Hello

[Safedad]

I am new to this forum. I have a 55g FOWLR, 2 blue green chromis, sally lightfoot, emerald, 2 peppermint, astreas, ceriths, 20lb LR, CPR w/ Maxi 1200, skilter (no skimming just filter pad), Filstar xP3 pumping into two carbon tubes with about 10 lbs TBPC, 2 Aqua 30 powerheads. Have recently implement TBPC carbon and Right Now bacteria to control my nitrates. I have recently upgraded from a 30 g and am recovering from an ICH wipeout (except the Chromis - lost lawnmower and yellow tang) and bountiful hair algae. TBPC has gotten my nitrates down to 3-5 in a couple of weeks and Phosguard has the phosphate at .01. hair algae is growing slower but still growing.Looking for help in eliminating the hair algae. Am looking to add back 2 percula, royal gramma, lawnmower blenny, and a coral beauty. Looking for solutions to hair algae.

[Rougiem]

Welcome to RS! Have you had any problems not running a skimmer? I would recommend one. Great to have you!

Cheers!

[Woodstock]

Welcome to Reef Sanctuary~~

Controlling nusiance algae? Keep the tank as clean as possible!

• Use ro/di
• invest in a good skimmer
• get more live rock (1 to 1.5 lbs per gal of water)
• continue using phosban and carbon (ALWAYS soak new carbon in ro/di water overnight before each use)
• increase water change frequency/amount
• vacuum substrate during each water change if possible
• keep all sponges/mechanical filter media clean (atleast twice per week)
• soak all foods in ro/di prior to feeding

[Witfull]

Welcome to RS~

[Reefreak]

Good skimmer is your best bet for clearing things up
Welcome to RS
Do you have any pics of your tank?

[Safedad]

Thanks for the welcome and info. I am running a CPR Bak-Pak with Maxijet 1200 supply. I have an airstone inside the skimmer and it seems to work. I have made two carbon tubes (ea 3 ft by 3") to hold TBPC carbon and Right Now Bacteria (HDLtd.com - processes Nitrates aeorbically). I have just started using Aquarium Sparkling Aqua for ongoing phosphate control and cleaning solids in the water. If the system works, my protein skimmer should be run out of business. I do vacuum the bottom and only use RO water from a LFS. Plan to add more cleanup critters ( added 10 cerith and 2 emeralds this week), perculas, anemone, royal gramma, coral beauty angel, and clams. Need to upgrade my DIY lighting hood, practice patience, and wait on the money to implement my plan. I will post on how this system works (or doesn't). I am not sure how to attach a picture.

[BoomerD]

Sorry dad, but it sounds to me like you're the victim of a shoddy LFS who just likes to sell you stuff you don't need. If you look at the tanks here, you will find that MOST run their tanks with NO filtration other than a GOOD skimmer, a sand bed, and copious amounts of good quality live rock. The filstar and skilter will continue to produce loads of nitrates, as will the filter tubes full of carbon. It's a biological filter process, no getting around it.
Please tell us more about your tank. What substrate do you have? How much live rock do you have? What kind of lighting do you have? Your Bak-pak is an OK skimmer for up to about 30 gallons, not much help after that. They are severely over rated by the manufacturer. PLEASE slow down on adding more livestock until you finish dealing with the ich infestation. That parasite takes 6 to 8 weeks of running a tank with NO fish in it to go away. That means setting up a quarantine tank to treat the fishes, while the parasite dies off with NO fishy host in the display tank. Treating your main tank with copper or most other drugs will pollute the live rock with copper, which will then leach back into the water for a very long time, and will kill most corals, anemones and other inverts.
We're here to help, and unlike your LFS, we aren't trying to sell you anything but success...and we'd be happy to "give" that to you...

[Safedad]

