God this tank is a mess.....

[kurtl000]

Any suggestions for protein skimmers for this 20long? I'm tired of the algae and slime. I have snails so the hair algae should be easy enough to deal with but its the slime thats really bugging me. In the center of that pic is actually a monti cap thats ALIVE its polyps stick out through the hair algae. *sigh* i miss the way this tank used to look

[youincolor]

wow thats crazy. reef octopus skimmers are great, but i think just about every hob skimmer out there will be too tall to hang on the rim. have you thought about a hob overflow and a sump? more water volume, and an insump skimmer would help a lot.

[kurtl000]

I have an HOB refuge a CPR not sure of the size though. Ive got an emperor 200 attached to it right now with some live rock at the bottom.

 

It bugs me so much. Before i let this tank go it was filled with SPS and it was setup the same way I believe.

[youincolor]

So it sounds like you stopped taking care of the tank for an extended period? You might want to try to cook the rocks to kill off the algae and basically start over with all new water, re-set up the tank again new. I don't know if a skimmer will solve this problem.

[Lalani]

How often do you do water changes?

[miniwhinny]

I wouldn't give up my AquaC Remora for anything. Used it on my 20L before I upped to a 29. That thing does a great job.

[kurtl000]

Actually this doesnt look half bad right?

[BustytheSnowMaam]

How often do you do water changes?

 

 

+1

 

Start doing regular water changes with some RO/DI water and it'll look better in no time. You don't need a skimmer.

 

I went through a time when my tank was "a mess" because I was using tap water and our tap water has a lot of phosphates. I did lots of water changes and I turned the lights out for a week or so. My rics and zoas made it fine (there is plenty of daylight in the room). It took about 2+ months but it's now back to normal.

[kurtl000]

Well the snails have been cleaning up the tank and the algae isnt growing back really so thats a good sign. I already use RO/DI but I am gonna do another water change soon enough.

[imcosmokramer]

how new are the cartridges on the ro/di? do you have a tds meter?

[Jacobnano]

Well the snails have been cleaning up the tank and the algae isnt growing back really so thats a good sign. I already use RO/DI but I am gonna do another water change soon enough.

 

Soon enough? How often do you do water changes?

[justinT]

I've been having an issue with red slime, and some basically ugly green algae on my sand. I read some posts and bought some chemi-clean and when it arrives i'm using it. I dont TOTALLY believe in a ''balanced'' system that does not include the slime and algae, because in nature, the MOST balanced system, they obviously exist. SO, even in a balanced tank, they will probably exist. We'll see how it goes!

[kurtl000]

The R/O I use is from the LFS so I dont know about the cartridges but they use the same water supply for their reefs. Any recommendations for an RODI unit? Im assuming a tds meter measures dissolved organics? No I dont have one of those. Basically the algae is on the sand, the rocks are clean with coralline growing, when I do a water change I siphon off the sand the last time I did one was maybe a month ago? I never used to do water changes that often but I think i may start to get everything under control

[Lalani]

Bingo. Either increase the frequency of water changes or add a skimmer... or both. Right now nutrients are simply building up.