thedude15810 Posted March 28, 2004 Share Posted March 28, 2004 I have a 20g nano and recently an astrea snail died. I didn't get him out for about a day and my tank has been overtaken by disgusting slime algae and brown diatom. The nitrate lvl in the tank as of yesterday was also at 10 and today has plummeted to 0, I assume because of the algae. Is their anyway to stop this disgusting problem and is it bad that the nitrates have dropped to zero? I am skimming the tank so ammonia and nitrites shouldn't be a problem and plan on doing a 20 % water change tomorrow but just wanted to figure out how to get rid of this gross stuff. Thanks for your help. PS: My buddy wants to start a species only nano cube and wants to do harlequin shrimp... any thoughts? Link to comment
darwin604 Posted March 28, 2004 Share Posted March 28, 2004 Stick to your water changes and try to manually remove as much of the algae / cyano as you can. Make sure your using R/O for your water changes and topups. As for the slime algae, try some chemi clean - worked great for my nano. Harlequin shrimp tank would be cool, although I think they have special feeding requirements - might want to do a bit of research. d. Link to comment
SilverSpurs Posted March 30, 2004 Share Posted March 30, 2004 I have been told that halequin shrimps only eat starfish... could be an expensive endeavor! Link to comment
thedude15810 Posted March 30, 2004 Author Share Posted March 30, 2004 Harlequin's do indeed eat only starfish but you only have to feed them one every 2 weeks or so and my LFS sells the chocolate chip variety for just 8 bucks. Also to rid myself of these diatoms I think I'm going to increase water flow... any thoughts? Link to comment
SilverSpurs Posted March 30, 2004 Share Posted March 30, 2004 You said that you have a 20gal. what type of filtration do you use? Link to comment
thedude15810 Posted March 30, 2004 Author Share Posted March 30, 2004 I actually use an emperor HOB wheel filter with activated carbon in it but with enough live rock the filter really isn't necessary. The water is also being skimmed by a berlin and in the month or so it's been up after my initial cycle my tank has consistently shown no ammonia or nitrite and recently 0 nitrate. It also has a relatively high bioload with a flame angel, two chromis, a pearly jawfish, and an ocellaris clown. Link to comment
SilverSpurs Posted March 30, 2004 Share Posted March 30, 2004 With those specs, I'd be more interested in where you get your water. I used a bad batch of water and boy did I pay for that one. My snails loved it, but it's not so pretty to look at. Are you sure your water source doesn't have a lot of phosphates in it? Link to comment
thedude15810 Posted March 30, 2004 Author Share Posted March 30, 2004 Why would you take out the wheel? Provides a source of flow, carbon filtering, and from what I understand only good bacteria is harbored on it... it is however ugly as sin. Link to comment
SilverSpurs Posted March 30, 2004 Share Posted March 30, 2004 Some say that all you need is a powerhead to provide circulation in a nano with LS/LR. I agree with you (thedude) in that I believe that carbon filtering is a good thing. Although, most of my experience is in FW - so it could just be a carry over hang-up. I think that there should be something filtering the small particles out of the water.... a skimmer usually does that, but some say those remove too many trace elements out of the water too quickly. It's a huge debate with no end in sight. In my fight to combat the algae that formed when I used bad water, I have been told to reduced my lighting time, use better water, do more frequent water changes, get a larger cleanup crew, get algae eating fish/critters..... I didn't reduce my light, cause I didn't want my Calupra to wither. I have changed my water source and gotten more vegetarian snails. This seems to be doing the trick. From what I have been told, algae is a good thing, you just need a hungry clean up crew to keep it in check. Link to comment
thedude15810 Posted March 30, 2004 Author Share Posted March 30, 2004 Ok so I get my water from my LFS here in Austin (Austin Aquariums). They have huge vats of it in the back and it's only like a buck a gallon which to me is way worth the trouble. So I don't think the water is the problem. And as for a clean up crew, I think what's in there are 4 blue-legged hermits, a fighting conch, 2 astrea snails, and 3 nasarius snails. What do you think about that? Link to comment
SilverSpurs Posted March 30, 2004 Share Posted March 30, 2004 I think the suggested amount of snails is one per gallon of water. I do believe that your cleaning crew is very under staffed. *hope they aren't unionized* Link to comment
Wonder Boy Posted March 30, 2004 Share Posted March 30, 2004 Originally posted by MGXsport take out the wheel. If you don't have any thing to say, it's best to not say anything. Link to comment
MGXsport Posted March 30, 2004 Share Posted March 30, 2004 Originally posted by Wonder Boy If you don't have any thing to say, it's best to not say anything. I only said take the wheel out not the whole thing. It gives the tanks a lot of nitrates. I use the eclipse wheels on my freshwater tanks though and LOVE them. They just aren't the best for saltwater. So yeah I do have something to say. Thanks, Link to comment
Wonder Boy Posted March 30, 2004 Share Posted March 30, 2004 Sorry, if I seem forward, but one of my pet hates is when some one gives advice without a qualifying statement to back it up. i.e. All-Powerful_Reefer: "I am god" Some-Guy:" ok, what makes you say that" All-Powerful_Reefer: "Just listen to me. I've been around, I am god" X) Link to comment
MGXsport Posted March 31, 2004 Share Posted March 31, 2004 There are many posts about this so I would think people would know if they searched some. http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/search.php...rder=descending Link to comment
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