6 hours...

[standingstill]

hi, today i spent about 6 hours cleaning my 30 gallon reef tank, i let it go for quite a while without cleaning it and i finally had the time to do it. there was a mass of slime aglae and green algae (caulerpa i think?) covering the live rock, glass and substrate. i replaced all the sand, scrubbed the hell out of the live rock and still managed to save everything in the tank. i am noticing small areas on the rocks that i missed
while cleaning and i was wondering what the best way keep the algae growth down. i will be doing weekly maintenants on it this time around but i was wondering if anyone has some helpful tips on keeping a reef thats just been overhauled clean?

 

[cthegame]

To keep algae down, i recommend you do 20% water changes per week, use only RO water (no tap) and if you can get phosphate remover. Ultimately, it mainly comes down to water changes.

 

[yote]

+1 Game
And welcome to the site.

 

[stagofdoom]

+2 Game

And dang....6 hours.

 

[Piggy]

Agree with the above. Water changes, run something for phosphates, and less feeding. Not sure whats in your tank.

 

[Bifferwine]

It definitely helps if you have a good protein skimmer too. A good protein skimmer is invaluable.

Don't feed flake or pellet foods -- those contain preservatives that lead to algae. Feed frozen only. And hopefully your tank is not overstocked. If you have too many fish, it's impossible to keep water quality high. But like others have said, the most important thing is to do regular, weekly water changes with RODI (not tap) water.

 

[standingstill]

thanks for the tips. by the way, i only have two fish, a couple hermit crabs and a star fish....plus some xenia, frogspawn and a couple other corals. i just recently bought a protein skimmer too and its worked great so far. what would be good livestock to add to keep everything clean, i find that snails usually fall off the glass behind the rocks and die because the cant right themselves.

 

[Bifferwine]

You should get a pair of emerald crabs. They usually make a big difference on algae. Some snails can't right themselves, but some can. You should stick with those. Cerith snails are a good choice because of that.

 

[standingstill]

i just came back from my LFS. i bought some nassarius snails, cerith snails, a buch of hermit crabs, i also bought an emerald crab, but they only had one. does it need a mate, or is it just more efficient having 2? the one i got is quite large.

 

[dustin_P74]

it doesnt need anything to be with it, but the more the better because they are great cleaners

 

[Bifferwine]

No, it'll be fine alone. If it's a big one, then you may only need one.

 

[standingstill]

i have been feeding my tank with frozen food for a while now, my cousin told me that freeze dried blood worms are better? is this true, or should i mix the diet up a little bit keeping frozen food and bloodworms?

 

[dustin_P74]

stick to frozen

 

[Bifferwine]

Frozen is better. Freeze dried is okay too. Flakes and pellets are bad.

 

[yote]

You can get frozen bloodworms.Just mix a cube with some frozen mysis.

 

[standingstill]

the cerith snails i bought havent been doing much, they are very slow compared to other snails i've had and they all seem to migrate to the top of the glass and it looks like they are trying to escape because they are usually sitting above the water line, they are just barely keeping wet. i keep pushing them down but they just crawl back up. does anyone know why this is?
the nassarius snails i bought are tiny, do they grow fast?

 

[RyanG]

cerinths are GREAT snails IMO/IME, they are one of the few snails that you can see a clear trail behind when they are traveling.

 

[Bifferwine]

How did you acclimate your new snails, and for how long? Snails need extra special acclimation attention because they are more sensitive than other animals.

 

[standingstill]

i floated the bag for about a half hour and added a cup of water to the bag every 15 minuutes or so....i did this 3-4 times, i forget to be honest....the snails seem to be doing fine now....some still find there way to the top of the tank but they arent pulling themsleves right out of the water anymore.....they actually spend most of their time on t he live rock...which is why i got them, so im happy with them now. i'm still curious to know how quick nassarius snails grow? mine are so small right now and i used to have some a couple years ago that were at least 5 times the size.

 

[Bifferwine]

There are different kinds of nassarius snails. If you bought small ones, they will probably stay small forever. If you want big ones, you have to buy them big. They aren't the same species, as far as I know.