Carbon-could it be my savior

drewdog82

drewdog82

Member
I have a 55 reef with a 30 sump/fuge. I have a 5" DSB and chaeto in my fuge, but I still seem to get slight re-occurences of hair algae. All my levels were fine. I was out of ideas, so someone suggested my water. I use RO/DI. I decided to buy a TDS meter and my water was fine. Then I thought maybe it is because I'm not aerating my water properly before putting it in th display, so I worked on that issue. Here I did notice a change. I stopped getting any diatom algae (brown), but I would still get slight patches of hair algae and even on my glass. I also noticed my anemone wasn't opening and neither was my toadstool, but my other corals looked great. I was confused, so I tried something for the first time. I cleaned out all the algae in my fuge that wasn't chaeto and I decided to run carbon. I have had my tank for a yr. and never run it. Well, within 2 days, my toadstool has slightly opened and its little extensions have started to emerge. Also my anemone has moved a little and looks slightly better. Could the Carbon be helping clean up something that is undetectable by my measuring tools?? Also, do you think a coralife skimmer 65 is big enough to handle my 55 display with 30 fuge, or do I need more??
 
farslayer

farslayer

Active Member
Carbon is really a must if you have leathers, these guys can muck up the water, esp. xenia it seems, so it's a good idea to run it. I have it in a fluval fx5 filter and my toadstool is massive, long polyps with bright white tips. Hair algae is usually the result of too many nutrients in the water, and since it can utilize them more quickly than your chaeto, it's going to win in the long run. I combated this without a fuge, but rather by using my fluval to house carbon and phos gard, so I've got no outbreaks to report. I did get a patch of hair here and there, but a lawnmower blennie took care of that, now I just have very clear water.
 
drewdog82

drewdog82

Member
What about my skimmer. Is my 65 Coralife skimmer large enough for a 55 and 30 sump/fuge, or should I add a second one?
 
drewdog82

drewdog82

Member
Originally Posted by earlybird
I would upgrade the skimmer personally.
So, you wouldn't go the 2 coralife 65's approach???
 
earlybird

earlybird

Active Member
Originally Posted by drewdog82
So, you wouldn't go the 2 coralife 65's approach???
just something else to plug in and more to deal with.
 
drewdog82

drewdog82

Member
Originally Posted by earlybird
just something else to plug in and more to deal with.
Would the Coralife 125 be a good choice, instead of 2 of the 65's?
 
sigeia

sigeia

Member
Originally Posted by drewdog82
I have a 55 reef with a 30 sump/fuge. I have a 5" DSB and chaeto in my fuge, but I still seem to get slight re-occurences of hair algae. All my levels were fine. I was out of ideas, so someone suggested my water. I use RO/DI. I decided to buy a TDS meter and my water was fine. Then I thought maybe it is because I'm not aerating my water properly before putting it in th display, so I worked on that issue. Here I did notice a change. I stopped getting any diatom algae (brown), but I would still get slight patches of hair algae and even on my glass. I also noticed my anemone wasn't opening and neither was my toadstool, but my other corals looked great. I was confused, so I tried something for the first time. I cleaned out all the algae in my fuge that wasn't chaeto and I decided to run carbon. I have had my tank for a yr. and never run it. Well, within 2 days, my toadstool has slightly opened and its little extensions have started to emerge. Also my anemone has moved a little and looks slightly better. Could the Carbon be helping clean up something that is undetectable by my measuring tools?? Also, do you think a coralife skimmer 65 is big enough to handle my 55 display with 30 fuge, or do I need more??
I had a problem in my 55-gallon reef with algae. No matter what I did it didn’t work. I tried this three tablespoons of PhosPure plus Zeolite & Carbon in the out put of my AquaC Remora hang-on skimmer. I run FilStar Bio Chem Zorb in my canister filter. I added a 1350 gallon per hour pump concealed in my live rock. No Algae any where, water is crystal-clear!
What part or any of this worked not-sure, I am sure no-algae except the good stuff.
 
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