Need a reef expert....

Bloodasp · #1 01-20-2010, 09:07 PM

GFO is granulated ferric oxide. It helps get rid of phosphates. And cheato is short for chaetomorpha its a type of algae but unlike the ones floating in your tank they are easier to control cause they will stay in your fuge instead of going all over your tank.

hillegom · #2 01-20-2010, 09:45 PM

Basically, you use cheato as nutrient export. It grows in the sump binding up nitrate and phosphate. Then you throw it out, or feed it to your tangs, or give some away.

StirCrazy · #3 01-20-2010, 09:57 PM

seeing you are on well water a proper RO unit would be very benifitial. you can get a deicent one for 300.00 last time I checked that will do about 100 gal per day. could be cheeper now. this would go a long way to helping but it would take some time as you would have to do water chenges to reduct the metals and phosphates in your water. Other things that can help have been mentiond, growing algae in a refuge ect.

you could also look into clean up crews but that would depend also ont he type of algae you have.

Steve

Jason McK · #4 01-20-2010, 10:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by StirCrazy

seeing you are on well water a proper RO unit would be very benifitial. you can get a deicent one for 300.00 last time I checked that will do about 100 gal per day. could be cheeper now. this would go a long way to helping but it would take some time as you would have to do water chenges to reduct the metals and phosphates in your water. Other things that can help have been mentiond, growing algae in a refuge ect.

you could also look into clean up crews but that would depend also ont he type of algae you have.

Steve

Steve Read above he has a very good RO/DI set up

Juicy · #5 01-20-2010, 10:07 PM

Well I do have a four stage R/O DI unit with another 20" canister, I just can't remember the name of the darn thing. I think from what I paid it is a good one. I have tried many crabs, sea hares , snails and clean up crews. they all seem to vanish after a while. I think I have a total of about 4 or 5 large scarlet hermits left running around. The sea hares I get last for sometime and then they just turn over on me. I don't know if there is to much green hair or if there is some trace element coming from my well that is contributing to there demise. Does anyone know of a good place to test your well water to find all trace elements involved in the make up?

Juicy · #6 01-20-2010, 10:23 PM

Well currently my lights are on for about 8 to 9 hours a day. I just recently changed the media in my reactor about two weeks ago, so it is running fresh. I will have to check on the level but I think it is just over half full and the pump I have on it should be enough to move water through the media. My goal is fill my tank with coral but every peice I put in there has to compete for light with the algae. I think I have a few zoo's that are like 3" long just fighting for light. I am almost positive it is hair algea but I will do my best to take some pictures tonight and figure out how to post them.

Thanks again everyone.

SeaHorse_Fanatic · #7 01-20-2010, 10:45 PM

Get a sea hare. They love eating hair algae.

I would:

1) rip out by hand & strain out with a net as much hair algae as possible.
2) do water change to remove more strands from your system
3) add sea hare to keep the hair algae under control

Other than adding another Phosban reactor, I think this is a cost effective means of getting the hair algae under control. With the RO & DI systems and minimum feeding, you are already tackling potential sources of nitrates & phosphates.

In that size tank, you can also consider adding more tangs or rabbitfish (algae eaters) to the system.

My 210g mixed reef has 9 tangs & NO hair algae.

Hope this helps.

Anthony

hillegom · #8 01-20-2010, 11:06 PM

yellow tangs and kole tangs eat a lot of algae

Juicy · #9 01-20-2010, 11:15 PM

Well I am planning another assult on it this weekend, going to try my hand at it with a good pair of scissors and maybe try another seahare. I will try and get some pics on here tomorrow so you can get an idea of what I am dealing with. If the little ones don't need dad for a little bit I will try and get some more information on the equipment I have.

Juicy · #10 01-20-2010, 11:20 PM

I tried bringing in city water from where I work to see if that would help and it didn't seem to do the trick. Maybe I need to invest in a kickass skimmer or something. Mine works ok I guess but maybe there are better ones out there that would remove more of the junk.