Saltwater tank question?

[chamguy]

Hey,

I feel kinda weird asking this on here ( as it is a chameleon site after all) but its like pulling teeth to get help on the other, reef related site.

I have a 20 gallon with 16 lbs of live rock. ( may be adding dry rock soon) I have a terrible algae issue that covers some of my rock. I bought a glass scrubber that helps with that. Right now there is 2 ocellaris clowns, 1 brittle star, 4 hermits, 1 golby, and 2 feather dusters. What can I add to remove the algae on the rocks ( or atleast control it). Would more crabs help? or am I better off buying a bunch of snails? If so how many are recommended for this size tank?

Also what do you think about my livestock? to much? Still room for more inverts?

thanks for your time!!

 

[Mredhorse]

Saltwater is awesome. I have 3 tanks running and mainly have seahorses at the moment. I use to have octopus, cuttlefish and frogfish.
It might be a lighting issue and temp thing going on.
Can you give us your light situation and tank perameters? Snails are always good to have. How long has your tank been running?
Sorry for so many questioins but you probably know there is so much in Saltwater tanks.

 

[kingspade18]

I got 2 words for ya..... cleaner crew! They do wonders. If you have algae on your rocks too id suggest a lawnmower blenny as long as the algae isnt much over 1/2"

 

[ataraxia]

Im not the best saltwater guy in the world. I have had a few though.

Mexican turbo snail - awesome cleaner.

nudibranch - Down side they eat a bunch so they run out of food real quick.

#1 recommendation....More flow. Add power head or what ever you want. The more your water flows the less the algae will have to cling on. Hair algae typically is a good sign you have minimal flow.

 

[chamguy]

VERY good points!!!!

Temp- 77-80

Lighting- 2 15wtt lights, 1 10,000k light for coral and 1 blue for "looks"

Also, it is probably a flow issue. as all the algae are on the opposite end of the tank to the HOB filter.

Generally speaking though, I think my clean up crew is way to small. Not only algae, but the algae Diatoms, films on glass, and other "stuff" i think they would help with.


http://www.ebay.com/itm/25-saltwate...ultDomain_0&hash=item2ebcfb2d84#ht_2584wt_159
what about these kind? There are other bids for 100s.



Also, I'm looking to get some coral soon ( once this is getting under control) maybe some sponges.

 

[ataraxia]

Nassarius snails are freaking bad ASS! They really dont clean algae that well but...if you have a fish die. They come out of the sand and nowhere to demolition the corpse..AND i mean FAST!

Get more flow in the tank. You will thank me

Edit: You might want to talk to whatcamo here on the forums. His tank looks awesome. Id follow his recommendations.

 

[chamguy]

Thanks for everyone's help.

I tried to make an improvised refugium yesterday....boy was that a flop The silicone I used i guess was too old. So now theres a hole in my HOB filter, hahaha. I patched it with duct tape. ( thank god for duct tape)

But now I am considering getting a HOB 1 gallon refugium. The refugium would work just as well if not better, as well as being multipurpose, a place to store animals. Also, the pump is larger, so it should create more flow.

One more thing. I found a brown polyp yesterday on my live rock. It looks like a little zoanthid, but idk. I'll try and post a pic.

 

[ataraxia]

Probably aptasia.

 

[Whatcamo]

I'd add a mix of different types of snails 5 Astraea 5 turbo and 10 cerith and 6 blue leg hermit crabs they'll have it cleaned up in a hurry what are your parameters calcium, alkalinity, magnisium, phosphorus, nitrates?
Phos and nitrate with cause algae problems!
What kind of water are you using?
My 10 years of experience will help get you through this and have a beautiful tank in no time
https://www.chameleonforums.com/showthread.php?t=78094

 

[Whatcamo]

Thanks for everyone's help.

I tried to make an improvised refugium yesterday....boy was that a flop The silicone I used i guess was too old. So now theres a hole in my HOB filter, hahaha. I patched it with duct tape. ( thank god for duct tape)

But now I am considering getting a HOB 1 gallon refugium. The refugium would work just as well if not better, as well as being multipurpose, a place to store animals. Also, the pump is larger, so it should create more flow.

One more thing. I found a brown polyp yesterday on my live rock. It looks like a little zoanthid, but idk. I'll try and post a pic.

Could be a button polyp as those are one of the most popular hitch hikers on live rock as coral hikers go unless it's kinda a clear in appearance with long tentacles then yes it's an aptasia which a like Kalk paste will kill it quickly

 

[chamguy]

It kinda looks like a button polyp ( just googled it), but it is tiny and the tenticals are short right now. I don't think its an apastia. Its to small for my camera to pick up much detail. It would just look like a brown dot.

