JOM20's 38g Reef Build

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Thats a beautiful hammer JOM. Most that are avaliable for me are browny and I lost my big beautiful green one during a heatwave. Looking for another green one to buy. :)
 
I haven't updated in a while! I don't have pics because my hair algae is out of control and the tank doesn't look very presentable.

Since the last update, my Canary Blenny died. :( RIP Jerry. I believe it was my trying to feed less often that killed the poor guy. I still have the 2 Clowns and they are great! I added more Zoa frags...I found a good deal from another hobbyist. I just added those this week and I'm waiting on a couple of them to open up nicely so I can take pics. Besides cleaning up the hair algae and trying to get control of that, nothing else has changed.

I believe that my lax in doing timely water changes led to my hair algae getting worse. I would get lazy and go more than a week without doing a water change. Now I plan to do 10g water changes weekly instead of 5g. I just have to get a couple more 5g buckets. We'll see how that goes! Hopefully I can add new pics soon.
 
We hope you can too. I really wanna see those new frags lol. I'm glad your getting back in the game, haven't seen you in a while so, welcome back :)
 
I know the feeling JOM. :( I got lazy and didn't do a water change or clean the tank for about two weeks. LOL. BIG mistake. With my tank being so dirty from the beginning because of the rocks i purchased, my tank was just on a whole other level of dirty lol.
 
Mine is so dirty now! I've even thought about breaking down and selling this tank. I am just so bummed about the hair algae. Its so ugly! But, I am not giving up yet...I am going to try the larger water changes and hope that helps.
 
Maybe you just need to start over ya know? Get a bigger(or smaller) tank, maybe some new rock, and then begin once again. That's what i'm doing. :) I'm almost about to start up my 10G. I purchased everything i need, i'm just waiting on their arrivals.

Also, what do you think the cause of the hair algae could be? Do you use ro/di water? Do you cut back on the feeding a little or shorten the time the lights are on? Just wondering.. :)
 
Zer0 said:
Also, what do you think the cause of the hair algae could be? Do you use ro/di water? Do you cut back on the feeding a little or shorten the time the lights are on? Just wondering.. :)
Click to expand...

I'm glad you are starting another tank!

I'm not exactly sure what is causing the hair algae. I believe it started on some corals that I got either from my lfs or from another hobbyist. I have to be careful what I buy from my lfs as they have alot of algaes in their tanks. :mad:

I use ro/di water and I have cut back on feeding. I was feeding frozen foods every 3-4 days and making sure I rinse in ro/di before feeding. I cut back on the lights a while ago and just recently cut back even more. My lights were on for a total of 8 hours with the actinics and 1 10K on first and last and all 6 bulbs on for only 5 hours. Now the lights are on for a total of 6 hours with all the bulbs on for only 3 or 4 hours (I forget how I set it).

My laziness with water changes hasn't helped the hair algae, but I have tried to do water changes every 7 days...it just doesn't always happen.

I have a phosphate reactor but when I was going to install it before I couldn't get it working to where it didn't have the gfo coming out of the output...I don't want that in my tank. :rolleyes: So, I'm going to try again this week to get it installed...hopefully that will take care of any phosphates I have.

If I can't get a handle on this algae, I might just buy a 20g and a new light fixture and move everything over. I can't imagine a smaller tank will be any easier to care for though, but atleast it will start out clean. :D
 
I love SW, so there's no way i could let all this go to waste, ya know? :p

Well, it's a little disappointing that things aren't exactly going your way, but i think that if you just stick with it, and start a new tank, or do whatever it is you think you should do, then you will come out with the results you intentionally wanted. We just have to keep at it when things are looking down. :) I learned that the hard way. ;D

Let us know what happens!
 
Update: After the last water change (7 gallons) and the serious scrubbing that occured with that, the hair algae has not come back quite as fast. I have been feeding the fish pellets, but they gulp them up fast so no worries about them polluting the tank....and I am feeding every 3 days. I will do a 10 gallon water change tomorrow.

I decided I will try to scrub the rocks in a separate bucket....so I have to buy a couple rubbermaid tubs. I only have 2 extra heaters and powerheads, so I have to clean the rocks at a different time from when I have a water change due.

I have pics....of the new stuff and some of the old stuff!
4418629372_9458e0a108.jpg

Bam Bam Zoas

4417863517_2fd6217816.jpg

Pink and Gold Zoas

4417866741_80140c9709.jpg

The frags on the right....top: Fruit Loops, middle: Rainbows, bottom: Magician

Old ones, new pics:
4417865907_f2ff67e668.jpg

Lunar eclipse palys

4417865289_86bfcb8476.jpg

Eagle Eye Zoas with a little caulerpa algae on them :rolleyes:

4418631150_031cd71c02.jpg

Open brain (excuse the algae behind it)
 
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