Talk me out of it....

lbannie

lbannie

New member
Or into it!
I have a 90 gallon reef tank with sump. I had a custom stand and canopy made for it as this was supposed to be my "œshow" tank, last tank.
While I love the tank, I have terrible algae problems.
Mostly hair algae.
I'll admit it is probably all my fault from lack of maintenance.
I don't use RO water, we have well, we live on top of mountain, no neighbors at all.
I don't use a skimmer, although I do have a large coralife skimmer that came with the tank...just never used it.
I have 8 fish, and my latest a foxface, to help eat the algae, ate one of my leather corals instead [emoji35].
There's beautiful coraline algae underneath all the green crap.

So here's my dilemma...do I keep saltwater? Try to do more water changes and maintenance?

My other thought is to switch gears and go to African Cichlids.
Much cheaper, somewhat less work.

I really like the diversity of saltwater fish, shapes, colors, and of course the money pit corals.

Cichlids seem to be the closest color wise and I really like how active they are and they don't hide.

What should I do?

I haven't found anyone to buy my fish, Petco says they will take them and give me deep discounts on future cichlids.

I'm also debating selling the lights(ocean revive arctic t247s) and the rock

Another question, I have a lot of rock in the tank...would it be better to take some out for algae issues?
This was my tank when I first started it
1d18f7c9b69d2ebcdc8da7eca9dbdee5.jpg



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I have a cichlid tank and a reef tank , I enjoy both of them but I wouldn't make that tank a cichlid tank if you already have all of the equipment and fish for a reef tank, that tank would be awesome if you filled it up with corals ,I would just get another tank if you have room because all that equipment would be a big loss of money in my opinion reef tanks are awesome if effort is put into them.


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Don't leave, saltwater can't be beat! Who's to say you won't have algae issues with a cichlid tank, anyway?

Can you post a pic of your algae? My turbo snail is taking good care of my hair algae, but there are many different types.
 
I have a discuss tank and a mixed reef tank. Both tank are beautiful. Think of a reef tank like a bell curve, at first it might seem like a lot of work but in the end its very rewarding. And after a while, its no longer as much work as it used to be. The major key thing with a reef is patience. Right now, about three years later, I do more work on my discuss tank than I do my mixed reef. I wouldn't give up on your tank because of algae cos you'll most likely face the same issue on a cichlid tank. You mentioned using well, if you can, invest in a RODI system. Use the skimmer you have, these all play a part in keeping your tank habitable for the animals. One secret I've learnt over the years is with tanks, we take care of water and the animals just live in the water we care for. Hope this helps.

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Every persons lifestyle, financial ability, age, & health differs, these are the things that will mostly dictate if you can keep up with the necessary maintenance, and desire or not, im going on 63 & am somewhat crippled & in constant endless chronic pain but i still push myself every day to dose, feed, top off, and yes, sigh......go to work.
So the question really is can i keep up with a Reef tanks demands forever?
They change yr. to yr. as they grow out etc. and if time or health are a factor it can seem grueling, believe me i have my days.......
They are beautiful when everything is going well but, they are demanding at times also when things need addressing & are skipped due to what ever excuse. I knew full on it was going to challenge me after researching so i was gung ho & still am, love the sea and all its diverse creatures so you just know inside if its really worth your time or will fade like a hobby. Things to deeply consider.
The RO water really is a must do & the skimmer too for obvious reasons if you are serious about the DT. Good luck :)
 
Nate2005 said:
I have a cichlid tank and a reef tank , I enjoy both of them but I wouldn't make that tank a cichlid tank if you already have all of the equipment and fish for a reef tank, that tank would be awesome if you filled it up with corals ,I would just get another tank if you have room because all that equipment would be a big loss of money in my opinion reef tanks are awesome if effort is put into them.


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Click to expand...



Yea, I keep thinking about the money I will lose. I would love to have another tank but I don't have the room(unless it was like a 15 gallon)
I'll keep thinking about it


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ThePurple12 said:
Don't leave, saltwater can't be beat! Who's to say you won't have algae issues with a cichlid tank, anyway?

Can you post a pic of your algae? My turbo snail is taking good care of my hair algae, but there are many different types.
Click to expand...



That's very true. I will post a pic later. I can pull it out fairly easy, but not completely.


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4nReefer said:
I have a discuss tank and a mixed reef tank. Both tank are beautiful. Think of a reef tank like a bell curve, at first it might seem like a lot of work but in the end its very rewarding. And after a while, its no longer as much work as it used to be. The major key thing with a reef is patience. Right now, about three years later, I do more work on my discuss tank than I do my mixed reef. I wouldn't give up on your tank because of algae cos you'll most likely face the same issue on a cichlid tank. You mentioned using well, if you can, invest in a RODI system. Use the skimmer you have, these all play a part in keeping your tank habitable for the animals. One secret I've learnt over the years is with tanks, we take care of water and the animals just live in the water we care for. Hope this helps.

