My 20 Gallons tank

[meedo]

Hi
Thats my 20 gallons reef tank . Its about 1 year old . any suggestions..

Thats my feather dusters,

Green polyps and 3 small clusterfeather dusters(orange)

At last my 2 clown fish .

 

[Krish]

Looks nice! What do you have for equipment and flow in there? I see some signs of what looks like diatoms in there and a possible increase in flow may help in those areas. Also, you mentioned your other thread you didn't have a skimmer yet...I just replied there as well and one would help out tons as well. Good luck and keep up the good work!

 

[meedo]

Thanks for asking . I have a Resun external filter and undergravel filter attached to a power head .
And What is the DIATOM .. what can i do for it ???

 

[Krish]

Thanks for asking . I have a Resun external filter and undergravel filter attached to a power head .
And What is the DIATOM .. what can i do for it ???

Diatoms is what people people refer to as brown algae. Everyone experiences them at one point or the other during cycling etc so no worries...All a part of the hobby. However seeing your tank has been up for a year and you still have some in your system, then something is fueling them to grow. It can be from silicates in the water which can result, for one, from not using ro/di water. You could siphon up as much of it as you wanted and do all the water changes you wanted, but if you are continuing to use water that contains silicates in it, the diatoms will continue to grow. Also, silicates can be added to the tank with some salt mixes and types of substrates you use which is why you see people suggest better quality sand like carib sea araga live etc to be used sometimes. In addition, they will grow from excess nutrients in the tank like phosphates, nitrates and (doc's) dissolved organic compounds which one of the best ways of removing DOC's from your system is by using a skimmer which you don't have right now so once you get one, it should help the problem quite a bit. Then there is old bulbs that can fuel them to grow as well so you have to stay on top of swapping out your bulbs on time. Just a few thoughts...HTH

 

[meedo]

thanks. I 'll try to buy the skimmer .. and what do u mean of swapping out your bulbs on time.

 

[Krish]

If a bulb is used for too long, eventually it begins to lose its spectrum and when that happens, it fuels nuicance algae to grow. So eventhough it may look the same after about a year or so on some bulbs and it is still lighting up, doesn't mean that the bulb hasn't begun to lose it's spectrum so they need to be changed. They have recommended time frames for diferent types of bulbs and for bulbs like metal halies, they say they need to be changed about every year for eg

 

[meedo]

i think the blue bulb is begining to lose its spectrum, cuz it was the first bulb i used .. and its working ok BUT i think am going to buy anther one :idea: ..


by the way ,,, thank u for answering my questions and for helping me .:lol: .

 

[Krish]

LOL! No problem...I'll answer any question I can here

 

[shallowreef]

Hey Meedo,

I read that you have an undergravel filter and those thing are like sewer unless you have a lot of flow being pushed under them. If i was you i would remove the UG filter. Also a little more flow would be a good idea as well.

Other than that its a nice tank you have going there.

 

[meedo]

thanks shallow for ur opinion ,, but does the UG filter causes a problems :?:

 

[Krish]

Yeah, they can cause problems if not run properly. Alot of the time, waste/detritus settles under there when there isn't enough flow to pull it up through the riser tubes and can degrade water quality. That's why undergravel filters using air stones aren't effective at all, but using powerheads like you are in place are a better way to go, but still, not very many people use undergravel filters these days. So much waste can still be missed underneath them and degrade water quality. I guess you gotta go with what works for you though