Joe Posted January 15, 2011 Report Share Posted January 15, 2011 So basicially change the whole tank aye Joe? Why don't you get your own tank and do all that you want to do. I was just giving suggestions. I didn't say to change the whole tank. Also spoon just said that those pics are old and there is more live rock in there - I didn't know that until he told me. And I cannot afford marines currently. I want to set up my next freshwater tank with metal halides and a sump so if I want to get marines all I'll need to do is buy all those expensive calcium and alkinity buffer things and a skimmer, live rock, coral sand and all the fancy powerheads to create the right current. Although if I was getting marine the one thing I probably wouldn't do is get fish because they're such a rip off. I'd just stick to corals and glass shrimp (the shrimp are great because you can collect them in rock pools for free and they look really cool). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livingart Posted January 15, 2011 Report Share Posted January 15, 2011 check the rest of your rocks for bubble algae looks like a bit under the mushrooms as well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mcculloch Posted January 15, 2011 Report Share Posted January 15, 2011 Thanks for all the info Joe :-? . Oh and Spoon RO-DI water all the way makes every thing easer all though I do understand its a bit of a cost. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Posted January 16, 2011 Report Share Posted January 16, 2011 Thanks for all the info Joe :-? ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spoon Posted January 16, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 16, 2011 rodi is on my to do list this year im gonna save a bit of money and look around for a nice 4 stage unit LA the bubble algae is on the piece of rock the kenya tree came with it hasnt spread at all so far (has hardly grown at all) theres some red macro and green and brown hair algae under that mushroom . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Posted January 16, 2011 Report Share Posted January 16, 2011 So what does this bubble algae actually do? Can you do something like this viewtopic.php?f=2&t=50222 for saltwater aquariums - optimise the coral growth to out compete the algae? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenix44 Posted January 16, 2011 Report Share Posted January 16, 2011 It spreads like wildfire if you injure or heavens forbid pop it. RODI water and controlling the nutrient supply with a powerful skimmer is your best bet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spoon Posted January 16, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 16, 2011 yeah u you can at the moment the bubble algae is not a problem as it has not spread and is easy to get to so lets use the hair algae as an example algae needs light and nutrients to grow and getting rid of the light is not an option with reef tanks so you have to starve it of nutrients the main ones being a problem here are nitrates, phosphates and silicates , in a cycled , maintained tank nitrates should be pretty low if detectable in my tank i have the skimmer which removes some waste before it can break down into nitrates (or ammonia etc) , there is also the live rock which will get rid of nitrates and convert them into nitrogen gas , i also run purigen in a sachet that absorbs some of this as well . so really we are looking at phosphates and silicates i run a phosphate remover to minimise phosphates(it also removes some silicates) however at the moment i dont have a rodi unit which produces pure water with a total dissolved solids of 0( 0 TDS) so every time is mix up new salt water im adding silicates these (or any dissolved solid) do not evaporate . my tank is sitting at 27 c now i have a fan over the sump cooling it (it would be warmer than that other wise) the fan cools via evaporation so i lose about 8l of water to evaporation each warm day like today im topping up with tap water (to keep the salinity correct ) but tap water contains silicates so im adding silicates to the tank basically fertilising the hair algae. one i run a rodi unit i can virtually eliminate silicates so the hair algae will die off leaving more room for benefical algae like coraline algae to grow(the purplely stuff) another way of getting rid of the excess nutrients is to use a refugium in here its basically a partioned area in your sump with bright lighting. you can grow macro algae in it(seaweed) the growth of this strips phosphates and nitrates from the water (providing it grows and is trimmed every so often) as far as i know it dosent remove silicates. another method is an algal turf scrubber Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spoon Posted January 17, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2011 heres a photo of the hairy mushrooms and green star polyps under actinic light light with no flash as close as i could get it to the correct colour they glow awesomely Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spoon Posted January 17, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2011 my live rock is covered in these white worms they are like sweeper tenticles and come out more when i stir up the tank i know they area type of worm but i dont know the name of them . where they are near sand they build a tube out of sand tonight i noticed one had homed its self in a minute gap between the overflow panel and the side glass of the main display i found it difficult to photo graph but you get the idea what you can see is basically a cross section of the worm and whats in its tube , the actual worm is the black part the white things are attached to it i presume to catch food Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spoon Posted January 17, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2011 my live rock is covered in these white worms they are like sweeper tenticles and come out more when i stir up the tank i know they area type of worm but i dont know the name of them . where they are near sand they build a tube out of sand tonight i noticed one had homed its self in a minute gap between the overflow panel and the side glass of the main display i found it difficult to photo graph but you get the idea what you can see is basically a cross section of the worm and whats in its tube , the actual worm is the black part the white things are attached to it i presume to catch food cod king you should photograph this for me! :nilly: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Posted January 17, 2011 Report Share Posted January 17, 2011 Wow I love those hairy mushrooms They sell those regularly at the shop here, as well as other corals and anemones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.