Solana tank owner thread.

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Does anyone have problems with hair algae in their Solana? I have had mine for a little over a year. It was originally a seahorse tank, so they got fed frozen food twice a day and the flow had to be low. After losing the horses, I decided to make it a basic reef tank. I scrubbed all the rock, left the lights off for a couple of weeks and added a MJ 900 in the tank. Also, I have LR rubble and cheato in the center compartment, with a dedicated light on the back on a reverse cycle. My water parameters are good, I have 96 watts of PCs over the tank (bulbs are about 8-9 months old) and feed rinsed frozen food once a day now. I have over five years experience and no issues with my other two tanks, but the HA is back with a vengeance. So, I was wondering if anyone else has a similar problem with this tank. is it something about the basic design, or someting that needs to be modded?
 
I have not hade any problems, but I do not use a fuge and I have an extremely low bioload.

I have a few questions that may help get to the root of the problem though.

How often do you do water changes and how large are they?
How often and how much do you feed?
How long have you had the rock and sand that is currently in the tank in their?
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14697110#post14697110 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jcgso
Does anyone have problems with hair algae in their Solana? I have had mine for a little over a year. It was originally a seahorse tank, so they got fed frozen food twice a day and the flow had to be low. After losing the horses, I decided to make it a basic reef tank. I scrubbed all the rock, left the lights off for a couple of weeks and added a MJ 900 in the tank. Also, I have LR rubble and cheato in the center compartment, with a dedicated light on the back on a reverse cycle. My water parameters are good, I have 96 watts of PCs over the tank (bulbs are about 8-9 months old) and feed rinsed frozen food once a day now. I have over five years experience and no issues with my other two tanks, but the HA is back with a vengeance. So, I was wondering if anyone else has a similar problem with this tank. is it something about the basic design, or someting that needs to be modded?
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Mine's been running for over a year and I've never had any hair algae or any other excessive nuisance algae. I attribute that in part to the fact that I've ran Chemi-Pure Elite in it right from the beginning, do weekly water changes and only have a couple of small fish.

Do you have any livestock in it now?
 
My tank is just about done it's cycle and I am now looking into methods of dosing. Currently I top-off with a float switch and a one gallon container and that will have to be bumped up cause I am topping off a gallon every two days and the hot weather hasn't even approached yet. I was just planning on figuring out what my tank consumes on any given day and just use a measured amount of Dowflake and baking soda daily to keep the levels consistent.

I did the whole dosing pump thing with my larger reef and really didn't want to go that route on this one. Also did not want to use a reactor on this as well. I will be keeping LPS mainly with possibly a few SPS pieces so keeping a level of 425ca and 11Alk is all I am guessing I will need.

Suggestion? what are you guys doing?
 
cerobbins, the rock and sand are just over a year old. I feed rinsed frozen mysis once a day. I have to admit, I'm really bad when it comes to water changes, maybe every few months.

Hooked4life, I have two very small gobies, a pygmy angel and a bicolor pseudochromis in there. I added a couple of turbo snails and a pincussion urchin a couple of weeks ago, hoping they might help.

I really thought the problem was the low flow when ai had seahorses in there, so figured the maxijet would keep it away. Maybe I need even more flow.
 
Is the maxijet return all the flow you have? That would be fine for a slow return pump but you need much more for in-tank circulation.

I know you said 'bad about water changes'; do 25% weekly-without fail. Make it easy - round it to 10 gallons. A good quality, well mixed salt. Manually remove as much HA as possible. Skim wet for an extended period to get some DO out of the water. If the bulb(s) are getting over 9 months old, replace them now and start the reacclimation process.

Cut the feeding in half, at least. Maybe the same amount at each feeding but only 3-4 times a week.
 
I know you said 'bad about water changes'; do 25% weekly-without fail. Make it easy - round it to 10 gallons. A good quality, well mixed salt. Manually remove as much HA as possible. Skim wet for an extended period to get some DO out of the water. If the bulb(s) are getting over 9 months old, replace them now and start the reacclimation process.
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This advice from DheereCrossing is right on. I'd also consider adding maybe 1/2 dozen margarita snails. None of the snails will eat the algae when it's long, but once you've manually removed it, they'll come behind and clean up what you can't get.

You might also try putting a piece of Poly Filter or Pura Pad in the overflow to filter the water as it enters the rear chamber. This will be more effective than the stock sponge, but keep an eye on it, it can clog and raise the water level in the tank.

I also swear by the Chemipure Elite--it has carbon and a phosphate remover in it and will help remove more of the DO. I run a bag in both of my tanks, which are skimmerless and change them every 3 months.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14704826#post14704826 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by zackdastack
So i am trying to figure out , the stock power heads are not quite enough are they.
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If you want to keep pretty much any kind of corals happy you will need additional flow in the tank. I would recommend at least one - Koralia 1 at minimum stepping up to a modded Tunze 6025 for very good flow and then for the ultimate either 2 modded Tunze 6025 or a Vortech mp20 or mp40w. I personally use one modded Tunze 6025 right now but I will be getting another Tunze or stepping up to the Vortech as I get more SPS.
 
You should never rely on the return for tank circulation. The goal is slow steady water flow through the filtration system to maximize contact time between the water and the filtration materials. Once inside the display, the water movement should be nearly violent using additional powerheads.

Reefinabox - I have two Tunze 6025's - what's the mod you're talking about? Is it for higher flow or perhaps wider spread?
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14704917#post14704917 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by DheereCrossing
You should never rely on the return for tank circulation. The goal is slow steady water flow through the filtration system to maximize contact time between the water and the filtration materials. Once inside the display, the water movement should be nearly violent using additional powerheads.

Reefinabox - I have two Tunze 6025's - what's the mod you're talking about? Is it for higher flow or perhaps wider spread?
Click to expand...

You take the front cover off the 6025 and you will see a shroud extending from the output. You trim that down so that it is even with the output tube. This mod nearly doubles the flow and I believe it even spreads it out a little too. Here is a link with some pictures: Tunze 6025 mod
 
I got the Solana up and running today. I have a couple of interesting things on the rocks and was wondering if anybody could identify. I hope I have linked to photo bucket properly. One is a little tree like shape with what looks like a “chrysalis” in the branches. The other is a white round mass with a smaller fragment sitting beside it, and I could swear I saw it move about ½ inch.

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can some one please help me..i did a water test for 24 hours in my new 34 solana, No leaks..but when i went to fill the tank back up with water/rock ect, i noticed the front corners of the tank are NOT setting on the stand flush. the right side is worse then the left..i can stick 5 buisness cards under the tank on the right side(front) and 1 to 2 on all the others.. This can't be normal, can it ?
 
No that doesn't sound right. I have the solana stand also and mine sits perfectly flat. I would suspect the stand more than the tank, a warped top maybe? One other possibility, did the foam pad on bottom of tank get torn or bunched up somehow?
 
Well you guys convinced me to test my water parameters at least before start stocking so I borrowed a couple from a friend of mine.

Just got my Tunze osmolator, maxijet 900 and R2 solutions moonlight.

will try to set them up tomorrow when I do my 5g water change.
 
Yea, the solana stand is one fine piece of craftsmanship. LOL
The finish on mine is just awful. At least I got lucky on the tank, I didn't even leak test but so far no problems.
 
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