PLEASE Help Me Experienced Ones!

[jdog]

I have green film algae (on substrate and some on rock) and am looking for a compatible algae eater to go with my 7 inch Porcupine Puffer, 3 inch Picasso Trigger, 5 inch Long-Horned Cowfish, and 3 inch Wrasse(whom I might replace with algae eating fish). Are there any snails that my Porc would leave alone? Or is there a decent fish (purple tang, blennie, goby?) that might help in this scenario? The tank is 60 gal, with a 10 gallon mini-reef refugium (with inverts so there is no micro-algae in it), a 10 gallon sump with wet-dry filter, prism skimmer, and a UV sterilizer. I am probably hopelessly over-loaded with the large growing fish - I know. Whenever I can talk my wife into the MONSTER tank I should be better off.

 

[peasly1]

how long has this tank been established ? if you have cc..vacum it, that does a water change and cleans the cc

 

[mr . salty]

NEVER VACCUME CC????? That's the first time I have ever heard anyone say that.What about the trapped waste???What about excess food(even if you feed sparingly)????What about the ineveitable HIGH NITRATES if you don't vaccume it????Those little critters will quickly rebuild thier homes.And the myth that you will suck them all up is also UNTRUE...YES you should vaccume a Crushed Coral substrate... Do it everytime you do a water change..........MR TANG, I'm not intentionally bashing you here,and your participation on this bb is important.But I Gotta Call You On This One....never vaccume CC,,,Ha,Ha,Ha,Ha.....That's a good one...

 

[biggdriver]

Mr. tang Have you ever completely torn down an established tank that was up and running over a yr witha crushed coral base...I worked retail fish for 7yrs and let me tell you ..there is a lot of junk that accumulates there...cc substrate is way too coarse to even think about disturbing burrows etc.. are you sure you aren't thinking bout sand??? cc is the worst substrate IMO that can be put a saltwater tank..and even worse with an undergravel filter..It is very hard to keep clean and accumulates detritus very easily..The red/grenn slime could be a cyanobacteria resulting from poor water quality..Phosphates and nitrates etc..Ro/di water is best especially for top=offs and definitely not cc substrate..find the source of the pollutant and the bacteria should go away...When I worked retail Iwas told to use Maracyn 2 for saltwater...That only put a bandaid on the problem and a week later it was back again....It never got rid of it......Clean up the water, the substrate,,(get rid of the cc and add a Dsb) and your problems should go away.IF you have cc always do a monthly vaccumm you would be surprised what you get out of it

 

[josh]

Hi all,
Ok my .02
I also have never vacuumed my cc, had it for over 5 years with no problems what so ever. Nitrates never have gotten above 5....ever. This might be due to several things, frequent water changes, good skimmer, light feeding of my two fish or maybe b/c I only have a 2" deep bed.Not saying that's right or wrong, just my experience.And as for the cc being the worst substrate ever, well I won't touch that one but I must ask how can you know that, have you had all types of substrates.. including a bare bottom? didn't think so. So please don't just hope on the board and start saying that it is the worst ever. Part of this hobby is learning and RESPECTING others opinions and experiences.
Josh

 

[jdog]

I do have cc, but have no critters. This tank is about 1 1/2 years old and is fish-only with no live sand or live rock. The 10 gal refugium with some lr & ls was just started a month ago and IT has critters. Since the main tank has had no lr & ls - no critters were ever introduced. The tank seems to never totally clear up the nitrite (always around .1). I assume this is because of over-stocking or over-feeding (my porc puffer is a piggy - always chewing on the glass asking for more food). My phosphates have been a problem and my ro filter needs a new membrane so I have been using distilled water. I DO vacuum weekly and do a 10% water change every 10 days.

 

[peasly1]

I dont want to beat the subject up but not vacuming cc is (well I thought) unheard of..even w/ very light feeding you will get detrius in there,which over time does not just go away it needs to be taken away.. the green algea ..if just started could be the begining of hair agea since you stated phosphates are high, but you said you are doing water changes and vacuming so I would then check the alkilinity and ph levels..for those who do not not vacum I am not bashing but I would like to know how many fish die in your tank..I would also like to see (not really) a tank that has not been vacumed in awhile , cant imagine the cc looks ok or that your water readings are even close to ok, but whatever works for you