To skim or not to skim.. That is the question.

zkirby

New Member
OK, so I have a stock 29g Biocube set up with about 20-25 lbs of established LR and 40 lbs of LS (about a 2-3 inch layer). I was a bit hasty in stocking it about a week after it was set up with 10 turbos, 10 small hermits, 2 cleaner clams, 6 small peppermint shrimp, and 2 very small green chromis. (I've already been flamed for this and I know I screwed up
) The next day I gave away 2 shrimp, 4 snails, and 4 hermits to thin the ranks a bit. The day after getting everything a green chromi died. One week later a cleaner clam died, and two weeks after that the tank had an outbreak of red slime. I treated it with chemi clen and 48 hours later did a 25% water change and added a koralia 1 for improved flow, and the red slime is all gone. Two days later a cleaner clam and the last chromi died. I feed them frozen brine shrimp, usually twice a day and the chromi and shrimp would eat almost all of it. Since day one my Ph, NO2, NO3, and Ammonia have all been at 0 except at the 2-3 week mark Nitrates read 5-20 for about 3 days then went back to 0 (I test almost every day). SG has always been between 1.023 and 1.024 and my water temp is a consistent 79 at night and 80-81 at peak high during the day. I have all my lights set to come on at 8:00am and go off to only the moon lights at 8:00pm.
Now, I have a bright green algae that grows on my glass and live sand that blooms during the day and the hermits eat it like crazy. I also have alot of hair algae on one of the LR's but this rock has some hitchhiker zoos so I'm hesitant to remove the rock itself. I've decided that before I stock the tank anymore I'll let it settle down until I can get everything under control. My ideas are to lower the temp about 2 degrees and make my day cycle of lights 11 hours vice 12 to try to cut down on the algae. As for food I think I'll add pellets or flakes to the daily feedings as I think the brine shrimp just may not be enough nutrition. I'm also thinking about getting the CPR SR3 skimmer as well.
As for the korallia 1 I placed it about half way down on the same side as my stock powerhead and pointed it ever so slightly down and pointed the stock one a bit up to create some surface motion. But I was toying with placing the korallia 1 on the opposite side and pointing them both down a bit. This is my first ever reef setup so I'm really just looking for a few pointers for my specific setup, i.e. should I get a skimmer? lower my temp? reduce feedings? how do i get ride of this hair algae? Powerhead setup?, etc. Thanks in advance for any and all help.
zkirby
 

subielover

Active Member
Welcome to the boards
Ok a few things I will say regarding your tank are first you need to post some pics
As far as your temp is concerned I would set your heater at about 80 or wherever your tank hits in the daytime. That way you don't have the fluctuation of the temp going up and down, which is more detrimental than just keeping it a little higher than normal. You should definitely not be feeding the tank right now, if I read it correctly you do not have any fish in the tank at the moment. When you do get fish again you only need to feed once every other day. The algae will start to subside as you reduce the amount of nutrients in the water(by reducing feedings.) You should probably also get another koralia 1, you said you have both on the same side, I actually have mine set-up exactly the same way in my Bio14, add the other koralia to the other side. This will help your tank to have excellent flow, and will improve your water by keeping things like detritus(fish poop) in the water column longer, thus allowing it to be removed by your filtration. Remember to take it slow, and like you said don't add anything else until you have the tank a little more stable
Good luck and keep us updated, and don't forget those pics
 

zkirby

New Member
I will get another K1 in a few days as I also want more flow. I'm new at this so this may sound ignorant but my intakes are on the right and both powerheads are on the left which I felt would increase flow into my filter area. If I place a pump on the right wont it fight the flow into my intakes?
zkirby
 

zkirby

New Member
Oh, one more thing, the tank has been up for about a month and I am planning on another water change tomorrow or tonight if I have time. The oceanic instructions says to clean the bioballs once a month, should I do this? I think I may have a ton of red slime algae in there from the outbreak.
zkirby
 

subielover

Active Member
You would have to see what works, but I would think if you pointed the second k1 towards the bottom of the tank, and keep the return aimed at the waterline it would still make the surface of the water flow into the skimmers.
Also one thing to look into is upgrading your return pump. Maxijets are a direct replacement for your stock return pump. I have a mj900 in mine, I would think you would be good with a mj1200
 

subielover

Active Member
As for your bioballs, they are a maintenance item. I personally have lr rubble in there, although this is highly debated lr vs. bioballs, so I will let you do your own research and choose your own path young grasshoppa
You probably should be rinsing them off a bit, and siphoning out what you can get out of there when you do your water change.
HTH, and I am by no means an expert, just trying to give you a bit of direction
 

zkirby

New Member
Can the maxijet 1200 sit on the bottom of chamber 3 and just work as a replacement pump? Reason I ask is the pics look like it should be mounted high but my setup has the pump on the bottom and the flow is directed up through a tube and out a head on top near the waterline.
zkirby
 

subielover

Active Member
Yep its a direct replacement, it will sit on the bottom. I have mine on about a 45degree angle, but it works the same only with more flow
 
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