20 long build

Yes, DI stands for De-ionization. I got the 4 stage from BRS during their black friday sale. Did you make sure to get the Dual line TDS meter? thats the only way to know if your water is reading 0.00 TDS
 
I didn't but I just ordered it. If i'm going to do it, i'm going to try and do it the right way. so yea I just ordered the tds meter. really not a bad price though for what it does. so when the levels start to rise, thats when you change the filters?
 
the sediment filter you change when it starts to brown the carbon you change i think when your TDS in raises and DI you change when it changes color. BRS has soooo many videos on youtube. Go to their channel and type in RODI and watch them all. You will probably notice a difference using nice clean water. :)
 
ya I hope I do. as soon as its up and has been flushed properly, i'm doing a water change for sure. I decided to put the rodi in my basement instead of the bar area. The bar is so small you have to stand sideways in it, its basically a closet with a sink and a refrigerator. so here is where its going to go. I have to find somehow to mount it on the wall without drilling into the cement though. I may get a piece of wood and mount it to that, then somehow hang the wood up. ideas? EDIT: also I was wrong on what I bought. i did get the 4 stage. don't know why i said 3, i meant 4!
here is where its going to go.
ry%3D480
 
went and got the activated carbon today. i'm planning on, once the phosphate sponge is used up tomorrow, running a carbon/gfo mix instead of a regular filter pad. my ro/di unit will be here friday. what i'm planning on doing is taking my now empty 10 gallon and filling that up and placing my corals in it, then do a hefty cleaning job on the hair algae that is in the tank, and do a 30% water change to the new rodi water. then do 20% water changes twice a week for a month. i think i am also going to use the api algaefix, somebody on my other algae thread said to use it. i also got a alk buffer today as well so i'm going to start dosing that 3 times a week. if anybody thinks what my plans are is to much, let me know!
 
I'm not sure if anyone's mentioned this, having not read the previous pages, but have you considered using a macroalgae to help consume nutrients in place of the hair algae. I have a 10 gal nano and keep a corner of the tank planted with feather calupera and remove portions as it grows in addition to using RO/DI water and regular water changes. I keep a Sixline wrasse and between his food settling and waste, this keeps the nutrients from becoming a problem.
 
Postyoa28 said:
I'm not sure if anyone's mentioned this, having not read the previous pages, but have you considered using a macroalgae to help consume nutrients in place of the hair algae. I have a 10 gal nano and keep a corner of the tank planted with feather calupera and remove portions as it grows in addition to using RO/DI water and regular water changes. I keep a Sixline wrasse and between his food settling and waste, this keeps the nutrients from becoming a problem.
Click to expand...

not exactly sure what your talking about. I havn't heard of that before. but at this point i'm willing to take advice from anyone. i was going to us the api algaefix dosing. but nothing to do with nutrients. would you mind expanding on this a little bit?
 
I looked up the macro algae and I will for sure use that. I'll have to put it in the main tank but thats ok. I want to get my current problem under control first though.

I tested my phosphates today and took out the phosphate sponge. Nothing changed. It's still reading 0.25. not sure if its the test kit or where I put the sponge or what the deal is but nothing changed. Do you all think I should get a gfo reactor? I am just using a filter hob right now to put the media in and I am not sure about the effectiveness. I replaced the sponge with carbon right now but I am wondering about the consistency of that, just layed in the hob inside a bag?? bulkreefsuply has a gfo reactor for $40. i am considering getting it if you all think it will actually do something. I don't want to spend the money if its really not going to help. I would, if i got it, run a gfo/carbon mix. I planned on doing this in the hob filter, but i really don't know if that is a good place for it or not now that my phosphate sponge didn't do anything and it was placed inside of there.

My RODI unit is scheduled for delivery tomorrow. I am very excited about this as I will now have good water and be able to get it when I want. It was a pain going to the store all the time for water, especially when I am getting the algae results I am right now.
 
well, today I was doing more research and ended up buying a Ducanopsammia Coral and a sea hare from liveaquaria set to arrive tuesday. I think I will let the sea hare do it's thing helping clean up my algae, and then pass him on to somebody else. I don't want him dying in my tank and killing everything. anyway, just a little update. i'll post more tomorrow when my rodi comes.
 
I think the best advice is to slow down. You have to make changes very slowly. As is often repeated, "nothing good happens fast in this hobby."

You are learning a lot as you go along, but part of the learning process is making mistakes and correcting them. You have made some mistakes setting this up, as we all do, and now it will take some time to get everything straightened back out.

Here is what I would do, for what its worth. I would put a bag of GFO or some other phosphate absorbing media in your HOB, it will be fine there. I would not add any more fish for sure and would probably just hold off adding corals for a while. Once you get your RO unit, I would do a 5g water change every 4 or 5 days for the next three weeks or so. This will help pull the phosphate soaked water out of the tank and you will not be adding phosphates back through your water source as you have been now. Consider feeding your fish no more than every other day and feed them slowly and in small quantities to make sure they are eating it all and it is not settling in the tank and becoming dissolved. Don't try to manually pull the algae off the rocks in the tank, that will just spread it around the tank by releasing spores into the water.

