter bag. Not sure what the cost comes out to on that since I use the Rowaphos for my 75G tank as well. I am sure I could DIY for cheaper if I bought bulk carbon and GFO but this works for me the way I am doing it so I don't mind the extra cost in using chemi-pure and rowaphos.

Back on topic.. what type of salt, how are you measuring it, and what type of water for the mix out of curiosity? Slime on sand?
 
slime on sand = red slime algae. It's not like anything i have ever had. The past 8 years i have had my share of small algae blooms. It comes with the territory. But this time it's different. It's a red slime algae thats looks like long strings 2-3 inches long growing off the sand. I've never seen this before ! I always used coral life salt but about 2 months ago my local LFS stopped carrying it so I switched to instant ocean. I just switched back to the coral life today. had to go to a LFS that i don't like but had no choice. (wanted to eliminate this as a factor)I know you'll shoot me here but I use tap water. Where I live we are considered the cleanest tap water in the country. Most people around me use it. I have for 8 years now and never had any large issues with algae growth or water quality. I am looking into picking up a RO/DI. The cost has been holding me back. I test my tap water monthly and just tested it last night. all was good. I do use the polypads to remove any unwanted minerals.
 
Ok, there is your answer. I would put $100 on it being your tap water being the cause of your problems and slime algae. So many variables of foreign contaminents you don't test for in your tap. Changing salt brands is a very minor variable in the equation compared to using tap water.

Around me, you can get free saltwater from the University and people used to swear by it.. I happen to try it right as it got polluted and really messed up my tank bad with algae outbreaks. Thought I struck gold finding a place for good sea water from all the reports I heard and for a month all was good.. then BAM, everyone that got water for a month had major algae problems after that. Took many months of work to clean that mess up.
 
that is a workable price. I've been tryig to research them and it's like reading another language. I wasn't sure what would be properly. I'll give it a try.
 
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