what would you do?

[EleganceMan]

I have a two year old 125reef with about a hundred corals all together. I use coralife hqi metal hallide setup on 4 feet of my tank and a pc 65w on the less crowded side. I have only a few fish, perc. clown, lawnmower, ccb, mandarin, tons of crabs and snails and macro algae also. My question is what would you do to boost the look and perforemance of my tank. I have always relied on the natural way of filtration with only water changes but i think it could use something to help with yellowing of water and lots of particles. Also my macro could maybe do better in a refugium. A good protein skimmer would be nice but i am having a hard time finding one that is good for the price range $200. Also i am using 20k xm bulbs in the mh but i think my elegance does better under 10k and i dont like that color so maybe something around 13k would be nice. what do you think?

 

[Kogo]

how old are your bulbs? the yellow color may just be the dim lights with old bulbs.
i had a 125g with 4x96w pc and i always wanted more. so im thinking 65w bulbs and one HQI over 4 feet just dont illuminate much.
perhaps uniform lighting with new bulbs will add the desired effect.

pics and more specific details would help.

 

[meschaefer]

Running carbon could help with the yellowing. Running a 2 or 3 cups of carbon, for three days monthly should help a lot.

I don't know if you have a sump, but if you do, look at ASM skimmers. I think you can get the Gx-2 in your price range, or the GX-3 for slightly more (I forget what they are rated for, but the Gx-2 might be slightly underpowered)

If you don't ahve a sump, get one. YOu can put your new skimmer in it, set aside an area for a refugium, and it will give you a place to run carbon occasionaly.

 

[fish_is_my_name]

agreed with meschaefer

 

[rcbones]

After having used a decent $150 skimmer and upgraded to a $300 much better skimmer, don't skimp on the skimmer due to price.

The better skimmer may costy you an extra $100 but what is an extra $100 in relation to the $1000's you have invested into it already?

The better skimmer took care of any yellowing or greening in the water.

As a short term method, have you thought about using Polyfilter? It does a decent job of ripping out toxic chemicals and excess protein.

 

[EleganceMan]

bulbs are only six months old and im thinking of going to 15k since things seemed to do better under 10k and i have 20k now. I like the blue color.

 

[omni2226]

Aqua C Remora pro with the mag 3 pump. Decent skimmer for what you want to spend.

If you install a sump look into getting a sealife in sump skimmer.
Decent skimmers for the price.
Another good choice for the money would be a Coralife super skimmer. Can use it as a hang on or in sump.