im starting to show signs of hair algae

EVIL......EVIIIIIILLLLLL

:grumble:
must you show off MUST YOU

Sorry about that. I was only teasing a bit, and showing that maybe phosguard isn't really bad. In all seriousness, there are so many ways to make a tank work. There are a few absolutes, like... don't put a shark in a 55 gallon tank, but much of what we do with our tanks is our preference. On my tank, I have no sump, no skimmer, and no fuge. Seems to work OK. Once you get the basics down, there is just a lot of freedom with this hobby. It all depends on what kind of set up you want and what livestock you want to keep. I will stop showing off.... :mrgreen:

-Doc
 
Sorry about that. I was only teasing a bit, and showing that maybe phosguard isn't really bad. In all seriousness, there are so many ways to make a tank work. There are a few absolutes, like... don't put a shark in a 55 gallon tank, but much of what we do with our tanks is our preference. On my tank, I have no sump, no skimmer, and no fuge. Seems to work OK. Once you get the basics down, there is just a lot of freedom with this hobby. It all depends on what kind of set up you want and what livestock you want to keep. I will stop showing off.... :mrgreen:

-Doc
WAIT WHAt:shock: no shark in a 55 a damb yet another one goes back SOAB:frustrat::mrgreen:

wow no skimmer or refuge


um just outof curiosity do i really need a refuge
i know i know just cause it works for doc doesnt mean itll will work for me

but honestly i have been running sump/fuge less for about 3 days now and my fish seem to be ok corals are still doing good no change really


(3 days since i took out sump ,then had the pump burn up on me then couldnt find a good HIGH flow pump and now tonight its still just well sitting their)so tommorow 3/27will be 4 days

or maybe cause 3 days really isnt that much

how much LR you have doc
 
even tho I have fear of getting beaten down by Biff and getting more "blah, blah, blah's" I will try to answer your questions.

I have about 100 lbs of LR.

I don't know if a fuge is worth the money or effort. I don't have one on any of my tanks. I know some people swear by them, but I know it can be done without one. The real trick is having enough LR for your main biological filtration. I just added a few more fish, so I will be adding another 25 lbs of LR to try to keep up with the bioload. The only limitation I have is the umber of fish I can have. The harder you push your bioload, the more you need a skimmer to get rid of the crap. I also religiously do weekly water changes and keep an eye on parameters.

I run 2 HOB filters, each rated for 75 gallons, so I have overkill there. I tossed out the crappy filter bag they try to sell you in those HOB filters and replaced them with media bags of carbon on one side and phosguard in the other. Both filters are the same. I also wash out the black sponge insert which acts as physical filtration, weekly. That is it. Hope that helped.

-Doc
 
It is not wise to use any thing unneeded continously on a continous basis. Use chemicals, and things introduced from outside a marine environment in general only in moderation and only as you need them. Whether aluminun based or ferric iron based, or carbon or zeolite. All have possible reasons not to be used continously. The major one is that by being dependant on a lazy fix we are avoiding solving the real cause of the problem which should be eliminated or controled not whisked away, hopefully safely.
I smoke cigarettes for twenty years daily without contracting lung cancer, but I do not recommend others smoke.
I did drugs daily for decades and found intravenous drug use at fifteen, and only quit 17 years ago and I did not contract aids, but I do not suggest others do drugs through a needle or any other way.
 
Phosgard is an aluminum based media that has the potential to leech aluminum back into the water which has been shown to damage coral in small quantities. Phosgard hasn't been proven as leeching anything into the tank, but there are those that say it has the potential and could harm coral. But the real reason that most don't use aluminum based phosphate removers is because they aren't as capable as ferric oxide phosphate removers.

Most tanks seem to go through an algae bloom in the beginning and then things settle down. Dissolved organics are probably not your problem, but phosphates might be. Phosphates are necessary for algae growth, so eliminate them and you shouldn't have any problems.

fat man- Do you use zeolite/zeolith/zeovit? I lurk on zeovit.com and am always looking for straight answers on peoples results with the stuff. Oh and did you get the PM that I sent you?
 
