Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

Here's a question you guys may be able to help me with...
I'm having another brown algae bloom. Along with that is lots of green hair algae.
I understand it's from phosphorus spiking. My lights are good and they are on a timer and all that good stuff.
Since I've set up this new tank it went from good, to real bad, then back to crystal clear with no algae, and now it's back again.
Something could have very well died in there, I have no way of knowing. It could have been a shrimp or one of any number of snails, or just some other die-back I can't think of. I run two protein skimmers and both have been pulling stuff out doubletime even though I've taken feeding to almost nothing.

Okay, so here is my question...
I usually just let this stuff go. I clean the glass and prefilters regularly, and I run my diatom filter a lot to pull the junk out of the water.
My thinking is that if I let the algae grow, it will pull the phosphate and nitrogen and fertilizers out of the water and fix it in itself. When I clean, I use the diaton filter to pull that organic matter out of the water.
How long should I let things go before I scrub the rocks and stuff?
I've noticed in the past that when the algae starves out it sluffs off in big chunks. Should I just wait till it starts peeling off itself, and how long does that take?
I know it's an odd question, I hope someone can help. :)
Thanks!!!

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

Scrubbing the rocks will not likley prevent the algae from coming back. I was in the same situation as you a while ago. My solution was taking the rocks out and blowtorching them untill I was sure every bit of algae root was gone. This is an extreme measure.

The algae will pull nitrates and Po4 out of the water but it will not fix the main source for the Po4. It will keep growing and growing leaving you an unhappy camper. My suggestion would be to pick up a phosphate reactor. Like the MR1 made by nextreef. And run some neozeo media. This will cut out Po4 as well as Nitrates. In my case eliminating the need for water changes for almost a year now.

Next Reef MR1

NeoZeo

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

I scrubbed with a brush and used a net to scoop out the debris. Eventually these blooms seemed to run their course. The tiny snail and tiny star blooms were interesting. I wonder if your diatom filter is contributing. I use only a mat filter on the overflow and the skimmer. No fine filtering at all.

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

Thanks for the replies, guys.
I cleaned the tank really good yesterday and it looks spectacular this morning. Even the algae among the substrate cleared up. I added some sand and shells from Siesta Key that I had in a big jar, and now my Sargeant major damsel is making a great big nest. He's fanning out the hole and carrying rocks away and dropping them at the rate of about 5 or ten trips a minute. Fun to watch. :)
Lance, I had thought the diatom filter might be adding to the phosphates. It doesn't jive though.
Mark, I have tons of phosphate sponge in my Fluval sump filter, or whatever it's called. I think it's a cannister filter. That initially helped.
With clean water and a clean light and clean glass tops, there's a lot more light. It may just be that my light was so low it caused the bloom. I'd been pretty lazy about taking care of cleaning, so I'm likely the cause.
I'll just keep after it for the next week and see if the algae blooms subside.
Thanks for the help!!! :)

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

Phosphate pads are only good for a week or so. After that they become nitrate factories by trapping deterius then it decays. Canister filters *usually* are linked with nitrate and phosphate issues. I think Carlos would know more. He was in the aquarium trade for quite a while.

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

I haven't cleaned that thing out for awhile, either. I should do that today. I can see where the filtered chunkies would rot and cause trouble. The bioballs should have plenty of nitrifying bacteria, as well as my substrate. It wouldn't hurt to get that crap out of it, though. Hopefully I'll quit feeling like crap and I'll get to it today.
Very little green algae is growing, that's a good sign. It's how I guage how fertile the tank is. I'll keep cleaning and hope the bioload goes down. I should do a massive water change but I'm not up to it.
I managed to clean it into "okay for now" mode. I'll put some more time into it as soon as I can. :tu

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

My tank exists in perpetual "OK for now" mode. :D

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

Anyone looking for MH lighting? I may have quite a bit of it available shortly.

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

maybe what are the specs and bulb spectrum?

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

I have to check when I get home. I know I have the bulbs/ballasts/sockets/and maybe reflectors. It was off my 150g reef a few years ago.

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

Those lamps lose spectrum after 6-8 months, too, and not only do you get an immediate reaction then,
but you get an adverse reaction when you put in the new lamps. I think that's why people
replace perfectly good lamps before their time. Me personally, I'll chance it.

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

You need to replace them every 6 months. If you don't your tank starts deteriorating, corals will be less happy and you'll start seeing more algea. Took me a long time to learn that one :(

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

My tank has decided to spring a leak. YAY!

