My ever coninuing questions thread...

Alright today I went up to wausau for the central wisconsin aquarium society's auction. I realized that after I got there that not a single member have saltwater... They said that I should join and try to get a saltwater following started. That would be cool, but they had their auction, with some CRAZY deals. I happened through an odd chain of events upon a 55 gallon tank for 9$. I figured I can clean it a bit and sell it on the LFS's little cork board where they let you post things for sale. I got a few small tanks to decide what I want to set up for a quarantine or anything, I got a 4 gallon and a 5 gallon. A cute little power filter for the small tank. and I bought a big cardboard box full of stuff. Got a 300 gph power head for my saltwater mixing garbage can and like 4 heaters in there. a whole box of random fish tank stuff for 5$... All in all a pretty good day, man I wish I had a 55 instead of a 50, it looks so much better with the extra 3 or 4 inches in height, but that would be way too much work switching everything over for the extra 5 gallons dont you guys think? Otherwise I can always just sell it off and make like 60-70$
 
I just cleaned out the 5 gallon all glass cute little aquarium, also my little hang on filter for it. Just plugged in the whisper filter on it too, man that box had like 3 filters, 3 heaters, 2 powerheads, only one which works... but it will be perfect for my saltwater garbage can. Is a light necessary for a quarantine tank do you guys think? I'm going to have to find a tiny little light for either the 4 or 5 gallon one. Anyone have any ideas what would be cool in one of these little tanks? It would fit nicely on my desk I think, I could use it mainly as a QT tank, but whatelse could it be used for in conjunction?
 
ALso, back to the hair algae subject in a different thread ive been asking about. I cut my lights back a few hours each day and its still multiplying like crazy, all my rocks are getting little fields of this crap on it. Would it be ok to cut my lights back to like 3 hours a day for a while and hopefully it clears up? or leave them off for a few days like someone suggested? Cause this crap is driving my CRAZY it looks so nasty having green gardens of slime growing on all my rocks, and my rock with the frogspawn on it that I love so much and is growing nicely is COVERED in that stupid algae. Will that hurt it at all? I tried pulling off some of the thicker stuff, but that didnt work too well...
 
Get a phosphate reactor for the algae if it's gotten that bad. Keep up with your water changes. You either have high nitrates or phosphates if you've got that much hair algae.
 
My nitrates tested next to nothing if not nothing the other day, so it must be phosphates. If I go buy some macro algae from the pet store tomorrow for my sump should that help with the problem? I was gunna get a nice chunk of live rock that had like 3 or more types of plants growing on it for my sump and a little hang on 18w T5 light with atinics and 10k's in it. The guy wants 30 for the light, which isnt bad, its a cool little light that will fit perfectely on my little sump. and he said 40$ on the algae would be a steal... Is that true? hes the only one ive found macro algae for sale from.
 
Macro algae will help. Go on Ebay, look up Chaetomorpha. I ordered a bag of cheato (which is the best macro algae for a sump/fuge) for $5 off of Ebay and it's spread large enough to fill a 20 gallon tank now.
 
Alright, yeah that is the stuff that is mainly on the rock that he said was the good algae to have. And it sounded familiar from what I've read on this forum. I might go down there to buy that light for my sump that fit nicely and see if I can bargain with him on a piece of that cheato algae that isnt on that rock with all the other kinds. If not ill grab some off ebay.
 
Maybe I was thinking of some other kind of algae, after seeing pictures of that chaeto it doesnt look like the stuff that the LFS guy offered for 40$. I found a few auctions for 7+ like 5 shipping, ill see what the guy will do tomorrow so I can get it in hand right away and not wait 3 days if he has a reasonable price on it.
 
Chaeto doesn't grow on rocks. So if it's attached to a rock, it's not chaeto. Probably caulerpa. Chaeto looks like a ball of green spaghetti or string, and it is just free-floating in the water column.

Be careful about buying a rock with multiple types of algae on it. There are very few GOOD algaes. If there's a rock with many types of algae on it, I'm willing to bet that half of them are nuisance algaes and he's just trying to get your money.
 
Lol, good point. One of the main algaes on it was a thicker green stemmed stuff, kind of looked more like a house plant, I just found it when I googled macroalgae its called Halimeda and that was the stuff on the rock I was thinking of. Apparently it uses calcium to grow, so that would be a bad thing for a reef tank im pretty sure?
I'll look into getting some chaeto tomorrow and hopefully it will clear up this algae problem.
 
Halimeda is okay for a fuge.Yes it uses calcium but it still a good algae to have in a fuge.I like Chaeto,shaving brush and even halimeda because all of them do well whatever the flow rate through the fuge is.Avoid caulerpa at all cost.
 
wow, with all the money you have spent in the recent past since starting this thread, you could have upgraded to a 90 gallon tank for sure, if not bigger!

-Dr Marco :sfish:
 
I could have gotten a lot bigger tank, the tank isnt that expensive, foster and smith has brand new 180's for 400$, I overpaid for my used tank and stand and could have added the extra 200$ and gotten a 180 and stand if I would have shopped around. I doubt Id find a used one around here though... its all the stuff to get it up and running and other equip, skimmer, pumps, powerheads, lighting, overflow, RO filter... I think I'm finally set now, ive got all that and I finally got some cheap stuff for my salt mixing bucket, finally got a powerhead in there to circulate the water and i've got like 5 heaters now, all which have condensation and corroding inside of them except 1 small one that I was gunna use for the QT tank, but what do you expect when you get a huge box of stuff for 5$... at least I got a working powerhead, QT filter, and a working QT heater out if it...
 
Its the stand that really cost you.Mine was twice the price of tank alone.

Be careful with those use equipment.You don't want to electrocute the fish.
 
Yeah Ive got the 2 little tanks set up down stairs in the kitchen full of water seeing if any leak, and the one little heater and filter running all night to see how well they work. I'm going to have to drop the few $ and get a decent operating heater for my salt water bucket I think. I dont feel like being electrocuted when I reach in to get a bucket, or burning down the house..
And yeah the stand was the expensive part of my tank too, I paid 75 for my tank and filters and hoods and stuff, and the stand was marked at 185, he said he would come down to 170, but all in all in the end my bill was only 100$ more than it was with everything else after adding the stand, so still the stand was 25$ more than my tank. and at foster and smith they have that 180g for 400$ new and a new stand for 200.
 
When your bubble algae gets to the point where you can't stand it you'll probably end up shutting the lights off for 3 days or so. That will definitely work, I speak from experience on this one. The only problem with it is that your clam will die pretty darn fast. Just a warning. Get some good RO water changes in there and make it part of your routine maintenance (twice a month). UV steralizers are a waste in my opinion. I'm still a newb but I don't think my last one did a single thing. Follow BifferWine's advice, she know's this shit damn good. So does Reef, Doc and Yote. These people are first class all the way. And really, don't buy any more gadgets. My saltwater tanks have tought me a much needed lesson in patience. I hate to see you going down the same frustrating road I did.
 
Hmmm I took a look at the clam photos... I'm not sure if that's bubble algae or just air bubbles from other types of algae respiring. Either way, you've got algae! Yay! Care to join the AFT (Algae Filled Tank) Club now?
 

Similar threads

Mike
  • Sticky
New Member (Owner 😲)
Replies
0
Views
912
Mike
Mike
Mike
We're Back!
Replies
0
Views
1K
Mike
Mike
Mike
Software Updated
Replies
0
Views
487
Mike
Mike
F
New to marine.
Replies
2
Views
2K
kbuser92
kbuser92
Sashimi
75G LPS 2.0
Replies
2
Views
2K
Sashimi
Sashimi
Back
Top