LFS said protein skimmer is needed for nano tank.

[BoxKing]

Salt I have. RO water at the store is frikin 1.67 for gallon, compared to 25 cents at the lfs. I also have no faith in the water from the store too lol .But yea. I'll up the changes if its only for a few weeks .

Looking at what you got going on in your tank... you should be fine with no skimmer. Your bio load should be next to nothing, and if you target feed your corals lightly, that will help even more. It seems like your lack of maintenance is where you're going wrong. Change out the floss regularly, because floss can trap a lot of waste and if its not removed it will add to your problems. Order up a 5.5oz bag of chemipure blue, drop it in the filter box, change your floss 2x a week, and you should be good to go.

 

As far as getting water for mixing on your own... you're fricken crazy!! 2 hours of total time traveled in a car... lets go with 100 miles at an national gas price average at $2.33/gal - heck.. even if your LFS was 10 mins away.. you would still be better off buying distilled at your local grocery store. You can usually get 2.5 gal jugs for under $3.00. In the time it would take you to get to your LFS and back, you could have completed your water change.

 

Taking the step back approach to reefing will only keep you posting on forums discussing issue after issue - works for some though.

[tarunteam]

I went ahead and ordered some new floss. Will replace it today. Time to get expensive water lol.

[Clown79]

Filters can look clean but when you take it apart and start brushing it down, there is a lot that builds up, even the pump gets clogged up. This buildup will increase nitrates.

 

 

I had cyano for the first time, i didn't understand why- i'm religious on my maintenance. I started cleaning my filter regularly- problem solved.

 

A skimmer will help with nutrients but it doesn't replace weekly water changes. Filters and skimmers help but they require regular maintenance as well(regular cleaning)

 

 

Its a system and all of it works together.

[Laybackk]

Definitely not needed. Just keep good circulation, break the surface of the water, and change your water often. You'll be fine.

[ReefWeeds]

Just something that stuck out to me. One dead turbo - mexican turbo? Those can be huge. Is it still sitting in the tank decaying? In a small tank like a 12 gallon, this could have impact on nutrient levels.

[zsxking]

So is the algae an outbreaking thing after some accidental event, or a regular thing for quite some time in your tank?

 

If it's sudden event, try do some aggressive water changes, like 10 gallon per week for couple weeks, and manually remove as much algae as possible, scrub the rock, etc. to take out the nutrient resulted from the event.

[tarunteam]

Just something that stuck out to me. One dead turbo - mexican turbo? Those can be huge. Is it still sitting in the tank decaying? In a small tank like a 12 gallon, this could have impact on nutrient levels.

Oh no. I removed him immediately.

So is the algae an outbreaking thing after some accidental event, or a regular thing for quite some time in your tank?

 

If it's sudden event, try do some aggressive water changes, like 10 gallon per week for couple weeks, and manually remove as much algae as possible, scrub the rock, etc. to take out the nutrient resulted from the event.

Kind of on going since the tank started.

 

I did a large change, cleaned the filter, and replaced the floss yesturday. Already seeing some algae disappearing