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

My lamps aren't even close to six months, so I'm good there. A guy can buy a lumen meter and save a fortune on bulbs, I really should get one. :tu
Sorry about the leak, Mark. I just did that not long ago. Sprung a leak three times before I gave up on that tank altogether. The last one was a monster. Water was shooting ten feet across the room. :)

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

everything will be moving into a 50 gallon tomorrow. Pictures during the process

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

I sure don't envy you the chore. I have a great big red plastic stock tank that I can move all my stuff into now. It's a lot easier, for sure.

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

got the light on top.

http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m...10/50setup.jpg

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

four hours later and im done.

http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m...g8810/rock.jpg
http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m...g8810/sand.jpg
http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m...8810/final.jpg

I also moved my little maroon clown into this tank. My larger maroon clown was beating him up.

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

Took me 2 hours to fall asleep last night...WHY? I'll tell you why. Woke up Sunday am and went to feed
the fish. Every story starts off this way, doesn't it. Anyway, my wavemaker came disconnected from the
glass and fell to the tank bottom where it spent the night blowing all the sand around. It looked like
winter wonderland, everything covered in sand. As I have said many times, why in the HELL did I start up
a tank again? It's because I forgot about stuff like this. Stuff like what to do when you leave for four days
or more. I had gotten so used to not worrying about that crap. After I paid off my truck, I was looking
forward to a year or so of money building up in the bank. I had stopped ordering cigars, I had no car note,
no fish tank, no cigarette habit. WTF happened?
Well it's easy. I went and got a tank.
Then I realized a little late what I was about to do. But hey, I could still put the tank in the closet. No harm no foul.
Then I ordered a light unit. Even then, I could have put it up in the closet. But NOOOoo. I had to order corals.
Then I had to get caught up in the online circus that is super selection, WYSIWYG and free shipping over 100 dollars.

All that crap and I need to get two tires on the front of the truck and until I do I am going to go slowly
crazy. I am not broke, just pissed. I should have thousands of dollars built up over the time I have been
out from under the car note. Instead, I have a new grill, a new fish tank, some Edicion Limitadas in bulk.
Need I freaking go on?
;s;s;s

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

Good story, Brad. I said it a little while ago, this fish tank is a great way to free myself of that cumbersome money. I think it's even better than cigars.
Every day is a new pain in the ass. I was looking at all the green stuff on my glass deciding whether to clean it again or just let it go. I'm honestly sick of messing with it. It even crossed my mind this weekend, for the first time in 14 years, to do away with it altogether.
I thought, "it's brand new stuff, I have a few thousand bucks in it, I should be able to get at least a hundred bucks for all of it. " :)
Then I decided to just suffer on.

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

Wow! You guys. I just spent close to $200 on new lamps for all my tanks. Once a year. Otherwise it's just food. Like I said before, I spend about four hours a week with my hands in the water but I could let it go natural for a few weeks and I would just end up with a lot more work to do later. Oh, and there's the electric bill.
Once the system gets stable it takes a lot to knock it out of balance. I don't attach anything on the inside of my tanks, I find a way to hang things like wavemakers. Still, a little sand all over everything just needs to be blown back off, maybe with the same wavemaker. Should be no damage.

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

I remember when we all first realized our 5000 dollar computer was really a 2 thousand dollar computer
and that our 3000 dollar computer was really a 500 dollar computer. Same Deal.

As for the tank walls, I scrape the front only. I am combatting a flow (and thus a hair algae problem)
exacerbated by too much intense light per day. But I need to feed the fish when I leave the house at
6:30 am and I need time with them in the evening and turn it off at 6:30 pm, and I think that light,
coupled with too much coral food, coupled with flow issues led to the prob. Once I fixed the 'wave
maker that fell to earth' problem, I also fixed my flow issues while I was in there. So I should be good
for now. I love my tank, but like I said, I could stand to never have started it.
Ball and chain comes to mind, and it shouldn't.

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

I remember thinking that before I made the decision to tear down my 125G.

Between the hours and hours of work per week on it, the increased electrical bill for all the goodies (chiller, MH & HO lighting, 2 large Iwaki pumps, etc), the normal reef tank issues like algae blooms, the cost of all the additives, and the minimal free time I had due to a new job, it only made sense in my case to get out of the hobby years ago.

