I am so tired of this. I love my fish and my clams and want them to go to a good home

[Barb]

I am so tired of this. I love my fish and my clams and want them to go to a good home. 2 perculas 2 royal grammas that get along 1 maxima clam, 1 deresa clam. I can't handle the aiptasia and the red slime algae anymore. I am tired and thinking about dedicating a Saturday for a saltwater G-sale.

 

[returnofsid]

Barb, feel free to use our Classified ads area, to post the items for sale, when you decide to. The Classifieds can be found, in a link, at the very top, right hand side, of each pageSorry to hear that things aren't going well for you and your tank. If there's any advice or suggestions we can give, to help, please don't hesitate to let us know.

 

[Krish]

Sorry to hear...:doubt:. It can be tough sometimes battling nuicance algae's and pests. I've been there before with battling hair algae and it got so bad that I gave up on the hobby for about a year (back in about 2003) and then I came back with a clear mind and got it together. There are tons of ways of dealing with both aiptasia and cyno. On the cyno, you will need to figure out what is causing the excess nutrients in your tank that is fueling it to grow and address the issue. Aiptasia, well tons of techiques to get rid of them as well. Are you willing to try and take another shot at solving these issues or are you throwing in the towel? Let us know...If you want to try and solve the problems, give us a bit of info on your tank like water parameters, tank size, age, bioload, type of water you use, maintenance schedule, substrate and how you care for it etc so we can see if we can figure out what is fueling the algae to grow for starters. If you just want to get out of the hobby and part with your livestock, then you will want to create an ad in the classifieds found at the top of the screen and post up what you want to get rid of there as we typically don't want/allow any selling, trading, buying etc done on the open forum, but rather only in the dedicated sections. Sponsor's can't even do that. Pretty much even giveaways we tend to rather be done there so if that is the direction you are heading to getting rid of the stuff then just post them in the classifieds otherwise, if you want to tackle things again, let us know...We will do our best to help!

On a side note, I will move this to general discussion seeing it was started in the forum where people just introduce themselves.

 

[Krish]

And Sid beats me to the post :lol:

BTW Barb...Are you Barb as in Chris wife? (chris&barb)? Just curious.

 

[psb]

Hey Barb sorry to hear the frustration. I live in Edmonds and I can help a little. I have had Aiptasia bad and I fought it with Kalk. I finally was getting frustrated with the work involved and did the research and i bought a nice copperbanded butterfly and 6 peppermint shrimp. Aiptasia was gone in 3 weeks i had thousands. I had hair algae and i found that one of the pellet foods i was using really contributed to the nutrients for the algae. I got couple tangs and fed less, fed more "natural foods and religiously did water changes and no hair algae after a few weeks.

 

[ac7av]

Im sorry to see you get so frustrated about it. You really are in a great community with lots of very helpful people and I’ll bet at least a few would be more then knowledgeable and helpful in correcting the imbalance in your system. If you haven’t already had someone else see your tank and go threw what it is your doing for service and feeding you should before you throw in the towel. I know your frustrated and discouraged now but imagine for a moment how you would feel if that tank was clean of algae and pests.

 

[TJL]

Hey Barb, let me know if I can be of any help I'm just up in the Silver Lake area. After nearly 30 years with a reeftank I've had my fair share of issues with the tank(s) and would be happy to help figure a few things out. If not I could always find room for a couple more clams and help you re-locate the fish. Always sad to see/hear of someone getting out of the hobby especially when dealing with system problems. Shoot me a PM or e-mail if you like to discuss options.

Todd

 

[user 26995]

They are all right Barb. If you are at all interested in keeping your tank going, please give these guys a shot at helping you. It will be well worth it in the long run. I have been keeping saltwater tanks only two years and am still fighting hair algae and some kind of red & green turf algae in one of my tanks. Its taking some time, but I think I am winning the battle and you can too. Give us a chance to help and I think you will see positive results rather quickly.

