Algae ID

[reefwars]

Originally Posted by JohnnyReeftank

No fuge....no sump. I have a large blood shrimp and a cleaner shrimp that seem to grab every morcel of food that the fish don't get so I didn't think I was overfeeding....but it can't hurt to cut down.

Do you think that switching from a 14 hour to a 10 hour total-light period will affect my coral growth or coloration at all?....mostly zoos and a few LPS

not at all they arent getting 12 hrs of light where they come from the sun rises and sets so there should be only a few hours of peak light around mid day.im not sure on how much light each needs for photosynthesis
asim sure it varys on the coral in question but most people are on a 10-12 schedule with a lower light like actinics for sunset and sunrise.


are you feeding any liquids to your tank or dosing anything??

[JohnnyReeftank]

Yep....capful of Reef Fuel a week and Acan Plus twice a week for the corals. I've also been using Seachem Stability since the beginning....one capful after each water change.

I'm starting to think that it could be the Calgary tap water I used for the first 2 months.....it seems to be upwards of 150 ppm

[fishytime]

Originally Posted by JohnnyReeftank

Yep....capful of Reef Fuel a week and Acan Plus twice a week for the corals. I've also been using Seachem Stability since the beginning....one capful after each water change.

I'm starting to think that it could be the Calgary tap water I used for the first 2 months.....it seems to be upwards of 150 ppm

sounds like your over feeding......I feed once a day......and never spot feed my corals......try cutting back on on your feeding regiment and your light cycle....

[pscott99]

My tank info is at aquariumpros.ca. Note sure where to post here yet. Although I am new to this hobby this difference between my tank and yours is very obvious.

I feed once a day and NOT shrimp/mysis everyday.
I have not fed my corals yet at all and only have four. 2 soft 2 LPS
My lights are on 8hrs and not blinding.

Results after 3mo. All the brown hair algae is gone from the rock. Still cleaning it off the glass. Tank cleaned up itself.

Using filtered well water waiting for RO/DI to arrive

I am testing the theory that less is better and will work fine on smaller tanks. I have done extensive reading and have decided not to spend $$1000 plus on sump and toys. Anyone that says you can do it cheaper didn't add up all their bills.

Would it help my tank sure it would. Is it necessary. I say no, until or if I go bigger. Time will tell but what I like about this board is that I see a lot of smaller tanks that seem to do just fine with out all the toys.

As I said I am a newb and loving this beautiful FUN new hobby.

[reefwars]

Originally Posted by pscott99

My tank info is at aquariumpros.ca. Note sure where to post here yet. Although I am new to this hobby this difference between my tank and yours is very obvious.

I feed once a day and NOT shrimp/mysis everyday.
I have not fed my corals yet at all and only have four. 2 soft 2 LPS
My lights are on 8hrs and not blinding.

Results after 3mo. All the brown hair algae is gone from the rock. Still cleaning it off the glass. Tank cleaned up itself.

Using filtered well water waiting for RO/DI to arrive

I am testing the theory that less is better and will work fine on smaller tanks. I have done extensive reading and have decided not to spend $$1000 plus on sump and toys. Anyone that says you can do it cheaper didn't add up all their bills.

Would it help my tank sure it would. Is it necessary. I say no, until or if I go bigger. Time will tell but what I like about this board is that I see a lot of smaller tanks that seem to do just fine with out all the toys.

As I said I am a newb and loving this beautiful FUN new hobby.

that my friend is where it varys, take a look at my 33 zoa tank....no bells no whistles no nothing.....its been running over 3 years but has been plagued with many problems. i do know that you can run a tank without any sump or fuge or fancy equipment.

now......


ask me can i convert it to an sps tank...........def not , not at this point as my tank has stabilized to the point where it thrieves off nutrients.there are lots of corals that love this and lots that wouldnt last a week.


so in my opinion what you plan to keep is very important on the way you set your tank up.im using two different routes one small tank ive had for years with nothing but a hob filter and now a media reactor(as algae is hard to fight in a nutrient rich system) it uses tap water,rarely gets vacummed,plus gets fed zoo plankton frequently.........sooooo very hard to maintain as a clean tank.


my other tank im going a fifferent route...... ro water,controller,zeovit,media reactors and a super huge skimmer as in this tank i want to be more open to what i can have.

ive owned just about a hundred kinds of coral and i can def say that some are easier to keep in less than perefect conditions and some require pristine water conditions so choose your path wisely because 3 yrs down the road its gonna be alot harder to clean your act up than it is to now

cheers and i agree with fishytime that with a little less nutrients being added youll see your tank clean again it just may take a while

nothing but bad things happen over night

[Aquattro]

As others have pointed out, stop adding so much food. No liquids, rinse the frozen that you reign back to twice a week, supplement with pellets of flakes, but sparingly.
I'd use some sort of nitrate/phosphate removal media, choice is yours on what works best.

I'd also up the volume of weekly water changes to 35% or so. Adding a couple of turbo snails may help with that red stuff. When doing your water change, try to scrape the crap off the glass as you siphon it out. This will be the quickest export method for the nutrients.

[JohnnyReeftank]

Roger that.....thanks everyone! I'm going to cut way back on my feeding and light period. I'm going to chuck a couple extra snails in there and increase the volume of my water changes every week.......I'll keep you all posted with pics if something happens.