Algae question

[reefkeeper78]

Do you have any friends or any local reef club members that might be willing to help you out by trying to donate purifed water to someone that is trying to attain a small piece of sanity in his life. I too understand how pricy this hobby along with how rewarding it can be. I only ask this becuase the local club in my area passes frags, fish, tools, equipment etc. just to help each other be succuesfull in our hobby as well as make it affordable to those that sturggle. In the grand scheme of things, the 5-6 gallons of water you will consume between top off and wc's would really have little impact on someone's filter life. Int the end you may end up being able to return the favor with frags, or medical advice.

 

[ReefKnot]

Do you have any friends or any local reef club members that might be willing to help you out by trying to donate purifed water to someone that is trying to attain a small piece of sanity in his life. I too understand how pricy this hobby along with how rewarding it can be. I only ask this becuase the local club in my area passes frags, fish, tools, equipment etc. just to help each other be succuesfull in our hobby as well as make it affordable to those that sturggle. In the grand scheme of things, the 5-6 gallons of water you will consume between top off and wc's would really have little impact on someone's filter life. Int the end you may end up being able to return the favor with frags, or medical advice.

There isn't a reef club in my town that I know of... I actually dont know anyone who has a tank other than my friend who owns the store, but I'll see what he uses.... But I do know someone who has a purifier.... not an RO but it works really well, and they would definitely give me any water I wanted..... I never considered asking them for water.... Thanks

 

[jmchzn123]

Wow I dropped in on this thread just because I have some shiny algae and was hoping it would help me. Now after reading this whole thread 2 things come to mind.

#1) There are entire multi billion dollar corporations world wide who manufacture chemical compounds used to treat city water. From fluoride to lead pipe preservatives with digestible safe amounts of arsenic.LOL...every municipality has city, state and federal mandates of what and how much to treat the water. The idea any tap water anywhere is flowing from a stream to the tap is unrealistic. Keep in mind as a long distance back country hiker I have been in the most desolate places in North America including Canada and the most isolated places have organic metals, giardiasis from wildlife and cattle excrement , sulfur and yes arsenic and hundreds of compounds found in fresh water. The reason we are saying use RO/DI water it's because we care about the animals that will be living in your captive reef. Just surviving is not good enough. We ALL have the responsibility to protect these very endangered species. Yes the coral reefs of the world are endangered and we are but mere custodians of the animals we keep. The RO/DI units are the least expensive piece of equipment you can buy and the reason we are all bringing it up is because it's one of the big 3 that every reef keeper agrees on. Reef keepers agree on very little but using the purist water is one of them. Keep in mind we are trying to simulate an environment as complex as the human body in our houses using synthetic water that's pretty incredible in itself. I mean the water is the air the animals breathe right? Reef keeping is a difficult and dedicated and passionate pursuit . We need to always be mindful of our ultimate goal especially on RC is to keep the healthiest reefs as long as we can. There is nothing more beautiful than a mature healthy reef. So the feeling you have of persecution and attack is us telling you water isn't the thing to skimp on. The problems you are having with algae are not flow its water quality AND possibly light another of the big 3 we all agree on. Poor water will have endless detrimental consequences to the animals in your charge. BTW poor water biologically speaking for the purpose of reef keeping not yum yum That water tastes good.
That's number ONE.
#2
Reef keeping is not for everyone. It's not cheap. Even the DIY guys are spending serious money and have skill sets that run the gamut of electrical engineering to photobiology. So general feeling is if you can't provide the optimal environment you shouldn't consider reef keeping.

You can yell at me now I can take it.........I take the health of the animals as the single most important concern if I offend I make no apologies for the content of my input but apologize if my tone seems harsh it's just passion for this thing we do........ I'm just saying. ...........

 

[ReefKnot]

uhh thanks for the vote of confidence, I really like how people keep telling me that I shouldn't have started this hobby....

Oh yeah its a hobby, I wasn't aware there were pre-requisites for hobbies....

 

[ReefKnot]

pre-requisite number one: have thousands of dollars to dump into your tank

pre-requisite number two: when money gets tight, dont bother using tap water, just get rid of your tank, or stop eating....


*** kind of advice is this to give to a person new to hobby

 

[nsmith_mma]

uhh thanks for the vote of confidence, I really like how people keep telling me that I shouldn't have started this hobby....

