ozone??

[whatnot45]

I have a 29 gallon seahorse tank with two H. erectus (OR sunbursts) They have been doing great for the past couple of months, but the tank is getting grose. There are diatoms everywhere and this reddish brown junk covering the sand. I do a big water change every couple, weeks, and it helps for a day or two, but then the algea comes back. So my quetion is : Is ozone the answer? I know nothing about ozone except for the fact that it supposedly erraticates diatoms in the water and makes it crystal clear.

Should i get an ozonator? if so, how much would it cost for my tank? where can i get it...

 

[mano]

Sounds like you have a nutriet problem. How much are you feeding them? Have you tried siphoning up the stuff on the sand?

 

[whatnot45]

yes i siphon the stuff off whenever i do a water change, and i dont feed them all that much. I have TONZ of calurpa in my fuge and in my display to control nutrients as well. and my skimmer gets a full cup every three days or so.

 

[seas_inside]

Do you have a cleanup crew?

 

[whatnot45]

Yes i have 10 scarlet reef hermits, 3 mexican Turbos, 5 astrea turbos, and 2 peppermint shrimp. I used to have a bunch of nassarius snails, but the peps ate them...

 

[pledosophy]

You have to let the diatoms run the course for them to ever go away.

I would not recommend Ozone for you buddy. Can be dangerous stuff. A UV would be a good add IMO. Still will kill algae and no risk of causing cancer. Just don't look at the bulb.

If you can take the time to anwser a long list of questions we might be able to help you out.

As far as your alage problems, do you have corals in the tank at all?

What is the bioload?

How deep is your sand bed?

What filters are you using?

How often do you clean your filter?

How much LR?

What is the source of your rock, and what type of rock?

How much flow is in the tank? What makes the flow? How many total outputs of flow are there?

What lights do you have? Wattage? How old are the bulbs?

How often are you doing water changes? What amount? What is the source of your water?

What is the source of your top off water?

If using an RO unit have you checked the membranes with a TDS meter?

Does the tank get direct sunlight?

What are your phosphate levels?

What are your nitrate levels?

What is your pH?

What's you alk level? (not needed if you don't have a test kit)

What is everything you are putting in the tank besides water?

If feeding mysis are you rinsing after thawing? Do you use an enrichment?

How much macro do you have? Can you post a FTS as well as a close up of the alagae concentration so we can ID species.
HTH

 

[seamonkey2]

whatnot45, you are correct, an ozone machine will do those things and more, but your tank is to small in my opinion, to get one, try what is mention above first.

I have 2 big tanks, and run ozone in both with no problems, and yes one of them is for horses and pipes

do some reading about ozone machines and its use in SW tanks

good luck

 

[whatnot45]

Ok i just did a test:
Ph-8.5
Nitrate- between 3.5 and 4
Phosphate- 1.0

As far as filtration goes:
I have a small little 10 gallon size whisper power filter w/ carbon in it,

an Aqua C remora skimmer, and a hang on back refugium with a 24 hour light that is full of calurpa. (The light bulb hasnt been replaced for a while and its not very bright any more i need to get a new bulb)

As far as the tank itself There is a low wattage double strip flourescent light that lights the main tank. I have a 120 watt light, but i dont use it any more.

I have 2 ocean rider sunbursts (H. erectus) and a pearly jawfish as inhabitants. I feed them PE mysis i dont rinse it, and only enrich it on occasion when i am not rushing out the door in the morning. I feed them one big meal a day usually sometimes i feed them two whichever i have time for, but the food sits in their feeding station all day until they eat it, or the peppermint shrimp do. I suck up the grose leftovers at night before i go to sleep.

Live sand... Its about 3 inches deap average... some places its only an inch, others its four inches. I only have a couple pieces of live rock... like two pounds. Its from my LFS probly fiji reef rock i think... Im going for the artficial coral look trying to get them to morph to bright colors... not working so much because all the bright colored stuff is covered w/ diatomes or w/e the stuff is.
here are some pics:
The algea. (this is 2 days after a 25 percent water change/ siphoning of the sand)
<img src="http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i235/imatallboy/diatomes.png" border="0" alt="Photobucket>

<img src="http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i235/imatallboy/Fulltank.png" border="0" alt="Photobucket>


Full tank shot before algea issues:
<img src="http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i235/imatallboy/B3sh.jpg" border="0">

As for water changes I do not have an RO/DI unit, but i buy bottled RO water from the grocery and use it for top offs and water changes.

 

[whatnot45]

<img src="http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i235/imatallboy/Fulltank.png" border="0" alt="Photobucket>


Before the algea
<img src="http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i235/imatallboy/B3sh.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket>

 

[whatnot45]

<img src="http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i235/imatallboy/B3sh.jpg" border="0"> Before the algea

 

[ReefNutPA]

What is doing your biological filtration? Two pounds of live rock isn't doing anything. Is their LR or some biological filter media in a filter or in the refugium or something?

If your double flourescent light strip is a standard freshwater double striplight, those bulbs need to be replaced at least every 6 months. Based on when you set up the tank, they are due to be changed.

I don't want to sound harsh, but the tank isn't set up properly nor do you maintain it properly. Mysis should not sit in the tank all day until you siphon out the "gross leftovers" at night.

Seahorses should be fed what they can eat in one feeding only. Not overfed so mysis remains after they've had their fill. Just because you're not home to feed properly isn't a reason to overfeed the mysis.

I know you've done lots of research about seahorses. I know you didn't have luck with them the first time around. However, I think part of the problem is you cannot be successful keeping seahorses if you only have 5 minutes a day to quickly feed them a bunch of mysis once a day and maintain the tank when you have time.

A seahorse tank is not like some fishtanks that you can ignore alittle with no consequences. Seahorses tanks are generally lower flow, and since seahorses are such messy eaters of high-protein foods algae problems can arise quickly if you don't have the proper setup or time to care for the tank.

While I think a lot of the problem is the tank just isn't mature yet, I think a large part of that is because the tank isn't set up properly in the first place. You have basically no live rock, high phosphates, overfeed the tank, older lightbulbs.... etc.

The good news is the issues can be corrected. In your instance ozone is NOT the answer. IMO you need to purchase some more LR and get the tank set up properly. You also need to free up a bit of time in your daily schedule. I know how hectic life can be and how precious free time is - but you need to find a bit more "seahorse time" in your daily schedule.

Tom