Goals for you tank??

[someone400]

Ok, maybe a stupid question but, what is the ultimate goal for your tank? Is the goal supposed to be getting your tank to the point where it is almost ‘self cleaning’? Are you supposed to get it to where all you need is the occasional water addition/change and maybe a little bit of glass cleaning?
Last fall I switched from a 55g FOWLR with the standard florescent bulbs to a 128g FOWLR with VHO lighting. The problem has been that I have algae growing on my glass like crazy. I can clean it but in about 3 or 4 days it has started to fog the glass again and I am also starting to see red algae on some of my LR. I recently did a water change and cleaned the glass and stirred up my crushed coral. But, I am wondering if cleaning the glass and crushed coral is really just taking food away from my cleaning crew. I am going to cut back on my ‘lights on’ time and add some more critters to my cleaning crew to help.
(Sorry but the pics aren’t the greatest)

 

[someone400]

 

[joker_ca]

nice looking tank, but how often do u do water changes and what are your water parameters

 

[mytank]

I just switched to halide & florscent lights and am having the same problem. I am cleaning every night and doing water changes every weekend and not able to keep up with the alge on the glass. I decreased the time on the halides and noticed nothing changed with the glass.

 

[joker_ca]

you guys need to check your nitrate and phosphate levels, also cleaning any sponge filters help and not overfeeding

 

[jester805]

Be careful when stirring up that CC. It traps "bad stuff" down in it and when stirred up, it releases that crap into your water.
What kind of inverts do you have? IMO if you have problems with algae then I would suggest getting more snails & crabs.

 

[robchuck]

To answer the question in the first post, my goal is to sustain a healthy and stable ecosystem with as little maintenance as possible.

 

[cowfishrule]

goal for my tank = survival

 

[someone400]

Originally posted by COWFISHRULE
goal for my tank = survival

Could not have said it better myself.
Thanks for the advise everyone. I plan on adding some more snails, crabs,... along with cutting my 'lights on' time back. Hopefully I can get to a point where I just do an occasional water change and routine maintenance.
Well, I think its about brew'skie time. TGIF!!!!

Thanks again.

 

[blemmy_guy]

also water movement, do you have enough water moving in your tank. Todd

 

[koolkev]

Originally posted by COWFISHRULE
goal for my tank = survival
LOL!!

 

[southcoral]

my goal too!
You might want to eventually get rid of the CC because those can cause problems with nitrites or nitrates, can't remember, which will cause algae. You might want to buy argonite (i think...) based sand at lowes for 2.79 for 50lbs. When you have live rock, it will eventually turn the sand live.
I think that your levels are out of wack personally, but i dunno
~*wish you all the luck, love ya*~

 

[southcoral]

oh, by the way you have a pretty tank. I love yellow tangs, they are so pretty. What is that blue fish (the fish that is dorie on finding nemo?) What type of tang is it, and how big does the tank need to be to live?

 

[mbrands]

Originally posted by southcoral
What type of tang is it, and how big does the tank need to be to live?
They sell them on swf.com
https://www.saltwaterfish.com/site_11...ot_parent_id=4

 

[southcoral]

How big will the tank need to be? Will a 75g work?

 

[southcoral]

nvm, i just found out. They will need 80g of water. Could i get it with the 75g, do you think?

 

[clarkiiclo]

Hippos need are really large tank. 80 is too small IMO.
I would say 180 for a hippo.
A mimic tang, yellow, lopezi if you can find one.
Only one though.

 

[mudplayerx]

I'll be happy when I get the friggin tank set up. I put up my two pendant metal hallide lights like a month ago into the ceiling, but I had to refinish the stand.
The stand was in the pet store too long, and it absorbed all the smells of the furry animals. I have allergies so I had to refisnish. Now that is finished, I have to wait for the smell of the varnish to go away lol.
I wonder what hurdle is next.

 

[jacknjill]

its a blue hippo tang, already answered i know.anyways, with a 75, you could keep it for a little while, but not permanently. you would have to upgrade to 125 + galloons

 

[unleashed]

what kind of clean up crew do you have? snails crabs blemmies? for self cleaning of algae you def would want a cleaning crew.they will help keep the algae rate down to minimal.also for any one that hasnt purchased one yet .the magnetic glass cleaner cleans both inside and outside of the tank the one I have is called magni float this thing is the bomb!! !!no more wet sleaves. or reaching in on venomous or nibbing fish. if you have a LFS or find one online I suggest you get one if you havent already.they make thim in a vary of sizes depending on tank size