Sniperhank's UPGRADED 55 gal Build

[Freak1456]

Your red algae issue. Is it cyano bacteria? The slimy looking stuff

[Sniperhank]

No, cyano is slimy and forms a film. This is actual algae that grows in tufts.

[Freak1456]

Gotcha! I was able to see the red. Just not able to see the texture. I have a bit of redish purple kelp growing off one of my stones. But I haven't seen it spread through out the tank. So I just prune it when it gets large.

[Freak1456]

Only reason I asked if it was cyano is because I just got done with a year long battle with it. Nothing was working. My levels were testing within reason. So i Had a friend come over with his test kit to double check. Turns out my ph was way out of wack due to a bad ph test solution. And the reef crystals salt I was using had a low ph when it was used to make my water. And the low ph was causing the solidified phosphates to dissolve back into the water giving fuel to the cyano. I was astonished!!!! Corrected the ph and the cyano went away on its own.

[Sniperhank]

This shows it much better. Thank you DSLR!

[kdpuffer]

I had algae issues in my tank specifically red and green hair algae. I then bought an abalone and have not seen algae since. He did an awesome job and when his work is done I can eat him.

[Sniperhank]

Lol. I don't know about eating one myself... But I hear you. Ill consider the assistance from one. I hate adding things to solve issues. My big hope is that the cobalt resins help. I already like them better than Gfo. The fact that the skimmer is working consistently now will help too.

Sorry to hear about your crash btw. Totally sucks. I'm playing things slow as I was working 60 hour weeks and trying to spend time with my fiancée. It seems every time I put my hand in my tank I break one of my Lps. Last week it was my trumpet, last night my hammer. Hopefully I can glue the hammer back together.

[Sniperhank]

I should also update a tad. Besides accidentally breaking off one of the hammer coral branches, the chunk is doing really well down in the sand. Ill be keeping an eye on it as I don't like aggressive corals being too close to each other. Either way I will be wanting to try to glue the pieces back together, just use this as an experiment I where it would rather be placement wise for the time being. Has remained difficult with how full the tank is and if money frees up the 36 might eventually be revived with a taotronics led down the road as a frag tank.

I also took out the sponges from one side of my dual reactor and put in the 2 bags of cobalt's anti nitrate resin. So in that chamber is the anti phosphate and nitrate resins. Will watch to see how things go, as I believe my algae growth is stemming from using the store ro water rather than ro/di. There isn't another option at this point until I buy a house.

[Sniperhank]

Sat by with my camera when I fed today and finally got a picture of my beta!

[Hondatek]

It's ALIVE and we have proof lol . Kidding hank . I almost had the lfs put one on hold for me last week but decided against it .

[Sniperhank]

That's too bad. I love this fish...when I see it.

[kdpuffer]

Originally Posted by Sniperhank

Lol. I don't know about eating one myself... But I hear you. Ill consider the assistance from one. I hate adding things to solve issues. My big hope is that the cobalt resins help. I already like them better than Gfo. The fact that the skimmer is working consistently now will help too.

Sorry to hear about your crash btw. Totally sucks. I'm playing things slow as I was working 60 hour weeks and trying to spend time with my fiancée. It seems every time I put my hand in my tank I break one of my Lps. Last week it was my trumpet, last night my hammer. Hopefully I can glue the hammer back together.

I agree that adding things to solve problems is generally bad but it is a snail, and a hungry snail at that. I don't have a whole lot for snails in my tank so he is a welcome addition and eats more than all my snails combined. He will soon be relocated to the sump to clean up the red hair algae in there.

[Sniperhank]

I have also been considering tossing something into my sump to munch o. The algae growth, but don't want anything sucked into a pump.

[needmorecowbell]

Originally Posted by Sniperhank

I have also been considering tossing something into my sump to munch o. The algae growth, but don't want anything sucked into a pump.

What does your sump look like? I solved that problem by wrapping a sheet of egg crate with black mesh (inert of course). I cut it so it was a little less than the width of the tank, and jammed it in there, never had an issue since.

[Sniperhank]

Well, removed all of the algae from the sump again. Added ChemiPure Elite to my reactor. Can't stand this stuff. So, ChemiPure Elite, Anti nitrate and phosphate resin, and Purigen. Overkill.

[Sniperhank]

So, to update things. I believe there is improvement from all the media currently in my reactor. There is less algae growth in the sump. I have started to remove one power head a night to run in a vinegar solution to clean them some to see how it grows back on them, because it will if I like it or not. Sadly, this caused one of the power heads to die on me today for some reason. Thankfully there is still lots of flow.

I had move my scroll coral to a new spot. I hope things turn out well, but I'm not sure of it. It never really took off like everything else has, but I noticed that the vermetid snail's 'shooters' had got ahold of the scroll and beat the one side of it up pretty badly. So, here's hoping. If not, new piece of live rock.

The other issue I have, and most wouldn't see it as an issue, is the size of my birds nest. With 3 frags of it already it is the size of my head. Need to trim off the dead layer, but haven't had the nerve. Scared to accidentally break the main piece holding it up. Maybe this weekend ill try. I've pulled it out before to do it, but didn't. Ended up with accidentally breaking live pieces off as normal. Thing is pretty fragile.

[Keithhjs]

Have a couple beers & then cut that bugger! Worst case you loose some and then have room for more new corals, yay! Lol. Good luck with it.

[Sniperhank]

Thanks Keith. I was staring at it yesterday during water changes. It's time might be coming. It is so big or was restricting flow to my red planet acro. Had to move it and hopefully will recover from the minor tissue recession.

[Sniperhank]

As of today, I pulled the birds nest out and snipped away at it for a short while. Don't have the time to really look at it today. Just wanted to make sure it would sit right. It has become top heavy and constantly falls over now. This should help.
I'm continuing to watch my red planet acro and hexagon coral. Neither are doing very well. The red planet is about halfway receded and I doubt there will be any saving it. As for the hexagon, I have no clue what the problem has been. I've been moving it to better places for some time, thinking it wanted less intense light. Still no real help. It is a good symbol of my clueless frustration with the tank. There is obviously something wrong and I have been unable to find a solution at this time. Believe the red algae growth is the indicator to this problem, and that putting the anti phosphate, nitrate resins in over the GFO in combination with my purigen and chemipure elite has appeared to put it on standby...atleast in terms of growing over my powerheads and the DT. Still growing strong in the sump.

[Sniperhank]

So, phosphate is at .02, calcium 200, and alk 64ppm...which would put that at 3.5...