[stephcoyte]

Hi, This is my first post on the forum so I will attempt to give you all the details I can before outlining my problem.

Tank: 29gal, 7months old
Occupants: Sand base, Live Rock, 1x Coral Banded Shrimp, 2x Blue/Green Chromis, 2x Ocellaris Clownfish, 1x Yellowtail Damsel. 3x Meican Turbo Snails, 5x Cerith Snails, 2x Red tipped Dwarf Hermit Crabs, 3x Yellow tipped Dwarf Hermit Crabs, 3x Margarita Snails. 2x Colony Polyp groups, 1x Bullseye Mushroom, 1x Toadstool Mushroom Leather, 1x White Pom Pom Xenia, 1x Taro Tree, 1x Lemon Tree, 1x Glove Polyp.
Lights: LED Truelument Pro 24" Strip Lights; 1x Actinic Pacific Blue, 2x Marine Fusion 12,000K White & Actinic Blue
Flow: 2x MArineland Maxi-Jet 400 Power Heads with Laminar Flow setup. Used with Red Sea, Wavemaster Pro to give rolling short periodic waves.
PH: 8.2
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0
Calcium: 400ppm Ca2+
Phosphate: 0
Carbonate Hardness: 179ppm KH, 10 dKH
Temp: 78degrees
Water: RO
Salt: Instant Ocean
Underneath I also have a Skimmer and filter socks

Pictures are in my Album..

Now the Problems:
1. For the last 2 months I have a slow increase in string algae, mainly around my colony polyps and on the backs of my Turbo Snails. I have attached a pic. Im not sure how to remove this algae, I have read through other forum queries and most people seem to have this trouble during a cycle or with new tanks, which mine isn't, and all my parameters seem fine. Is this definitely Brown Sting Algae? How do I get rid of it?

2. I have had my Toadstool Leather for 5 weeks and have NEVER seen it extend out its polyps. It will extend its stalk during the day and get taller but nothing much happens on top. They only ever come out to the length seen in the picture. And in the last 2 weeks it has shown this white patching on its edging, seen in pic.
Any ideas?

 

[Geoff]

Welcome to TRT!!

:wavey:

it looks like you do not have enough flow. toadstools like a lot of flow to remove their waste products. the more flow helps to pull what little nutrients it can out of the very, very top layer of the substrate so that cyano can not have such an easy time.

why do you have your alk at 10? i would get that down to 7. the higher the alk the harder it is for those corals that are skeletal producing (hermatypic) to create new skeleton. if you are having a hard time keeping your alk up, then this points a nutrient problem. you need to be more aggressive with your detritus removal. when you do water changes do you siphon out detritus, or just change the water? water changes do very little for nutrient control unless detritus is removed.

if you have not seen it already, i would start reading through the Reefkeeping Made Easy thread. there is a link in my signature.

G~

 

[stephcoyte]

I was told to keep the alk between 8 and 12, I dropped it down from 15 to 10 and thought that was perfect.. but I can reduce it more if people think thats a good idea.

As far as detritus removal goes I think my system works fairly well but feel free to tell me if I'm wrong! I have an overflow which uses filter socks and a skimmer and I also turkey baster the rocks etc to add any particles to the water column and going into the overflow. and I have Cerith snails to help clean up the sand bed.

The trouble I have with increasing water flow over the front of the tank is it blows sand all over the place! I could move the toadstool up higher though and it wouldn't be bother by the light right?

 

[dirtycontour]

I'd look at your lighting. I don't know anything about these strip lights but a quick search didn't look promising.

 

[stephcoyte]

Please note, tank is a 29gal, don't know what caused me to write 55gal!

 

[Geoff]

snails and sand organisms do not clean the sand. they help in moving detritus deeper into the substate, but they do not clean it.

welcome to the problems of keeping super fine sand. it is very difficult to find a flow that is strong enough to support some of the corals we like to keep.

unless you have more light in your tank than the sun at the equator, the toadstool will be fine as high as you want it.

G~

 

[stephcoyte]

I have moved the toadstool and he is shedding now which is a good sign I guess.. Finally some action.
Does anyone have any opinion on the algae?

 

[Geoff]

it is good that the toadstool is shedding. it should start opening up again once the mucus has been shed.

as for the cyano. more flow. it is time to make a decision. either more flow, or change the substrate out for something that does not move around as much.

sometimes i really hate this hobby for the inconsistencies with the way it tries to help those just starting out. reef logic is zero logic a lot of the time.

if we know that detritus/poo is heavier than water, and falls to the bottom, then why is the lightest sand possible recommended on the bottom of our systems? then why would we think that because of this lightest sand is there, that the detritus does not build up into the sand? where else is it going to go? sorry, those are just some of the silliness that this hobby has been spewing out at people for years. unfortunately one must use a lot of logic when in SW when listening to advice from the LFS's and others. think through what someone is suggesting. if it does not make sense, then ask for clarification. if it still does not make sense, then find somebody else to get advice from.

G~