Aggressive Tank Algae Control?

[nottheone]

Hi,

i have a 180 oceanic that i am setting up. I was originally going to go reef, but now am considering doing an aggressive tank.

I have added a 15 gal fuge to the sump (dim. 36x15x15) and will put chaeto or culerpa in it and use 24 hour lighting over it to help.

Question:

How do you control algae growth in an agressive tank?

any other suggestions?

Also, note i am still debating live rock or not, but strongly leaning towrds it unless it is just going to become all green and hairy!

I have 3 250 MH i was orignially going to use but have no problem changing things around or buying different lighting.

Thanks.

 

[nottheone]

I should add that when i say aggressive I am considering predators also.

 

[moggyhill]

I have a 300 aggressive, I use lr, a good skimmer, and alot of water changes. I just finished cooking my rock for 6 weeks because of a hair algae outbreak I could not get under control.

 

[Don424]

Live rock is a pain in the a..

Cooking the rock is a pain in the a..

Algae that always appears when live rock is used is a pain in the a..

Get some nice artificial rock and other ornaments and it will look fine.

 

[Don424]

Or use Tonga branch............way less algae.

 

[55gSW]

In my 75g I have only fake decor. Works out really well because every other month I can just take it out and bleach it all. Easy, easy, easy....
I have triggers and I also have a couple of large mexican turbo snails and a whelk. The snails have learned to tuck themselves into a crevice during the day and come out at night. There is also a large hermit crab in there. He's big enough to fend for himself and I'm hoping that the picasso will never view him as food since they are growing up together.

 

[jda]

Mexican turbo snails. They will mow it down, learn to only come out at night and are strong enough to resist a beating by a trigger or puffer. After seeing the snail when they first enter the tank, the fish eventually give up trying to get to them. I have never see a fish-swallower (grouper or lion) EVER take any interest in them.

I have about 20 in my 210 and they do a good job keeping the algae all taken care of.

 

[nottheone]

didnt think about the tonga branch option.... something to ponder.

I have thought about the large fake stuff and doing the bleach deal regurlarly.


I have also considered doing LR with tons of snails and hermits and just let them turn into fish food whenever the fish feel like. I do have a fuge set up and will also be using a large canister filter that will be cleaned out often. I thought i could put a bunch of rowaphos in it. I also have a 7 stage airwaterice RO/DI unit (3 stages of DI) I am hoping will give me good water.

Decisions descions.... thanks for all the ideas and feedback all. I may just try the a handful of tonga branch or the fake route to start cuz i wont have lost much if I decide to change it - unlike a 250lb LR order. das a lotta cookin ..... well or a big loss if i come back on the board and sell it at a loss cuz i'm irritated, LOL

I guess if i go very little rock or fake deco I will have to cycle with damsels and let them turn into fish food at later date.

 

[jscan1]

Fish Only

Fish Only

Algae needs light to prosper, Fish don't need light except to simulate daytime and night.....I converted my Large tank to FOWLR, and shifted my coral to a 50 Gallon (I like getting my hands into the coral tank, and it was just too time consuming in my big tank), and the family had the Desire for a few different aggressive fish........anyway the Big tank has a bunch of Live Rock, I use a big Skimmer with a Sedra 9000 Needle Wheel Recirculating, and a Sedra 3500 needle wheel Feeding the Tank Water, Coupled with Ozone...........I then Pretty Much ony run the lights about 2 hours a day turn them on a half hour before feeding at around 5:00 enjoy the tank for a few hours and shut them off, 2 by 250 W MH XM 15000 Kelvin (Really makes Fish Colors Pop, and 4 by 65 Watt PC 50/50 (Actinic and 10 K)......Seems to be enought light to keep the Coraline Growing but not enough for Nuisance Algae

 

[nottheone]

Nice set up. You tank looks great and so does the carpentry! I had thought about ozone also.

How often are you running ozone?

 

[jscan1]

Ozone

Ozone

Thanks....The Bookshelf to the left is now where the 50 gallon Reef is....Using one of the 250 Watt Lights....My Cabinet Builder is now building a hood and face frame for it so that the entire unit will tie in....I also have both tanks plumbed to one sump.....More because I am too lazy to do manual top offs, and water changes on the 50 gallon, and I have all that pretty much on Auto pilot on the big tank, I run the Ozone pretty much 24/7, I originally had it hooked to my skimmer but recently moved it to its own Ozone Reactor (This is a cheap piece of crap that is pretty much an Airstone and a 100 gph pump plumbed to a sealed container with some bioballs, but it seems to work) The Skimmer seems to work better seperated? I have one of the red sea 100 MG models with Built in Controller, I pretty Much run it wide open , and the Orp hovers somewhere around 350 to 400, and is set to shut off at 405.........I also religously change a 100 Micron Sock every other day that is on one of my overflows.

 

[SaltyMember]

I limit my lighting to 6 hours/day and my lighting is only 2 40watt NO bulbs on a 125g. I still get some diatom algae growth on my sand bed and LR. I am planning on adding a crew of large turbos and some hermits, knowing that I will lose some or all of them over time.

 

[sean48183]

Low level lighting on main tank and heavy lighting in fuge should take care of extreme algae growth. I think the 15g fuge may be a little small for a tank that size IMO. I use a 15g on my 50g and I have to pull algae out every 2 weeks from the fuge. You might have to pull it out every day.

 

[nottheone]

The fuge is in addition to my sump which is 30 gallons. Unfortuanetly, i dont have any more room under the cabinet and dont want a rubbermaid tub outside the cabinet , LOL. I may end up doing a larger fuge as an additional display if i go reef later on.

This thread has been good for me as i can see that people take different approaches and they canstill get the same results.

 

[no1tiger2001]

foxface is a great alage eater and i know a guy who has 1 in a 125 with a 7" manilla puffer a 4" bluejaw A Full grown SFE a very large almost full size Green wolf dottyback 4" pauban Toby and it has been fine.

 

[finsurgeon]

I have a tiger cowrie that's bigger than a baseball! It helps- dpending how big and strong your fish are.