I am growing out a small clown trigger in a 55, and eventually plan to move it to a 150 gallon specimen tank. Here's the rub, it's growing FAST and is just in with live rock, which is getting coated quickly with hair algae. Obviously snails and hermit crabs are out of the question, so what do people use to keep algae to a minimum?
your fingers (to pull the hair algae) and a lot of patience
getting rid of the source would be best so check all of your levels, especially phosphates and nitrates. you can also reduce your light cycle to help control its growth.
hav u tried a sea hare.. they are not too much of a beautiful creature. but some of my reef friends said they are great at fighting hair algae. its up to u to try it out..
Phosphates and nitrates stay at zero (granted I'm using API liquid test kits which can't be terribly accurate). It wouldn't surprise me if they are zero, though because of the algae. I use DI water for my salt mix, but I think the issue is this ever hungry fish that's also a messy eater. Lots of waste going in there. I have a really nice protein skimmer on my reef that's not working too hard where it is... maybe I'll move it over to the fish tank for a month and see how they each do.
I know some people are anti-skimming on reef tanks these days...
As for the sea hare, you don't think the trigger would eat it immeadiately?
omg im so sorry. i was in a hurry out i didnt read its a trigger tank. oh well i just got home. bought a red monti from a local hobbyist. i came at around 10pm pacific time.. late nite shopping but the coral is gorgeous. 6 inches in diameter. i just put it in. now imma go back and observe.. pix coming.. bye bye
Maybe increase the flow or create a multi-directional flow pattern to keep more dirt in the water column to be removed by... you guessed it... that skimmer on your other tank. Eliminate the dead spots.
Ya, I think dramatically increasing your flow to keep all the detrius in suspension, so that it can make it to the skimmer, and adding an external powerfilter or trickle filter will help eliminate some more of the waste
__________________ 75 Gallon Mixed Reef
29 Gallon Sump
40 Gallon Refugium
ASM G2 Skimmer
2 x Coralife 150 HQI 10000K Lamps
Panworld 200 PS Return Pump
1 x Yellow Tang
1 x Orchid Dottyback
2 x Ocellaris Clown iagram.com
It's running on an oversized wet/dry and an AquaClear 500 for mechanical filtration. The AC is great because I can clean that giant sponge out every few days (and it needs it!)
As for buying the 150 now, the fish was about an inch when I got it (the smallest clown I've ever seen in captivity), and in about 7 weeks, it's already 3 inches. Every water change I do, I'm replacing water from my reef's water change (which has no algae problems except coraline). I hate to "waste" that water, but perhaps I should mix fresh for this tank too.
The skimmer would have a much "harder job" on this tank, but it frightens me to think about leaving my reef unskimmed...
I didn't realize you didn't have a skimmer on the trigger tank. I think you should invest in one, and it would make a huge difference. New saltwater seems like a good idea as well.
__________________ 75 Gallon Mixed Reef
29 Gallon Sump
40 Gallon Refugium
ASM G2 Skimmer
2 x Coralife 150 HQI 10000K Lamps
Panworld 200 PS Return Pump
1 x Yellow Tang
1 x Orchid Dottyback
2 x Ocellaris Clown iagram.com
the wet/dry filter is probably producing excess nitrates that are feeding the hair algae, they are notorious for being nitrate producers, and with out a skimmer or other bio filtration, it doesn't look like your system can process them..
i say, get a skimmer, drop the wet/dry (keep the AC if you want, just keep it clean) increase water flow, and water changes, give it about 4-6 weeks then re-evaluate
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