Katfsh

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I am having some newbie problems that i cant seem to find all the answers to. I have a 24 gallon aquapod with a dsb, 18 or so lbs of live rock. I have a gutted cannister filter That I run purigen and some sea gel from sea chem in it, no bio balls no filter pads. I have a maxijet 1200 and the pump that was included with the tank. As far as lights I have the standard pc that came in the hood. No protien skimmer. I have a lot of hair algae, some red algae that is trapping bubbles. I do weekly water changes (10%-20%), with salt water from lfs. All the paramaters are ok. I have put the rock in a bucket of salt water and scrubbed with a tooth brush, still comes back. I covered the tank for three days with no lights, didnt do to much good, scared to do it much longer for fear of hurting livestock. the tank is been up for about 2 1/2 months. the inhabitants include
brittle sea star
green star polyp
condy anemone
red headed goby
peppermint schrimp
a few crabs
dont know if any snails are still alive.
snails and crabs are another problem cant keep any alive longer than three weeks except for two brown legged hermits that we have had for about a year.
from every thing that I have read I know that these lights are a little week for the tank. could these light be feeding the algae? The bulbs are about a year old. Would swapping to a 150 mh with pc's help this problem or only feed the algae more?? I know tthis would be better for the anemone and coral. Also I have been looking at the aqua c remora nano, would this help? From what I read the forum is split on to skim or not to skim on nanos with weekly water changes. Can everyone please help? any advice will be greatly appreciated.
katfsh
 

caryliss

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You need lots of herbivores--snails, & hermits. We need to figure out why they are dying. Are there predators? What color is the brittle star (the green ones have a reputation for being predatory).

You say your water parameters are ok. Just to double check--what are they?

Have you tested your phosphate levels? If you get any reading on the hobby level test kits it's too high. When did you last replace the Purigen?

I'd also add a skimmer, as long as it is a good one (I personally like the Remora and Tunze's nanoskimmer myself). For a 24 gallon I'd get the regular Remora, not the nano, if it will fit.

The "red algae that is trapping bubbles"--is it in slimy sheets? If so it's probably cyanobacteria and not an algae at all. Water changes, increased water movement, and I favor antibiotic treatment with products such as Red slime remover (follow the instructions carefully, and don't run carbon or phosphate remover during treatment).
 

Katfsh

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ammonia 0
nirites 0
nitrates 5 - they were higher at one time, I dont remember exactly how high though would have to look in my notebook to see.
ph 8.0
sg 1.025
temp stays 79-80
test phos with sea chem test get no reading on it.

as far a predators the sea star is green, but due to an acclimation accident it dropped its legs, and only in the past two weeks he strated moving around and growing his legs back so I dont think that he is a threat to anything. One idea that I had about the snails/crabs is that they have been starving to death, due to the fact that they are not eating the algae that I have.
 

mr_X

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year old bulbs might very well be a major contributor to the problem.
i disagree with needing "lots of herbivores". i only have about 6 snails in a 125 gallon tank and i don't have any algae trouble since i changed to RODI.

i tested my treated tap water with aquarium pharm test kits, and got a zero reading on the phosphate too. i believe these tests are faulty.

i also disagree with the "red slime remover" treatment. i tried it in the past and it really stressed my green star polyp.
view this:
http://www.reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.p ... gsp+crisis

i have used erythromycin successfully, but this was just a band-aid for the underlying issue. it came back not too long after.
my issue ended up being my tap water.

as far as the snails dying, i don't think it's from lack of food. if hair algae is growing in your tank, i don't see why other algae wouldn't/isn't. maybe you just don't notice it because of your green hair/cyano issue. do you ever have to clean your glass? if so, there is food for snails.
 

mr_X

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ok. i have experience with this fixture, because i own one.
the halide bulb it will come with is a bit on the yellow side actually.

we have it over a 30 gallon cube, and it's not too much light for that. you will be able to keep any kind of coral with that light, not to mention clams, anemone...whatever you want.

if you buy this light you will need to put a little black electrical tape over most of the LED moonlights because they are too bright. other than that, it's a great bargain.
 

