New beggining

[30galbio]

K so I Have ha my 29 gallon biocube for 4 years there has only been one crash all my coral and fish died and I turned the lights off for 3 months and started it again and it went really good now it's starting to go bad I'll upload a pic of it in its prim and then how it is now. So I'm going to save it I have no fish in it now but I do have coral (Xenia, mushroom, green star polyp). The tanks main reason is the hair algae as much as I try to lower my nitrates they won't lower. So I thinking of adding a refugium next to it but I need help to figure out what I need. Also if there are any fish,crab,slug anything that will help with the hair algae?
I'm hoping for my tank, when it's restored that I will have 2 black clowns and a flame angle fish and coral I deff want a small anemone ( use to have rose bubble tip ) and a clam and possibly on more coral. My tank isn't brand spanking new it's been through the cycling and that.

If you need any more info on anything let me know I'll happily post it.
Thanks!!!!

 

[obscurereef]

Sorry to hear that and it's great that you didn't give up! BTW having a refugium of that size, even a larger refugium isn't going to do much to the nitrates. It's probably a protein skimmer getting the organics out that would help, and frequent water changes. The major purpose of the refugium, especially of that size (if you're having the refugium in the back compartment of the biocube) is well going to be a refuge for copepods, amphipods, etc. I think if you had a refugium double or triple the size of your display tank than it would make a difference, but obviously that's not practical Lawnmower blenny, turbo snail, sea slug/hare eat hair algae usually. Flame angels might pick at corals. If you don't mind, I'd say get them...they're so beautiful and eye catching!

 

[30galbio]

Thanks. And I already have the in-tank refugium in the back but that's where the hair algae started and then spread to the main tank so that's why I wanted a out of tank refuge mainly for copepods and I most defiantly would put a protein skimmer in the refuge before the water is sent back to TE main tank. Although I want to have a refugium it's not a big deal, is there any filtration substances that you suggest I use? In the back of my bio cube I have the 3 stage filtration with sponge pad collecting all the debris and purigen and chemi pure elite these did ok but in the long shot didn't help much. I also have a RO unit that I haven't used much but I know that frequent water changes help but I'm a sophomore in high school who doesn't have the time to make 2-4 batches of saltwater a week especially when the output of mine is like 1 gallon of pure water and hour.

 

[obscurereef]

For filtration I use BRS premium ROX .8 carbon (was convinced to buy it after watching their video about the different type of carbon they sell). But, any carbon will do really. That's weird how the chemi pure elite didn't work. I haven't seen really any bad reviews about it, but nice to know different experiences b/c I was thinking about eventually getting some. In addition to or instead of getting fish/inverts that eat hair algae, it would be best to find the source of the problem. What are your phosphates? If you do have phosphates, you could get a phosban reactor & media (GFO) or a BRS reactor (either one can be used, although the phosban reactor is smaller, hangs on the back, and is more appealing) or you could just use a media bag.

I'm a sophomore in high school also, and I understand it is hard to maintain a saltwater aquarium. What I do (I have to make 15 gallons for about a 15% water change) is on a day like Wednesday or Thursday, I'll turn on the RO/DI system when I get home (water goes in a 30 gallon BRUTE trashcan) and at the end of the day, I turn it off and I'm left with about 10 gallons or so. Then I add salt and let it mix for 24 hours. Mine makes water incredibly slow too! It would be tedious if you had small containers instead of one big one to mix it in. Why do you need to make so many batches in one week?

 

[obscurereef]

Oh and I found this for getting rid of hair algae. There's lots of websites/different methods of getting rid of it, many of which I will use if I do get some. It's considering all the variables and finding the source of things that it will fix problems in many things of this hobby. My Hair Algae Battle