5gal Nano

Katie you need to siphon that hair algae out. Thats really bad.

Dont you ever use a siphon tube to vacume your tank? Yes doing
lots of water changes help. But there is a reason you are having such
a problem. First off I would bet you are over feeding. 1 small bit of
wasted food will feed the algae for a week. Second you need to test
your water. You may have phosphates. Third you need more flow.
Algae grows better in stagnate conditions. You also need to find out
for sure what water you are using. Dont guess if its RO/DI..Find out.
Also if you never tried to siphon the algae out, its just going to
spread like a weed.

FYI...Bottle water has phosphates in it too. I use 12 stage filtrated
water with 100% pure ozone in it. I get it from a place called Water to
Go...They are all over the U.S..Not sure about Canada. Its the purest
water ive seen yet.

Here is my 3 gal pico and besides a tiny tiny bit of red hair algae, ive never
had a problem..I do a 10% water change once a week. I dose with Purple
Up,Strontium and molybdenum, Marine buffer PH.

Livestock are
1 Orchid Dottyback
1 Peppermint shrimp
1 Zebra Hermit
2 nass snails
1 atlantic nass snail
1 Turbo Snail

Here is a pic after 4 months and before the corals.


Equipment is
2- Red Sea Nano filters (one with a bag of Seachem Purigen, the other with pads)
1- 80gph nano power head
1-24 watt PC with 50/50
5 LED Moonlights
 

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I also forgot to mention that you need a cleanup crew...
Didnt your LFS tell you this??? Thats the first things that
should have went in..

Your cleanup crew should consist of:

Atleast 1 turbo snail, 2 would be better for your problem..and
1 or 2 Zebra Hermits or Blue legged Hermits. They love algae.
Plus a few small Nass Snails. They sift through the sand and
eat detrious and algae. A good cleanup crew makes all the
difference in a saltwater tank.

Also you need to invest in some good testing kits. You are really
doing bad by your fish and corals by not even testing your water.
Atleast take it to your LFS and have them test it....I dont understand
when you go buy a $100 in coral..but cant spend $25 on a saltwater
test kit??

Also that tank is way too small for a clown fish.

Sounds to me like you jumped into this and didnt get the proper
things. I dont mean to sound like a jerk..but it doesnt sound like
you researched this too well. Saltwater is not like Freshwater
were you can just throw a bunch of stuff in the tank at once.
You need to really watch your water parameters and go slow.
Trust me..Ive been doing this 15 years..
 

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speaking about throwing things into tanks... whats up with your "purple up" and buffers? if your water quality is soooooooo perfect, why do you need those? regular water changes should supply the nutrients for a regular tank unless you have some real nutrient suckers in there. and purple up? LOL! what a joke! and if youve been in this hobby 15 years, you should have noticed that you cant just throw things into a FW tank either.

you may not mean to seem like a jerk, but you kindof came off as one. ;)

PS: have you ever tried siphoning off hair algae? its harder to pull off rock than an fat man off a buffet.
 

Anyone who has been in this hobby for awile knows you need to dose,
to keep all your trace elements,calcium,magnesium..ect. up..What are
you trying to say you dont dose your tanks? Purple Up works great!
My calcium,iodine,magnesium are always perfect..I get tons of Coraline
Algae on my rocks. Carbisea is an awesome company. So does the Kent
products. I know quite alot of people in this hobby who would disagree
with you on this issue. If you would like to take this argument over to
Reef Central or Nano Reef...where all the seasoned reefers are...I would
be happy to start a thread there and we can take a poll on dosing..

Also...a long while back when I first got into Saltwater.. I did have green hair
algae...Ya hard to siphon..not impossible..Thats why you have turbo snails and
red legged, blue legged and zebra hermits who will make a feast out of it..
Plus a few Nass snails are good for your detrius and they also clean the glass.
If she would have put a cleanup crew in the tank back in the begining after
her cycle..she would not have this issue now....

I apologize I didnt mean to sound like a jerk, I was just pointing out that
it sounds like she jumped into this without researching what she was doing.
I tell everyone who wants to do saltwater..esp reef tanks....read..read..read...

All throughout the whole thread...she said things like 'I cant test, well maybe for
nitrates..I dont know..", then she said "I guess its RO water?"... I mean....I will say
again..You need to research what you are doing. How hard is it to take your water
to the LFS and get it tested or spend a whole $25 on a saltwater test kit? Better
to spend the money on a test kit in the begining, instead of throwing the money
away on livestock that is going to perish in poor water conditions. right???

Im sorry YahooFishKeeper...Reef tanks are a alot more complicated then
doing freshwater. I did freshwater for quite awile before I got into saltwater...
120gal african cichlid tank, 75 gal planted tank, 20 gal community tank. Yes
freshwater takes a little bit of knowledge and research too..But its much more
forgiving then A Reef tank which can crash at a drop of the hat, cause of a
small error or something you didnt notice. Now Planted tanks I will say are
the exception, those also take alot of care and research too. Infact im thinking
of doing one again. But for now I would rather spend the money on my Reef
tanks..Esp the 4ft x 4ft x 20" Im designing...

Again If I sound arrogant...I apologize. I was just trying to point out what she
was doing wrong.
 