 

[Barb]

Thanks guys. I was feeling a bit discouraged. The livestock is healthy. The tank is 90 gallons. I have a water general filter that I use on the patio to make water in a large new garbage can. Eheim 2028 and 2217 filters. Yes 2 because This broke on the 2028: Eheim Pro II Flow Meter Assembly and I didn't find where I could replace it right away so I bought a new filter. I fixed the 2028 and I'm running 2 right now. We never plumbed the tank so I have Bak pak 2 hanging on it (those accela powerheads don't seem to last long). I recently put in a UV sterilizer which I hoped would help a little Submariner 9 watts.(bought GFCI and a grounding probe) I heard it could kill the plankton the clams feed on so I bought some frozen Coral food mix at the pet store. I feed Prime reef flakes (frozen when I'm not too lazy or stressed). I have 2 Percula clowns and 2 Royal grammas. And a sand sifting seastar that likes to hide in the rock. Tons of ministars too. Currently for the last year or 2 at least will not add anything until I solve the parameter problem. I just bought 2 new maxi jet 1200 power heads not yet installed because I should of just stepped up and bought the magnets that make em stick to the glass. I think if I increase the flow it will help blow the crap out of the rocks so the filters can do their job. Not much sand. I've been trying to remove it with water changes. I like to do about 30% every week but every so often that doesn't work out. With the recent freezes I had to bring my filter inside so the housing wouldn't shatter. Gonna hang in there a while longer.

 

[Krish]

Glad you are planning to stick it out!!! . On the Eheim filters, are they canister filters and if so, what are you running in them? Also, your maintenance schedule on them? Canisters in the saltwater hobby can work for or against you depending on how it is being used. Let us know...It could possibly be a contributor to some of your algae issues.

 

[Barb]

I probably should clean them out more than I do. I rinse and stir the media in the exchange water and change the filter pads for the 2028. Haven't cleaned the 2217 yet. Today? thinking about using a strainer.

 

[returnofsid]

Canister filters, unless cleaned and media changed, at least weekly, will quickly produce nitrates, which could definitely be adding to your issues. In my opinion, canister filters are a great, as a carbon housing, but not much good for anything else, outside of the freshwater hobby, or fish only systems.

 

[ac7av]

I’m glad to see you not completely done and wanting to make a difference. I agree about canister filters not being of much use on a tank that size. They are probably contributing to your problems. I would recommend to can the canister filters all together and use one of them for running carbon and phosphate media in it with one filter pad on the top to prevent the media from escaping the filter and change the media at 2 week intervals and clean the filter pad.

2nd recommendation is to return the maxi jet power heads and pick up 2 of the wide angle power heads like the koralia. Your pet store should have them if not im sure they can get them for you. I’m not real familiar with the model numbers of these pumps but getting 2 with a rating of at least 1000 gph each or better will work way better then maxi jet pumps.

 

[ac7av]

Oh and I forgot, an 8 watt UV is not affective at doing anything at all and I would recommend canning it and or list it on the classified sections and getting a few bucks for it. You would need something in the 36 watt range or better for a tank that size.

 

[Barb]

Yeah my GFCI was tripped this morning (could have been the cat). I plugged the UV back in and everything seemed fine. I think I'm only limited to replacement not reimbursement.

 

[Barb]

Thanks for all the great advice!

 

[ac7av]

Well if that’s the case I know I’ve herd of mods for the maxi jet power heads to get more water flow and or better flow for using in the aquarium for circulation. Maybe some one will pop up with that. The UV is just too underpowered for a 90 gallon. A 90 gallon pond maybe for green algae control but not for anything useful in a 90 gallon saltwater aquarium.
What is the filters doing out side. Do you have it plumbed threw the wall? Or is this some other kind of filter.

 

[eddiecorrea]

Barb, feel free to use our Classified ads area, to post the items for sale, when you decide to. The Classifieds can be found, in a link, at the very top, right hand side, of each pageSorry to hear that things aren't going well for you and your tank. If there's any advice or suggestions we can give, to help, please don't hesitate to let us know.

Wow, holy, commas, batman.

Barb -

I've used Aiptasia X with success. Its $20 but worked on the 4 I had. Haven't had any since.

 

[Barb]

I got spinners on them. One of them broke . Once I tried these really strong modification jets for the maxies. I was afraid the flow was too powerful. Only 4 eddie? I could take care of that with a toothbrush and a toothpick! I have an extra large bottle of aiptasia x. I'm afraid if I use it too often it will add more nitrates. It does work though.

 

[Somethings Fishy]

i hope your tank balances itself out! keep us posted any pics?