OK I quit!!!

[lesleybird]

Hi, Rena makes a product called Phos-Zorb. It is suppose to remove phosphates and silicates. It is made for salt water and is a gravel looking medium that is placed in your filter. Worth a try. I have heard that phosphates can cause excessive algea growth.
Lesley

 

[michaeltx]

yeah I have tried that and kent phosphate sponge. it really hasnt helped any. I am still trying to get a picture of the algae though.
Mike

 

[scotts]

Mike,
You know what, after reading through this thread, I support your move. I guess the question is do you have the $$ to buy all live sand, and what will you do with the fish while you are doing the cleaning. The problem that I see, if you do not go with all live sand, or at least a good amount of live sand. You will have a cycle in your tank. IMO. Also what about the water. If you are having water problems, then putting all of the old water back in the tank will just cause the same problem.
It sounds to me like you need to completely start over. New sand, new water, but then what to do with your fish? Maybe you could keep them in like a rubbermaid trash can for about 3 weeks. Think of it like a big QT tank. Then put them in your new aquarium. The problem is that if you put them in all at once you will introduce a big bio load all at once.
Who knows I could just be talking out of my a$$.
Scott

 

[michaeltx]

over the years of keeping tanks I have a tone of them that are not setup.
in fact I have
2 25 gallon scrylic tanks
2 20 gallon long tanks
2 20 gallon tall tanks
1 55 gallon tank
and numerous 10 gallon and smaller tanks that I dont have set up right now. if and when I do this the tangs that I have will go back to the LFS though. and use 2 tanks for the corals and the other 2 for the smaller fish. and yeah I will have to do a cycle before everything can go into it. unfornately. its going to be a chore though that will take a long time to do. and ya know I am not looking forward to it.
Mike

 

[michaeltx]

well guys wish me luck the fun starts tomorrow and I am not looking forward to it. I am also going to redo my sump and add in a refugium to the mix along with a new spray bar assembly and larger overflows and new pumps. needless to say I spent some major bucks today LOL
I cant get a pic the camera picks up the yellow and then green and blurrs it out so even a desent pic isnt happening. I also ordered new bulbs and rock tonight to put into the newly redone tank and am going to use the current rock in my FOWLR so algae wont be as much of a eyesore I hope.
BTW I ordered the 250 watt 20k xm's I figure that it will atleast get rid of the yellow of the 6.5k bulbs.
I wasnt going to do this so soon becasue of money but my mother is comlaining about all the algae and has donated the moneys that I needed to get hings going LOL arent they great ;-Þ
Mike

 

[scotts]

So, how did it go?
Scott

 

[dmurphy]

I had the same problem ... It took me a long time to get a handle on things. In the end the 2 things got it under control. A.) Water changes with RO/DI water B.) Upgrading my protein skimmer.
Upgrading the proteing skimmer made a HUGE difference. Within 2-3 months my phosphate are no longer even measurable.
What kind of equipment are you running now ?

 

[michaeltx]

the fish are in holding tanks along with all the corals I am waiting on the new LR and the sand storm to go away before I go anything further.
protein skimmer is a bak-pak skimmer that pulls alot of gunk out I am looking for another skimmer but really dont have the extra 300+ for the one that I want so its back to saveing my pennies LOL
Mike

 

[beaslbob]

Originally posted by MichaelTX
the fish are in holding tanks along with all the corals I am waiting on the new LR and the sand storm to go away before I go anything further.
protein skimmer is a bak-pak skimmer that pulls alot of gunk out I am looking for another skimmer but really dont have the extra 300+ for the one that I want so its back to saveing my pennies LOL
Mike
Mike: LR will not help the hair algae problem. I hope you cure the LR at least three weeks in some fishless holding tank. Hate the think after all this work you introduce ICH to your display tank.

 

[fishman88]

i cant belive yr algae blenny wont touch it i have had 1 in my 29 for about 1 month now and almost all the hair and other kinds of algae is gone and i am also using tap water. but then again i do have a smaller tank. and y dont you try getting more sallys my 1 cant stop eating the algae i think it is goin to explode soon lol i hope not that could be bad
mike

 

[cj]

WATER CHANGE EVERY WEEK.
CLEAN ALL PUMPS.
FEED 3 TIMES A WEEK.
PICK ALGE OF WITH FINGERS EVERY DAY.

 

[wamp]

Good luck Mike!
I too have battled the hair algea.. I messed with the stuff for 3 months. I finally broke down and pulled all the rock out, scrubbed the crap out of it with a toothbrush and changed all my RO filters...
It got gone. I *think* that when algea dies, it feeds the tank. The phosphates leach out.. So, until you get the vast majority out, you'll always have problems..
Again, Good luck with the tank.. (you know you wanted to change it anyway)

 

[jlem]

Forgive me if this was mentioned before. I did not read through the whole thread. Have you tried also putting powerheads down in the back bottum corners to push water down and around the rocks to help push any gunk up into the water column and hopefully to some mechanical filtration for removal. This will also prevent any dead spots which can lower PH and cause more algae.

 

[michaeltx]

Mike: LR will not help the hair algae problem. I hope you cure the LR at least three weeks in some fishless holding tank. Hate the think after all this work you introduce ICH to your display tank.
ok here is what I did so it doesnt get more confusing to you LOL
nothing that was in the tank is going back into the tank .
its all new
all new SW
all new LR
all new sand
all new pumps
all new overflows and plumping
all new lights
all new everything the only thing that is being used form my old setup is the tank and the stand and canopy. what I meant by waiting on the LR is that currently there is sand and water in the tank so before I do anything I have to wait on the rock before I start the cycle and get things going again. dont worry after all this I dont want to have to do it again because of something stupid. LOL
Fishman88 I think he does eat the algae but it grows so fast it doesnt seem that he is eating anything I am sure he is becasue he is fat and happy.
CJ done all that and it didnt work in fact it has progressivle gotten worse thats why the drastic tear down and all new stuff for the tank.
wamp I can get most all of it out and within a couple of days its growing back with a vengence I have neer had anything so detirmined to tick me off LOL and yeah there was many things I wanted to change and I am doing it while i am in the process of all this I think the tank will be 100% better than it ever has been.
Jlem I have so much flow in the tank that everything goes in to the colum but the hair algae that breals away during the night balled up and falls to the subsrate and then takes off. but I have several PH plus a mag7 for a return that hooks to a ful length spray bar that goes all the way across the tank and 2 powerheads at the bottom corners that blow across the rocks and sand bed and 2 PH behind the rocks blowing outward.
Mike

 

[rroberts]

I had a REALLY bad out break of red hair algae. My tank was covered it was killing of my anenome and some coral. BTW: This all happend after I upgraded to 96 watt PCs. I bought a protein skimmer yesterday and it is almost all gone by this morning. I think that has been my best investment! Hope that helps.

 

[beaslbob]

mike:
long thread
How did all those changes work?

 

[michaeltx]

its still cycling as of right now. so far so good I havent lost anything from it. the algae that is in the holding tanks is still getting worse and worse. but thats ok. I have started fragging my corals so that I dont have to put the rocks that have algae back into the tank. al tank readings are in appropriate ranges right now just waiting on the cycle to finish. so I can start my next step. thanks for asking.
BTW how is your tank doing>>
Mike