I do not use zeolite. I do not even use phosphate remover or carbon routinely. I use PhosPure when I add any live rock or sand to a tank, during a live rock curing or tank cycling I run Phospure throughout the curing or cycling. I only use carbon for water clarity and I only determine that need based on the use of a Lux meter which I use weekly. I run refugiums and do twice weekly water changes of 5 percent of each systems water volume. I generally only need carbon two or three times a year after adding new sand to replace that dissolved or after a really heavy fragging session. I however am not in general a mixer of fish and coral so do not in general have the discolored water problems that effect most keepers of a heavy fish bioload. I run only mother colony display tanks (one of my own) and frag tanks (4 of my own). I occasioanally keep gobies in the my mother colony display tank, and have several customers who keep smaller fish with their corals. I maintain only one FOWLR tank for a woman I first set up a tank for 33 years ago. She is now to old and physically disabled to maintain her own tank. I can give an opinion on zeolite but it would be based on its use in the environmental engineering applications not aquariums. Whe I set up a tank with fish it is usually fish not recommended to be kept with corals such as: Large fish, Lionfish, Moral eels and fish that eat corals like Butterflies and Clown Trigger fish.
 
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Are you testing the clarity of the water with the Lux meter? What do your phosphates normally run at and what do you use to test them. I'm curious because I have not been getting as solid of colors, but the same growth since I have started running rowaphos more consistently. I use a Hanna meter for the phosphates and they are normally .01 -.02. I have heard that having phosphates closer to the .05 mark can improve color as phosphates that are very low, near .00 aren't as good. Also, what do you feed your coral and how much for the water volume? Are the frag tanks SPS? Sorry if I am asking a lot of questions, but you seem to have a wealth of knowledge and I would love to tap into it.
 
Are you testing the clarity of the water with the Lux meter?
The mount of change of light received atth lux mteris directly proportionalto the tank clarity when taken frequently at the same tanklocation. No other tank parameters are changing as the water level, salinity and circulatiom patterns are unchanged, and that only leaves the water clarity and particulates to block the light.
What do your phosphates normally run at and what do you use to test them.
I use a hanna meter with reagents from the local college as they are never more than six months old. I also use the photo meter at the college.
I'm curious because I have not been getting as solid of colors, but the same growth since I have started running rowaphos more consistently. I use a Hanna meter for the phosphates and they are normally .01 -.02. I have heard that having phosphates closer to the .05 mark can improve color as phosphates that are very low, near .00 aren't as good.
Also, what do you feed your coral and how much for the water volume?

Phosphates
I usually am happy with maintaining phosphate at 0.4 +/- 0.1. I run refugiums with 6 inch deep sand beds and colony tanks with 6 inch deep sand beds. I use 1 pound per gallon system holding in live rock for the colony display tank and half that for the frag tanks. I run circulation in excess of 50 X. I feed real heavily nightly, and feed just live home cultured food. To my colony tank I feed 1 pint of phytoplankton, ½ gram brine shrimp naupli (hatched from decapsulated cysts), and 1/2 gram rotifers. I now feed the brine shrimp Selcon and a purchased prepared powdered food. I used to feed a ground up mash of different grocery store sea products, Cyclopeze, Selcon, but switched over in the last four/five months to live cultured foods. I feed two hours after the main display lights go out (in the dark). I shut down two pumps for thirty minutes and only run the one pump that feeds the sump/refugium. The skimmers are also turned off during that 30 minutes. I run two Turboflotor 100 skimmers in the skimmer of my mother colony tank. My frag systems run total water for each system around 300 to 350 gallons. The frag tanks are mostly 55 gallon tanks and each of the two frag systems has a 120 gallon refugium tank which holds 150 pounds of live rock and a deep sand bed and two skimmers. I have less phosphate fluctuation now with live foods. However I also do a 5 gallon water change twice a week on the colony tank and a 22.5 gallon change on each of the frag systems twice per week. This size is also dependant on the fact that I use a 55 gallon tank for mixing the water and I fill it up short of the rim. I tried dropping the phosphates down lower through heavy use of ferric oxide and found my water borne micro algae increased and my coral color was muddier in my colony tank (250 watt HQI 10000K halides with actinic PC’s). My frag tanks are 6500K bulbs 150 watt HQI with PC actinics and there colors are harder to judge in the orange light. I do not recommend supplemental feeding to persons with only a dozen or so small stoney corals as you have to feed a tank pretty heavily to get enough food to the corals whether you have a large or small number of corals. Heavy feeding requires heavy skimming with heavy circulation (which very few reefers have) to clean out the excess food. I also use ozone fed into my skimmers only, and I do not filter the skimmers water return with carbon because of the ozone. I do use ozone controllers and have them set down at 350 mV.
Are the frag tanks SPS?
Yes they are SPS with just a few LPS snuck in occasionally.
Sorry if I am asking a lot of questions, but you seem to have a wealth of knowledge and I would love to tap into it.

I like to answer questions!:bounce:
 
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