Introduction and plea for help

[Trickster]

Understand I am not sayin do not have a skimmer, just not a 24/7 large skimmer. When/if you have like an anome die & turn to snot in your tank you need that skimmer (happened once)

Have chaeto & Pho reactor in sump w/lighting that offsets tank lighting. No trimming of chaeto = just enough food.

 

[d.french]

once chaeto gets growing to were your fuge is full you have to trim some out and let other grow back full and pull more out, that is purpose of chaeto in reef system. that and to have a place for pods to breed and hide from predators. No reason for a anenome to turn to snot unless your tank water is in bad shape or inadequate lighting.

 

[Trickster]

So true on the anenome it was in the early days of my tank (1st month) where the chaeto has been there for a year w/o overgrowing & is now full of baby bristle stars which eat the poop. I have cut back once but that was just to share some w/babies with a buddy. The pods have NO problem living between the mud & chaeto.

 

[Melonbob]

Heres my take at this point....

You gotta get that flow up in the tank, buy a couple more powerheads.

You need better filtration. A prizm in a 75 ain't gonna cut it. If you are on a budget, get a HOB Octopus 300 or 800 minimum. A deltec Mce600 would be even better.

Ditch the filter, when I was sumpless, I took everything out of my biowheel, the used media bags to run carbon to polish my water, and phosguard to take care of my phosphate levels. I know nitrates aren't as big a deal if you aren't keeping coral, but you would be better off to use the filter to run a phosphate remover.

Definately expand on your clean up crew. Get a ton of snails and hermits, emerald crab, they will keep your algae in check. Especially get some sort of sand sifter, I love nassarius snails, they boot around in the sand and keep it all nice looking.

 

[messiah023]

bioball = bad......my opinion.
Want high nitrates......get some bioballs.

 

[Oscarsdad608]

I am with Bobsmelon on this one.

 

[d.french]

look on craigslist in your local area sometimes you will get lucky and find equipment cheap cause economy going bad alot in our area getting out of hobby here near st. louis.

being a member of a saltwater club here in saint louis there is a ton of us around here we sell equipment or even give each other stuff, there are a dozen of us just in city were i live.

 

[yote]

I had two power heads I failed to mention, but both were pointing at the live rock. I've redirected their flow to create a whirlpool counter-current of my canister return. That created some turbidity in the upper water column but left the whirlpool action at the bottom of the tank. I'll see how that works. Thanks Bob.

Yote,

What type of GFO are you talking? I really don't want to set up a refugium for macro's. I was hoping the carbon in the canister would do a sufficient job. Would removing some of the filter media and replacing with carbon be beneficial?

Had to go all the way back to page one:D
You dont need a sump or refugium to run GFO.Its grainulated ferric oxide(basically rust),thats used for phosphate removal. Phos-Ban and Rowa-Phos are both GFOs.You use it in a media bag and just drop it into your canister filter.
And run a good a skimmer.You'll find 1 tank in a thousand that wont benefit from running a good skimmer 24/7. Trying to keep a tank without one,is like driving your car without an oil pump.Hard to get very far without it.

 

[Oscarsdad608]

If you run a good skimmer I don't see how you would go without it after the first time you clean the crap out of the cup. There is no way anyone can make me think that is better off in my tank.

 

[parrotchute]

A couple people mentioned water changes as a fix to add needed minerals/elements into the tank - if you are using RO/DI water, won't it be lacking in these materials?

 

[dustin_P74]

not once you add the salt that has all the essential elements you need

 

[d.french]

yes, but ro/di is for top off water when evaporates and when you do a water change make a new batch of saltwater by using ro/di and instant ocean salt the salt in bag contains all the elements. Sink water full of additives and phosphates, pure clean water is good the salt you use to make salt water has all the good stuff.

 

[simpleman]

Artificial SW mixes are fortified with trace minerals. My :twocents:, a remote DSB does wonders for keeping great parameters.

 

[parrotchute]

Gotcha, makes sense!