Nanotank - ???'s for the pros...

[TOA]

Ok so my aquapod is now hitting its 1 1/2 month anniversary (almost). And in the last 2 weeks I have been slowly moving corals (more hardy one first) from my old tank to the new one.

Im in the midst of three separate issues and I really dont know the cause/solution at this time and I need some suggestions/help.

1) No matter what I do I cant seem to get the water to actually appear clear - its ALWAYS hazy. I went out and picked up an ULTRA cheap airstone skimmer to see if this would help, but no go. Ive also tried running a filter (just carbon & floss) and UV sterilizer - to no avail. I have been doing the water changes as required (and more than required actually), but the water is still hazy.

What else can be done? Should I go out and pickup a Bak-Pak 2r or Remora skimmer?

2) I seem to have two or more separate "bug" outbreaks in the tank. A large group of what look to be spiders sitting on the water surface started up during the 2nd week of the cycle and have continued to this day (Ive tried to wipe the little buggers out but no go). Additionally a swarn of little white dots seems to appear directly under the MH lighting everyday. Should I be concerned?
(sorry I cant possibly get pics of either of these issues - the spiders move WAY too fast & the white dots are too small)

3) I bought the live rock from Ryan (WTR) and its nice, but has zero coraline growth and as such hair algae is becoming a problem - I picked up a lawnmower blenny to help with this. But what I really want is a boost to the coraline in the tank - I would rather see purple :)

Ive been dosing with purple up and have tried to get some spores into the tank but its VERY slow going even with a calcium level of 420+ and purple up being used.

Does anyone know of a product that contains coraline spores or something else which would kick start the process?

Thanks

Adam

[bru65]

Sounds like your Aquapod is still maturing. Give it time. We all know patience is key to success. With that being said, do you have a sand bed? How is the water flow? Could the cloudiness be caused by blowing sand? Is your carbon in a forced water compartment or just a bag placed in a sump? I use a Phosban Reactor full of carbon where water is forced through it. This made a huge difference for me in terms of water clarity.

As for the coraline, I noticed that it tends to grow in areas of lower lighting. I hardly have coraline growth on the top side of my rocks but have lots growing in the shaded areas. You may have noticed that people running flourescent bulbs only have tons of coraline growth.

Good luck. :D

[Chrismo]

I totally agree with bru65, My coraline grew the most when I had less light (flourescent). But I think you only have 150W of light right? That shouldnt be too much for coraline. Not at all.

Make sure your calcium / alk / magnesium levels are good to help coraline growth.

As for water clarity, do you have tiny bubles in there maybe that make the water less clear? Or could it be sand particles?

Chris

[szesteve]

Hey TOA,

Basically what bru and chrismo said.

But I have the 150W sunpod too and you just need to give your tank some time. Even when I had T5s, my coralline took off like crazy around the 6 month mark. With the MHs, it increased the coralline growth more, but it's mostly due to tank maturity.

With the water clarity, it might be due to many issues. The simplest reason(and it may sound dumb) might be your tank glass. Give it a good scrub. If the water's still cloudy, you can try running a filter for a week or 2 with nothing but floss and carbon to help polish up your water.

Also, stop dosing stuff for a while. Your tank's pretty young and needs time to mature. Hair algae outbreaks will happen even if you're running RO/DI. If you can, borrow/rent a seahare and manually remove the hair algae. Try to keep your temps below 82F.

With regard to spiders, if you can get a pic that would be awesome. I know of zoo eating spiders, so those might be it.

[TOA]

Hey TOA,

Basically what bru and chrismo said.

But I have the 150W sunpod too and you just need to give your tank some time. Even when I had T5s, my coralline took off like crazy around the 6 month mark. With the MHs, it increased the coralline growth more, but it's mostly due to tank maturity.

With the water clarity, it might be due to many issues. The simplest reason(and it may sound dumb) might be your tank glass. Give it a good scrub. If the water's still cloudy, you can try running a filter for a week or 2 with nothing but floss and carbon to help polish up your water.

Also, stop dosing stuff for a while. Your tank's pretty young and needs time to mature. Hair algae outbreaks will happen even if you're running RO/DI. If you can, borrow/rent a seahare and manually remove the hair algae. Try to keep your temps below 82F.

With regard to spiders, if you can get a pic that would be awesome. I know of zoo eating spiders, so those might be it.


I know I cant get the spiders in a pic - and they arent submerged - rather they sit on top of the waters surface and very quickly skim across it (so fast they look like blurs).

The little white dot swarm are definitely alive, they move (like wiggling). But they are near spec size so again I cant get a pic :(

My tank is pretty much in spec (0 nitrates, 0 nitrites, 0 amm, 420-440ppm cal, 79-81 degrees) so I think the hair is just a consequence of hte new tank. My old tank never went through this stage - no hair algae - ever.

I know that the purple up im dosing causes some cloudiness but Im sure thats not the cause of the greenish haze im seeing. I think its yet another new tank syndrome issue. I just wanted to check to see if this was because I havent been running a (even halfway decent) skimmer.

[dementedlullaby]

Phosphate level? :)