Oh yeah its a hobby, I wasn't aware there were pre-requisites for hobbies....

Listen, you are the one who keeps getting upset which is only going to add fuel to the fire. All we can offer you is advice that is tested and pretty commonly accepted as being valid among our community. You came on here and asked a question and were unhappy with the answers so you blew up over it. Hardly anyone on here is going to tell you that tap water is acceptable to use in a reef tank. That is unfortunate for you because of your financial situation, but it is the truth.

So would you rather spend some money to have quality water ensuring the survival of your tank inhabitants, or would you rather spend the money you could have bought a RO/DI system with to buy fish and corals that are likely to die due to TDS ratios and pH and nitrate level issues? Don't ask a question if you can't handle the answer. We knew you said you couldn't afford a RO/DI system or even RO/DI water, but unfortunately there is no convenient, more cost efficient option.

 

[nsmith_mma]

pre-requisite number one: have thousands of dollars to dump into your tank

pre-requisite number two: when money gets tight, dont bother using tap water, just get rid of your tank, or stop eating....


*** kind of advice is this to give to a person new to hobby

And being condescending is nothing more than a delusional projection or distortive defense mechanism. Being a psychology major, you should know these are not endearing nor are they self-affirming.

 

[jmchzn123]

Ok I'll lighten up. Have fun. I have to figure out what my shiny stuff is and this thread dint hep me at all!!!!! I wanna refund!

 

[ReefKnot]

I'm sorry, thank you for your wonderful advice. I'll make sure to go buy an RO/DI system first thing in the morning. You have been very helpful, and everyone's positive support and encouragement of my reef keeping abilities are noted. I appreciate everyone giving their time to make a comment. I can see that this thread has become redundant, so thanks for the help.

 

[jmchzn123]

pre-requisite number one: have thousands of dollars to dump into your tank

pre-requisite number two: when money gets tight, dont bother using tap water, just get rid of your tank, or stop eating....


*** kind of advice is this to give to a person new to hobby

See that's true but I wanted to let him down easy I don't want to discourage new people to reef keeping. They don't understand as a whole the RC crowd aren't those parents who make everyone listen to their no talent kid play piano and say isn't jr wonderful. Here there are winners and losers and if jr can't play piano we give him drum sticks.... Lol and if your getting ****ed off here reef keeping is gonna make you wanna put a bullet in yer head!.... I'm just saying.....

 

[GuppyGuy]

so if i have a 55 gallon tank, what size polyfilter pad would work?

http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_ViewI...ne&idProduct=PB1111&IdCategory=FIFMMEPM&tab=4

 

[nsmith_mma]

I'm sorry, thank you for your wonderful advice. I'll make sure to go buy an RO/DI system first thing in the morning. You have been very helpful, and everyone's positive support and encouragement of my reef keeping abilities are noted. I appreciate everyone giving their time to make a comment. I can see that this thread has become redundant, so thanks for the help.

Defense mechanism.

 

[Rocdoc]

Probably not what you want to hear, but maybe it's time to sell your fish and LR back to your friend at the fish store. He can keep them alive, sell them to someone else, and free up some money for you to spend on things like food. I know that comes off as condescending, but it's not my intention.
I definitely know where you're coming from. Had my first attempt at sw tank in my late teens. Spent about a grand that I couldn't afford and never got anywhere near a satisfactory result. Didn't have anything left to sell back to the lfs.
Then I got married, had kids, and did the while starving student thing, then starving medical student thing, then starving resident thing. Finally got back into it when my 17 year old daughter got a guppy.
I read that before you start this hobby, you should take the size of tank you're considering and fill it with dollar bills. If you can't afford to fill it, you can't afford a saltwater tank that size. As a starving student, I couldn't afford Sea Monkeys. You might be in the same boat now. Might be time to give your pocketbook and your fish a break and pick this up again in a few years.
Good luck in school.
Bryan

 

[ReefKnot]

