how long can i get away with this?

[aj565]

i have had nothing but problems with hair algie in my 45g to the point where i decided to tear the tank down and start over. new rock, sand filter the works. i have only damsals in the tank now and i want to move a few pieces of rock and the water and the fish into a 15g i have. will i be able to get away with with them in this tank while i reset up my 45. i plan on getting everything and taking it all down, cleaning the tank top to bottom and then putting new rock, sand and pre-mixed water and filter all in one night. then i need to let it cycle for the 4 weeks if not faster using water from my 75g. will my little guys be ok in the 15g for a few weeks? i would have to do alot of water changes on it but thats ok. or would it just be best to take them all back to the LFS and start over with nicer fish.

 

[rcoultas]

Instead of tearing it all down - why not get to the source of the problem and let it go away naturally? Rebuilding the tank may not prevent this from starting up all over again. Let us know what your water parameters are, what your source for water is, and what equipment you have. It may be something as simple as changing your light schedule or just putting in a lawnmower blenny.

 

[patandlace]

I agree with not tearing it down. Something is causing the hair algae to grow and if you set up the tank again with the same maintanance routine and habits it will most likely come back again. What do you use for your water source? How often and how much are you feeding? How often are you doing water changes and how much? What is your stock list? What are your nitrate and phosphate levels? These are all things that could be part of the problem.

 

[aj565]

i use the same water in my 75 that i use in my 45. it was RO water from my LFS or distilled water by the gallon from the store depending on when i had time to get over to the LFS. now i have my own RO/DI unit (had the problem before i got it). i feed once a day if not every other day and only enough that they eat it all and nothing hits the bottom. i've cut the lights in half, even turned them off for a few days at a time. i stopped doing water changes since things were not getting any better or worse and i don't do them on my 75 and i have had zero problems with it.

we tried to use lava rock in this tank along with LR.
1.024
trate 60
rite 0
ph 7.8
mechanicl filter, skimmer.
6 damsals, cleaner shrimp, coral banded shrimp.
if i take it down i'll be adding a fuge and have it set-up like my 75, it has nothing but live rock and i never had a problem.

 

[rcoultas]

Nitrates are high - indicating need for a water change and then find out why they are getting so high.
How about the position of the tank? Is there a stronger natural light source on this one (such as being close to a window)?
PH is low - should have that up to 8.1 - 8.3 IMO

 

[mcbdz]

Lava roock is usually not good for saltwater tanks because it leches out minerals. What are your phosphates? Do you have any natural sunlight hitting this tank during the day?

 

[rcoultas]

also - how much substrate do you have and what kind? do you vacuum remove detritus when you do water changes? How much flow do you have - lack of flow can also create anaerobic areas that are nitrate factories.

 

[aj565]

Originally Posted by mcbdz
Lava roock is usually not good for saltwater tanks because it leches out minerals. What are your phosphates? Do you have any natural sunlight hitting this tank during the day?
this is where the algae is the worst.
natural sunlight on both end sides. one side is summer only due to the way my house sits in the winter months it doesn't hit the tank. the other side i keep the blinds closed to keep it off the tank as much as i can.
if i remember right i had 40lbs of live sand. and no i don't vacuum.
no matter how many times i did a water change none of my levels changed.
i have pretty good flow, i will move the power head somewhere else in the tank and see what happens. i have one power head on one side of the tank and the return from the filter on the other with a pretty strong flow. but maybe its not enough.
honestly my 75 gets the most sun light and gets it longer. maybe thats why i have so much coraline algae growing in that tank. purple purple everywhere

 

[rcoultas]

it sounds to me that you may have either a build up of detritus or anaerobic issues (or both) when you do your water changes do a lite vacuum on the surface of the substrate (do not vacuum deep and disturb more than the top 1/4 inch or so) and look around to see if there are "dead" spots where things tend to settle (such as behind rockwork in "caves") if so then redirect or add some flow to keep the water moving.

 

[aj565]

whats hard about this tank is its only 12" deep front to back and its in a wall between my room and living room so you can see it from both sides. the rock is stacked in the center of the tank so that could hamper the flow.

 

[rcoultas]

if you don't already have any I would recomend that you get a better clean up crew - turbo snails, nassarius, and cerith.
turbos are best glass cleaners
nassarius are best on substrate
cerith are the best "grazers"
A mix of all three of these does a world of good for any tank. HTH

 

[aj565]

Originally Posted by rcoultas
if you don't already have any I would recomend that you get a better clean up crew - turbo snails, nassarius, and cerith.
turbos are best glass cleaners
nassarius are best on substrate
cerith are the best "grazers"
A mix of all three of these does a world of good for any tank. HTH
had them, they didn't fair too well with the algae