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Katie217

Superstar Fish
Jul 15, 2006
2,494
5
0
Florida
OK..........this was GREAT to come home too BTW... :rolleyes:

ANYWAYS...
First of all, have you ever tried syphoning out hair algae? And if you have and it all went away...thats a joke... Regardless of what you said about the hair algae, its GONE NOW.

I dont think I'm over feeding. I feed the clown once every 3 days, and the brain coral a krill once a week.

I DO test my water. And at the beginning of the thread, I belevie I POSTED RESULTS OF MY TESTS WHILE CYCLING THE TANK. (just wanted to make that CLEAR) I KNOW the water I use is bottled, not sure if its RO or DI.

I dont dose my tank.

I do have a clean-up crew. You OBVIOUSLY didnt read much of the thread. I have blue leg hermits, and nassarius snails. And NO my LFS didnt tell me that I needed a clean-up crew. All the WEBSITES and BOOKS I've read did.

Once again on the testing my water thing, I do freaking test my water! Its CLEARLY stated in the thread!

Look when the thread was started, I DID MOST DEFINATLY NOT jump into this! I do watch my params!

Besides, you make it seem like you CAN just "jump into freshwater" uh last time I checked...You gotta cycle those too ;)

And one more time. I DO HAVE A TEST KIT. I TEST MY WATER.
 

If you have read so much you would know that you cant put a clownfish
in a 5 gallon first and foremost. Also you let the algae grow totally out of
control. Where was the cleanup crew??? When did you get them last week?

Second..you said you cant test for Phosphates. Then you made some comment
like..." I think I can test for Nitrates??? I dont know." Thats why I suggested taking
your water to your LFS to have them test it.

And yes Bottle water is loaded in Phosphates. Probably the source of your
problem.

So Sorry I was trying to help you. I think I will go back to Reef Central where the
seasoned reefers are and where people know how to accept when they are doing
something wrong.

Im gonna give you one last bit of advice before I go back to Reef Central,
get a book called The Conscientious Marine Aquarist: A Commonsense Handbook
for Successful Saltwater Hobbyists by Robert Fenner , in the saltwater hobby..
this is known as the bible of all books.
 

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Katie217

Superstar Fish
Jul 15, 2006
2,494
5
0
Florida
I was told by many people, including people on here and on nano-reef.com that a clown would be FINE. I got the clean-up crew right after my tank cycled. I have a test kit, but I dont have a test for phosphates. Even if I did it would come up as a low number because of the algae that is absorbing it anyways. I would of thought you of all people would know that :rolleyes:

LOL, Have fun at RC. Try not to get banned ;)
 

Fuzz16

Superstar Fish
Oct 20, 2006
1,918
3
0
Wellsville, KS
grrrr what an idiot...

i mean i know people with PRISTINE tanks that have been in the hobby for like...gray hair years. and they get hair algae break outs!

if you could, though, i would say if it comes back get a sea hare...a small one. lol...my lfs uses them in the LR tanks where algae is out of control
 

If you have read so much you would know that you cant put a clownfish
in a 5 gallon first and foremost.
yes, you CAN. as has been proven by the pictures.


Also you let the algae grow totally out of
control. Where was the cleanup crew??? When did you get them last week?
l2read noob. 4-22-07.

Second..you said you cant test for Phosphates. Then you made some comment
like..." I think I can test for Nitrates??? I dont know." Thats why I suggested taking
your water to your LFS to have them test it.
a REAL quote would be appreciated. :) not an approximation on words.

And yes Bottle water is loaded in Phosphates. Probably the source of your
problem.
bottled water is such a general term.... if you really want to help, how about you go and look every single brand of bottled water distributed in canada with phosphates.

So Sorry I was trying to help you. I think I will go back to Reef Central where the
seasoned reefers are and where people know how to accept when they are doing
something wrong.
good riddance! lol

Im gonna give you one last bit of advice before I go back to Reef Central,
get a book called The Conscientious Marine Aquarist: A Commonsense Handbook
for Successful Saltwater Hobbyists by Robert Fenner , in the saltwater hobby..
this is known as the bible of all books.
an aquarium book regarded as "the bible" has made it to more areas than just NR and RC. all of us hicks out here in boonievill MFT have heard of it too.
 

Katie217

Superstar Fish
Jul 15, 2006
2,494
5
0
Florida
You know, I thought...why not proove how good my tank looks now without the hair algae.
Crappy pics, was in a hurry but you get the point. Light just turned on so everythin is closed sorta...


I moved the brain to the left side where there is low-medium flow. It seems to LOVE it over there now, opening up 100% and colour is fantastic! I couldnt be happier with it. I also moved the big rock of shrooms to the front right corner where there was a little less flow because where they are in that picture they wernt opening up 100% because flow was too much for them.

Heres my question now. Could you suggest any other ways to move the peices of LR around? This weekend I should be picking up some more corals. Im thinking of getting some xenia, more shrooms (maybe) and some zoa frags. I eventually want this tank to be loaded (corals almost touching, if not touching) so that you cant even see the LR. I can provide some more pics with different angles if that helps with LR placement, and coral placement! THANKS :D