It's all we can see!!!!!! GHA

ReefSparky has laid it all out, follow his directions now and you should gain the upper hand on it. only thing I would add is do a water change also.

Star fish is an asternia if is white.

My RODI unit isn't mounted or plumbed, I built a small stand and hook it to the bathroom sink in my basement when I need it. then I wrap it up and put it away.

I agree with reefsparky purchase a TDS meter, Air Water and Ice has them for as low as 15 bucks. test that water if it tests out at 0 then by all means use it but if it tests any higher then stop using it and get a RODI. They also have RODI called the Mighty Mite for people with small tanks which would be plenty.

 

My only question to this is if we change the substrate to sand instead of the coral we have, wont our tank go threw a mini cycling process?? We dont have a back up tank nor do we have anyone around hear that has a salt water tank.. We live in a very small town.. The pet store hear doesn't carry salt stuff anymore.. We usually have to travel to get anything for our tank or we have to order from online.. I am definitely putting in an order for a better protein skimmer today!!! Any good suggestions, for someone with not a lot of $ right now?? We tried to modify the one we have but it still sucks... my husband has done all the ones we found online for it and it still works just as bad as before... At least he took care of the micro bubbles it put out... but that was all.. If we do get a better protein skimmer that should help beat the algae too...i'm assuming.. Also what is a phosphate reactor?? I think I will try your suggestions as long as it wont have to go threw another cycle.. other wise we might as well as start over right?:-/ Thank you again for this info.. I have passed it on to my husband and he said lets give it a try but his only concern was about the substrate situation also.. Oh yea another thing.. if we do switch to sand how do we go about it with out harming anything in the tank?? And I have heard that when using sand it makes it harder to balance the PH.. is this true?? Thank you again for all that info.!!;D

 

This is the protiene skimmer i am looking at right now.. http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_ViewI...mers-Saltwater_Aquarium_Supplies~vendor~.html
reeron suggested this to me at the begging of this thread..

 

i would keep using the PO4 remover, make sure you are pushing a lot of water through the media, make sure to change out the media per the instructions it is very important, or you could possibly leach po4 back into the system, also do water changes. I would do a 25% water change a week and do that for 2 months, That will help export any nitrate and phosphate buildup also.

 

if I were you I would worry more about getting an RODI and a Phosphate reactor and replacing the CC with sand before a skimmer. You can do the same job a skimmer does buy doing consistent water changes.

A phosphate reactor like this this one will do a good job. It is the one I am using on my 56 gallon seahorse tank.

Replacing the sand 1/2 or one side at first and a little while later the rest would be the best way. You don't have to remove every bit of the cc, but you have to fill in all the space with sand. and i have never heard that about the PH before in fact I have heard it can help.

 

I agree with Gazog. Do 1/2 now, 1/2 later. And don't waste money on true "live" sand, instead, purchase argonite sand (about $1 per pound- could be less but that's about what I would expect to pay).

I'll tell you from personal experience. Crushed Coral sucks. If you have GHA problems, and you keep the Crushed Coral, you'll fight a losing battle. I had it for 6+ years (trusted my 2 LFS who both said it was fine- no longer purchase anything from them) and just recently removed it from my tank (restarted it on 6-14-08 with Carib Sea Argonite sand).

 

good luck!!

 

i have recently seen a way worse case cleared up in under 3 months
try to treat like you are going after briops
get tech m and raise your mag over 1600
buy a two little fisheys phosban reactor and use phosban or rhowahps
and pull out as much as you can by hand
ths is beatable
i saw it way worse and 3 months i have to llok hard to find 1 strand of ha
good luck

 

Thank you guys so much for all this info!!! I think we will be on the right road to a happy tank as well as happy viewers with all the info you all gave us... I will keep you all posted on our progress!! If their is more info on this topic I am all ears!!! We will start replacing the cc next pay check... as well as get a phosphate reactor and the tester for the ro that we have been using... I think this will help us out a lot!! Thank you all again!! Wish us luck.

 

wow! that stuff really took off on you huh? It is important to note that your nitrates are 0 AFTER the GHA consumes it. What is your clean up crew like?

At this point I would manually remove it. Don't mess with the lighting, it will hurt your corals.