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

Brad, my problem is that I'm too insistant that it's perfect and crystal clear. If I'd just let it be, I'd be far better off.
It's a new tank and it's going to take time before it settles. I just added a bunch of new rock in January or February, too. I cured it for a couple weeks, but the deep die-back is going to take time to come out. That's where the water changes would help, and I don't change all that much.
If I did a 30 gallon (1/3) change, it'd help, I'm sure.
I just need to be patient and let it get settled in.
I'm finally happy with the way everything looks, so I can leave it be for awhile now. I'm going to give the glass a cleaning now and then let her be. Everything else is cleaned and in order, the brown algae is gone, and the green hair has slowed dramitically. I'm pleased with it's progress, for sure. :tu

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

new baby I just picked up.
Now got to decide what color to stain it and lighting. Likely ging t5s
Already got a pair of chrysogasters my buddy has had at his shop for me for 1 year so those are my fish. No sump this time. After 2 water issus with a sump my wife has banned them from the home. Going to run 2 hang on skimmers. Will post progress picks. going to take a few weeks to move set up tank and move stuff.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...y/DSC_0267.jpg
No idea how many gallons likely somewhere in the 40 range. Custom built tank and stand/ canopy.

24 x 24 x13 only 33ish gallons just going to run clowns and some Zoos and nems under t5s should be fine at only 13 inches deep.

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

My nano is about half that and does fine with similar critters and cf lighting and a hang on skimmer.

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

Well going to stain it tonight it appears. Wife picked the color she wants then threw me a curve. Apparently its going in the boys room. She wants more space in the living room. Look well atleast I am keeping a tank she wanted me to shut it down originally. Kind of excited.

Still debating white sandbed, black sandbed, or bare bottom. As others have experienced i have had issues with pumps and sandbeds. If I go sandbed its going to be very shallow.

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

There is a type of "sand" that isnt super fine. Its about 1mm in diameter and it EXTREMELY east to care for. I love the stuff. Thats whats in my tank further up in on this page.

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

Scott, this is how you ended up with my atlas for marine fish...;)

I Did this couple of years ago (sold everyhing for peannuts), now I regret it, hang in there it will pass these ecosystems, they need you.

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

I decided to stick it out, Eric.
I've been away for the best part of two weeks. When I came home, two fish and my last blob of coral were dead. I was thrilled.
I have a huge red algae bloom going, I've hooked up my diatom filter, and I've started scraping glass.
I just got home from running around and now I'm going to clean filters and skimmers. Then I think I'll take the lights off and hold my head under water till I drown. :D

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

Stained and sealed.
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...y/9bc3a7dc.jpg

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

I am dealing with a first....Aiptasia. I read warnings of a type of live rock having aiptasia problems, and
I just ignored them. To my own peril it seems. They are sprouting up everywhere and apparently not all
peppermint shrimp will eat them. So I am guessing Joe's Juice is next. But they went from being on the rocks to
being all up in various corals. Not happy.

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

There are two different kinds of pest anemones. Aiptasia are translucent, fast and fragile, with long delicate tentacles. Majano are more opaque, slow and more stubby and cylindrical.
Peppermint shrimp will not eat majano. Joe's juice has a low kill rate. I pick them out by hand and just hope to keep the population in control. Aiptasia, by comparison, are easy to kill, they are just hard to completely eliminate. Peppermint shrimp only eat the smaller ones.

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

use aptasia X it makes the guys implode.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oo3DZ...eature=related

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

Although delicate to keep, longnose butterfly will do a good job on aptasia.

Get a needle and shoot them with a dosage of calcium, directly into them. That wipes them out the quickest.

On a sad note, over the weekend, lost my friend of nearly 13 years. Had him nearly as long as my dog Champ. He was around 18" long. I figured him to be well over 20 years old when he passed.

He was a very, very, very rare New Caledonia Emperor. Nothing much seems to come from that part of the world any more. What made him unique from New Caledonia was the deepness of the blue color and the streamer on his tail.

Will miss my buddy and his grunting.

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s...o/DSC_0167.jpg

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

Lemon juice, vinegar, kalkwasser, calcium chloride, and almost anything else kills Aiptasia easily. Majano are tough and resilient. Youtube showed someone with a filefish the he says wiped out all his Majano. I think I will try this.

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

I have to move my tank to Ohio soon. In the middle of the winter, yet. I had thought about giving all my rock and stock to the kid who has a fish store a few miles from home, but when I went by the other day I saw he's closed down.
I guess I'll just haul a bunch of buckets and do the best I can. I'm not looking forward to it at all.