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Click to expand...



I have to keep thinking about patience. Really the tank has only been running around 10 months.
I'll try out the skimmer and see what that does.


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Oldreeferman said:
Every persons lifestyle, financial ability, age, & health differs, these are the things that will mostly dictate if you can keep up with the necessary maintenance, and desire or not, im going on 63 & am somewhat crippled & in constant endless chronic pain but i still push myself every day to dose, feed, top off, and yes, sigh......go to work.
So the question really is can i keep up with a Reef tanks demands forever?
They change yr. to yr. as they grow out etc. and if time or health are a factor it can seem grueling, believe me i have my days.......
They are beautiful when everything is going well but, they are demanding at times also when things need addressing & are skipped due to what ever excuse. I knew full on it was going to challenge me after researching so i was gung ho & still am, love the sea and all its diverse creatures so you just know inside if its really worth your time or will fade like a hobby. Things to deeply consider.
The RO water really is a must do & the skimmer too for obvious reasons if you are serious about the DT. Good luck :)
Click to expand...



That makes a lot of sense. I'm going to try out the skimmer. I need to make a better routine with maintenance.


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Thanks everyone! I'm thinking about sticking it out a while longer. As for things eating the algae what do you think about a scopas tang? That's about the only tang I can afford....not willing to spend more than $100 on a fish.
I think I need to up my cleanup crew too.
The more I think about it I think I'll be unhappy if I get out of salt.
I'm going to try out the skimmer....never used one.
Any other tips? Besides better upkeep?


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I had a very bad problem, tried everything, and it LOOKED like hair algae, but a dose of Reeflux (which works on bryopsis but not on hair algae (so they say)) finally got it.
 
Oh yeah, that’s hair algae!

A quick solution is to take out the rocks individually—don’t do them all at once, as you’ll kill your biological filter—and spray with hydrogen peroxide. You should start to see the algae dying off, and it should all be dead on a few days. After you’ve got it weakened and reduced, you could add some herbivores to finish it off, like turbo snails or a longspine urchin. I don’t have experience with scopas tangs.
 
ThePurple12 said:
Oh yeah, that's hair algae!

A quick solution is to take out the rocks individually"”don't do them all at once, as you'll kill your biological filter"”and spray with hydrogen peroxide. You should start to see the algae dying off, and it should all be dead on a few days. After you've got it weakened and reduced, you could add some herbivores to finish it off, like turbo snails or a longspine urchin. I don't have experience with scopas tangs.
Click to expand...



Someone else recommended the peroxide too.... just spray and scrub off? Then put right back in tank?
How about pin cushion urchins? I know Petco by me has a bunch of those right now


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I just put the skimmer into the sump. Kind of noisy for me[emoji57] I have it so the bubbles are breaking just before it spills over into collection cup, is that right?


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I'm not sure what this means but I also all of a sudden have a ton of asterina stars on the glass.

Also I haven't had the lights on in hopes that that will help too


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Set the skimmer to about midway up on the cup with the air set to bubbles as small as possible, then keep a close eye on it as it breaks in since it will want to slowly creep up & overflow as it gets a slime buildup inside. It will require a few tweaks until it settles in then you can relax & just empty the cup every so often daily or other day unless you can set it up with a drain line saving you some work :) Glad to hear you are willing to try a few more things out.
Yes, larger skimmers can make some noise but when the door is shut its not bad you get used to the background noise since its close to the DT.
You can also check out you-tube vids on your particular skimmer tweaks & setup its the easiest way to see it done and cover any questions you may still have!
 
Oldreeferman said:
Set the skimmer to about midway up on the cup with the air set to bubbles as small as possible, then keep a close eye on it as it breaks in since it will want to slowly creep up & overflow as it gets a slime buildup inside. It will require a few tweaks until it settles in then you can relax & just empty the cup every so often daily or other day unless you can set it up with a drain line saving you some work :) Glad to hear you are willing to try a few more things out.
Yes, larger skimmers can make some noise but when the door is shut its not bad you get used to the background noise since its close to the DT.
You can also check out you-tube vids on your particular skimmer tweaks & setup its the easiest way to see it done and cover any questions you may still have!
Click to expand...



Thanks[emoji4] it's a coralife super skimmer which I've read is not the best, but it came with the tank so I'll try it out.
The back of my cabinet is open and I'm thinking of putting a piece of foam insulation back there, which will also protect the wall.
I've had my tank lights out for a few days and the hair algae seemed easier to pull out.
I'm hoping for a snow day tomorrow to work on it some more.


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