Anyone else just fed up and tired?

[NeveSSL]

Hi all,

I'm just tired of my tank. Anyone else feel like that?

I'm by all means not tired of the hobby, just my 45g.

Now that I've been in the hobby a bit longer, and now that I've got that freaking red turf algae, I'm definitely ready to move on to a bigger tank! I'm actually thinking about selling almost everything (fish and all) and restarting! In fact, I probably will, but not until we move in the summer (so I can go ahead and get a 90 or 120 ). The thing that kills me is that my 45g right now is doing really well as far as coral growth goes. There's just freaking red turf algae and bubble algae everywhere. :furious:

Anyone else know what I mean? Anyone else thinking about redoing their setup? I thought about just remodeling my 45g, but we'll be moving soon so that would be the perfect time to break everything down and sell as much as I can, so I'm just going to wait and do a bigger tank.

Anyone out there actually redo everything?

Lets start some discussion.

Brandon

 

[shanealanbeaty]

I smell what you are cooking Brandon. I want like a 200 gallon in the wall, but I live in an apartment. I used to have a 210 and boy do I miss that thing. Now all I have is a 58. Before I upgrade, I want to get everything down. For example I want to get a calcium reactor. I also want to get an auto top off. I just don't know anything about them. I would like to go to meetings too, but I work 2 jobs and it seems like I always have to work. I just don't want to jump into a calcium reactor set up without knowing the ins and outs. I am a visual learner. If I see it, I never forget it. I just don't know anyone that has one. I know in theory how they work, but I also know in theory how a conbustion engine works and that doesn't help me when my car breaks down. lol

 

[shanealanbeaty]

What is red turf algae?

 

[allgoodsystems]

Everything I read says tangs are your best bet for getting red of turf algae.

 

[tkimmons85]

I know exactly how you feel and did exactly what you wanted to do. It was definately worth it.

 

[NeveSSL]

Good to hear from you, Shane! I still have some nuc greens for ya, bro. Just let me know when you'd like to get them.

Anyway, I'm sure someone around here should be able to help you out with the calcium reactor. I know there are a few people who have them. Oh, and red turf algae is the devil! It actually doesn't look terrible as its a dark red, well turf looking algae, but it still kills the contrast of the corals and prevents them from growing the way they should.

That's interesting, Ken. Were there any specific species? I still want a bigger tank, but it would be awesome to get this one looking good anyway.

tkimmons, glad to hear I'm not alone! What did you have before your 125?

Brandon

 

[tkimmons85]

I had a

 

[tkimmons85]

I had a 55 gallon corner reef tank, it was my first attempt at saltwater. I didnt really know what I really needed when I set it up so I pretty much had to go back and redo everything later. It was always a hassle and I was constantly fiddling with it. Now on my 125 I have two things I'll never go without ever again. A reef controller and an auto top off.

 

[NicoleC]

Here's the problem... tanks are only getting good after 2 or 3 years. At that point if you've been a good QT'r, setup your equipment properly and done the right maintenance from the start, you can kick back, watch everything grow and do your water changes.

All that pain you went through? You get to start over with a new tank. This is why some people just keep adding tanks.

Several years ago when I came out from California after breaking down the big system I swore off big tanks. (And my new starphire 50g has been in storage waiting for me for over two years until I get the house thing sorted out.) Why is it that my new house plans sprouted a fish room and an in-wall 240? Surely *I* didn't put it there!

 

[NeveSSL]

I hear ya, tkimmons85. This was my first tank and I don't feel it was setup exactly right. I'm probably not going to do a DSB next time, or if I do, it will be remote.

EXACTLY, Nicole!

And at that's where I'm at, except with red turf algae.

Oh well... a 45 is much too small, anyway.

Good luck with your 240! Done any recording lately?

Brandon

 

[lotsoftats]

brandon...you need to come to KY and buy my 75g.

 

[ameares8]

I know what you mean brandon. I had a 34gallon Red Sea Max and out grew that in a year. I got a sweet deal on a 55 ($50 with a stand) so I jumped on it. Now a year later, all of my corals are getting too big for it. It seems like an endless cycle and makes you wonder why you didn't just start with a 600 gallon tank to begin with. That is the beauty of this hobby, you live and learn.

 

[ZachB]

Get 3-4 tangs and throw in there, that'll help your algae problem. Make sure you attach all your corals directly to the rocks so they can suck the nutrients out of them too. The nutrients go to the corals then and the algae would grow less. That would be awesome.

...Maybe you could move corals to a temporary holding tank and go dark on your 45 for a couple weeks to kill the algae?

 

[sandalscout]

ameares, it's just like almost every other hobby out there, should have bought better equipment, a bigger tank, studied more, but you don't know if it's a waste initially, because you might not want to move up in the future. Catch 22, that's for sure.

Brandon, I feel you, that's why I had so many tanks in the first year I was back in the hobby. I had, at one time, 2 55s, a 2.5gallon and my 90 all with water in them. Now, I'm done to the 90, the 2.5 gallon will be down within the evening, and one of the 55 gallons is freshwater, but will probably be torn down by Christmas. I was more torn on getting something bigger than the 90, or setting up a dedicated grow out/frag system. I think I'll wait to go bigger until I own my own place again and can build out a proper fish room.

 

[Mikeyjer]

Brandon,

Have you tried those large mexican turbo snails??? They're hard to get adjusted to your tank, most die rather quickly since they are a cooler water specie. But I've manage to get some to stay alive for me. They're a good red turf algae eater!

 

[waynesworld]

Michael the problem I had with them are they try to redo my arangments of coral and move things around and knock things over. It would be great for a system with everything set in place though.

 

[NeveSSL]

Mike! Good to hear from ya. I'm not ready for a new tank just yet, tho.

Thanks for all of the replies, guys. Except for Zach.

Michael, exactly which snails are you talking about? I have seen like 3 different species that everyone refers to as mexican turbo snails!

And good point, Wayne. My tank is definitely not set in place.

Brandon

 

[allgoodsystems]

I agree....The turbo snails clean like crazy but they are like bulldoziers. They move my stuff around, knock them over on a daily basis. One even detached a frag rock that was superglued to a larger rock. I finally removed all of them and put them in a different tank.

 

[shanealanbeaty]

Thank goodness I have never had the red turf algae you guys are talking about. Sounds like the black plague. I have never had luck with turbo snails on anything. They fall over on their backs and die if you don't save them. Always had much more luck with the astrea snails. I could be wrong but anytime I have had any nuisance algae spot/s I just increased the flow of water in what seemed to be a dead spot. I have had to physically remove the algae initially but then it never grew back. I may have 5 snails and 1 hermit crab in a 58 gallon with 75 pounds of live rock and 2-250 de metal halides running 6 hours a day. I would love to get those Nukes off of you. I would also like to get some more of orange ones and multicolored ones again. My 55 sprang a leak a couple months back. So I got the 58 and moved everything over to it. So between the tank move, a brittle star that knocks off newly attached corals, and what seemed to be sunburning my corals with too much light, I lost most of what I got off you. Dangit! lol The tank is doing great now though. I would love to get some more zoas from you they just need to be attached for like a month before I can add them to my tank. I know it would be easier to just get rid of my brittle, but I am attached to him. He is a grumpy and hard to get along with old man, a lot like me lol. I also have a blue ridge coral that is about 7-8 inches tall x 4 inches wide that is to big for my tank that I would like to trade for a frag/s.

 

[mikemartinez]

I just finished taking out my 4 zebra striped turbo snails because they kept knocking EVERYTHING down.... So now they can just chill in the sump...