Terry's 15gal column office desktop tank

[asting]

Did you pay for the upgraded shipping on the gorgeous then?

[no694terry]

I ordered a 105gallon snail/hermit kit that came with free express shipping. Then i added the penny gorgonian and penny macro. I'm kicking myself for not ordering more while i had the express shipping covered. A fuzzy chiton would have loved my 90 gallon

 

102 dwarf ceriths, 28 nassarius, 23 Ceriths, 24 nerites, 25 hermits, a gorgonian, and 2 small macro's for $78 shipped next day. Not bad ay!

[no694terry]

if a damsel ate GHA, id be in my glorry

[asting]

Ahh. Didn't realize the larger orders came with express over priority.

[no694terry]

eenie, meenie, minie, moe

 

[no694terry]

the GHA is going to put me in a grave. Water changes, Phosgaurd, 2 hr light cycle, new CUC and now the GHA is even growning on my Halimeda

 

[Droy008]

Yup, gha is probably the most difficult thing about this hobby.

Have you checked your TDS on your freshwater?

Maybe your introducing silicates into the system, GHA will go crazy if you have even a remotely small amount.

[no694terry]

i havent checked them. The tds meter on the outlet still reads zero but water is stored in a trash can with a lid at home. I bring it into work in gallon jugs

 

Theres no fish in tank either so i havent even been feeding the tank in months

[no694terry]

IM DONE!

 

I cant take the algea anymore, nothing but muriatic acid is going to take it away. My 90g at home is better, i can see hope with it. The 15g in my office is hopeless. I'm starting to research planted tanks. Hopefully then i can enjoy an algae free tank and still have some inverts and a couple fish

[vlangel]

Ahh, I am sorry to hear this but I am glad your 90 gallon at home is doing alright.

[Sea_Of_Treachery]

If you are going to quit over some hair algae you probably shouldn't have a tank in the first place.You need to have patience and persistence.Manual removal is the best natural way combined with a blackout period.NEVER GIVE UP. Maybe you should get this tattooed on your chest like I did? Its a shame so many newer reefers get so intimidated by algae.Anyways, good luck with whatever you decide.

[WV Reefer]

If you are going to quit over some hair algae you probably shouldn't have a tank in the first place.You need to have patience and persistence.Manual removal is the best natural way combined with a blackout period.NEVER GIVE UP. Maybe you should get this tattooed on your chest like I did? Its a shame so many newer reefers get so intimidated by algae.Anyways, good luck with whatever you decide.

This is so true. ....Planted tanks are not immune to crazy algae. I have grown some spectacular algae in my high tech 75 gal tank. Just ask anyone who has had "green soup".

[no694terry]

I've had the lights out for over over a month and it continues to grow. I put paper over it one the weekends to keep out ambient light and its still there. I did massive water changes, change out phosgard ever week, running carbon, using TDS free rodi water. Theres no fish so no feeding and its still there and growing! I try to vaccum it while changing water but it barely lifts. At this point im either ready to change direction or find a way to get hitchhikers out safely before i acid bath and boil the rock and start from scratch

 

maybe a terarium, just dirt and a fake plant under a light

 

[ajmckay]

Bummer dude... GHA sucks... probably one of the most common and also difficult to deal with problems in a reef tank. Then again it's also a problem in FW tanks as well. Doing a planted tank would definitely be cool - but they do come with their own set of issues and things that can go wrong. It's still a game of balancing the level of nutrients in the tank. You need enough for the plants to flourish, but too much and algae takes off.

 

I'm just about to set up an office tank. Much smaller though - 3g fluval spec. It will have 2 sexy shrimp, a pom pom crab, a hermit, and a snail or 2. Basically my plan for the tank is to use a daily maintenance routine and keep it super simple (3-5 minutes max per day). The foundation will be a small device I made to quickly and easily remove detritus before it has the chance to decompose. The result is what amounts to daily small water changes. Here's the link: http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/378561-picosmall-aquarium-spot-cleaning-device-thats-cheap-and-easy/ It can be modified to use larger tubing/reservoir for a larger tank.

 

I took a brief look at your thread and I really like the tank! The top and the light really make it unique.

 

Finally - if you're interested BRS put out a video as part of it's 52 weeks of reefing series about managing nuisance algae. It's unique in that it takes a bit of a different view on typically circulated methods for algae control which often include buying new equipment, etc... You can find it on their YouTube channel.

