Myka vs Valonia Round 672

[mike31154]

Yes, it's a beast alright. One reason I was never that fond of the Remora set up. Sounds like Okguy has it figured out though. I recall seeing his set up when I purchased a couple of coral frags from him. I didn't even notice the Remora on his tank, that's how nicely camouflaged it was. Quiet too. I didn't find out about the Remora 'silencing' mods until after I cracked it and removed it.

[Myka]

Originally Posted by mike31154

Yes, it's a beast alright. One reason I was never that fond of the Remora set up. Sounds like Okguy has it figured out though. I recall seeing his set up when I purchased a couple of coral frags from him. I didn't even notice the Remora on his tank, that's how nicely camouflaged it was. Quiet too. I didn't find out about the Remora 'silencing' mods until after I cracked it and removed it.

Silencing mods?? Now you have my attention!! That Mag 3 is horrendously loud! Oh well, I'm going back to work out of province tomorrow, so it can be loud all it wants.

[mike31154]

The silencing mod is for the injector compartment. If it's the Mag pump itself making noise I don't have a fix for that. The impeller is only a few months old. Do you have a rigid line connecting the pump to the skimmer or flexible vinyl? Vinyl would help reduce pump vibration/noise.

[Myka]

It's not the pump, it's the injector. I will have to Google some silencing mods on my next days off (Christmas).

[mike31154]

From what I can recall the injector silencing mods are quite simple/straightforward. You simply cut a piece of foam or something in the shape of the injector compartment and slip the assembly in there to muffle the sound.

[mike31154]

Getting a little off topic for the thread subject, but here's a link to some pretty good Remora C mods:

http://www.bostonreefers.org/forums/...ghlight=remora

[Oscar]

Originally Posted by Delphinus

FWIW .. I am dealing with a TERRIBLE valonia infestation in my 20g right now. What seems to have stemmed the tide is an introduction of 3 or 4 emerald crabs and a green urchin.

I am still battling hair algae and some pockets of valonia. The display portion of my tank is about 25G. I added one emerald crab about 4 weeks ago. He has doubled in size since then but I have not noticed him eating valonia yet, that was the job he was hired for. Maybe I will add another emerald crab.


But I do have two urchins who look like this:




They keep the algae to a minimum on the back side of the rocks but rarely come to the front where the algae is the worst. Maybe if they get hungry enough or I keep the lights off for a few days they will work on the front of the rocks.

I have peeled a few of the larger algae bubbles off by hand.

I am thinking of getting a sea hare to help out with the hair algae, I have read somewhere that some people have seen them eat valonia as well.

[Myka]

Thanks for the links Mike, I will take a look!

Originally Posted by Oscar

I am thinking of getting a sea hare to help out with the hair algae, I have read somewhere that some people have seen them eat valonia as well.

Your rocks look like they have a lot of detritus settled on them. Do you blow them off with a turkey baster? I find that is a key part of battling hair algae. Although I don't see any hair algae in the photo of your Pencil Urchin. You should be able to get rid of the hair algae without getting a Sea Hare. Have you read the Guide in my signature?

[Myka]

UPDATE:

I know I have talked about this on other threads, but figured I would record it here too as the battle continues...

So I have made a couple dramatic changes to my tank in the last 6 weeks, and have noticed a huge DECREASE in Valonia!

I changed my lighting to 2x250w DE MH. It currently has crappy Coralife 10000K bulbs that it came with, and crappy reflectors. That's ok because I don't want too much PAR, or my LPS will get roasted. I started the lighting slowly with two 1 hour spurts, eventually getting to two 2 hour spurts, and then going to one 4 hours spurt this was over the course of 3 weeks. That was too much and a couple corals started bleaching, I've knocked it back down to two 2 hour periods.

The other thing I changed was I started some Zeo additives. I bought the Zeo Nano Power package. The Pohl's Xtra and the Amino Acid LPS ran out after only 10 days, but I am carrying on with daily dosing (1 drop per day) of the Coral Vitalizer and the Sponge Power.

Now, I don't know if it's these changes or something else going on, but there sure is a HUGE difference in the Valonia. Worth a shot for anyone else giving it a try. I know from talking to a few people using the full Zeo system that Valonia was the last algae to disappear. So that's why I figured I would give the Nano pack a shot.

OR

Maybe the change on bulb Kelvin I made in December (I think it was?) when I was just running T5s finally did the trick? Or maybe the Emerald Crabs finally caught up? Or maybe the Kole Tang has actually been doing some trimming? I have no idea really...all I know is that SOMETHING is working!

[saltyrigger]

The reef shoppe in Lloydminster has emerald crabs