Tank put into storage! Help?

[slickricky]

I recently took my tank down and brought my livestock to a store kind enough to take them in. (I did this because I was moving, but was glad that I have a chance to start over)

For the last few months of the tank I had a very bad algae problem, and nothing I did seemed to help. In the beginning it was light green algae that I scraped off from time to time, but eventually it changed to red algae all the time, and couldn't scrape it off fast enough. Turbo snails and hermit crabs did nothing and most of the turbo snails died very quickly.

I did regular tests on it and everything was within acceptable parameters. I'm going to start over at some point, probably with a larger tank, but I don't want this happening again. I also would like some of the mundane tasks like water changes to be more automated for me. Any suggestions?

 

[reefrunner69]

Did the algae come off in sheets? Sound like it could be cyanobacteria. This is usually caused by excess nutrients (it is not uncommon for the water to test good, the algae is using up the nutrients) and poor water flow. When you set the tank back up, make sure you incorporate a good skimmer (at first anyways) and have good water flow to all areas of the tank.

As for waterchanges...I am not aware of a way to automate a SW watherchange. Tell us how you do one, and we might be able to offer some pointers that will save some time and effort, but that's the best we can do.

 

[slickricky]

Did the algae come off in sheets?

----Yes it definitely came off in little red sheets. Almost looked like plastic.


I am not aware of a way to automate a SW watherchange.

-----Not sure of an automated way either, but I found this thing. What do you think? http://www.okvbc.com/aquarium supplies.htm --- This or something like it would be really cool.


This is usually caused by excess nutrients

-----How would I go about making sure that I don't put excess nutrients in then? I pretty much followed the directions on the bottles. I used a calcium and alkalinity additive, and the complete reef additive. The algae started after I started adding that stuff combined with the fact that I added new high power lighting system.


incorporate a good skimmer

-----Do you mean protein skimmer, because I had a good one on there. I believe the Sea Clone. The guy at the fish store says we have a lot of phospate in our water in this area. He thinks that will cause the algae growth, so I think I'll have to use a new filtering system that will remove the phosphate.



Anyways thanks for the help, I know I'm writing way too much.

 

[fishfreek]

The guy at the fish store says we have a lot of phospate in our water in this area. He thinks that will cause the algae growth, so I think I'll have to use a new filtering system that will remove the phosphate.

Yep thats one of the excess nutruents. A RO/DI filter should be used on saltwater tanks to help reduce introducing exess nutruients into the water via our public water systems.

Personally I dont think the seaclone would really qualify as a 'good' skimmer. Its more or less a decent low cost skimmer for small tanks but if you can afford one going to a higher priced berlin style skimmer will do wonders.

Overfeeding and overstocking the tank are also sources of excess nutriuents.

This is what I do for water changes. I know it could be made even easier but really a water change on two of my tanks takes less than 15min.

Pre mix your water a few days in advance. Then on my tank with a sump i just divert the flow from my main tank to flow into a bucket vs into the sump. I use the 200 gal salt buckets so i can get about 6 or 7 gal of water into a bucket. Once I have a bucket full I divert flow back to the sump. I then take this water to my basement drain and pour. I take another bucket and fill it with fresh salwater from my storage unit (rubbermaid trashcan). Then I pour this into my sump.

Repeat steps above 2 or 3 times.

All in all 15min a week to 15min every other week is not to much effort I belive.