BrittneyC
Active Member
Going to be completely honest here in hopes for help and not too harsh of criticism
I have a 9 1/2 month old FOWLR predator tank I started with 1/3 aquacultered live rock, 2/3 dry rock and live sand.
I have a skimmer that runs 24/7 that is rated for a heavy bio load on the size tank I have, I run carbon that I change every few months, probably way more bio media than I need in the refugium that also has cheato. I do a 10-12% water change every 7-10 days that also includes vacuuming the sand bed. I have one 4" filter sock that gets changed once weekly if I am being honest- I know I need to do it more frequently but things have been really busy lately.
My chaeto has pretty much stayed the same size since I added it to the tank 6 months ago. I have never had to remove any due to growth. My skimmer is maybe 1/4 full when I empty it once a month. Admittedly I have not tested parameters very often at all after the initial cycle (waited a full 3 months for maturity before adding anything) and first couple months after adding the tank occupants and when I do it is just the basics- ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH.
My nitrates on the API test read between 5-10 and I have never tested for phosphates.
Because its a predator tank there isn't much for a CUC they get eaten often and have to be replaced.
I have been fairly successful, I think, in terms of issues with this tank. After we got through diatoms in the initial cycle stage we haven't had any real issues with nuisance algae. I rarely even get a film algae on the front and sides of the glass and can usually just get away with cleaning it once a week during water changes. I started noticing about two weeks ago that the back glass was getting a thicker brown film on it more so than usual (but still not what I would call bad) but didn't think much of it and figured it was probably due to excess silicates in the water. We use a local watermill that sells RODI water and thought maybe the filters there were needing to be changed or something along those lines. After last weeks water change and sand cleaning I noticed it was a day or two later that the sand was starting to get a brown/green color on it and one ledge on one rock started to have brown stringy algae forming with some air bubbles attached to it.
I would like to get this under control before it takes over the tank but not sure how to proceed first. Google was a bit overwhelming and quite frankly scared the daylights out of me. I am not handy with plumbing and do not feel comfortable trying to plumb a UV light but could try one of the ones that sits in the sump. I was debating on turning my skimmer off, upping my photo from 3X a week to more often, feed the few hermits and serpent star a little more, and maybe go to every other week water changes? And use a turkey baster to try and suck the dinos from the rock? I also just bought some 10 micron filter socks on Amazon that should be here tomorrow to start using- should these be changed out daily?
I have a 9 1/2 month old FOWLR predator tank I started with 1/3 aquacultered live rock, 2/3 dry rock and live sand.
I have a skimmer that runs 24/7 that is rated for a heavy bio load on the size tank I have, I run carbon that I change every few months, probably way more bio media than I need in the refugium that also has cheato. I do a 10-12% water change every 7-10 days that also includes vacuuming the sand bed. I have one 4" filter sock that gets changed once weekly if I am being honest- I know I need to do it more frequently but things have been really busy lately.
My chaeto has pretty much stayed the same size since I added it to the tank 6 months ago. I have never had to remove any due to growth. My skimmer is maybe 1/4 full when I empty it once a month. Admittedly I have not tested parameters very often at all after the initial cycle (waited a full 3 months for maturity before adding anything) and first couple months after adding the tank occupants and when I do it is just the basics- ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH.
My nitrates on the API test read between 5-10 and I have never tested for phosphates.
Because its a predator tank there isn't much for a CUC they get eaten often and have to be replaced.
I have been fairly successful, I think, in terms of issues with this tank. After we got through diatoms in the initial cycle stage we haven't had any real issues with nuisance algae. I rarely even get a film algae on the front and sides of the glass and can usually just get away with cleaning it once a week during water changes. I started noticing about two weeks ago that the back glass was getting a thicker brown film on it more so than usual (but still not what I would call bad) but didn't think much of it and figured it was probably due to excess silicates in the water. We use a local watermill that sells RODI water and thought maybe the filters there were needing to be changed or something along those lines. After last weeks water change and sand cleaning I noticed it was a day or two later that the sand was starting to get a brown/green color on it and one ledge on one rock started to have brown stringy algae forming with some air bubbles attached to it.
I would like to get this under control before it takes over the tank but not sure how to proceed first. Google was a bit overwhelming and quite frankly scared the daylights out of me. I am not handy with plumbing and do not feel comfortable trying to plumb a UV light but could try one of the ones that sits in the sump. I was debating on turning my skimmer off, upping my photo from 3X a week to more often, feed the few hermits and serpent star a little more, and maybe go to every other week water changes? And use a turkey baster to try and suck the dinos from the rock? I also just bought some 10 micron filter socks on Amazon that should be here tomorrow to start using- should these be changed out daily?
