Nice to join.

[rusty57]

Hello, my name is Hector. I live in Bakersfield California. I have been taking care of aquariums in one way or another for over 30 years. I started with fresh and am now doing saltwater. I have a ton of questions and am eager to learn as much about the hobby as possible. I recently purchased a 100 gallon acrylic tank with a refugium (Spelling?) type sump. I have a protein skimmer and some plants in the media area of the sump. I have one power head opposite of the return tubes. I currently have fish and a few soft corals. I'll post pictures so you guys can help me tune the tank and enjoy the hobby. I have two Vega Sol lights but will probably purchase another. My biggest issue right now is evaporation. I have a small LED light on the sump and a small clip on fan. The top of the tank is sealed with two acrylic access panels. I am considering getting a chiller due to the volume of evaporation. I just purchased (today) a RO DI filter system so I can top off with RO water and make my own salt water at home. Well, here are a couple pictures. Any questions and comments welcomed. Glad to be here.

 

[mariobrothersleeve]

Hello and welcome to the site. Everyone here is to help and feel free to ask anything.

 

[ErinCahir]

Hello and welcome!!

 

[little_fish]

Hello and Welcome!

Your tank looks very nice! Evaporation is just part of the hobby, and the bigger the tank the more evaporation you are going to have. I would highly suggest uncovering the top of your tank, the cover with cut the light that can reach your corals, it holds in more heat and you greatly reduce the amount of oxygen in your water.

 

[rusty57]

Should I just remove the two access lids? It's an acrylic tank built with a sealed top? I have RO top off water now, so I can deal with a little evaporation. Perhaps it's time to re-think that chiller. I appreciate any advice and will look into ways to open up the top.

 

[rusty57]

I just treated the tank for the cyanobacteria. I'm glad I got the RO unit when I did. I hope this is the last episode of this. It just got started on my sand bed so hopefully I got to it in time.

 

[Becky]

Welcome aboard! :wave:

 

[Sidekick41]

Welcome. It would make some sense that the coller your water the less evaporation you will have and I'm sure that tank cover is holding in some heat. How's the wapter temp?

 

[rusty57]

The water temperature ranges between 76 and 78 degrees. I treated the tank this morning with Chemi-pure algae remover. In 48 hours or so, i'll do a major water change. I also changed the flow of the currents in the tank. There was a dead spot or two. I may need another power head in there. I really hope to get this under control sooner than later.

 

[little_fish]

You should remove the cover, it will make your tank healthier. Also that is a good temp range for a tank, you dont need a chiller at all. In fact I would increase the setting on your heater to keep the temp more stable at 78.

Also, chemi-pure is actually an antibiotic and we dont suggest using it, because the cyano that survives the treatment will be more resistant to any treatments in the future. The single best way to deal with cyano is to starve it out with water changes, minimal feeding, understocking the tank and lots and lots of flow. If you dont deal with why you have cyano growing in the first place, it will just come back.

 

[rusty57]

I have limited my feeding. I also will increase the flow via an additional power head. I changed the direction of my existing return tubes and power head to get better coverage.I will do my water changes every week religiously.

 

[Sidekick41]

I was doing just weekly water changes and had the same problem. But what I wasn't doing was cleaning the filter thing on my return pump in my sump, lighting blowing out the shuff in my live rock and lightly stirring up my sand. Once I started doing that in additional changing my power head position I haven't had any problems. Oh I stopped using pellets and started rinsing my mysis before feeding.

 

[rusty57]

It's not going away!!! I'll change the water tomorrow or later tonight. I'll add a power head today and clean the pre-return pump filter.

 

[Sidekick41]

I couldn't get rid of mine either no matter how much I tried. Do you have a good protein skimmer? I didn't have a good one when mine started. Since then I have gotten a nice skimmer. Right after I got a protein skimmer, I treated with Chemi-Clean. Worked awesome. That comment will get me in all kind of trouble around here though.