Algae Issue and taking my tank to the next level.

[bignate31]

I have had my tank up a running now for about four months or so and its been a blast playing the cat and mouse game that is reef keeping. Yep I said reef, this is my first Marine tank so I have been taking it slow but I will be doing a reef. I set my tank up with 90 pounds of live rock with 60 pounds of sand, a remora pro, and 4x54watt t-5's. Now I know that the lights are not quiet enough for most corals but I will be upgrading those when the time comes. About a month ago put 2 false perc's in there and they seem to be loving it. My questions are first about algae and taking my tank to the next level. First the Algae. I use RO2xDI water. I was wondering besides my clean up crew and pulling the big stuff out if there was any other way to keep the algae under control. I know my tank is still young and there algae blooms to be had but there got to be a way to control it. The next thing is taking my tank to the next level as far as coral keeping goes. I want to get a Ca Reactor but am not sure what one to get and what is the best quality for my money. I also want to get a controller for my tank to keep everything in line. Please if anyone could give me advice or insight that would be great. I have 65 gallon Sea Clear system were the water goes into the back were sent threw the mechanical filter, then skimmed and pumped back into the main tank. If anyone has and tips about this tank system that would be great to. I took the Bio Balls out. Please anyone help me. I know I all over the map but I have gave you pretty much all the info I got on my tank.

Thanks Everyone.
Nate

 

[TekCat]

The main source of algae are nutrients (especially NO3 and PO4). Without nutrients algae will not grow. Therefore:
- do not overfeed
- skim wet
- regurlar water changes
- have macroalgae in sump/fuge (chaeto seem to be a favorate one)


Cheers,

 

[bignate31]

I am going to have to start a fuge here pretty soon and I will start wet skimming this afternoon I have knida been in the middle for the psat month or so. Please keep the tips and advice coming.

Thanks Nate

 

[bignate31]

I started wet skimming yesterday afternoon and I am going todo a water change this afternoon. I know that you guys have more to offer, let me have your knowlege of this wounderful hobbie.

Thanks Nate

 

[TekCat]

Here is the article you might find useful.

-- edit --

do you have a sump? if so, how big and how it's configured.

 

[RobbyG]

I just went through the same thing and had a hell of a time at first, I was cleaning the algae back and forth and noticing that every other day the algae was getting to be more than it was the previous time. So I started to think about how it spreads and decided to try a different method.

First off if you don't have Ozone unit then go out and get one, it does wonders for keeping algae growth down. even if you don't have one still follow this procedure.

I did this about 1 hour before my tank lights would go off for the night. I didn't want any extra light available to help the stray spores.

When I am ready to clean the algae I would put a charcoal pack in my sump return area overflow and cover it with a nice clean piece of filter sponge. I would next crank up the ozone on my skimmer to 100% and the start cleaning the Tank with the magnetic cleaner and a toothbrush. After scrubbing it all off I would use a turkey baster to keep the loose stuff floating and make sure it all got sucked into the overflow, I would clean the overflow every few minutes to keep it free of clumps.

The skimmer would end up removing a lot of the algae and the ozone I think kills all the small spores that pass through it, the rest was caught by the sponge. After about 30 minutes or at the point where the water is crystal clear and I see nothing much left on the sand or rock I then turn down the Ozone to normal setting and remove the sponge and charcoal very carefully then I clean and soak both in fresh water.


After about 15 days or 7 cleanings I had about 10% of the original algae growth and my refuge started to grow much faster as it was sopping up all the extra nutrients.

Now if you don't have ozone I still recommend this method, you really want to make sure that everything you remove is caught up before it gets back into the water, and personally I think the method I use is a lot easier than using your hand to pick off every piece.

Hope this helps

 

[RobbyG]

oops meant Carbon not Charcoal. Sunday football Barbecue preparations still floating in the brain