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Frogspawn

Frogspawn

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Feb 20, 2007
Messages
486
Location
Falling Waters WV
hey guys,
i have a major problem that i need help with or anthing you can offer advise wise would so helpfull.

first,let me give you the last 6 months. i been going through a nasty break up and my ex took everything. even my fishtank! here the last 2 weeks i got my fishtank back because it was stinking up her house, so she told me to get it out! :p WooHoo! :p so now i am left with alot of work and i think little time to do it in. :( my current finances dont allow me to go out and spend alot on my hobby now due to other bills. so i need to find a nice way to get my aquarium back into shape with out costing alot of money.

Everything in my tank still looks some what alive :eek: she atleast added water when it got low, but never did any water changes :mad:, and only feed like 2 times a month. My sixline and clown fish really show it also. they are very thin but still very active. so i guess thats a good sign :D. i have hair alage EVERYWHERE! and bubble alage is starting to pop up in darker areas of the tank. all my mushrooms and ployps dont look as bright anymore. they did spread all over the tank and now its coverd with them, but like i said they are very weak looking. my once huge toadstool mushroom is not looking good. the stalk is very thin and the tops so heavy it just lays on its side not having the strenght to stand up stright any more. my torch coral still looks ok, it comes out when the lights on and i think may be the only coral thats not been effected too bad. i though it would be the first to go.

i will take pics tonight and post all vital stats. but i must warn you it looks horrible!

PLS can you guys help me as much as you can? any question you have pls ask. i dont want to bore you guys any more then what i have to.

thanks so much!
Frogspawn
 
I would start with daily PWC's...at least 20% each. Make sure your fresh SW has been mixed for at least 24hrs. Run some GAC to help absorb some of the crud in the water. If you have a skimmer, run it 24/7. What size tank?
What are your water parameters? SG, pH, etc....
My blue leg hermit crabs destroy any hair algae that appears in my tank...maybe try adding some when the water quality gets better. PWC's will help with the algae also. Emerald Crabs are supposedly good for bubble algae. Or you can CAREFULLY pick the bubbles out. Do not pop them or you will get tons more.

What kind of lighting do you have? Type, Wattage? You should probably cut your light cycle also to help w/ the algae issues. Actually....cutting the light cycle, PWC's, manually removing as much algae as possible and making sure to feed sparsely should take care of the algae issues.
 
Lighting i have a 150watt 14 or 15k HQI sunpac light.

My tank size is 30g with about 24pounds of live rock

i do have a skimmer but i think my ex may have let the water do to low once and the pump maybe destroyed. it still pumps water though the skimmer nicely but no bubbles. might be clogged.

can u suggest a how long i should leave my lights on?

right now my fish and corals have been on a very eratic lighting. she never turned them on and when she did she left it on for days or weeks at a time. same for being off also.

i can get some AC while i am out today and i may stop by my LFS and buy that premade SW and airate it for a 24hrs and do that every 2 or 3 days. cut the lighting back to 6hrs aday and feed 2 times a week.

as for manully pulling out all the hairalage? theres no way this is possible its every where and so are my mushrooms and polyps. i cant scrub down my rocks with out harming them also. i have thought about that. is there a temp that hairalage dont grow at?
 
I would take a rock out, scrub it, put it back in, and repeat. This is what I've been doing with my bubble algae outbreak.

Also agree with the water changes. If you remove the algae and keep up on water changes, in time the tank should come around.

Good to see you back btw. We locals are makin a trip at the end of February. If you wanna join, check out the local forum. :)
 
Frogspawn said:
i do have a skimmer but i think my ex may have let the water do to low once and the pump maybe destroyed. it still pumps water though the skimmer nicely but no bubbles. might be clogged.
Click to expand...

Sounds like the air inlet is clogged..try using a paper clip or pipe cleaner to try and clear it out.

Frogspawn said:
can u suggest a how long i should leave my lights on?

right now my fish and corals have been on a very erratic lighting. she never turned them on and when she did she left it on for days or weeks at a time. same for being off also.

i can get some AC while i am out today and i may stop by my LFS and buy that premade SW and aerate it for a 24hrs and do that every 2 or 3 days. cut the lighting back to 6hrs a day and feed 2 times a week.
Click to expand...

That sounds like a good plan

Frogspawn said:
as for manually pulling out all the hairalage? theres no way this is possible its every where and so are my mushrooms and polyps. i cant scrub down my rocks with out harming them also. i have thought about that. is there a temp that hairalage don't grow at?
Click to expand...

