So my oceanic biocube 29gal has a bad hair algae problem and i am fed up with it! so i was thinking about setting up a 20gal tank and putting everyting in there( fish, anemoe, couple frags,) with the current sand and some of the LR and of coarse water.
i was going to do this change / clean in 2 days. i wanted to completely empty the biocube and scrap off all of the algae and get it clean and then buy some new live sand and use some old live rock and buy some new live rock. i would still use the LR rubble in the filter.
my question is would i run into and problems with the tank recycling or any spikes in anything??
Any LR you transfer from your 29 to the 20 will have algae spores within it. Your best bet is to find the cause of the algae in the first place. What kind of water are you using? How often are you doing WC? Are you over feeding? How's your lights? Are you running any type of carbon/GFO? Last but not least, what all do you have in your tank? Sorry for all the questions but I'd like to be able to help before you resort to such drastic measures
well when i got the tank from my cousin there was two rocks with hair algae on it and then it went to the bank wall off the tank and its jus bad. every water change i would scrape of as much as i could get and it just keeps growing back.
I do a WC every week to every other week depending on how busy i am with work. Ive been using RO water and sometimes if its late at night i have to use tap water but i use a declorinator (my spelling sucks ) that the LFS told me to use if i use tap water. in the tank is one clown, one yellow head goby, a green mandirin, two chromis, a star fish, sea urchine, an anemone, a plate coral, a couple frags, and about 20-30lbs in LR. I only feed once a day or once every other day (depending what time i get home from work because the lights might be off). The lights i have are the oceanic stock biocube lights i keep them on from like 2pm to 10pm.
It seems like i think i find the cause of the hair algae but then i wake up and its there again. I do know when my cousin owned the tank it was his first and he bought some live rock from only god knows who and thought the algae looked cool. well it over took his now my tank and now im thinking the only way to get rid of it is to get rid of the LR and i would have to scrape the whole back wall and drain the water to make sure theres none left. but i would deff like any info on how to do this right and cost effictive because i hate taking care of the tank when it just gets worse.
Any LR you transfer from your 29 to the 20 will have algae spores within it. Your best bet is to find the cause of the algae in the first place. What kind of water are you using? How often are you doing WC? Are you over feeding? How's your lights? Are you running any type of carbon/GFO? Last but not least, what all do you have in your tank? Sorry for all the questions but I'd like to be able to help before you resort to such drastic measures
well when i got the tank from my cousin there was two rocks with hair algae on it and then it went to the bank wall off the tank and its jus bad. every water change i would scrape of as much as i could get and it just keeps growing back.
I do a WC every week to every other week depending on how busy i am with work. Ive been using RO water and sometimes if its late at night i have to use tap water but i use a declorinator (my spelling sucks ) that the LFS told me to use if i use tap water. in the tank is one clown, one yellow head goby, a green mandirin, two chromis, a star fish, sea urchine, an anemone, a plate coral, a couple frags, and about 20-30lbs in LR. I only feed once a day or once every other day (depending what time i get home from work because the lights might be off). The lights i have are the oceanic stock biocube lights i keep them on from like 2pm to 10pm.
It seems like i think i find the cause of the hair algae but then i wake up and its there again. I do know when my cousin owned the tank it was his first and he bought some live rock from only god knows who and thought the algae looked cool. well it over took his now my tank and now im thinking the only way to get rid of it is to get rid of the LR and i would have to scrape the whole back wall and drain the water to make sure theres none left. but i would deff like any info on how to do this right and cost effictive because i hate taking care of the tank when it just gets worse.
First and for most-STOP using tap water. That water treatment does NOT remove phosphates (PO4)nor total dissolved solids (TDS) and there is your answer by adding tap water your feeding the algae. Also, how old are your bulbs? If you don't know, change them! Google "Green Hair Algae" you will get a better understanding of what makes it grow.
What are you using for filtration? What are you using for flow?
Keeping and maintaining a salt water tank is a lot of work. It also requires patients and time. Don't give up!! Post here first before you buy anything else, or do anything else-lol.
First and for most-STOP using tap water. That water treatment does NOT remove phosphates (PO4)nor total dissolved solids (TDS) and there is your answer by adding tap water your feeding the algae. Also, how old are your bulbs? If you don't know, change them! Google "Green Hair Algae" you will get a better understanding of what makes it grow.
What are you using for filtration?
Okay I won't use tap water anymore will that make the algae go away or should I still clean the tank out because my LR is covered in it and my backwall is also covered! I'm using chemipure elite and a bag of carbon in the middle chamber of the filter
No, stopping the use of tap water will not make it go away. But you will no longer be feeding it either. We're going to have to work on getting rid of it. It will take work! It will take time! Most of all it will take PATIENCE! It didn't happen over night and sadly your the one left cleaning it up. I feel for you
I'm going to assume that this is a 29g bio-cube correct? An all-in-one tank? Chamber in the back? Go to your LFS and buy a bag of Purigen. (Better yet is Blue Life Clear Fx Pro which is sold via one of our sponsors JimsReef.com) This is a phosphate remover, add this to your first chamber. Put the Chemipure Elite in the second chamber. You can keep the carbon, but it's not needed as the Chemipure has carbon in it. Check the age of your lights. If you don't know how old they are then replace them.
What we're trying to do here is starve the algae out. But your are going to have to do a lot of manual removal also. Do not scrub/scrape nor pull the algae inside of your tank without siphoning. All you'll do is spread it around. Best time to do this is during your water changes.
No, stopping the use of tap water will not make it go away. But you will no longer be feeding it either. We're going to have to work on getting rid of it. It will take work! It will take time! Most of all it will take PATIENCE! It didn't happen over night and sadly your the one left cleaning it up. I feel for you
I'm going to assume that this is a 29g bio-cube correct? An all-in-one tank? Chamber in the back? Go to your LFS and buy a bag of Purigen. (Better yet is Blue Life Clear Fx Pro which is sold via one of our sponsors JimsReef.com) This is a phosphate remover, add this to your first chamber. Put the Chemipure Elite in the second chamber. You can keep the carbon, but it's not needed as the Chemipure has carbon in it. Check the age of your lights. If you don't know how old they are then replace them.
What we're trying to do here is starve the algae out. But your are going to have to do a lot of manual removal also. Do not scrub/scrape nor pull the algae inside of your tank without siphoning. All you'll do is spread it around. Best time to do this is during your water changes.
You are correct it is a 29 gal bio-cube. the only time i scrub or scrape is during a water change and i get massive amounts out but it jus keeps coming back. the lights are like 4 months old at the most i replaced them when i got the tank. how long is a bag of chemipure good for? ive tried to get it off the rocks and i cant it jus wont come off its every where when i get home from work ill post a photo. so you think setuping up a temp tank for a day and dueing a massive clean is not a good idea?