[no694terry]

Bummer dude... GHA sucks... probably one of the most common and also difficult to deal with problems in a reef tank. Then again it's also a problem in FW tanks as well. Doing a planted tank would definitely be cool - but they do come with their own set of issues and things that can go wrong. It's still a game of balancing the level of nutrients in the tank. You need enough for the plants to flourish, but too much and algae takes off.

 

I'm just about to set up an office tank. Much smaller though - 3g fluval spec. It will have 2 sexy shrimp, a pom pom crab, a hermit, and a snail or 2. Basically my plan for the tank is to use a daily maintenance routine and keep it super simple (3-5 minutes max per day). The foundation will be a small device I made to quickly and easily remove detritus before it has the chance to decompose. The result is what amounts to daily small water changes. Here's the link: http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/378561-picosmall-aquarium-spot-cleaning-device-thats-cheap-and-easy/ It can be modified to use larger tubing/reservoir for a larger tank.

 

I took a brief look at your thread and I really like the tank! The top and the light really make it unique.

 

Finally - if you're interested BRS put out a video as part of it's 52 weeks of reefing series about managing nuisance algae. It's unique in that it takes a bit of a different view on typically circulated methods for algae control which often include buying new equipment, etc... You can find it on their YouTube channel.

 

Thanks, i use a similar airline on a stick to vacuum stuff during water changes. The only office tank i had that did well was my 5 gallon with a PC light. 1 gallon weekly water changes just had a better impact on it. It was easier. On this 15, iM trucking in 5g buckets of water, it doesnt get done ever week, reaching in for stuff isnt as easy with the taller tank etc...

 

I might give it one more go with all new stuff. new sand, scrub the tank, get some rock off John and recycle. I'd also ditching this Coral Compulsion par38 for an AI prime wifi unit.

[no694terry]

brought in my buckets today. Let the cooking begin.

 

Gonna cook these rocks and put them in my 90g. And will order all new rock and sand for office tank

[no694terry]

rocks are out, i cant believe the amount of crud that was on them. besides 72 power heads, how do yinz keep the rocks from build up crud like that in all the nooks?

[vlangel]

rocks are out, i cant believe the amount of crud that was on them. besides 72 power heads, how do yinz keep the rocks from build up crud like that in all the nooks?

I used a turkey baster to blast them and that way I did not disturb the sand overly much. Of course a lot settled in the sand so that syphoning was required. Now that my tank does not have sand I just blast the bottom of the tank so most everything is lifted up to the overflow.

[no694terry]

I'm kicking myself for getting the AC50 instead of 70. The tanks empty with sand only right now and im playing withe the power heads to see where they create the best up flow to pull things to the HOB, im going to go get the 70 so i can put my nano skimmer 115 in it.

 

Im also going to be reall careful with rock placement, i want to be able to siphon the sand and get good flow all around everything. And i might go with a bare bottom as well. I need to be able to get maintenance down if i want to keep a saltwater tank in office

 

Im uploading a video, the power heads are dirty from removing rock yesterday but i wanted to see how it would treat sand close to bottom and it doesnt blow as much as i thought it would. It seems to me like everything stays suspended ok but what do i know. My pistol shrimp at home does an excellent job keeping stuff out from under rocks, maybe i should get another one for here

 

[vlangel]

That did appear that you were lifting some stuff up into the water column. Are you able to point the top koralia down toward the sand and maybe at a right angle from the bottom koralia? If it trenches the sand that is no good but it might not from up that high.

[no694terry]

its starting tot trench the sand, but its very fine. If i had a coarse sand like reef flakes, i dont think it would effect it

[vlangel]

its starting tot trench the sand, but its very fine. If i had a coarse sand like reef flakes, i dont think it would effect it

Could you just put a layer of course sand on the top? Although without stirring the underneath sand into it you might smother some of the fauna that is in the fine sand.

[no694terry]

I got the ac70. The skimmer fits in there like they were made for each other. Still enough room for the heater and a pack of carbon too.

 

I want to rinse the sand too. Or just buy new dry sand. I need to start with a clean slate.

 

Probably going to order rock from john and attach it together in something tall and open with epoxy or acrylic rod

[no694terry]

installed the ac70 with skimmer in it this morning. Figured nows a good time to try it before i empty the old water and clean it out. Lots of crud in the tank, im sure the levels are off the charts.

 

Only issue is the skimmer noise, sounds like a 7 year old slurping down whats left of the hi-c in the bottle of a couple of melted ice. That and the impeller wheel was seized up, a lil cleaning got it back in order though.

 

[Sharbuckle]

Glad to see youre taking another stab at this tank. Giving up is never fun. Skimmer will quiet down with time.