Probably not what you want to hear, but maybe it's time to sell your fish and LR back to your friend at the fish store. He can keep them alive, sell them to someone else, and free up some money for you to spend on things like food. I know that comes off as condescending, but it's not my intention.
I definitely know where you're coming from. Had my first attempt at sw tank in my late teens. Spent about a grand that I couldn't afford and never got anywhere near a satisfactory result. Didn't have anything left to sell back to the lfs.
Then I got married, had kids, and did the while starving student thing, then starving medical student thing, then starving resident thing. Finally got back into it when my 17 year old daughter got a guppy.
I read that before you start this hobby, you should take the size of tank you're considering and fill it with dollar bills. If you can't afford to fill it, you can't afford a saltwater tank that size. As a starving student, I couldn't afford Sea Monkeys. You might be in the same boat now. Might be time to give your pocketbook and your fish a break and pick this up again in a few years.
Good luck in school.
Bryan

lol, ya know thats probably the best advice, in the politest way, I have ever gotten on here. And if I had known about the "filling the tank tank with dollar bills" theory, I probably would have thought twice. I dont think I'm going to sell the tank back to my friend though. I run a tight budget, but I have enough to keep me eating and everything else I'll need for a couple of months, at which point school will be done, and I'll be able to continue my job full time, at which point, I'll have more than enough spare money to invest in my tank properly. Right now I dont have the extra money for water every week or a machine, but that will change soon enough....

Until then, someone suggested getting water from other people which I'm going to look into, and I repositioned my powerhead and plopped a couple nerite snails onto the problem area, and it looks alot better. That wont solve the problem, but it may postpone it until I can properly deal with it.....

And nsmith I wouldn't call it a defensive mechanism, but more along the lines being the bigger man and dropping it.

 

[nsmith_mma]

And nsmith I wouldn't call it a defensive mechanism, but more along the lines being the bigger man and dropping it.

Defense mechanism number 3.

Haha I'm just kidding anyway. I just thought it was weird that you flew off that handle when the guy said "read a book" or something like that.

 

[Miss.Dragonet]

From my limited experience, I would have to say that it is all ok. Your tank is soo new. I left mine cycle for about 3 months or more before I did anything. Once the nutrients or matter from the live rock cycle the algae should just go away. Or, you can buy some cleaner snails and little hermit crabs. Good luck.

 

[stingythingy45]

Probably not what you want to hear, but maybe it's time to sell your fish and LR back to your friend at the fish store. He can keep them alive, sell them to someone else, and free up some money for you to spend on things like food. I know that comes off as condescending, but it's not my intention.
I definitely know where you're coming from. Had my first attempt at sw tank in my late teens. Spent about a grand that I couldn't afford and never got anywhere near a satisfactory result. Didn't have anything left to sell back to the lfs.
Then I got married, had kids, and did the while starving student thing, then starving medical student thing, then starving resident thing. Finally got back into it when my 17 year old daughter got a guppy.
I read that before you start this hobby, you should take the size of tank you're considering and fill it with dollar bills. If you can't afford to fill it, you can't afford a saltwater tank that size. As a starving student, I couldn't afford Sea Monkeys. You might be in the same boat now. Might be time to give your pocketbook and your fish a break and pick this up again in a few years.
Good luck in school.
Bryan

Do these have to be neatly packaged $1 bills or crumpled?lol
I can tell you I haven't spent enough to fill the 90 with $1 bills,never mind the 70 gallon and 20L fug as well.
If somebody is determined/frugal and doesn't mind buying used equipment, it's not all that expensive.
But if one doesn't get the necessary equipment and spends the $$ on corals and fish first,death is always expensive.
To the OP,you don't need an ro/di right now.Heck,you're fine with the tap water for start up.You can purchase water for top-off and water changes.
I did this with my first tank 55 gallon.
Nuisance algae comes with all new tanks in one form or another.

 

[Rocdoc]

Do these have to be neatly packaged $1 bills or crumpled?lol
I can tell you I haven't spent enough to fill the 90 with $1 bills,never mind the 70 gallon and 20L fug as well.
If somebody is determined/frugal and doesn't mind buying used equipment, it's not all that expensive.

LOL! That's one of the interesting thing in a hobby such as this. For every person willing to dump the GNP of a small country into their nano tank, there is a DIYer that puts together a 200 gal reef from an old bathtub and a couple stir straws from McDonald's:lmao:.

I'm definitely in the former camp. I figure I went to bazillions of years of school just so I could engage in some nerd hobbies like this and not have to panic about food vs fish. I'm just hoping I remember to take out the stacks of ones before I fill my 180 gallon:lol2:!