My Xenia Is shrunken and not looking to well.

[Waynelo11]

I have a 14 gallon biocube and my Xenia is not looking to hot it is drawn up and I'm not sure what to do, I have done a partial water change my salinity is around .23 and I'm also getting this crazy red alge growing in my tank it has not been as bad as it was but its still a little bit growing, help please.

 

[herp_mommy]

Hope you mean salinity is 1.023 not 1.23, otherwise that is def the problem.

 

[Waynelo11]

Yes, sorry type error, but I can't figure out what the heck is going on everything else is doing great, leathers, mushrooms etc.

 

[herp_mommy]

mine prefers areas of low flow with high light. try moving it

 

[Waynelo11]

I moved it 2 or 3 times and it still is not doing so well, do you think I need to raise the salinity?

 

[herp_mommy]

that might be the issue. I keep mine at 1.026, and my xenia is always pulsing and growing rapidly.

 

[Waynelo11]

Ok I'm going to try that, any idea about the red slim algae I'm getting! And the picture I attached is from my 29 gallon here but as you can see the algae is crazy!

 

[Mrc8858]

How long has this tank been running and are you using Ro/Di water or tap?

 

[herp_mommy]

The red algea might be Cyanobacteria

 

[Schism]

Its cyano. Check your nitrates and phosphates.

 

[Waynelo11]

Using tap water, and I'm going to test the water today to see if it's off any where again.

 

[Mrc8858]

Using tap water, and I'm going to test the water today to see if it's off any where again.

There's your problem... Tap water has a lot of bad stuff in it for SW tanks you need to either by RO water or an Ro/Di unit and make your own

 

[kdpuffer]

I would suggest investing in a RO/DI unit. Carey has a link to a cheap entry level one that can be hooked up and removed easily. If you consider all the water changes and top offs you will be doing it will be paying for itself after a month or two.

 

[Schism]

4 stage economy Ro/di system from bulkreefsupply $120 perfect 0 TDS water. Cant get any cheaper.

Tap water contains too many dissolved solids for a reef tank. Many tap waters contain heavy metals, phosphate, nitrate, nitrite, even ammonia and loads of other junk that you just cant test for. Using tap is not going to work if your already having problems.

 

[Waynelo11]

What's the Carey place your referring to?

 

[Waynelo11]

Ok I will defiantly stop using tap, I've always used it in the past with no problems but when I moved to NC it's been giving me trouble so I'm going to get me a kit ASAP

 

[Schism]

Yeah tap water is different everywhere. Some is pretty clean surprisingly but others are horrible. Also none of them are as pure and reliable as 0tds rodi.

Id never recommend using tap

 

[herp_mommy]

What's the Carey place your referring to?

She's a user on this forum

 

[kdpuffer]

She's a user on this forum

Yes Carey is a user on the forum, very good source of knowledge. She has a link to a rodi unit that if I recall correctly was about $60.

 

[Schism]

Yes Carey is a user on the forum, very good source of knowledge. She has a link to a rodi unit that if I recall correctly was about $60.

I would bet this is an ro unit only without di stage and prefilters. More inefficient. But if not id loce to see the link.