loudan Posted November 22, 2006 Share Posted November 22, 2006 So I have been slowly progressing on research and stuff for starting a tank and wanted something that I could keep in my dorm room at school. I found a good deal on a DIY setup of 2 32 watt PC's and jumped on it. I am also running an AC 20 filter and powerhead. About 6 or 7 pounds of LR which my mom says looks too full. I have a terrible outbreak of algae and it is slowly getting under control by my wonderful hermits. So far my stock list is: 5 Blue Leg Hermits 2 Nerite Snails 3 Cerith Snails 1 Flourescent Green Ricordia I am pretty happy with everything so far and hopefully will be adding some sort of other coral soon. I am thinking of either a few zoos or a frogspawn. On to the pictures: Lets hear what you all think Link to comment
directional Posted November 22, 2006 Share Posted November 22, 2006 Jesus Christ that is alot of algae.. Are you using tap water? . .. Check my tank out it has been running for almost a month... I like that Ricordia I was thinking of getting one myself... Keep us updated! Link to comment
grink dude Posted November 25, 2006 Share Posted November 25, 2006 lol you do have a large amount of algae, i thought i had loads, but then i saw yours lol. Link to comment
wav3form Posted November 25, 2006 Share Posted November 25, 2006 Hermits wont control that much algae. You need to manually remove as much of it as possible and figure out why you have so much. What king of water are you using? Link to comment
zachxlutz Posted November 25, 2006 Share Posted November 25, 2006 Some advice: 1. make sure you are using RO/DI water. tap water contains lots of nutrients which aid in the growth of most algae. 2. how long are your lights on for? i would recommend cutting down about 2 hours from what you are running now. 3. Were the lights used when you bought them? if so, when was the last time the bulbs were replaced? PC bulbs need to be replaced every 6-8 months. after time the spectrum shifts and becomes more harboring to algae. 4. i would recommend a mexican turbo snail (not an astrea turbo snail as some sites have them listed), they have done wonders on the RHA in my tank and what you have is GHA so they are very comparable. Nice ricordia BTW and i hope you can get the GHA cleared up. Link to comment
loudan Posted November 27, 2006 Author Share Posted November 27, 2006 Just got back from a trip to west palm beach for a basketball tournament. Yea I have gotten my algae under control since then, somewhat. There is still a ton and I have cut down my light duration. I took the tank home for break since I wouldn't be able to care for it so the next time I have home I will see if the algae has cleared up. If I need to manually remove some should I just pick it off or is there a special tactic that anyone uses to get it off besides just taking the whole scape out to scrub them down? Link to comment
Hotrod324 Posted November 28, 2006 Share Posted November 28, 2006 Yeah you just pull it off. Grab it as close to the rock as you can and just pull the algae off. Everyone has a bad algae bloom at some point when they first setup their tank. I had a bad hair algae problem too and it took a week or two of pulling it off the rock manually and placing snails on it whever i thought about it. Eventually it will go away if you do that. Also, dont sweat using tap water. I know Texas and wherever your from has different water but it will be okay. Just make sure you dechlorinate it... I do recommend using RO water though but i dont want to be a hypocrite lol also, i dont know why everyone is freaking out. I dont think that is THAT much algae... Link to comment
loudan Posted November 28, 2006 Author Share Posted November 28, 2006 Oh by the way....I am using RO/DI water from a machine at wal-mart so that is not the reason for the excessive algae. Link to comment
wav3form Posted November 28, 2006 Share Posted November 28, 2006 Oh by the way....I am using RO/DI water from a machine at wal-mart so that is not the reason for the excessive algae. You'd be suprised. Some guy here used walmart ro water and it nuked his tank. Don't want to alarm you but be cautious when using water you don't filter yourself. Link to comment
loudan Posted November 28, 2006 Author Share Posted November 28, 2006 Yea I am trying to convince my mom to get a RO/DI system for fresher water but we live in the country and she insists it would be the same as the culligan RO system we have. I have heard that the copper pipes used would not be good for the tank and would nuke it or something? I did read that thread on the wal-mart water nuking that guys tank. I have been keeping a close eye on the water params when I am home on the weekends. I will have some updated pictures after the weekend and cleaning of the tank. Link to comment
loudan Posted December 4, 2006 Author Share Posted December 4, 2006 UPDATE: Forgot my digital camera here at school when I went home today. So instead of getting some new pictures of the ugly algae mess I had, I went with my sister to a pet store and looked at new corals and fish. While there I realized I should just get a 10 gallon tank. So that is what I did. Spent the evening setting everything up and transferring ,some newly cleaned with a toothbrush, live rock to the new one. I put in new Live Sand since the other stuff was packed full of algae and diatoms from the extreme light period my mom had been running. Do you think there will be much of a cycle with the live rock having already been cycled? The guy at the fish store told me I would have to wait through another full one. I have read otherwise but hope it is not true. I am loving the wide open spaces look I get with the new tank and hopefully I won't forget my camera next weekend! Link to comment
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