Sorry, I have no idea...I never had a hair algae problem...Like I said, my hermits devour it. I bought a big hunk of zoos once, had hair algae all over it, tons of it. Within 6 hours of putting it in my tank, the crabs had picked all the algae clean.
 
Frogspawn said:
i do have a skimmer but i think my ex may have let the water do to low once and the pump maybe destroyed. it still pumps water though the skimmer nicely but no bubbles. might be clogged.
Click to expand...

If the pump is pumping water nicely through the skimmer, but no bubbles, then the pump should be just fine. Sounds to me like the airline for the venturi is clogged, which is not allowing the pump to pull air in through the line, hence no bubbles. Try taking the venturi assembly off and cleaning it with hot water. I have also seen posts on here about how to clean them (I believe using vinegar), so do a search on that.
 
thanks devil, i am glad to be back. i have been off line for about 6 months now. heck it took me a few hrs to remember my screen name and password to get back on the site. lol thanks for such the warm welcome. you guys helped me set this tank up and it was awesome the first 6 or 7 months. so i am looking to get it back into the right grove again for shure. heck ya if you guys planing a trip i would love to go with ya. i will search the form for that post and find out the details.

as for scrubing my rocks i can do it but i didnt know if it would do more harm then good. i have too many polyps in the first place so i was hoping to thin them out some. will just any brisle brush do? or should it be on the soft side?
thanks
 
Hmmm...sounds like a challenge. Forst off, sorry to hear of your personal troubles but I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason.

Now...the fact that finances are a bit limited right now is actually a good thing. It will give you the time you need to get the tank back up and running. It may be back to square one. As mentioned, srub the LR and remove what algae you can. I would just let the tank cycle again so you know it is ready. You will have to add fish slowly anyways. Once cyled, start with a few chromis. They are cheap and add great movement to your tank. After that, one fish every month or so as the cash flow permits. You will have a thriving in no time. Good luck!
 
i dont know if i said, but i currently have 2 fish in my tank. a sixline walrus and a O.Clown. they both seem healthy.

i have to work tomorrow, but i will scrub my rocks down in salt water on sunday. and i may add a pouch of AC to the tank also to remove any other impurities that may be lingering. i have quite a challange ahead of me! i took several pictures just now. go figure i cant find my USB plug for my camara. LOL i will get them up ASAP! i want you guys to see how it looks then i hope in a another month it may looks atleast 50% better. thats my goal!
 
Listen..that GAC will probably need to be changed in about a week. Does not last long in SW tanks. So get alot of it. You might want to add some Purigen as well. One 100ml bag should last a month, and you can "recharge" it and use again to save $.
 
what is this purigen do? is it the same as GAC? dont think i have ever heard of it.. i may have but its not ringing any bells
 
Sorry to hear about the troubles Frogspawn. It is good to see you back. I want to echo the PWC`s suggestion. That will be the most important thing you could do right now. It will replenish needed trace elements and dilute excessive nutrients. I would suggest maybe every other day. Good Luck on your comeback.
 
WOW every other day? man that could get real expensive!:eek: are we talking big water changes or only like 5% of 30g? like 2g water changes? i could do that every other day. :cool:
 
cool i can do that! thats only 3gallons every 3 days. i have a big rubbermaid tub i can make a big batch and get it ready. i wish i could get a pick of my toadstool. i need to find out if theres a chance for him.
 
Frogspawn said:
what is this purigen do? is it the same as GAC? dont think i have ever heard of it.. i may have but its not ringing any bells
Click to expand...

Pardon the ignorance but what is "GAC" and what is it added to the tank for? Thanks!
 
mhorgunn said:
Pardon the ignorance but what is "GAC" and what is it added to the tank for? Thanks!
Click to expand...
Its Activated Carbon that absorbs impurities and helps the quality of the water. Very commen it is probably the most used filtration media in aquarium filters. Available at any local fish store even at wal-mart(much cheaper there by the way)
 
fijiwigi said:
Its Activated Carbon that absorbs impurities and helps the quality of the water. Very commen it is probably the most used filtration media in aquarium filters. Available at any local fish store even at wal-mart(much cheaper there by the way)
Click to expand...

Thanks. I wasn't sure if it was Ammonia Chips ... seen those at Wally World too.
 
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