green star polups deteriorating

[KcMopar]

Those screens are at the craft shop like Michael's or Hobby Lobby. I was using those big cone reflectors until I seen a person using cans, check this post I made, it has pics of the reflectors I am using now. http://www.myfishtank.net/forum/fre...ion/64090-freshwater-algae-turf-scrubber.html .

 

[exhumed07]

do you think my screen will still work? it's essentially the same thing.

 

[KcMopar]

I would be worried about the deterioration of the Stainless. It would be slow but, it will happen. I would keep it until its ready to clean, then rub it onto a roughed up plastic one and rinse the loose algae off stuff.

 

[exhumed07]

ok, i'll do that. but i got what i could find at the time, i was thinking about aluminum but figured it would corrode away faster then stainless steel would

 

[KcMopar]

Stainless was the better choice for sure. Where you able to find the plastic ones?

 

[exhumed07]

i'm not sure, I'm about 150 miles from home right now in a hotel room. wont get back home till thursday to be able to look but i do have a hobby lobby. now wout it be better if it is a mesh or would it be better if it was more like a solid sheet and i just rough it up real good to give the spores a place to attach?

 

[KcMopar]

I tried the plastic sheet because I had all the stuff laying around to build one. The plastic is not even close the the plastic canvas screen. Here is what hobby lobby has. http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...-9tegW338gwMKf0gg&sig2=JxVrIU_TAoLmaUJJEb-PLA . This is the stuff.

 

[exhumed07]

well I'm back home from out of town and i noticed the screen has turned green so my ATS is working which i'm happy about, although i noticed my sand sifting star was nice and putrid sitting on the top of the sand. my dad has been taking care of my tanks while i'm away at work and he said he noticed it had not moved since monday night but he never called to tell me and ask me what to do, did the same thing when i lost over half my cichlids to ich for the same reason. but that star sitting there rotting for a few days kinda messed up my water so had to do a water change and my corals are not opening, think it's do to the ammonia spike i had. also put in a lil amquel plus. but at least the ATS is working and not leaking lol.

 

[KcMopar]

The scrubber will have it all back in line in a day or so. I could not get sand sifting stars to last in anything smaller then a 75G tank, I guess because from lack of food and critters in the substrate. Thats good news on the scrubber!!

 

[exhumed07]

well i know i got alot of those lil clear tentical critters in my sand, like 30 of them just in the front where i can see, not sure if they had anything to do with my starfish or not, but i know inverts are pretty tough to keep anyway cause they are so sensitive to small changes, but live and learn

 

[KcMopar]

SW is an ongoing wealth of knowledge, learning and enjoyment. I just upgraded my 10G nano to LED for the display and scrubber. I love to tinker, build, improve, modify, and repair so DIY SW and FW projects are a huge part of my hobby and it keeps it entertaining. How is your green star taking the crash?? Has the scrubber got it back in line yet?

 

[exhumed07]

the water quality is back to normal but my mushrooms buttons kenya trees and stars are still not opening up yet, hope they get out of this funk

 

[KcMopar]

There is still hope, they are pretty hardy.

 

[exhumed07]

yeah but i got a couple hundred in corals and realy hope they come out of it lol

 

[KcMopar]

I like to buy frags and grow them out, way cheaper. Most of the stuff you listed it pretty hardy so they just might make it. Be sure to add some iodine to be sure, and check your calcium, it should be around 400ish. Kent makes some really good and easy to use dosing products that should be available at your local fish store.

 

[exhumed07]

I use kent productsas it is, and is calcium still that important with soft corals as hard corals? and i always get nervouse about adding stuff i can't test for like the iodine. just get nearvous about possibly overdosing

 

[KcMopar]

I add the iodine about 3-4 times a week with out issues, I dose the amount they say but only about every other day. I have the Cal stuff to but I do not need to add any yet as the level is still about 400 in all my tanks. I also dose iron and the selenium or what ever it is the same as well, about half as much as the label says just because I can not test it. I have the Cal test in my master reef kit though. Cal is needed as far as I know even if you have softies. I know the iodine helps the softies convert Cal.

 

[exhumed07]

I use purpletech which has calcium in it and i also put in strontium and some other thing that starts with an m, it's combined in one bottle. then i have the iodine as well. those are the 3 things i dose the tank with. i'm afraid to use things like marine trace since it has iodine and calcium and all the others in it as well. and also i use instant ocean salt which i know has alot of stuff in it as well. i may have had this tank up for about a year but it's still mostly like learning greek to me lol

 

[KcMopar]

with the purpletech and strontium you should be ok. I also does a bit (about 1/2 as instructed) of iron because the algae uses it. Since I have started the scrubber I have not had to do any water changes in my SW tanks. About every 4-6 Months I do about a gallon change in all of them just "because".

 

[exhumed07]

see that sounds akot like my fw tanks, about once a month clean the filters and about every other month a 25% water change. so just the strontium and purpletech and thats all i should have to add? and i'm realy hoping when i get home my corals are doing better, by the time i left 1 of my kenya trees had died and my others were starting to look about as bad, buttons mushroom and stars had not opened yet either, keepin my fingers crossed as i sit and just wait.