mos90;4688244; said:
I agree, it could very well.
I use distilled for my nano. Tap for the freshwater tanks of course.
ALGAE WILL NOT GO AWAY!!
- Thread starter cichlidman1888
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I agree, it could very well.
I use distilled for my nano. Tap for the freshwater tanks of course.
My stock is only two clowns and a blue chromis and some sand sifting snails .. I lost a blenny a while ago and never replaced him... Yes my whisper is the only filtration .. K hate my magnum 350 I had on it .. It always blew mirco bubbles and was a nitrate bomb.. I have another whisper I can put on the tank though...i dont remember what my parameters I just know they were within normal limits if you will
good advice here so far. Flow is one of the most important things for any kind of SW tank. When I set up FOWLR tanks I try to set flow at least 20x tank volume. This is for reference only, but 20x flow on a 29 gallon tank would be 580 gph - including powerheads and filter flow. You may not need this much, but you may need more. My 110 mixed reef currently flows roughly 5200gph which is like 45x, and I think it could use a little more.
The point is that with decent water quality good flow takes care of most cyano problems. This is for two reasons: 1. cyano needs a low flow spot to take hold, and 2. this increases surface agitation adding to the dissolved O2 in the system, which, in turn, raises redox potential. If you look at most Cyano treatments, you will find that the ones that aren't antibiotics are purely redox agents. Heavy O2 is sometimes all you need. (for cyano)
For hair algae the same water flow parameters will help, but what you really need is some better nutrient (nitrogen and phosphate) export (like the referenced fuge) I don't use a fuge and have fine water quality, but I do run an oversized euro-reef skimmer, 2L of matrix in a flow through in my sump, do religious 15% water changes weekly and I don't over feed. There are lots of ways to get rid of nutrients, you just need to pick one that works for your system.
another thing that can help is figuring out where your phosphate is coming from. I used to have lots of problems with red slime when I lived in S Florida (a very common issue there) I solved it by dramatically increasing flow in the tank (50x turnover) and switching to new life foods. I realized later I was basically "dosing" my tank with phosphates by feeding the mysis I was using.
So back to your system. If you want to use that whisper, I would do a couple things to it. First, replace the carbon with a bag of purigen. This will remove nearly everything you don't want, raise redox, and is rechargeable so you only have to buy it once. You could also stick a little airstone in the "reservoir" of the thing (which would help raise redox and the bubbles would be removed passing through the purigen). Next closely look at what and how much you are feeding. third, get the powerhead that mos90 is suggesting. Take it apart and clean it every time you do a water change. Lastly, double the sizes of your water changes for two weeks and try to do as much manual removal of the hair as possible during these. If this doesn't work, keep up the water change volume until it does, then you can taper off. I would be very surprised if this didn't fix all your issues though.
Someone brought up lawnmower blennies. They are awesome aren't they?
The point is that with decent water quality good flow takes care of most cyano problems. This is for two reasons: 1. cyano needs a low flow spot to take hold, and 2. this increases surface agitation adding to the dissolved O2 in the system, which, in turn, raises redox potential. If you look at most Cyano treatments, you will find that the ones that aren't antibiotics are purely redox agents. Heavy O2 is sometimes all you need. (for cyano)
For hair algae the same water flow parameters will help, but what you really need is some better nutrient (nitrogen and phosphate) export (like the referenced fuge) I don't use a fuge and have fine water quality, but I do run an oversized euro-reef skimmer, 2L of matrix in a flow through in my sump, do religious 15% water changes weekly and I don't over feed. There are lots of ways to get rid of nutrients, you just need to pick one that works for your system.
another thing that can help is figuring out where your phosphate is coming from. I used to have lots of problems with red slime when I lived in S Florida (a very common issue there) I solved it by dramatically increasing flow in the tank (50x turnover) and switching to new life foods. I realized later I was basically "dosing" my tank with phosphates by feeding the mysis I was using.
So back to your system. If you want to use that whisper, I would do a couple things to it. First, replace the carbon with a bag of purigen. This will remove nearly everything you don't want, raise redox, and is rechargeable so you only have to buy it once. You could also stick a little airstone in the "reservoir" of the thing (which would help raise redox and the bubbles would be removed passing through the purigen). Next closely look at what and how much you are feeding. third, get the powerhead that mos90 is suggesting. Take it apart and clean it every time you do a water change. Lastly, double the sizes of your water changes for two weeks and try to do as much manual removal of the hair as possible during these. If this doesn't work, keep up the water change volume until it does, then you can taper off. I would be very surprised if this didn't fix all your issues though.
Someone brought up lawnmower blennies. They are awesome aren't they?
I have other power heads to use.. I dont feed that much at all just enough for them to eat before it falls to the bottom
redox is reduction potential. the term "redox" is a shortened version of reduction/oxidation. It is basically how reactive something gets based on the electrons transferred between the outer valence rings in its atomic structure. (basically)
(more 02 = more reactive in this instance, and the cyano can't deal with it)
What kind of foods are you feedin? lots of foods are packed with phosphates as they can be used as a preservative, and phosphates can be a limiting factor as far as cyano are concerned. What were you dosing if were you dosing? I could still use some water parameters here too. specifically, pH, calc, alk, phos and nitrate. Also, if you are having big pH fluctuations this can be a cause too. However, if your alk is ok, you shouldn't be having large pH fluxes. Still, measure your pH a couple times a day. Once at lights on, and once at lights out at least. This will be very telling.
(more 02 = more reactive in this instance, and the cyano can't deal with it)
What kind of foods are you feedin? lots of foods are packed with phosphates as they can be used as a preservative, and phosphates can be a limiting factor as far as cyano are concerned. What were you dosing if were you dosing? I could still use some water parameters here too. specifically, pH, calc, alk, phos and nitrate. Also, if you are having big pH fluctuations this can be a cause too. However, if your alk is ok, you shouldn't be having large pH fluxes. Still, measure your pH a couple times a day. Once at lights on, and once at lights out at least. This will be very telling.
Wouldnt my protein skimmer be doing that ? And im feeding prime reef fish flakes.. I will get water parameters tonight and post them and im not dosing either
a skimmer can, and is an important part of your system, but clearly something is missing so far. what kind of skimmer are you using?