Katfsh

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thanks mr x
I thought it was a great value also, and some one else did too, it sold over night!! I guess I will have to wait until they put another one up.
Have you or anyone else here had any experince with the sunpaq hqi?
The only draw back that I have with it is that there is no actnics with it, i really like my dawn and dusk stages that i have now, can this be done with the leds on the sunpaq and still have moonlighting? My lfs which is an hour and a half away sells the sunpaq hqi 150w for $200 thats fifty to seventy five cheaper than anywhere that i have seen on the net. I really like to support them when possible, but 380w for $180 wow!

katfsh
 

Katfsh

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Another Idea that I am kicking around. Macro algae, when I get the new lights they will be up off the tank a little bit i can slide them towards the back putting some light in the back compartments. when i do this can I not put some macros in one of the compartments? I sure that this would help with my hair algae. what types of macros would be best for this, calupera (sp) ????

I am declaring war on hair algae!!

I have a 1200 acre catfish farm where I hatch and raise about 90 million catfish every year. No Algae, if we do get it I wipe it out in a couple of days. No here I have this little 24 gallon box of water that I cannot keep the algae out of, very frustrating!
 

mr_X

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there are many types of caulerpa. there is one i think, that is illegal due to the fact that people have thrown it away in the wrong places and it has overgrown areas and altered the entire ecosystem of those areas.
meanwhile, for your tank, i would suggest chaetomorpha. it's alot slower growing than caulerpa (the types you will see most are razor caulerpa and bubble caulerpa), and there's no chance for it to hurt your tank (bubble caulerpa sometimes can release toxins into a tank when it goes sexual).
i happen to have a mixture of many types of macroalgae in my tank, and must keep them pruned regularly, to avoid this "sexual" event.

i would like to suggest a totally different light for your macro area, or refugium. IME, the best light for good macro growth is 6500k or less. you don't want that over your tank, but just over your macros.
this refugium light can be a very basic cone reflector, something you can buy at home depot for 6 dollars, and one of those curly-Q energy saver bulbs for 5 bucks. just make sure it's a 5000k or 6500k bulb.
 

Katfsh

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thanks for all the advice.
I have been kicking around this idea for awhile now and i think that it will be a better system. Last night I purchased the 380 mh light off of ebay along with the aquac remora nano skimmer. I can either put those on my 24g aquapod i have runnig now or I have sitting in my shed a 20gal tall with two holes drill in the bottom, but no overflow boxes. all that I would need is a stand and tank to fit in the stand for sump/fug. one question I have is what would be the best way to do an overflow.

Ok the two holes, one in the back left, one in the back right. one to feed the sump/fug on as a return. the bulk heads will accept a 1/2 pipe. what was in the tank when it was given to me was to sch 80 1/2 pipes, they used the sch 80 to help blend with the black back of tank, with just an elbow on top. would this work ok? maybe a lil noisy but in theory if i lost power the tank wouldnt drain any further than the bottom of the elbow, correct?? Just need to make sure the sump/fug can handle the extra volume.

If i do this I would take my sand bed and a couple of peices of live rock out of the algae nest and start this tank for a couple of weeks and then add my livestock. luckily my aquapod is on a wheeled butchers block and I could roll it into the laundry room, and with no livestock in it I could put it in darkness and that should SHOULD wipe out the algae, right? then when its all said and done I have my 24g aquapop as a qt tank.

Is this a crazy idea, or would yall try it, or am i better off sticking with what ive got?
 

mr_X

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that's up to you. if you like the idea, it's not so crazy. meanwhile, could you take a pic of the drilled tank? i don't understand your explanation of the design.
 

Katfsh

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well mr x i went to the shed to get the tank out and take a picture of it.
put it in the yard starting washing it out and the bottom of the tank cracked from bulk head to bulk head. so there goes that idea unless i can find another 20 gal tall fairly cheap around here.
oh well
 

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