Fuge vs. Skimmer

[jsr]

Hello everyone. As some of you know, I have been fighting algae from day one. I thought I did everything right. I use ONLY RO/DI and used it from the start, run a PhosBan reactor, even used some drops help with the phosphate with no success. All it did was turn the algae from green to brown. I assume this killed it somehow. However, no matter what I do I cannot get the hair algae to stop growing on the rocks. So here is my problem. I have a 29G aquarium setup as a sump. Due to the size of my skimmer (Octopus NW200) I dont have room for a fuge. My options are to get a bigger sump, which I am working on trying to get, or pull the skimmer out and use the sump as a fuge. If you were in this situation, whaat would you do? Is it better to have a skimmer or a fuge? I have no corals, only three small fish. I am also thinking about moving the fish to a small Bio-Cube 14 and draining the big tank to do some work on it. I fear that I may shock the fish by moving them from a 135G tank into a 14G tank. The fish are a 4" watchman goby, 2" lawnmower blenny, and a 1" pseudochromis. Please give me some information before I just sell the fish and retire the tank!!

Thanks,

James

[ckimble]

You could try a sea hare to mow down the GHA. Along with good water parameters, the lawnmower blenny could help keep it under control.

easier than tearing the whole thing down....

[jsr]

Yes, I thought about the Sea Hare and River City sugessted that as well. I really want to find a source and fix that before I start adding stock to fix the problem. Does that make sense? However, I guess if I want to pull the skimmer to add chaeto that is the same as adding a sea hare to eat the algae.

[reefman]

jsr,

You said you have been fighting algae from the start, how long have you had the tank up? Are you sure its not a cycle its going through? When I set my first one up, I thought I was going to go nuts with algae, but after it went thru the "cycle" (I'm not referring to the standard nitrogen cycle), it finally went away on its on.

I don't know anything about the skimmer you have, but I definitely would not trade the skimmer for a fuge. I have a fuge on one of mine and love it, but I got a Euro-Reef skimmer first. Also, what is your clean up crew (snails, etc.)?

Edited December 7, 2007 by reefman

[jsr]

My tank has been running since April. What gets me is that even during the cycle I had 0 readings on everything. I cycled the tank with 70 pounds of uncured rock and 140 pounds of sand. I have a small clean up crew consisting of about 30 crabs (blue and red) and 10 snails. They seem to be eating the algae, but not fast enought. Again, I want to find out what is causing the Phosphate before I add anything else. I just dont know what is causing the phosphate in my tank.

[4R00P3R]

Adding plants is way better than adding a sea hare. The animals you add will also produce waste which feeds the algae. If you get plants instead, after cleaning the glass, they will absorb all the nutrients and you can then move the mass of green to where ever you want it and it will stay there for the most part if that makes since. Next time you do a water change drain the sump completely and save as much of the water as you can. Then you can install bulkheads to run the skimmer externally and have room for a 'fuge'.

I would also recommend adding to your clean up crew, such as nassarius snails or another type of sandsifter. They keep toxins and stuff from accumulating in the sand. I have 20 nassarius, 40 dwarf blue-leg hermits, 40 zebra turbo snails, and a mystery crab(possibly ruby mithrax) who hitch hiked in with my live rock all in a 105g. They eat any of the food that the fish don't eat. That way there's no decay burdening your aerobic bacteria. You may also want to add another algae eating fish because that would be more attractive and interactive than a sea hare. Your lawnmower seems to be a bit timid like mine. I think if you add some more rock that would also help. I would definately recommend cured and as much as you can handle. I'm still up for making that trip to SA after the new year.

Edited December 7, 2007 by 4R00P3R

[reefman]

I must have missed it. What is your phosphate (and for grins, your Nitrate) readings?

[jsr]

As of last week it was reading at 2. I have tested my fresh water and salt mix and both read 0 on the tests.

[GKarshens]

In my opinion you are WAY understocked on clean-up crew. I have heard a good rule of thumb is one critter per gallon. I would get a bunch of snails and a good mix as was suggested earlier.

[jsr]

Yes, I agree the CUC is very limited. I do plan on adding about 50 additional snails in the very near future. Additional rock should be in sometime after Christmas as well. Thanks for everyones reply.

[Big Clay]

since you have no corals i would cut back the hours the light is on and raise the mg level to 1500ppm and keep it there for a couple of weeks.

This is working for me.

[4R00P3R]

since you have no corals i would cut back the hours the light is on and raise the mg level to 1500ppm and keep it there for a couple of weeks.

This is working for me.

I agree that you should get that timer for your lights that we talked about. On the other hand I would keep your mg as close to 1,290ppm as possible.