i am having major issues with a tank at work. it had been neglected for a while and built up a seriuos hair algae problem. i've sort of adopted it and am determined to slowly nurse it back to 'health.' just as it was starting to look much better, it got an insane bloom of red slime algae.
it is a ~360G cold water marine tank with about 20 northern red anemones, 2 juvenile tomcod, a few hermit crabs, 12 sea urchins, a couple of sea stars, and a green crab.
i already know that it is underfiltered. currently, it has 2 40-watt micron paper LifeGuard filters, 2 40-watt micron chemical sleeves (one filled with carbon, one iwth phosguard) and 2 40-watt UVs. oh and an UGF. unfortunatly, no upgrades can be done in the near future ($$$!). in addition to the phosguard, i have a bag of phosphate/silica magnet in the backdrop of the tank.
i spend some time on this tank every saturday and do a water change, change out hte papers, carbon, phosguard and phos/silica magnet, gravel siphon and scrub rocks. to help combat the green hair algae, i had added the sea urchins whcih have helped tremendously.
like i said, now red slime algae has completly taken over this tank. i read from previous posts that it could be a nutrient problme or a flow problme. i don't believe it is a nutrient problem because the anemones are hand fed 1x a week and only anough food is thrown in for hte cod and other critters. the water chemistry is tested once a week by our lab and the chems always look good.
the tank had two oscillating 160GPH power heads. after reading that higher flows could help, i added a maxijet 1200 295GPH power head.
what do you guys all make of this tank and what suggestions might you have to help this tank? here's a pic from last week hwen it was starting to look better.
it is a ~360G cold water marine tank with about 20 northern red anemones, 2 juvenile tomcod, a few hermit crabs, 12 sea urchins, a couple of sea stars, and a green crab.
i already know that it is underfiltered. currently, it has 2 40-watt micron paper LifeGuard filters, 2 40-watt micron chemical sleeves (one filled with carbon, one iwth phosguard) and 2 40-watt UVs. oh and an UGF. unfortunatly, no upgrades can be done in the near future ($$$!). in addition to the phosguard, i have a bag of phosphate/silica magnet in the backdrop of the tank.
i spend some time on this tank every saturday and do a water change, change out hte papers, carbon, phosguard and phos/silica magnet, gravel siphon and scrub rocks. to help combat the green hair algae, i had added the sea urchins whcih have helped tremendously.
like i said, now red slime algae has completly taken over this tank. i read from previous posts that it could be a nutrient problme or a flow problme. i don't believe it is a nutrient problem because the anemones are hand fed 1x a week and only anough food is thrown in for hte cod and other critters. the water chemistry is tested once a week by our lab and the chems always look good.
the tank had two oscillating 160GPH power heads. after reading that higher flows could help, i added a maxijet 1200 295GPH power head.
what do you guys all make of this tank and what suggestions might you have to help this tank? here's a pic from last week hwen it was starting to look better.
it never hurts to ask to see if there was something else i could do.