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

I am sorry for your loss -- a lot of my friends used think I was crazy when I told them about hurting over the loss of a fish, but fish do have personalities and if you have them for any length of time it is easy to get attached. If I anthropomorphize more than I should, so what...

Anyway, he was a beautiful fish!

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

+1 on the sentiment.
My sailfin tang is very smart and has a distinct personality and moods. All the other fish in my tank are very simplistic. We call it "she" even though there is no way to really know just because of her behavior. We would miss her when she goes and probably get another one. We got her when she was an inch and a half triangle. "Penelope". She like me the best.

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

I got my 90 gallon all set up here in the office, It looks great. :tu
I got some fish, crabs and snails, they're all doing great. I tested my water the other night and it's perfect.
I checked Craigslist and found a guy with some live rock that looks nice. I'm going to go see him and see how it looks. He also has a top skimming protein skimmer I'd like to have, because one of mine finally gave up the ghost.

I miraculously found a brand new Vortex Diatom XL at a fish store the other day. Paid almost 200 bucks for it, but my last one kept me in business for 20 years. 10 bucks a year for crystal clear water ain't a bad deal.
Turns out the factory burned down awhile back, which is why I've had such a hard time finding one. I was surprised how little the design has changed over the years. I suppose if it ain't broke, ya don't fix it. :tu

If I get some new rock, I'll give it time to settle in. After that, I'm going to get rid of my old starfish, Patrick, and start growing corals. Turns out he's the culprit that ate all my frags last time. I just need to find someone who's willing to take him, then get to gathering. I've found tons of guys here in the Cleveland area that keep reefs, and tons of frags are available. I just want to have the tank slap full of rock before I get started.

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

Always love looking through this thread....

Impressed with all your set ups....


That is too bad, beautiful fish.....;s

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

Haven't gotten back to salt yet, but the wife and I did get a (basic) 55 last month and set it up for freshwater. She wants discus. :D Either way, it's good to at least have a toe in the water again. :)

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

We've been waiting for our pink spotted watchman goby to come out of hiding.
He did that this morning, he's the featured guest at a hermit crab party.
It's kind of comical. He's a four inch long dead fish with three big crabs hanging on his head. Those three hermits are about the size of jack balls, I didn't even think those little blue legged hermits got that big.
I'm gonna let them party a little bit and then get him out of there. Apparently the eyeballs are the best part. Blech.

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

:np

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

I'll text you a video that Lisa just sent to the kids. pm me your number. :)

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

I haven't has time to do major cleaning in my tank, so the Xenia and Rhodactis are dividing all over, the weedy Majano anemones are spreading, the faces of the tank have little windows cleaned through so I can see in and the fish are doing just great. When I get home I will have to take a picture so people can see how bad these tanks can get.

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

Well, another 400 bucks down the tube. :D
I got 50 pounds of live rock that turned out to easily be 100, and it's absolutely gorgeous. Completely full of life. It's covered with mushrooms and other nummies. I also got a bunch of great big corals, hammer, frogspawn, and a big tongue coral, among them. I don't know the rest of the names, but I'll post pics and ask later.
I also got two hydor koralia 1400 gph powerheads (there's 100 bucks right there, I paid 40).
I also got a yellow eyed tang who didn't make it. Suited us fine because we didn't like him. I also got two five gallon buckets full of sand that I desperately needed. It's slap full of big worms, copepods, shrimp and stuff.
I also got a bucket of reef additves and food. A gallon jug of calcium a and b buffer, some reef crystals, some frozen food, garlic extract, lugol's solution, essential elements, iodide, purpleup, strontium and molybdenum, probuffer, liquid calcium, seaweed and some clips.
It appears I am now officially in the coral killing business. :tu
I'll post some pics when I get the rock and corals and powerheads all situated. Everything is in the tank and doing great, I just need to move stuff and get stung some more. (I can't find my neoprene diving gloves, or I'd go ahead and put them on and save some bleeding and burning.)

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

Welcome back.
All my fishies are doing great but my tank is getting filled with the strongest, toughest inverts. This seems to be a fight between the hairy Rhodactis, the Majano anemones, and the Xenia. There is this one pineapple coral that nothing can get close to which is slowly growing out over it's surroundings. I'll have to get some pictures the next time I'm home and clean the glass enough.

Re: The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread
 

Sounds like some great deals Scott:tu

I'm officially out of the hobby and saving at least $100 on electric/food/salt per month. I miss it a little bit, but not much. Now if I could just get rid of my last setup. Anyone looking for a corner pentagon tank with stand and canopy/lights:D