What to do with my Saltwater Tank?

Question

My tank is FILTHY. I used to clean out the filter everyday. My light is on a timer and is not on for more than 8 hours a day. There's just so much algae and junk in there. I've taken out all the live rock before and sifted the sand, but it seems too tedious, but i've seen tanks that just work on their own. i have snails and crabs. any suggestions?

i have a sump and it's been set up for over a year. i've done all that i know to do. my fish are alive (even the ones that are fragile), most of my crabs died. all of the turbos. i think i need to start over

Answer 1

What type of Algae?
What size tank?
What type of filter system?

Increased water (wave maker) flow help keep the stuff from settling and growing. You need to buy some calurpa to out-compete the algae. It's pretty cheap and you can attach it to your live rock with rubber bands, after a few weeks it will have attached itself to the rock. Calurpa is very good at removing the nitrates and stuff from your water but you may have to trim it from time to time. You should buy a ton of snails (turbo snails - at least 5 per gallon), if there aren't enough of them they will be too choosy in what they eat.


ADDED
Check to see if you can reduce the food you are adding to the tank. Eaten and uneaten food becomes algae food! Check the quality of your food. Are you dumping a frozen cube into the tank? A lot of the cube is 'dirty' water and bits of shrimp that the fish will not eat, but immediately becomes a food source for the algae. Rinsing the food will reduce the effluent from fouling the water.
Replace any bulbs over six months old as the spectrum emitted shifts over time to light emissions that promotes algae growth.
Surgeonfish or Tangs are good community fish and most make excellent algae eaters for the reef aquarium.

Answer 2

Is it a reef or FOWLR? Also how long has it been set up? It's pretty common for reef\marine tanks to have a big hair algae outbreak in the first 6 months or so. Just have to keep up the water changes and like has been said, increased flow really helps. When you do your water changes blast the rock with a powerhead or turkey baster and vacuum the substrate well. Also do you use RO water or tap? A lot of tap water has phosphates and other nutrients that make algae a real PIA. Running a sump or refugium can really help too.

Tangs can help - if it is a big enough tank. 75 gallon minimum for any tang. Emerald crabs will also help. the thing is not to add too much of a cleanup crew as they can contribute to the bio-load and sometimes defeat the purpose.

Answer 3

Since it's a saltwater tank, you could get an herbivorous fish, such as a tang, or even an angel fish. The angel is omnivorous, so you'd have to supplement it's diet with some meat once in a while, but either one of those would eat the algae.

Best of luck!

Answer 4

turbo snails and emerlad crabs should eat all of that, if u dont have any i would get some.

why not do a water change instead of changing the filter,

Answer 5

Did you "treat" those rocks/corals before introducing them into tank? You may need to treat them with chemicals (check with your supplier). Live rocks usually not transported as it should be.. it takes atleast a week from ocean to your tank so dont consider them "live" rocks.

Answer 6

get some fish that keep it clean catfish alge eaters things like that change your water evry 3 months not all of it only 3/4

Answer 7

Ask your local pet store or fish store they will help you out. And your pretty hott. Nice Pic!

Answer 8

leave your lights off unless you have some corals that need it .
water changes water changes water changes no excess nutrients no excess algae

Answer 9

Give it to me..