Noob project continued (2 Viewers)

[gware]

Bump.

There is also a purple film growing over the sand now.... spent hours pulling out what looked like weeds out of the fully covered Zoa rock.

Help!?!?

 

[flexrac]

went through some of those, cut back on feeding, don't use frozen foods, try not to use flakes. i am using daikinichi pellets. get the mag to 1600 and maintain for a while, do not do water changes, give the mag time to work.just maintain it, clean as much algae as possible, use a turkey baster to suck it up. keep the glass clean. do not use a filter sock, it clogs in 48hrs, and will help with the algae growth. (all from my experience) if the tank is recieving light from the sun through a window, cover the window with curtains. natural sunlight in our tanks without a uv filter will speed up algae growth. I have to clean my glass every day, green algae on glass where the sun hits it.

hope i'm not rambling, writing as i think.

 

[RR-MAN]

At this point, stop buying any fish, corals, and additives.

Invest in test kits and keep up with your regular water changes. Are you using RO/DI water???

 

[gware]

Using distilled water. Will try using pellets instead of frozen food

 

[RR-MAN]

I use fronzen food most of the time but I rinse it in RO/DI water a few times. My fish will not eat pellet type food.

 

[RR-MAN]

Meant to say "frozen"...darn it no edit button.

 

[Llama]

Any changes? Hopefully the Tech M will start doing it's thing soon enough. If not then I have no clue what fixed my algae problem as it was the only change I made. As for the purple film (cyano), higher flow and beefier phosphate removal is what I'd be moving toward. I'm too lazy to read back in the thread to see if you have a phos reactor, but if not I'd start looking into cheap used ones.

Side note: I dosed 20 tsp/day into my 90 gal. for about a week or so. So I would think you should start seeing the algae turning clear pretty soon. I never actually made it up to 1600 on my mag reading. My mag was actually low so by the time i saw that everything was dead my level was right around 1300. My memory's fuzzy because I'm kinda drunk.

Keep us posted. Got any shots?

 

[gware]

Lol LLama thanks. I need to get some more test kits but from the way it looks its not growing anymore and if it is, its not growing very fast. Don't have a Phos reactor just simply the skimmer. How much would one run for a 75g? Will post some pictures later on. Thanks for all the answers

 

[paraletho]

gware +1 to Llama on the phosphate reactor. There is a pretty good record of the Tech M working even though it didn't for me. When you see the feathery stuff Bryopsis going clear or light colored on the ends you know your doing some good. Keep a good flow in the tank and it will start to break up. SallyLightfoots are good (high energy compared to Emerald crabs) This works pretty fast. Take a gravel vac put it in the tank and start a suction to the sump, put a filter sock or fine mesh bag on the sump end, with good tweezers or haemastats pull clumps and release it into the vac. You now have the algae and the water goes back to the system. Faster than removing your hand each time andplacing the algae in something

 

[gware]

Well I picked up another power head for better flow at the bottom of the tank. Cleaned the sand by hand as well as some of the rock. There really is no more hair algae now just a little bit of the weed looking mush left. Should Is it ok to rinse under normal water and just flake it off since it comes off pretty easy now. Everything seems to have died and is getting back to normal. Will check into the phosphate reactor. Fish and the long tentacle anemone seem to be doing good still so I'm happy they are still alive Thanks for all the help

 

[gware]

A little update here:

The hair algae is no longer an issue... at the cost of some cleaner shrimp and snails....

Removed quite a bit of the problem LR and cleaned the rest. Went a bought about 14lbs of fiji rock from Citypets. About a week after I added I had the entire bottom covered with the dark purple algae and some weird silky black looking algae? Curious as to if its just the cycle process or what.

Lately I've done numerous water tests and everything is pretty unreadable so thats good.

I'm having trouble keeping the pink fiji sand clean as well. Any suggestions?

Added an imperial angel fish and a blue tang. Sadly the blue tang didn't make it for some reason. Maybe was bullied by the Angel since they were added one day after the other. Not sure but wasn't thrilled about it.

A few updated pictures. And what food is best for the angel fish? I have frozen shrimp and frozen brine cubes.

Thanks for the help. This way I don't have to text Justin (Tempset) as much lol! Thanks Justin!

Thanks!

 

[Tempset]

Removed quite a bit of the problem LR and cleaned the rest. Went a bought about 14lbs of fiji rock from Citypets. About a week after I added I had the entire bottom covered with the dark purple algae and some weird silky black looking algae? Curious as to if its just the cycle process or what.

Lately I've done numerous water tests and everything is pretty unreadable so thats good.

Possible sponge?

I'm having trouble keeping the pink fiji sand clean as well. Any suggestions?

Sand sifting sea star. Sand sifting goby? Nasarrius<sp?> snails.

And what food is best for the angel fish? I have frozen shrimp and frozen brine cubes.

That's all I feed mine(guilty look).

Thanks for the help. This way I don't have to text Justin (Tempset) as much lol! Thanks Justin!

I honestly don't mind(it's why I have my # in my signature).

 

[UoH_Chibi]

Thanks for the help. This way I don't have to text Justin (Tempset) as much lol! Thanks Justin!

I honestly don't mind(it's why I have my # in my signature).

Now that I saw you post this, I might just have to take advantage of this immediate response service! Just to warn you. Im up at all hours of the night

 

[gware]

Yeah I am as well and sometimes I don't notice how late it is when I text him... whooops!

But he always responds and with good info. A true tank saver for sure.

 

[bevoboy]

One thing jumped out at me when reading your thread. You say you are using distilled water. As in distilled water you buy at the grocery store? If so that may be part of the problem. The distilling process doesn't remove all the impurities and dissolved solids that the reverse osmosis process does. Your new issue (the black and purple) sounds like it could be cyanobacter and not an algae. You can treat cyano with chemiclean but frankly I'd be leery of dosing your tank at the moment. I would definitely do a series of water changes with RO/DI water to get your nutrient level down and try to increase flow through the area where the slime is growing. And +1 on the media reactor. Two little fishies makes a pretty good reactor that is pretty inexpensive. Bulk Reef Supply has a very good reactor that is reasonably priced as well.

Justin offered good choices for keeping the substrate stirred. Nassarius snails do a really good job and are fascinating to watch. Might also consider a diamond (orange spot) gobie. Cost you about $20 and the thing will eat/sift your sand non-stop.

Last thing. Might take a look at this algae guide on reefcleaners.org. A bunch of useful info included. http://reefcleaners.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=54&Itemid=81

 

[Kemah]

Go to Buckeye field supply if you get an RO/DI. Best prices and Best service by far.

 

[gware]

Sadly I am moving soon and after getting a lot situated I need to sell everything so I can start over and not have to haul this stuff around. I am not a member so I can't post in the for sale section but I'd give it up to Marsh members cheaper.

http://houston.craigslist.org/for/1611839937.html

Hopefully I'm not breaking any rules here.