Rusty's 29

[rdwilson91]

I'm having an outbreak of cyano and GHA. My fuge is taking care of this and the spreading has slowed down greatly, so now I'm trying to get rid of what's left.
Livestock includes a fuzzy lion (that I affectionately refer to as B*tcht*ts after it ate a firefish I bought that was bigger than itself)
Maroon clown, bristle-tail filefish (incredible aiptasia eater)
Coral banded shrimp, sand sifter, serpent star, pink shortspine urchin
Cabbage leather, shrooms, polyps, encrusting gorgonian, GSP, frogspawn, xenia, and green cup, and a fuge full of chaeto with a deep sand bed

Looks pretty green right now...I'll post pictures as the battle against gha continues.

Oh, and I have no idea how to use my camera.

 

[GlassMunky]

how big is that urchin? i have one thats a little smaller than a dime now who was less than half that size when i got him a few weeks ago......

 

[rdwilson91]

Body's quarter-sized, the longest spines are an inch.

It's pink, spikey, and full of venom, just like I've always imagined ladyparts are.

 

[Eric]

It's pink, spikey, and full of venom, just like I've always imagined ladyparts are.

:smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack:

Tanks looks pretty good lion is really cool!

 

[rdwilson91]

:smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack:

Tanks looks pretty good lion is really cool!

Eric you know me well enough to expect things like that

 

[rdwilson91]

This is the skimmer chamber of my HOB fuge. Let me know if y'all think I should add an air pump or if I should just buy a new skimmer.

 

[Eric]

Big pump and a lime wood air stone, not the best setup but they work none the less, you have to keepa fresh stone in them when you see the bubbles getting larger so there is a maintenance fee

 

[GlassMunky]

What kind of skimmer is it? If you do look at switching, EVERYTHING i read anywhere, and EVERYONE i talk to says NOTHING beats a Remora for HOB skimmers. I'm upgrading to one very soon. I'll let you know what differences i see

 

[rdwilson91]

It's just a chamber in my HOB fuge modified into an air-driven skimmer. I'm going to add a pump and see how it performs.

 

[rdwilson91]

I'm gonna try to trade my clown since the bioload is so high

 

[Eddieelq]

Looks good

 

[rdwilson91]

Looks good

LIES!!!

Haha but thank you, that's encouraging. I took the maroon clown to True Perc and they turned it into a fire and ice zoa frag, so I've decreased my bioload and have moved to 5 gallon WC twice a week instead of 10% a week. Eric's sending me a pump to get my skimmer going. Hopefully it will be back to its former glory soon.

I tried everything on this algae; added more snails, added more crabs (blue leg, red leg, zebra, emerald), pistol whipped it, bought a sea hare (dead), bought an urchin (awesome but lazy), manual removal, everything but a skimmer.....hopefully that will be its eviction.

 

[GlassMunky]

If that doesnt work, or only work a little i might suggest a blackout. where you turn off all lights and leve them off for 3 days or so. While you do this its a good idea to do a WC or 2 cause all the diesing algea will be put off into the water colum so you want to get rid of those nutriants.you can also couple this with some manual removal right before the lights out to "weaken" the algae. it worked wonders for me, so just a thought

 

[rdwilson91]

Bought a remora skimmer today, second hand from craigslist, $50 .
It's loud as s***, but requires no adjustments except for moving the collection cup.
Since getting rid of the clown, my algae has dropped dramatically. I think the bioload plus the traditional fish food fouled the water.

 

[Eddieelq]

Are you talking about all of the algae all over the glass? I thought that was a good thing lol

 

[rdwilson91]

I have coralline all over the glass, and while that's a very good sign, it's also an eyesore. I scrape it off the viewing area.
The algae I was referring to is the green hair algea and cyanobacteria on the sand bed. Since cutting the bioload and adding a fuge, the cyano now only grows of the sand bed. It used to cover EVERYTHING. In the places where it covered the hair algae, it would trap bubble and looked like a horrible mess.
I'm counting on this remora for its death.

Edit: right now the remora is bubbling like crazy and my leather is not happy, now my frogspawn is drawn up. I think this coral is going to kill every LPS I every get. I cleaned the skimmer yesterday with lemon juice and baking soda, but the previous owners evidently cleaned it rarely, if ever, so it will probably take a while to kick in.

 

[rdwilson91]

Added some Mexican turbos for the hair algae, and I've picked up some fire and ice, sunkist, and dragon eye zoanthids. Also removed the cabbage leather so hopefully I can raise LPS now.