What are your cleaning secrets??

leopard_babe

leopard_babe

Active Member
So I have been reading and looking at all off the beautiful tanks my fellow hobbyist keep. I was wondering what you all do to control your algea. I have fought it in all my tanks. I started to use ro water, bought a skimmer, doing weekly water changes, and boosted up my cleanup crew. Some of your tanks look spotless. What are your secrets?? The re-birth of my 46 bow is spotless. I would love to keep it that way. lol
Thanks,
LBabe
 
perfectdark

perfectdark

Active Member
Low nutrient levels, ie no excess food, regular maintanence, water changes, filter media if any. You have already corrected the other major contributors so you should see a vast improvement. Lights too, how long are yours on for?
 
spanko

spanko

Active Member
20% per week water changes using NutriSea Natural Seawater.
Weekly change out of filter pads.
Skimmer.
Feed only as much as can be eaten.
Nimble Nano Magnet cleaner for those hard to reach spots.
Old plastic credit card for stubborn coralline.
Turkey baster to blast rocks with at water change to suspend detritus for removal.
Halides on 9 hours per day.
 
leopard_babe

leopard_babe

Active Member
i have a pc double ballast
1 10000k
1 actintic
I don't remember how long I used to run them. I know I used the blue light then both. At night the white light went out and I had the blue one on. I tried to make it like the sun. lol. I know thats gay. In both my old houses I had them near a window. This time I put the tank in a dark corner so sunlight would not add to the mix. lol
How long should lights be on??
I mostly had problems with hair algea before. then I got hard green, not coraline algea on my glass that I had to scrub really hard to get off. I am amazed by the clarity the tanks. I want mine to look like that. I spent the bucks and got ro this time around. So I hope that makes the difference.
 
privatejoker

privatejoker

Member
Some people clean their tanks every day, inside and out. If you have the time its nice. Things will grow of the glass and you just have to scrape them off.
 
michaelwb

michaelwb

Member
I do a weekly water change of 15-20% before i change the water i scrub down the sides with a tool i made, i took a sponge with a scrub pad on the back, cut it and taped it on to a piece of wood, it's only about 2 inches in width so it can get between rocks etc, I then scrub the tank with my magnet ( this thing is awesome) i then blow off my rocks to get all the waste and food that fell into the holes and stuff out. I then start to siphon out my sand and water this way it gets out all the stuff i scrubbed off, then add the water that I mixed earlier in the day.
 
keri

keri

Active Member
Originally Posted by michaelwb
http:///forum/post/2756801
I do a weekly water change of 15-20% before i change the water i scrub down the sides with a tool i made, i took a sponge with a scrub pad on the back, cut it and taped it on to a piece of wood, it's only about 2 inches in width so it can get between rocks etc, I then scrub the tank with my magnet ( this thing is awesome) i then blow off my rocks to get all the waste and food that fell into the holes and stuff out. I then start to siphon out my sand and water this way it gets out all the stuff i scrubbed off, then add the water that I mixed earlier in the day.

Sounds good. How much do you charge an hour?
 
leopard_babe

leopard_babe

Active Member
Thats a good idea!!
I love the people that are DIY on this site. They have the best ideas.
I am doing the ro water this time around. I am hoping that makes all the difference in the world.
 
forsfed50

forsfed50

Member
lighting time is an applicable idea. less light time less algae. the other isssue is phosphates. the nutri-water is expensive but awsome.
 
perfectdark

perfectdark

Active Member
Originally Posted by Leopard_babe
http:///forum/post/2756941
Thats a good idea!!
I love the people that are DIY on this site. They have the best ideas.
I am doing the ro water this time around. I am hoping that makes all the difference in the world.
You will definitely notice a big difference with RO water but it wont be instant. It might take a few months.
 
spiderwoman

spiderwoman

Active Member
Depending on what type of a tank you are running, you may not want to siphon your sand. If you have CC, then you need to vacuum it, but running a regular or deep sandbed, you want to leave the sand alone.
 
michaelwb

michaelwb

Member
i've barely lost any sand from siphoning, and it's not cc so i don't see a problem in it, it gets all my excess waste and food out.
 
grubsnaek

grubsnaek

Active Member
Originally Posted by SpiderWoman
http:///forum/post/2757310
Depending on what type of a tank you are running, you may not want to siphon your sand. If you have CC, then you need to vacuum it, but running a regular or deep sandbed, you want to leave the sand alone.
exactly
 
nordy

nordy

Active Member
Agree w/PD-in my experience minimal feeding has been the key to keeping my tank clean. As I switched from FOWLR to a reef tank, got a RO/DI unit, reduced lighting to about 8 hours a day, started doing weekly 55/10 water changes, gave the messy puffer away, and greatly reduced feeding, my tank now has almost no algae growing-what does grow is taken care of by my LMB and my snails. I have gone weeks without feeding my fish (3 devil damsels, a couple of clowns, and the LMB) and they are doing great-good body mass, active, and enough energy to attack me everytiime I so much as dare to put my hand in the tank.
 
leopard_babe

leopard_babe

Active Member
I think maybe in the past in my reef my lights were on to long. I will run them less this time around, and see how that works out.
thanks for the advice. I love it!!
 
natclanwy

natclanwy

Active Member
Algae free makes a razor blade scraper for a mag float that works awesome for scraping that hard green algae and coraline off of the glass. Best part is you don't have to get wet
.
 
leopard_babe

leopard_babe

Active Member
I need to get a new mag float, mine is not working any more. I hate having to stick my arm in the tank and get wet, if i don't have to.
When you take the water out of your tank, where do you add your new water?? I used to pour it in the overflow.
reefkeprz i never knew you were supposed to turn the lights off. lol that article is very helpful.
 
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