Bob, giving people advice like this with out knowing how there tank is set up for things such as nutrient exportation, coral types and filtration methods can cause more problems then good sometimes.

yes we all know you use tap water and that you use no skimmer and that you have low lights, but you also keep low light corals, use macro algae export and have soft corals that like a bit of nutrient in the water. you also have a conch in a tank that in my opinion doesn't have enough surface area so he keeps your sand looking nice. Also you are a user of chemicals to help clean your water.

now if you were go go to corals that demand more light say, acro's. then you would probably have more algae outbreaks because of your nutrient levels that are not a problem in dimmer light but would fuel the algae in higher light systems. this is the set up where getting a better skimmer will be of a benefit as it will be more efficient in dropping nutrient levels to a lower level where they will not cause as much problems in the brighter light.

for example i am building a new monster skimmer for my tank as I feed my critters fairly well and have a low level nutrient that is fueling an algae that got imported to my tank as a hitch hiker with some corals I got. this algae is actually having a negative effect on a couple corals. this out break was also fueled by my upgrade to newer lights as the intensity of the old ones was low enough that the algae couldn't use all the nutrients.

to be honest your tank is a simple set up and you have chosen your occupants according to your equipment (or the other way around which ever it may be) and like I pointed out it is working because of the match.

Steve

Steve, play nice please :confused:

So is it somthing not to worry about to much??? i mean will it affect my tank alot or will it be ok? Its just i try so hard to maintain my tank and keep it perfect but this seems endless :sad: If it is part of the tank i will do what i can to maintain it. But does this limit to what i can add to my tank in the meantime?

Last time I moved I had an outbreak of cyano. I used some Chemi Clean until it was gone. Haven't seen it since.

Wholly dude simmer... :eek:

I didn't realize I would get worked so badly on my reply. I have to agree with Steve, but you do mention that your opinions are based upon your personal experiences. So was mine.

So I don't think you can reply by saying that this is a load of crap, I'm suprised Brad didn't moderate your reply instead of Steve's.

I'm sure more people would tend to agree with using RO/DI water or a skimmer as opposed to not. I'm actually suprised you can get by without a skimmer, especially if you have fish in your tank since they're such heavy polluters. But that is YOUR personal experience, I didn't realize that Calgary had such pure clean water compared to Vancouver's, hmmmm I'm impressed :exclaim:

I think in my opinion that ,people are getting into the reef hobby, due to

A they hate FW tanks

B they are tired of the boring fish and

C they are looking for a new advanced challenge
you are going to expect these things to happen like a basic cynao
or hair algae. Its going to happen
man i hmaust have have had every algae problem in my tanks in the past 2 yers
from hair - to bubble and cyno and brown green you name it i have had it
Doug can atest to that.

I think that if you are going to have a small piece of the ref in your house you are going to expect the basic's of the reef hobby to kick you in the butt.

All i can say is READ <READ <READ take your time .

READ MY SIGNTURE A TRY .....

but hte basic fundamentals will help you out

if you have looks of imports in the tank you need to export them of control them .Nowe i have to go for now
Im on duty here on BASE

LIFE IS HARD
FRRE FOOD AND A FRRE COMPUTER TO PLAY WITH

mike

I have recurring cyano problems but I don't worry about it too much unless it begins to grow over my corals. Mine disappeared significantly around the time I added a sea cucumber, but I wouldn't venture to say that's the reason why, although he does a great job on the sand (my conch does not). And 20 gallons is too small for a cuke so this isn't an option for you.