New Tank

[Pooks]

Hi All, (tank info) I have a new 60 reef setup (3 mo.old) I have about 4'' of crushed coral substrate and 55 lbs of live rock. I have had many feather dusters and they have all but stopped comming out or died , I have a bunch of clams and oysters that seem to be doing well (came on live rock) I have a Midas Blenny, hawkfish, Several matrix crabs (doing well) along with several hermits, and turbo snails. I run (2)10000k t-12 MC and (1) t-12 trichromatic 95W under a canopy for lighting I have 2 Skilter 400s for filtration (my bad) and 2 sweeping powerheads. my water is fluxing between 80.1 and 82.3 degrees and all chems are fine. My concern is that I have had a bloom of green grass that is taking over my tank and covering my clams and coral, I used chem-clean and it only semi deleted the red stringy stuff.. is this stuff just a phaze? or will it kill my garden? I also have these lil white circular (spiral) worm like snails growing all over my tank and glass..any id? any advice on setup, temp, fish,chems... would be greatly appreciated, Thanks for the help........

 

[bertoni]

[welcome]

That's probably hair algae that you're seeing, and they can be a pest. Growing and harvesting a macroalga or getting a better skimmer are two common options to try to deal with this problem. This article covers a number of ideas, although it's written in terms of a nitrate problem:

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/august2003/chem.htm

Overfeeding is another common issue.

I'd do some hand-trimming of the pest, if that's not too hard, to help with control.

 

[jer77]

Featherdusters need to be fed with phytoplankton in most reef tanks. They tend to not get enough food. But I would not advise this if your battling hair algae. They probably are dying because of something else. What are your water parameters? The little worms are Spirorbid worms. They are ok, but might get out of control if nutrients are too high in your tank. What kind of water are you using?

 

[Pooks]

Thanks for the reply guys!.. The water I am using is unfortunatly store bought packaged saltwater because I have no other options than to used tap and salt. my Nitrate levels are at less than .20 ppm and all other reading are Ideal...I am not currently using any skimmers right now (not even the built in ones from within my Skilters) because of the mass amount of micro bubbles injected from them (is that bad?) I heard that a "sea hare" does well? I'm still trying to post some photos and the red algea is comming back... The advice is great!!... thank you!!! Sally

 

[Pooks]

Oh....I do feed live phyto every day.....should I stop?

 

[drummereef]

I'd probably stick with adding it once a week if that, imo.

 

[jer77]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9452355#post9452355 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by drummereef
I'd probably stick with adding it once a week if that, imo.

I agree, definately ease off of the phyto.

Its likely the water quality thats your problem here. Did you read the thread? What are skilter filters? Also I'm conserned maybe that the nitrate has and will build up in the CC. Do you have any LR?

 

[Pooks]

hey jer... Skilters are high volume hang filters with built in skimmer hence the name "skilter" I don't know wht "cc' means but I have 55 lbs of LV... The water I buy is a Scripts approved EQ bulk saltwater for aquariums. all I have access to here in Wisconsin... any help?

 

[jer77]

Crushed Coral=CC, sorry bout that. Nitrates can be eliminated by stopping the input of nitrogen to the aquarium. So stop overfeeding with the phyto and maybe feed a little less. And remove existing filters designed to facilitate the nitrogen cycle. This would be the CC and the mechanical and biological filters in your skilters. A deep sand bed is much better than CC because it allows for denitrification. Taking out the filters in the tank will eliminate the input of nitrates into the tank. It seems wrong, but it allows your LR to filter your tank rather than your filter and will stop the nitrate production.

 

[peterkay]

Hi,

I'm only new to the trade but I'm an algae nut. I have a 15G FOWLR setup with only two little Ocellaris Clowns in there and a few hermits and snails. I did however have a crazy hair algae problem. A sea hare will do a good job eating it all up (it's pretty much the only thing that will eat hair algae once it reaches a certain length). But I would suggest doing a few things before hand. First, since you don't have any coral I would suggest shortening your photoperiod to about 7 or 8 hours a day. Your fish can handle it for a week or two no problem. Second, detritus on your live rock also lends to algae growth, so I would recommend giving your tank the hurricane treatment the next few water changes. Also, how often do you change water and how much? I used to change approx 10-12% a week and when I reduced my lighting period and changed around 20% a week that pretty much got rid of my algae. I only have a 15g so it's harder to keep it away permanently but you shouldn't have a problem in your 60g.
Everything I've read, and everyone I've spokem to have always said around the same thing: there's almost nothing that more frequent and thourough water changes can't fix.

good luck!

 

[bertoni]

I feed DT's every day to my tanks (when I'm good), but I have a lot of nutrient export for the systems. The Skilters don't get the best of reviews. I'd replace it, personally. An RO-DI unit would get rid of the bubbles from the skimmer.

 

[Pooks]

Thanks Jer, Peterkay and Bertoni for the helpfull info!!! jer, are you saying to remove some of and or replace my CC and turn off my filtration for awhile??? Or would you suggest new filtration