Ska's 28 Macro Algae Display

[skabooya]

So you think my tunze 9002 isint good enough? Maybe I need a bigger one ?

[skabooya]

So I purchased a coralive turbo twist UV steralizer to help with my green water problem that wont seem to go away no matter what i do. Its been 8 days since the install and wow what a difference. I can see into the tank easily now. The water is still a bit cloudy so im going to leave the UVS on for another week at least until the tank is crystal then take it off and see how it goes.
Most of my macro algae is dead and you know what... thats ok. Im thinking that im not going to force my tank any which way anymore. If it does not want to be a macro algae tank then it wont be. I will focus on what does well in my tank.
My candycane coral is beautiful and has split a lot. I was quite surprised. My rics are doing beautifully as well as my mushrooms. One of my rhodactus mushrooms split and i now have 2 of them. YAY!
My zoas are doing good although some have completely dissipeared. The rocks they were on, everything gone. I cant find them anywhere.

This year i will only be able to put in one coral order. We are now living on one paycheck. My mat leave is over, and i have no job to go back to anymore. I am a teacher and requested that when i am called for subbing that i be called at least a day in advance so i can find a baby sitter. The response to that was that i will not be called very often then. As it is my other substitute teacher friends have told me that they have not been called very much either. To top it all off one of the schools will be closing which puts more teachers out of work and me lower on the seniority list thus giving me less chance of getting called in for a job.
My husbands paycheck has been reduced by 20% for sobattical leave in 2 years for a family reunion in Newfoundland.

My tank is going to grow very slowly it seems lol
I am going to focus on easy care coral like softies.
I am going to try for a collection of different xenia, zoas, mushrooms, rics and yumas. Any macroalgae that mixes in there is fine by me. I love cloves and gorgs but it seems like they dont enjoy my tank.

Hopefully a job will come up for me and life will be easier. We have a lot of renos that NEED to get done. Plus a new little person here with us that demands certain things.

Oh well, life goes on and a clear tank with growing corals is very comforting And my little man (my son Logan) Loves to stare at the tank and talk to the fish.

[skabooya]

Tank is beautifully clear now. However im fighting off cyano. Blah. Looks kind of like red hair algae thats easy to remove.
Ive been spot siphoning daily and adding coral snow daily as well. So far Im not making a dent. It just keeps comming back. Any other suggestions?

Photoperiod is 12hrs with 2x39w T5HO. Should I reduce it?
any other options??

[Carrera75]

Try Boyd Chemi-Clean. It has always worked for me with no side effects.

http://www.jlaquatics.com/product/bd...allons%29.html

[whatcaneyedo]

12 hours sounds pretty excessive if both of them on are on for that amount of time. I'd cut back. Also, how old are the bulbs? I always get cyano when my bulbs have exceeded their useful life. There are a lot of threads on this site about cyano problems. Have a look and I'm sure you'll find your solution.

[skabooya]

My bulbs are almost a year old so im thinking that is more than likely the problem because ive never had this problem before. Ive read a bunch of threads about cyano and mine seems to be the low nutrient loving cyano that looks like hair algae but very whispy and pink/brown. Its very easy to remove manually. Coral snow isint doing a thing to it. Im going to try dosing it at night when the lights are out.
Im putting the lights back a few hours too.
Im going to order new bulbs soon as well.
At least my corals are looking FAB now. Im in love with them.
I was reading somewhere that it helps if your rock is 60% covered with coral. hmmmm well im putting in 1 coral order soon with Carrera75

I dont want to add anymore chemicals to my tank after my last experience with it. My tank went green for months. Its only clear now because of UVS i got from thegrizz.
Adding anything will be an absolute last resort.

[skabooya]

*sigh* Life sucks sometimes.
First my dad passes away suddenly from lung cancer July 6, 2009. 7 months later my grandpa (Vavo) that helped raise me passes away from diabetes (kidney failure). My uncle passed away this valentines day from a sudden heart attack and brain anurism (the doctors know both happened at about the same time) and now my grandma (Vavo) whom i was very close too and also helped raise me is in the hospital dying. Her heart is very weak and they are expecting heart failure.

I feel horrible for my mom. Her husband dies, then her father and now her mother is going to go all within the span of 3 years. I cant take this anymore. So many emotions and family politics.
My familys history is all leaving us faster than we would have liked. There is still so much more i want to learn from my Vavo. She was supposted to teach me how to make octopus stew on the weekend Im the one carrying on the portuguese way. Its just my mom and me doing it. No one else in the family is or wants to carry it on.

Im so lost.

[skabooya]

Tank update. I did take a pic of my nice clean and clear tank but i havent uploaded any pics from my camera since valentines day. The family has been in a bit of turmoil.

I decided to pull up some of my grape calpura from the sandbed and a big plume of green mushroomed into the water column. greeeaaat.
So guess what. Green water once again. I pluged in the UVS and after a few days i saw the water slowly get worse... hmmm
I checked the light and found the uv light wasent working. I had to tinker with it a bit and i found that its very tempermental. I moved the uvs to the back of my tank so its not im my direct view. Its working now but its going to be at least a week before my tank clears up again.
This time im seariously considering leaving it on and i will just replace the bulb every year.
Now however i need to put in a background to hide that ugly piece of equiptment. I really liked my grey wall neutral background. Now i dont know what to put there. It needs to be paper thin. I know i dont want blue. Black is okay and is usually my default but i wanted a clean look.
White may be too white. Maybe mirror paper?

Any suggestions?

Im still looking to add more macro algae this time i dont care what kinds, calcium suckers or not im dosing calcium weekly and params are stable.
Ive started dosing KNO3 again to get my macros up to their former glory. I wish i could try red gracillera again (long stringy and bush like... kind of purple) I loved it. The sargassum was awsome too but i dont think i had enough light for brown algaes.

I am also looking for mushrooms of various colours and patterns. I had a really nice green mushroom with orange spots and a nice orange rhodactus that didnt make it through the green water outbreak. My other mushrooms are doing very well.
Does anyone know where i can get the following colours (red coral online has some of them but i cant afford that big stunningly beautiful rock or the shippping for it)
green marbled
green striped
green with orange spots
red with white stripes
red with blue dots
blue dot


I also really want to try cloves again. The blue cloves i always ordered never came to me alive.. well one did but it was on its way out.
I am also looking for different varieties of xenia to attach to my back wall.


I wish my corals would grow faster. My lps are growing very well but my mushrooms are very very very slow. Only one has split.

[Madreefer]

So when are you coming to PG? I have been holding on to that frogspawn for you.I also have some shrooms if you'd like them. My clove polyps are slowly going away from from main tank but I have a very large rock that i took out and put in my refuge. It still has alot on it. LMK

[hillegom]

I would think twice about xenia. I had it for a while, but found it too prolific.
I like blue or black for a back wall.