When doing a water change, I would take a single rock out of the tank and apply hydrogen peroxide to the algae spots. Let it sit for three minutes. Then rinse the rock in the old tank water you have taken out during the water change. Once thoroughly rinsed, place the rock back into the tank. Do this with one rock each time you do a water change.

You need to fix the root of the problem, not just the symptons. The root now is likely your water source and possibly overfeeding. You have corrected the former by purchasing an RO unit, excellent. The last is easy to control. If you then stop importing phosphates, it is just a matter of exporting them, which you will do with the GFO and water changes. After that, it will take some time for the algae to starve off and die. To completely turn everything around, this will likely be a multi-month process.
 
JasonBJones said:
I think the best advice is to slow down. You have to make changes very slowly. As is often repeated, "nothing good happens fast in this hobby."

You are learning a lot as you go along, but part of the learning process is making mistakes and correcting them. You have made some mistakes setting this up, as we all do, and now it will take some time to get everything straightened back out.

Here is what I would do, for what its worth. I would put a bag of GFO or some other phosphate absorbing media in your HOB, it will be fine there. I would not add any more fish for sure and would probably just hold off adding corals for a while. Once you get your RO unit, I would do a 5g water change every 4 or 5 days for the next three weeks or so. This will help pull the phosphate soaked water out of the tank and you will not be adding phosphates back through your water source as you have been now. Consider feeding your fish no more than every other day and feed them slowly and in small quantities to make sure they are eating it all and it is not settling in the tank and becoming dissolved. Don't try to manually pull the algae off the rocks in the tank, that will just spread it around the tank by releasing spores into the water.

When doing a water change, I would take a single rock out of the tank and apply hydrogen peroxide to the algae spots. Let it sit for three minutes. Then rinse the rock in the old tank water you have taken out during the water change. Once thoroughly rinsed, place the rock back into the tank. Do this with one rock each time you do a water change.

You need to fix the root of the problem, not just the symptons. The root now is likely your water source and possibly overfeeding. You have corrected the former by purchasing an RO unit, excellent. The last is easy to control. If you then stop importing phosphates, it is just a matter of exporting them, which you will do with the GFO and water changes. After that, it will take some time for the algae to starve off and die. To completely turn everything around, this will likely be a multi-month process.
Click to expand...

^+1 couldnt of said it better myself. Nice one.
 
ya i know. haha. i just don't want anything to happen to my corals. as we all know this isn't a cheap hobby. i had to do something else last night because I was starting to panic a bit at the sight of my tank. so yea i'll try to slow it back a few notches. ill post more later when my RO comes in. can't wait!
 
It has arrived. i got my ro/di system, gfo, and algafix. the algafix i'm not going to use much of because I know it can be brutal if you over do it. I went in today and hand picked up some of the algae off the sand bed and revealed a nice clean bed of sand. So I know it has potential.

ry%3D480

ry%3D480

ry%3D480

ry%3D480

ry%3D480

First Batch of Ro/Di water.
ry%3D480

and some tank shots.
ry%3D480

ry%3D480

this coral I think liked when i poured in the ro/di water. It hasn't raised its tissue up like this since i got it, and i believe the turquoise is beginning to return to it.
ry%3D480

I have the TDS meter coming later today too. for some reason it was shipped to my parents house so their bringing it in here today.
I also added some gfo to the bag of carbon and put in the filter hob.
 
small update. I got the sea hare and the coral in today. algae hasn't gotten any worse and water is looking clearer since i started the carbon.

ry%3D480


ry%3D480
 
soo....today I am going to be breaking down my tank. The algae has gotten way out of control and killed my sea urchin, all my crabs, and a few of my corals. It also locked up my skimmer. I was out of town for 3 days and came back to a mess. The algae looked as if it was receding when I left and when i came back it was a disaster. So unfortunately I'm breaking it down today. I am going to be putting all my coral into my 10 gallon and probably my fish too. I will most likely start a new thread for the rebuild and will post the link here if anybody is interested. I think that with a fresh start with 100% RO/DI water, and a few other changes I hope that the algae will not become a problem this time around. As i said i will post the link to the new thread here once I get some updates. wish me luck!
 
few things I think. Done better water testing and stayed up with the dosing. also I did a few things to cause algae outbreaks, things that I did because I wasn't thinking, such as closing in the tank and not allowing for heat to escape, therefore raising temps to almost 88 degrees. I also think that at this point I know a lot more then when I started this. i am still relatively new to saltwater and am kinda learning as I go.

For the new changes i am using 100% RO/DI water, as when i set this up i used a mixture of my tank water from my 10 gallon that i transferred into this one, ro water from the grocery store, and the premixed stuff from petco. now i have my own ro/di unit and am only using that water. also i know now that it is better to naturally let things work themselves out rather then dump chemicals in and hope it changes by the next day. as i said i am still new but am learning new things everyday. thats why I like coming on here when i need help and like to look at all the threads I can. i also think that the algae was to far along to be treated.

heres a link to my new "20 long rebuild" thread: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=20982794#post20982794
 
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