Screwgunner
Valuable Member
120 gallon system 14 fish mixed reef d.i.y. algea turf scubber with a 10x 5 screen light on both sides with 28 watt grow lights .
For those that do not do water changes how do you control algae?
- Thread starter Dav2996
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saltyfins
Well-Known Member
a couple of gallons?? wowTang gang, Turbos, Lawnmowers - the rest is a scam to get in your wallet (refugiums, ATS). I feed my tanks better than my kids (6 times a day) just to keep nitrates and phosphates up! You don't need that fancy crap, just get some live stock. Pack your tank with as much coral as you can afford early on so they consumer all those nutrients. Wish I could grow more algae to feed my CUC! All you need is a skimmer (I run mine 6 hrs a day only), filter pad, forget socks... and a couple gallons of Kalk at night. You'll be growin' SPS out the wazoo! Everything else is marketing, bruh! I'm lazy and that's all I do. This system started w/1 inch frags just over a year ago, 2 part balling (part c) with traces. I don't do water changes because I don't want to destabilize my system with things like Turkish Blend salt, etc... No fancy bs otherwise.
dvgyfresh
2500 Club Member
Nopox
DarkReefer
Well-Known Member
Been running no water changes for probably around a month maybe 2 now. Loving it so far. Things seem quite stable thankfully and I'm just fine tuning my dosing. I've been noticing more and more algae though on both the sand and the glass but I have very minimal CUC currently and trying to work out what to add to fix that issue also so I'm interested to see what people have done.
I do no water changes. Tanks doing good.
mcgallagherc
Active Member
I recently had a GHA bloom, I reduced white light and added a nice CUC and a few days later it was all gone. They went to town!!!!
One is a Space Invader pectinia and the other is some different type of pectinia.What's the coral at the 1minute mark you zoomed in on? I love your tank and all the torches growing out of a bottle is very unique haha
My 5g was covered in a forest of green (using a freshwater light will do that) so I added a Tang… two trochus, an emerald crab and a tuxedo urchin and that **** was ate up pretty quick.
Doesn’t have to be a Tang but some sort to clean up crew is important.
Doesn’t have to be a Tang but some sort to clean up crew is important.
I had a lot of GHA and bubble algae. A tang, 5 emerald crabs, some hermits, tons of snails, 2 urchins and a heck of a lot of manual removal did it. It hasn't come back since, but honestly if any tank has a problem with algae the best solution is to take as much out by hand. Nothing can compete with that except a balanced mature biome.
For reference I go about 2-4 months between water changes, give or take.
Ultimately the answer is some form of nutrient control. Any nutrients = some algae somewhere.
Refugium, carbon, gfo, etc. Won't stop growth but it will move it to manageable territory. And as nutrients stay stable and low enough, corals start growing faster and taking some of the stuff the algae would.
For reference I go about 2-4 months between water changes, give or take.
Ultimately the answer is some form of nutrient control. Any nutrients = some algae somewhere.
Refugium, carbon, gfo, etc. Won't stop growth but it will move it to manageable territory. And as nutrients stay stable and low enough, corals start growing faster and taking some of the stuff the algae would.
If the ATS clogs because you forget to harvest -- doesn't that count as an "algae issue?"
Using an ATS to keep algae out of your display is like confining a pre-housetrained puppy to a pen so it doesn't pee and poop all over the house.
Roli's Reef Ranch
Well-Known Member
Dry air here in Denver
I came back from 2 week vacation and my UAS was packed full. So rewarding taking it out!
I work at it with manual removal till coraline takes its place
DavidinGA
Active Member
If the ATS clogs because you forget to harvest -- doesn't that count as an "algae issue?"
Using an ATS to keep algae out of your display is like confining a pre-housetrained puppy to a pen so it doesn't pee and poop all over the house.
I think you need to reconsider your example. If only we could train algae like a puppy can be trained?
IMO keeping an ATS has no downsides. I run mine off my drain line and it uses a 13w LED so its cost to operate is next to nothing. Natural nutrient exportation at its best.
reeftankdude
Well-Known Member
Oops
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