Algae

robbie2

Member
my lighting is the basic twin bulbs that came with the 46 bow.. They are flourescent with 30 W each..
I added another maxi 1200 power head.. So i have 2 power heads 1 Hagen 402 and maxi head 1200..
Is this enough water movement for a 46 gallon?
 

sea goblin

Member
I think the general rule that people follow is to try to get your gph to = 10x the number of gallons the aquarium is....so you would need around 460 gph.
Sea Goblin
 

robbie2

Member
The power heads are on the back of the tank on the right and left.. One is high and the other is low..
Does that sound ok for the placement?
 

blue dew

Member
Robbie2,
Sorry about the mis-ID yesterday. I failed to notice the reddish tint to the substrate. Hope everything goes well and the stuff disappears quick for you.
Dew
 

jlem

Active Member
One thing that the remover will do is kill off the slime alage and water changes and skimming will remove the dead algae before it pollutes the tank. Increasing water movement should prevent it from coming back. It is not like robbie has a full blown reef with thousands of dollars worth of fish, and corals that are in danger of being wiped out. Robbie could increase water movement and fight it down slowly, which would work just as well as the red slime killer. The red slime killer will work a heck of a lot faster and wipe the algae from the tank completely. I of course can only speak from my success using the redslime killer on a full blown reef without loosing any livestock what so ever. now I will concede that if a person did not read the directions and way overdosed a tank that it probably would wipe out a tank, but so again would copper or even hypo if done incorrectly. I still say do the natural route but just because the red slime remover runs 20 plus bucks.
Dreeves: I am not sure that if your first and second comment about the airstone was an attempted slam but regardless if it was, a powerhead will work much better at accomplishing the same thing with out the salt creep that airstones contribute to, and even if someone installed an airpump to oxynigate the water I doubt if the bubbles are making a noticable difference in levels on their way to the surface.
 

dreeves

Active Member
It was not a slam...apparently you didn't understand the purpose of the airstone...so I attempted to explain it to you...
I still do not think you completely understand the entire purpose of the stone...aggitating the surface was not the intended purpose...
 

sammystingray

Active Member
Even with an airstone, which I wouldn't use, but won't get into it, the water the airstone provided oxygen for must be moved around the whole tank, and airstones don't do that very well. "skimmers remove algae".....not really, and not dead algae either....cyano is bacteria anyway, and skimmers don't remove algae, bacteria, or the nitrates released after algae dies. They only remove things thjat are attracted to the surface between air and water. Try to fix this without chemicals in my opinion....it will be a learning experience, and it won't be that hard to do.
 

fshhub

Active Member
best advice given was
check lighting
increase circulation
and do not add an airstone or chemicals
air stones in SW add bubbles which increase salt creep and maintenance, also damage corals and can cause problems in many fish. Unlike freswater, we do not want air pumps in sw tanks.
the chemicals, some do work, but many are risky. My one LFS wont even sell them without first stressing, if you do not know what you are doing or have not used slime remover before(in sw), then you should not attempt it. So, if you are going to use a chemical to deal with cyano, BE VERY CAREFUL!
JMEO
 

robbie2

Member
I have been decreasing keeping my lights on to only a few hours a day, and added another powerhead..
The red slime has almost all disappeared.. Thanks to all for the help!
What a site!!!
 
Top