CL's Nano Wave 9 Reef *New pictures 9-13*

[CL]

[CL]

More hitch hikers popped up
This mystery thing has grown

here is another one that is grey instead of purple

What is this thing? They grew a lot while I was gone

This looks like something I know of, I just forgot what they were called

Side shot

FTS

[BGJ223]

Nice looking tank. Great live rock. Not often do you see that many hitch hickers.

So what are you doing to get rid of the hair algae? Looks to me like something is leaching phosphates into your tank and feeding the HA.

[CL]

Originally Posted by BGJ223

Nice looking tank. Great live rock. Not often do you see that many hitch hickers.

So what are you doing to get rid of the hair algae? Looks to me like something is leaching phosphates into your tank and feeding the HA.

I'm not really sure. I was thinking about getting an emerald crab, which wouldn't solve the problem, but it would help.

[BGJ223]

Emerald crabs are better for bubble algae.
The best way to get rid of it is to find it's food source. The best way to do that is to look at your tank husbandry.
A couple question.
How often do you do water changes, and how much do you do?
Do you use RO/DI water, or tap water?
Do you run a skimmer?
How often and how much do you feed?
What type of filtration do you use?

Pretty much algae is just a plant, it needs 2 things to survive, nutrients and light. Since we cant shut the lights off for too long cuz it will negatively affect the corals, we have to get rid of the nutrients.

[BGJ223]

Also do you test your nitrates, phosphates, amonia, and nitrites?

[CL]

Originally Posted by BGJ223

Emerald crabs are better for bubble algae.
The best way to get rid of it is to find it's food source. The best way to do that is to look at your tank husbandry.
A couple question.
How often do you do water changes, and how much do you do?
Do you use RO/DI water, or tap water?
Do you run a skimmer?
How often and how much do you feed?
What type of filtration do you use?

Pretty much algae is just a plant, it needs 2 things to survive, nutrients and light. Since we cant shut the lights off for too long cuz it will negatively affect the corals, we have to get rid of the nutrients.

I was doing 15% wc/ week before I went on vacation, but the tank has gone about a week now w/o a wc. I should probably do one after I post this. I use ro/di water.
I don't run a skimmer, because I get microbubbles everywhere, I have one though.
I was having someone feed every other day while I was gone. I had a bunch of pods and flatworms, and I wasn't sure when he would finish them off, so I just had them feed every other day. I'm not really sure how much, but it was about 1/3 of a pipette of brineshrimp/ water mixture if that helps, there's really no way to measure how much I feed.
for filtrations I just have the back chambers. Nothing special. There is some rubble and chaeto back there in the refugium area.

Originally Posted by BGJ223

Also do you test your nitrates, phosphates, amonia, and nitrites?

no...

[BGJ223]

Well. This is how I would work to get rid of the hair algae.

1. I would do a huge water change today. Not all at the same time, like 4 sessions of about 20%.
I would also suck up all the detritus that I can while doing the water changes.
Next I would Throw the skimmer on. This is going to help pulling out extra organics that are in the tank. I understand that it adds microbubbles to your tank, but you can just run the skimmer until the HA is gone.
Also. Increase the number of water changes you are doing. This will be good practice for when you go back to your skimmerless setup.

As for test strips. Just get a phosphate test strip if anything. They tend to be a little more expensive, but we need to get an idea of what the levels are, and if the actions you are taking are helping to reduce them. Given the size of your tank, and the its setup, it is pretty safe to assume that you will have slightly elevated nitrate levels.

Also a last resort could be to run carbon. in your system for a little bit. In the form of a hang on filter.

[CL]

Originally Posted by BGJ223

Well. This is how I would work to get rid of the hair algae.

1. I would do a huge water change today. Not all at the same time, like 4 sessions of about 20%.
I would also suck up all the detritus that I can while doing the water changes.
Next I would Throw the skimmer on. This is going to help pulling out extra organics that are in the tank. I understand that it adds microbubbles to your tank, but you can just run the skimmer until the HA is gone.
Also. Increase the number of water changes you are doing. This will be good practice for when you go back to your skimmerless setup.

As for test strips. Just get a phosphate test strip if anything. They tend to be a little more expensive, but we need to get an idea of what the levels are, and if the actions you are taking are helping to reduce them. Given the size of your tank, and the its setup, it is pretty safe to assume that you will have slightly elevated nitrate levels.

Also a last resort could be to run carbon. in your system for a little bit. In the form of a hang on filter.

thanks for the tips!
are microbubbles only a visual thing? There is nothing wrong with them coral-wise? hmm, now that I think about it, would there really be? I mean, there are bubbles in the ocean. haha

[BGJ223]

no there is no "problem" with microbubbles other than the fact that the tank doesnt look as pretty when you have a bunch of them in there.

[chase127]

when did you turn this into a planted tank??

that curly stuff is ribbon algae. another macro. duno what the mystery junk is lol.

[CL]

Originally Posted by BGJ223

no there is no "problem" with microbubbles other than the fact that the tank doesnt look as pretty when you have a bunch of them in there.

Thanks. The skimmer has been running for a couple of hours now, and the bubbles don't seem to be as bad as they were when I first tested the skimmer.

Originally Posted by chase127

when did you turn this into a planted tank??

that curly stuff is ribbon algae. another macro. duno what the mystery junk is lol.

thanks bro.

I told you guys there would be more algae

[BGJ223]

Once the skimmer starts to level out, run it more on the wet side.

[CL]

Originally Posted by BGJ223

Once the skimmer starts to level out, run it more on the wet side.

what do you mean level out? When I first turned it on there was a lot of skimmate, now there isn't as much, of course, I have been doing small waterchanges, so there isn't as much to skim, but the first time I had to empty out the cup it looked really watery.

IDK if it's just my imagination, but the water looks pristine right now. It seems so much clearer, but I never really thought that it didn't look clear before.
idk.

[chase127]

your mystery junk could be sponges... but im not sure. got any better pics?