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Old 02-21-2010, 07:33 PM
Canadoc Canadoc is offline
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Hello all,

I'm fairly new to the forum as far as posting... been creeping around on here for ages though. I've been fighting a battle with aiptasia and red turf algae for the last 1.5 years in my 29 gal. I'm finally winning, so I figured I'd throw in what I've been doing that has worked/not worked.

Turf algae is impossible to completely manually remove. I used to be able to pick up pieces of live rock by the algae...anyways with the aiptasia, tried lemon juice injections, tried manual removal, none of that worked. Finally got a peppermint shrimp, and one week later there is not a trace of those little #%$#^@!

With the turf algae, it has been harder.
1. Changed from tap to RO/DI water, changed from CF lights to T5's.
2. I do about one 5gal water change every 3-4 weeks (29 gal tank).
3. Also added a 10 gal sump with chaeto and more L.R.
4. Changed skimmers from a Red Sea Prizm (noisy, finicky, innefective) to a Aqua C remora (quiet, simple, and EFFICIENT)

These steps all slowed algal growth, but didn't reverse it... even with manual removal. So....

1. Bought a Lawnmower blenny (algae eating goby). He decided he prefers pellet/flake food. Doesn't even eat green algae.
2. Bought a ton of Astrea snails (vertical cone shaped). These ignore the turf algae and meander around the glass.
3. Bought two mexican turbo snails, with curly turban like shells... these guys are beasts, and are just chomping through the algae thus far. I strongly recommend them.

So, it seems like all the other stuff, is helping reduce dissolved organics, and increase the water quality, but I've found that with biological control (snails and shrimp) it has really ramped up the algae destruction. Just thought I'd throw this out there, this algae particularly has been the bane of my life, and I know other people have some difficulty removing it. Of course this is all just my opinion... feel free to suggest yours too, or tell me I'm completely wrong! .

Cheers for now, will post some tank photos soon!

Eric
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Old 02-21-2010, 08:31 PM
Kryptic4L Kryptic4L is offline
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up your water change's - simple and effective.
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Old 02-21-2010, 08:35 PM
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es355lucille es355lucille is offline
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Eric, good work....it usually takes us a while to figure out what works the best. You aquarium is its own eco system so finding something to balance the system is always a good thing. Peppermint shrimp/snails and expecially the Mexican snails are the best!! (those Mex snails are like grazing cattle)......but you have to remedy the root cause.....which I see you are working on nicely. Water changes and proper lighting are good starts. My system did not have enough flow so I installed another powerhead.....it sure improved my system as well. Just make sure you have good flow in your display tank.
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Old 02-21-2010, 09:34 PM
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Old 02-21-2010, 11:45 PM
Canadoc Canadoc is offline
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Hey, ya I realize I should be doing more water changes... ideally I also want a bigger tank and my own RO/DI filter. Currently I just fill up the big water jugs at safeways, but my schedule is horrifying enough that it's difficult to do it frequently enough. Also, I rent, so don't want to install too much stuff into the house just yet. It is on an ATO system though, which keeps things pretty stable... I don't test the water anymore, but when I do the parameters are all stable. I just watch the coral to see how it's doing, and adjust accordingly.

Thanks for the welcome!
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