Well the plan is long term, not right after Christmas. Here's the update. Two yrs ago got tank, skilter, aragonite, and book for Christmas. Plan was to bring Nemo home. Researched for about six months before adding water. Discussion with the wife about live rock went something like this: I paid $150 to get you started and you want to buy rock at $7/lb at 1 lb per gallon or $210 - I don't think so. We started slow and got up to 30lb. Crushed coral bed in the 30 gal, skilter, got $50 of cleanup crew then introduced two Nemo's (a week after adding some LR). They were history in a day because of ammonia. Restart got up to a royal gramma and two nemo's. Had one bought of Ich and successfully treated it with Kick-ich (no copper and works without hurting inverts). Next Christmas brought a Filstar xP3 to hold TBPC carbon but it wasn't large enough. Nitrates hung around 15 regardless of what I tried. Finally the hair algae showed up. Then got the opportunity to get a 55g tank and CPR for $20. Made the move to the 55g, scrubbed the rocks, and lost a lot of cleaners (think the buckets with out heaters got "cold" while I scrubbed the rocks). Added a lawnmower blenny a couple of months later and then a yellow tang (55g is probably too small for them). The algae was still growing strong and ich showed up again last October. The blue-green chromis were not impacted but I lost everything else to the Ich. I have a routine for changing, cleaning, and bleaching the filter pads, adding Seachem products, vacuuming the bottom every other week, 10-20% water changes and my water is stable. Since building the carbon tubes and getting them on line, my Nitrate is staying around 5. I like the challenge of DIY as part of the hobby. The Right Now bacteria is an O2 hog and I have an oxygen reactor fabricated to boost the carbon tube capacity. (am waiting for funds to get luft air pump to put it on line). Phosguard got the phosphates down from 2 to .01. I am expecting the ASA to be a replacement for the phosguard and clean out solids from the water. Might give Mangroves a try when the skimmer isn't needed. I need to replace the DIY light hood with retrofit kit (2 55W PCs (03/10K, 6.5K) and 20W NO 18K built for the 30g tank. Want to double the PC's, leave room for MH, to be ready for anemone or clam. It also need to look better than the two extensions I added to cover the open ends of the 55g. I am not planning on any more fish until the hair algae is gone. I think this system is going to work for me and I have gotten a fair amount of support for Snake at HDLtd. My goal (believe it or not) is to set up a system that needs very little attention. As I read on a lot of different forums, people have strong feelings on how to do this. I am sharing my journey and am also looking for assistance on techniques, tips, etc. I think there is more than one way to skin a cat and I am intrigued by the aerobic process of Nitrate control.
55g, 30lb LR, 1- 55WPC (1 burned out/broken), 3" crushed coral bed, 250 skilter (with bag of Phosgaurd in it - modified to run an airstone), CPR Bak-pak with Maxi-jet 1200 and air stone (with bag of Chemi-pure), 2 Aqua clear 30 power heads, Filstar xP3 used to filter the water and power the two carbon tubes and provide return plumbing above the tank (modified by drilling larger holes in return manifold), 2 blue-green chromis, sally lightfoot crab (molted this week for second time), 2 emerald crabs, 2 pepperment shrimp (1 molted two weeks ago, 1 coral banded shrimp, 1 Hawaiian zebra hermit (mean dude - molted this week for 6th time), 1 scarlet hermit, 1 red leg hermit, 4 astrea, 10 cerith, 2 bumble bee (first ones to something dead) Water test this morning SG 1.025, Temp 80, Nitrite <.03, Nitrate 5, Phosphate .01, pH 8.3, Alk 6, Calc 400. Everything has been stable for a month except the Alk and Nitrate. Nitrate has dropped from 12.5 to 5/3 since putting the carbon tubes on line. Alk has dropped from 9 down to 6 and inspite of increased additions of Seachem Reef Builder, doesn't seem to want to budge. I have some pictures of the tank and am trying to learn how to reduce their size so I can put them in my gallery. Merry Christmas to all, Bob

[Woodstock]

Sounds like you have a good water change schedule. I think your low alk, high no3, and hair algae is related to your high diterus level in the crushed coral. Think about switching it out for sand. Remember that the alkalinity is not only for building skeletons for ca loving creatures but it also balances oiut any acid (rotting diterus) to buffer the water. JMO, but I bet you have a lot of trapped diterus in that crushed coral substrate.

I am confused about your 'carbon' tube filter. Just make sure you're soaking the carbon in ro/di prior to usage since it will leach a lot of phosphates into the water.

[Safedad]

Woodstock, I always get a fair amount of stuff when I vacuum the bottom. I will a little deeper and do it weekly for a while. I vacuum into my Filstar so I can vaccum all around the tank (and then change all the filter pads). Otherwise I would empty the tank through the siphon vacuum. I will add a conversion to sand to my long term plan. Thanks for the explanation of the process. The carbon is a little different than normal. It is called Tri based pelletized carbon (TBPC) it is from Hiatt Labs in Ca (of course it IS a differnet process). It serves as the platform for the bacteria colony and provides it some carbon. I am using about 10 lbs and it fills two three foot long PVC pipes (carbon tubes). The bacteria use a lot of O2 (aerobic process instead of the anaerobic process in a DSB) so I need to pass a lot of water by it. The return is above water so CO2 offgases and the water is replenished with O2. I was a little hard headed at first and just pointed the return toward the surface. When I lifted it, NO3 just dropped. It is recommend 6 to 10 water changes an hour. I am using a Filstar xP3 to filter and pump the water. It is rated for over 300 gph but I am not getting that. I will add a Mag 7 (700gph) in line to boost the through put. Although the hair algae isn't gone, it seems to have stopped growing. Everyone is active (crabs, shrimp, snails, star serpent) all over the aquarium. I will blend spending money on the additional pump, and some fish (which is why I went to all the work and agravation) to enjoy the tank. I will be adding more LR. I have made an oxygen reactor and when I can afford a luft pump, I will put it online (to boost O2 and thus the capacity of the Right Now bacteria in the carbon tubes). As I improve my lighting I will add some clams and finally an anemone for the percula (or for viewing if they don't adopt it). One thing that helps with patience in this hobby is that it is expensive. So much Christmas money but so many more things to spend it on. Well off to a round of golf tomorrow and back into the woodworking shop on Thursday.
Merry Christmas and a joyous holiday to all.
Bob