My paramaters are as follows

ph 8.6

temp 77

salinity 1.024

ammonia-0

nitrite-0

Nitrate-30

I havent tested phosphrous or any other metals. and I am using distilled from the store. As I only have 1 tank, I am not ready to jump in with the RO/DI filters. Kinda like having a large misting system for 1 cage ( in chameleon terms)

 

[Whatcamo]

Well if you're going and buying distilled water it'd quickly pay for itself that's kinda high for nitrates and my guess would be that your po4 is high as well do daily 5% water changes until you see the nitrate down below 20 and that will also help make a big difference in your algae problems also like I mentioned get a well mixed clean up crew and your algae problems will soon be cleared up also you still want to use a water conditioner with distilled water as that process doesn't remove chlorine or chloramines hth

 

[chamguy]

@Whatcamo- How do you remove phosphates? And where dose it come from?
I remember someone saying there are phosphates in the sand, so I just have to wait until the algae is done. So I guess you just wait it out?

And do you think a refugium is a good idea as an addition? ( it would replace the HOB filter)

 

[Vegas Chad]

Get a good clean up crew… This would be a handful of each: Turbo, Nassarius, Astera, Red leg hermit, blue leg hermit. You can also add in some sally light foot crabs or emerald crabs if you like as well. You can toss in a lawnmower blenny too if you really have a lawn going.


Check your phosphates… Chances are that if you are not filling with RO-DI water they are high. Phosphates are algae food; lots of phosphates, lots of algae. You can add phosphate removers to your HOB as well as water changes to help. You can also shorten your light cycle to kill it back.

 

[Whatcamo]

@Whatcamo- How do you remove phosphates? And where dose it come from?
I remember someone saying there are phosphates in the sand, so I just have to wait until the algae is done. So I guess you just wait it out?

And do you think a refugium is a good idea as an addition? ( it would replace the HOB filter)

There are things you can do such as get a phosban reactor and add such things to it as Rowa-phos or other po4 removing materials such as
Also like I recommended multiple water changes also bring that down unless you are using insufficient water source po4 come from everything the food you feed your fish to water source dying organic material everything but also like I've suggested and Vegas chad has recommended get a good well rounded clean up crew

 

[kingspade18]

A lot of water flow is key also, in my 125 reef, i had 15,500gph flowing. A good skimmer will be a good addition as well

 

[chamguy]

This may be a dumb question, but would a sea cucumber be to much for my 20 gallon?
I've always been interested in them, and hear they clean the sand very well. I just hope they don't produce to much waste.

I have found many clean up crew collections for sale online. A variety of hermits and snails. I'll try and get some either this week or next. ( it is already Wensday)
Again, thanks for the help!

 

[Vegas Chad]

I have small cucumbers in all of my tanks. Just make sure that your water is good; if a cumber dies it can take everything else with it. The pink ones are cool.

 

[Flapenn]

@Whatcamo- How do you remove phosphates? And where dose it come from?
I remember someone saying there are phosphates in the sand, so I just have to wait until the algae is done. So I guess you just wait it out?

And do you think a refugium is a good idea as an addition? ( it would replace the HOB filter)

Phosphates are in our tap water so unless you start filling your tank with RO water when you do a top off and start mixing your water with RO water you will always have algae problems. Nitrates are also in out tap water so the RO will also eliminate that as well. I think any one that wants to have a nice reef tank it is a must to have a refugium. This way all your algae is still accumulating its just not in your show tank. Like already posted your cleaner crew is very essential to keeping corals as well. How old is the tank also did you give it time to properly cycle? The best method for filtration on a reef tank is to have an overflow box and a sump below. This way you have additional lighting down there to sustain the macro algae and you also can add live rock to build your biological filter up. Then you have room to add a protein skimmer which is sooo very important in keeping corals alive. I hope this helps. Be careful tho its addicting. I had 8 reef tanks ranging from 200gal to 5gal hahaha now im down to a single cham....for now

 

[chamguy]

Phosphates are in our tap water so unless you start filling your tank with RO water when you do a top off and start mixing your water with RO water you will always have algae problems. Nitrates are also in out tap water so the RO will also eliminate that as well. I think any one that wants to have a nice reef tank it is a must to have a refugium. This way all your algae is still accumulating its just not in your show tank. Like already posted your cleaner crew is very essential to keeping corals as well. How old is the tank also did you give it time to properly cycle? The best method for filtration on a reef tank is to have an overflow box and a sump below. This way you have additional lighting down there to sustain the macro algae and you also can add live rock to build your biological filter up. Then you have room to add a protein skimmer which is sooo very important in keeping corals alive. I hope this helps. Be careful tho its addicting. I had 8 reef tanks ranging from 200gal to 5gal hahaha now im down to a single cham....for now

Thanks for the reply. I thought protein skimmers were not important if you had adequate amount of live rock???? I believe half my problem is in my beliefe of a small CUC was enough.

I will be ordering some snails this week online, and will be looking for a phosphate test so I can give you all a proper reading. After I have added more inverts. and it STILL isn't under control, then I will be looking for/making a refugium. I was considering purchaseing one last week, but I'm going to tackel it one step at a time. I'll also take a pic, cause I may be exagerateing the algae problem. I was gone for 3 days this week, and when I came back, the only thing that spread was the diatoms, and some algae on the sand.

thanks for the help!