No Going Back Now.

[SkiFletch]

Yup, and keep it covered if possible just to prevent it from being a dust trap

 

[garybuk]

Good going now matey you will defo get evaporation on it!!!! and Cage is right! you will get fed up with carrying 25l ro buckets! i do but saveing for a pretty decent ro unit!!!

 

[seffieuk]

Oh wow, wee....not sure how I missed this thread - but just spent the last ten minutes or so reading it - great fun and boy what a tank and stand

One word on the jerry cans - they need to be 'food safe' and many jerry cans are not! Best and cheapest place to get the cans is a camping shop

Seffie x

 

[VictorMeldrew]

Hi all

i need to get this sorted now, check it out, the green algee has gone crazy





I have got 50l of RO water to do a water change tonight, How can i get rid of this stuff? I have added rowaphos to my filter and the algee has stopped growing on the glass and has slowed alot on the rock, but the substrate is covered and i really do not like the way the tank looks at the moment.

Any advice would be great

Thanks
VictorMeldrew

 

[SkiFletch]

Was kinda worried about this, sorry Victor. You displayed some algae very quickly which is rarely a good sign. At this point I'd hold off on fish, the algae problem needs to be taken care of first. Hair algae can be a bear to deal with. You're right in running the Rowaphos. I'd offer two suggestions for the time being. First, get that waterchange done. Second, get yourself some magnesium chloride and/or magnesium phosphate and jack your magnesium concentration up clear over 1500ppm. For reasons nobody can explain, really high magnesium seems to deter basic algaes while allowing complex photosynthetic organisms to flourish. Third, use some thin diameter tubing to siphon this stuff out (say 3/16" or 1/4"). Put a women's knee high on the other end with a rubber band and siphon it out into a bucket. The nylon will filter the algae and allow you to put the water back in the tank. Fourth, consider an HOB refugium with some macroalgae.

Finally, this may sound ridiculous, but get some corals in there. You need some higher photosynthetic organisms in there to compete with the hair algae. I'd stick with softies as hard corals might not fair so well with the current nutrient load.

 

[CageUK]

Unfortunately it wasn't entirely unexpected VM. You can't guarantee that RO will keep you free of algae but it cuts down the chances dramatically.

Sounds like good advice from Ski, I didn't know about the magnesium thing!

The rest of the information is pretty much all in the last couple of pages in your journal and in summary it's getting rid of your nitrates/phosphates (and not introducing more via tap water) and maybe reducing the light cycle temporarily. You could turn off the lighting entirely for a couple of days, remove as much algae as possible then turn the lights on for about 4-5 hours a day for a week (or more) then gradually increase the lighting back to normal. Use this time to water change and use phosphate removers (as you are) and nitrate removers plus following Ski's advice.

Good luck!

 

[garybuk]

Sounds like good advice from Ski, I didn't know about the magnesium thing!

I didnt Know this eaither!!!

Could also maybe try a adding a UV? My uv keeps my glass algae away!!

 

[SkiFletch]

Oh and let me add one new one here. I only JUST learned about this myself from a really old salty in my local reef club. Some reefers here in the States are now using Lanthanum Chloride to eliminate phosphate in the aquarium. Although longerm affects of lanthanum usage are not yet known, it seems to be effective in the short term in QUICKLY removing phosphate. Much more so than GFO, Lanthanum seems to have an impact within days. It's primary use is as an algae controller in the swimming pool industry since it binds free phosphate (which algaes use for growth). And because it's made for swimming pools it can be found CHEAPLY. MUCH cheaper per use than for GFO. Any local swimming pool supply store should carry it. Also, Brightwell Aquatics (here in the States at least) has come out with a lanthanum based phosphate remover (surprise, it's twice as much as the pool additive...). It's disadvantage is that it does create a very fine precipitate which needs to be removed via either mechanical filtration or skimming.

Again, I've not tried this myself, only recently read of it and few people have tried it. Use at your own risk. Since I am battling hair algae, and sick of jacking my magnesium up (not that easy), I'll be trying this beginning tomorrow and will keep everyone posted.

 

[VictorMeldrew]

Hi all

I have now done a water change and using Ski’s advice I sucked out all the algee that had developed on the substrate, this was an easy enough thing to do, little bits remain but I am a lot more happy now.



This is the worst of the hair algee left in the tank now, I was not sure whether I could suck any of this stuff away from the LR so I left in there for now. Interestingly nearly all the hair algee is on the east reef, my side seems fine





I am up for adding some coral now, no problem , Which would be a good one to start with?
Since I added the rowaphos nothing seems to be growing back on the glass so no problem there anymore. I just hope it does not grow back on the sand. I have not done a complete black out but I have cut down light times a lot. Would a fire shrimp help me out here? I am also going to get a few more snails.
As far as raising magnesium concentration by adding magnesium chloride and/or magnesium phosphate, where would I get these chemicals, would a lfs stock them? And how much would I need?

Some good news is that my fish seem very happy indeed, you can see how small they are in the top pic

Thanks
VictorMeldrew

 

[jennybugs]

Auw they seem biddy

Glad you got on top of the algae...nasty stuff the hair algae. Plagued with blue green hairy stuff in my brackish tank still so going to try rowaphos too.

 

[SkiFletch]

As I kind of hinted at, you need a lot of mag chloride and/or mag sulphate to really raise it up, especially in a big tank. Around here, you can get mag chloride in the form of some snow melters for sidewalks/driveways. Mag sulphate is sold in the supermarket/drug store as Epsom Salts used by many older people as a cleaner for clothes and dietary suppliment... You'd definitely need many many cups of it. You can use the Reef Chemistry Calculator to find out how much you'll need. Keep in mind, magnesium is used by calcerous organisms so it will need to be periodically added if you really want to jack it way high. Again, this isn't as easy as it may seem and while I was able to get it to work for a few weeks (and saw decrease in hair algae), in my tank stocked full of hard corals it was too difficult/costly to keep magnesium that high longterm

 

[CageUK]

Just a reminder Vic to buy a mag test kit along with the chemical itself so you can monitor what you are putting in

 

[VictorMeldrew]

Hi all

There have been some major changes over the last couple of days, the live rock has been completely rearranged, I have purchased my first coral and I have added another fish.

The LR is now all been placed in the middle of the tank and the plan is now to work outwards from either side, I think this would make extending the reef and placing corals far easier. Here is a pic of the way it looks now, not sure if it will be to everyone’s taste as pretty much all of the equipment to run the tank is exposed, but I am thinking ahead here and that will be covered eventually.



I wanted the first coral to be fairly large so I ended up opting for a soft finger coral, its not looking as good as it was in the shop but I does seem to be getting there, slowly.



I am pleased to announce my green hair algee problems are now over (I hope), the tank has had another very good clean and I don’t think it will be back again because I brought one of these



A foxfaced rabbit fish, man does this thing eat algee its like a hoover and apparently will not touch the coral, it seemed to be very stressed when I first got it but it now seems to be settling in very well.

I will update with more pics soon
thanks
VM

 

[BigC]

Lookin Good Man, Watched much TV lately.
BigC

 

[VictorMeldrew]

How can i watch T.V