I have to agree with Marc about the snails I have just 2 Turbos and had 4
Astraea (until the hermit crabs and shrimp ate them). It took them all of
two days to clean house. I have since bought a Lawnmower Blenny. He tends
to help out but only really nibbles all day. The snails are the ticket. By
the way, mine is only a 30 gallon tank so you'll need to plan accordingly.

HTH

Ed

"Marc Levenson" wrote in message
...
That is hit or miss, using a Blenny. I tried it and within a week the
fish
disappeared. 8(

I don't think your nitrates are the issue. Nor phosphates, according to
your
original post. Just get in there and pluck, pluck, pluck. Rinse your
hand in a
bowl of water after every pinch. Also, be sure to add some new hungry
snails to
your tank, putting them where you need them to be.

Marc


Dave wrote:

I'm considering doing water changes twice a week rather than once, only
to
remove more algae before it has a chance to grow back.

Think adding an algae-eating blenny would be a good idea?

- thanks
Dave

"Marc Levenson" wrote in message
...
If your salinity and temperature match (or is within 1 degree
Fahrenheit),
water changes shouldn't stress the tank's inhabitants too much. How
often
are
you estimating?

Marc


Dave wrote:

Hi Marc;

Yes, but as I said before, I'm concerned that increasing the
frequency
of my
water changes will stress the fish. What do you think ... should
this
be a
concern?

And as I said before, I'm using RO/DI, from a Spectrapure unit.

- thanks again;
Dave

"Marc Levenson" wrote in message
...
If you prefer to just vacuum it out and replace it with freshly
made
up
sal****er, that is a better alternative, because you are sure to
avoid
adding
any spores into your tank. Hopefully you are using RO/DI?

Marc


Dave wrote:

Hi Marc;

That was the idea with the fine mesh bag I mentioned, but it
seems
to me
I
read somewhere that unless an extremely fine filter was used,
algae
cells
will be put back into the water, in suspension, and the problem
will
get
worse. My impression was that something like ordinary filter
floss/cotton
batting/etc. wouldn't be sufficient. Maybe this isn't correct
.....

thanks;

- dave

"Marc Levenson" wrote in message
...
You can set up a bucket in front of the tank, and take a
container
with
holes in
the base. Fill it up with cotton batting, and use your pump
method to
suck out
all you want. The batting will trap all the filth, and you
can
safely
add
the
water back to your tank.

Marc


Dave wrote:

Hi folks;

I've had my marine tank set up for about six months. 55gal,
Remora
HOB
skimmer, 67 lbs live rock, 260w lighting (50/50 blue
actinic/10000K),
two
MaxiJet 1200 powerheads, two inch aragonite reef sand layer.
One
sailfin
tang, one maroon clownfish, one engineer goby, two bubbletip
anemones
(was
one anemone until it split last week). Five turbo snails
and a
red-legged
hermit crab. 5% water changes with RO/DI water (Spectrapure
MPDI-25)
once a
week. Temp 76-79F, pH 7.9-8.2, s.g. 1.025. No detectable
phosphates, 1
ppm
nitrate (Salifert kits). I've been using the Spectrapure
unit
for
about
two
months; before that I was using an Aquarium Pharmaceuticals
Tap
Water
Filter.

Over the last month or so I've had real troubles with
derbesia
algae. I
suction as much as I can out with my water changes, but it
just
comes
back.
It's growing along the back glass and is covering at least
80%
of
the
live
rock surface. Now it appears to be growing in places on the
sand.

My live rock is anchored down with PVC piping and ties, so
I'd
rather
not
take it out to scrub it by hand. What course of action
should I
follow
to
get rid of the derbesia?

I've been thinking about using a waterpump and suctioning
the
water
through
a fine mesh media bag and back into the tank, in order to
trap
the
algae
in
the bag and remove it, but have been told that small amounts
of
the
algae
will get back into the tank in the form of smaller particles
(?),
making
the
situation worse.

I've also considered increasing the frequency of my water
changes,
suctioning out the algae as I've doing during my weekly
water
changes,
but
am concerned about stressing the fish.

Any advice? Thanks in advance.

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Personal Page:
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Business Page: http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com
Marine Hobbyist: http://www.melevsreef.com



--
Personal Page:
http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com/oanda/index.html
Business Page: http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com
Marine Hobbyist: http://www.melevsreef.com



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Personal Page: http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com/oanda/index.html
Business Page: http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com
Marine Hobbyist: http://www.melevsreef.com