Butcherman's 4ft tank

[clinton stanford]

i think its xenia the pic is not that good.
lets see what the other guys say

 

[Boegie]

Also think xenia.

 

[butcherman]

Hello,has the mushroom attached yet.

Yes aslam the one mushroom i moved has taken nicely to the new rock.

tank is having a huge burst of algae growth (hair algea on some of the rocks and what appeares to be cyno on the sand) though, i think its had a little bit of a mini cycle from the addition of the 2 clowns.

latest water parameters are as follows:
ph = 8.2
kh = 6dkh
NH3 = 0
NO2 = 0
NO3 = 0
PO4 = 0.1mg/l
Temp = 24.9
sal = 1.025

currently doing a 10% water change per week
and slowly raising the KH as the was very low 2 weeks back.
I assume its the Phosphates thats the root of all my troubles.

 

[butcherman]

any comments on my algae problem?

 

[dallasg]

ok, the algae came with the rocks, so there is a possibility that there is nutrients in there feeding it. i suggest removing what you can by hand to get it out and remove the nutrients. it will start dying out, also now that there are fish, there are more nutrients in the water, food and fish poo, try skimming a little more wet and feeding say every second day and once a day.
once the equilibrium has been reached, the algae will recede.

for now the best is manual removal or seed your ATS, have u got a pic of it?

 

[Slagter]

Or add a blenny which eats said algae... I added a Lawnmower blenny and he has taken care of my algae situation very nicely.

Your tank is coming along very nicely Butcherman. It's always a good feeling when the stuff you add doesn't die!!

 

[butcherman]

Your tank is coming along very nicely Butcherman. It's always a good feeling when the stuff you add doesn't die!!

thanks slaghter and yes a Great feeling

Dallas i will post some pics later even if the tank looks like a little bit of an algea farm:razz:
there is an ATS already in the system already that i clean once a weak sone of the algea did come with the frags i got but thats dieing off slowly its the new algea on the LR and Substrate that has me concerened.

do you think my phosphate is a little high?

 

[butcherman]

some pics of my algea

 

[butcherman]

The transplanted mushroom with some algae here

the bright green came with the rocks

the brown green is whats growing
can anyone id the purple stuff in the pic above?

any idea what this stuff below is, also?

 

[scubaninja]

this is a type of macro algae, i cant remember the name, but i think it was in goodiser's thread. Its certainly a very pretty algae, goodiser got his to grow quite big then one of his tangs chomped the lot

 

[butcherman]

Well the algae on the floor is all but gone just a patch here and there, the other algae i think i will have to remove manually. Im assuming this was signs of a cycle due to the addition of the clowns.

 

[butcherman]

small up date, added a two little fishies phosban reactor and now the algae seems to be dieing off fast also found the mg was way low 600ppm been slowly increasing it currently 1240ppm.

 

[WynandvL]

Great to here that the algae is dying! BUT we need picks just to be sure your right

 

[butcherman]

As soon as i have fished all the bits of algea out.

I read somewhere that dosing kalk can lower your MG any truth in this?

 

[scubaninja]

As soon as i have fished all the bits of algea out.

I read somewhere that dosing kalk can lower your MG any truth in this?

dosing too much kalk can lower it, cause Calcium will precipitate out and pull some nutrients with it. Can pull out phosphates too which is sort of a good thing. But be warned, too much kalk, too much phosphates being pulled out = dead corals

 

[butcherman]

thanks scubaninja

 

[scubaninja]

pot a nroblem

 

[butcherman]

A small update. I have been struggling to raise the MG lately. Slowly coming right and the coraline has started growing really fast now. The algae scurge is receding the algae is turning brown and coming off really easily, going to start manual removal tonight and skimming much wetter. Just 3 so so rocks that have stuborn patches left. but the back pane is completly algae free

Currently working on my lights 2x150w MH 14k and 2xT5 54w blue/antics not sure which ones to take yet


the purple macro algae is doing well though

this is what happens when your gf gets creative

 

[sweetnsour]

wicked star man!

 

[butcherman]

A small update
The lawnmower blenny steeling down nicely.
Magnesium returning to desired levels

spot the lawnmower

Think i will frag these mushrooms and cook the last few rocks that have algae on them