green star polups deteriorating

[exhumed07]

over the past oh month or so my green star polups have been falling apart and been trying to figure out y. ph is 8.2, alkalinity is 3.1 meq, dkh is 9, my lfs told me to check my treatments for iodine and came to find out one of them i've been using does have iodine in it and have stopped using it. There are 2 others i been using but can't find out if they have iodine or not and they are kent purple tech and kent strontium & molybdenum. anyone know if those containe iodine? and what else could be causeing the polups to die off? my mushrooms, kenya trees, and button polups are doing just fine. any info would be greatly appreciated

 

[KcMopar]

Its really hard to kill these. Are they newer. Many times you get them and a couple weeks later they retract for a week or two. They need to be in an area with good flow across them. Those last two do not have iodine in them. Some time they get algae build up and need to be cleaned, use a soft brush of some sort. Google cleaning these and you will find some good info.

 

[exhumed07]

they are one of the first corals i bought for my tank and have been spreading like wildfire and nice and thick bright green then all the sudden boom. I got a powerhead on the left side of the tank blowing almost directly on them and they are about 3/4 of the way across the tank. they got good flow without being to strong. and i have been fighting algea since I've had the tank. i can't seem to get rid of it even though phosphates and nitrates are minimal if pressent at all. kinda sucks that I'm going out of town for idk how long tomorrow for work and my dad has to take care of my tanks, last time half my cichlids in my 55 died lol. so we will see.

 

[KcMopar]

you might consider running an ATS on your salt tanks, maybe even your FW.

 

[exhumed07]

well gave them a good scrub with a soft paintbrush and i didn't realise how dirty the mat was. it's a realy vibrant light purple pink color now but alot of it has died but i think it should come back or at least I hope it will. guess i'll find out when i get back from my trip whenever that will be. I know it will be before the weekend. and I am not sure what ATS is mopar

 

[KcMopar]

ATS is short for Algae Turf Scrubber. Check out here: http://www.myfishtank.net/forum/sal...a-powerful-nitrate-phosphate-remover-diy.html . Or check algaescrubber.net as well.

 

[exhumed07]

I don't have a sump or anything, it's just a 30 gallon tank with a powerhead and protien skimmer.

 

[KcMopar]

I do not run a sump either, its just a small container above the tank that drains back into the display. It sure has taken away the algae though!!!

 

[exhumed07]

I thought it was a sump setup, so do u just pump water up onto that screen and let it cascade back into the tank?just trying to figure out how to get it to work, I can always run 2 pumps but one out and one back in but doing that I could have one pumping water faster then the other and end up having one overtake the other. I'm just trying to figure out how i can do this cause my tank is getting kinda bad with the algea and i don't know y. water parameters are ideal except my problem with my ph randomly raising and lowering day by day.

 

[exhumed07]

ok I was looking at that thread you posted. I was wondering if it would be possible to run that screen without the bucket, Just have that screen on the back of the main tank supported by the pvc and have the screen just cascade directly back into the tank, avoid the whole pumping it into a bucket and having it drain back into the tank. it would save alot of space since I am very limited in that department.

 

[KcMopar]

That would work too. There are many ways of building it to fit your application. algaescrubber.net also has a ton of info about these builds to.

 

[exhumed07]

well now that i have the idea of what I need to do i've drawn up some designs and going to the hardware store tomorrow to see what i can get and see if i can make it in a day before i head back out of state for work.

 

[KcMopar]

Post some pics when you get it done please.

 

[exhumed07]

I will, sad thing is the bucket will have to sit in my window lol cause I think the best way will to be to pump the water into the bucket and let it drain back down into the tank from above, but the drain will have a dual function if i can do it right, the water should fall far enough so when it exits the drain into the tank it may act as a weak powerhead and i'll have an adjustable tip to direct it where i want the flow to go. now that I have the idea lets see if it will work lol

 

[KcMopar]

Thats how I use all my drains from my scrubbers. Be sure the drain is big!! I can tell you 3/4" is to small for most applications unless you build a vent into it like house plumbing has on its drains do you do not get the gurgle, pause, drain, gurgle, pause thing going on. Have you seen this link? Algae Scrubbers • View topic - Hundreds of Scrubber Designs . Its huge so give it a couple/few minutes to load, it has tons of examples of builds.

 

[exhumed07]

I plan to use a large pipe but maybe have a slide on reducer so the water hits the narrow opening and gets forced out more or less like a jet, thats the idea. I know if the pipe drops so far vertically it will build pressure, i've seen people do it for electric turbines to power homes, just a simple 1 inch pipe with about a 100 foot vertical drop with a reducer on the end and it spins a turbine fast enough to power several homes. so I'm going to try to use gravity the best I can to do the same thing as a powerhead.

 

[exhumed07]

well I got the setup built just need to get the lighting put in it but otherwise my tuf scrubber is up and running, it's all enclosed in a 10 gallon rubbermade tote. I figure there is about 4 gallons of water in it which in a way turns it into a nice lil spot to put some more live rock in for other critters to live as well. I'll get some pics once I get the lights built into it, plan to do that tomorrow but not sure when, lol. between putting a new heater core in my friends car and buying slugs and looking at a car myself just not enough time in the day

 

[KcMopar]

Awesome!! Live rock is ok in the scrubber tank but I have heard bad things about corals in there. One guy puts chocolate stars in his that he breeds for his Harlequin shrimp. Be sure to build up rubble rock around and over the drain so the critters can not block the drain. I also put the intake pipe for my pump high in the tank so if an accident happened it would only be able to take up a couple gallons and not over flow my scrubber tank.

 

[exhumed07]

I've got a 3/4 inch outflow pipe and it drains much faster then the water being pumped in so i'm good on it not overflowing, I actually made the pipe go up so the water fills the scrubber tank above the outflow pipe so it will not suck air and get the sink drain sound to it lol. but I actually kicked around the idea of having an emergency overflow to drain back to the tank in case as u said of the emergency. the only problem is the algea scrubber is only one sided as i came across a small issue with not being able to put a light on the other side of the screen, also i could not find any of the plastic mesh that people were using so i opted for a section of fine mesh stainless steel screen. hope that works, if not i'll have to try something else. also i'm hoping the lighting is bright enough, put in a 60 watt equivalent cf and it has a reflector that covers nearly the whole screen. once I get some good pics I'll post them.

 

[exhumed07]

well this would be what i built for about 100 bucks. cost a bit more then i was expecting to spend but so be it lol. Also I know i need to clean up the wiring for my light but it's still in the works, might add a light switch to the conduit/junction box. so right now it's just remaining open till i decide to do that or enclose that connection within the box, but it's there if i need it, and also I've got everything hooked into a surge protector and thats plugged into a GFI wall socket, got alot of things running off one socket and accuaully kinda suprissed it has not blown yet, good thing is my AC is off there now that it's getting cold