Hi All Co. Sligo Reef Keeper

Hi All,

Thought I would introduce myself.

I am from Co. Sligo. Have set up a reef aquarium 3 months ago.Not found anyone else in Sligo that keeps a reef aquarium so geting stock and frags proves difficult and expensive. Usually have to travel to Dublin or Belfast and sometimes get frags sent from UK.

My tank is 151cmm long and holds approx 100 gallon with an 80 litre sump. Lights are 4 x 54watt T5 (2 ACTINIC 2 WHITE) and I also use 2 x 40 watt T8 on a dusk to dawn simulator that brighten slowly each morning and dim slowly each evening automatically.

see more equipment info in video below




Having a bit of a battle with hair algae at the moment which is doing my head in!!
have tried everything.
salifert test kits read 0 nitrate 0 phosphate
have allways used rodi water
overated skimmer for tank size empty daily
loads snails and crabs (never seen them eat any hair algae)
I use reef crystals and water change 60 litre/month

heres latest view with hairalgae updated last month



Anyway thats it just a quick introduction.
Would be interested in anyone with frags for sale near my location to try and save myself a bit of money.

also just a quick note if anyone has any ideas, as you can see from 2nd video my bubble anemone has cralled into the rockwork and is hiding in the dark (not good)cant get him out.
He has been there over 3 weeks and i have had to pull some rock out just to try and feed him some squid pieces on a stick.
he seems to be geting very pale

Hi,
Welcome to the forum.nice tank you have there!Haven't kept marines in a while but i remember the ratio blue actinic and white was 1blue to 3white.not sure of this as it's been a while but that could be a factor of growth for the hair algae??also how long do you have your lights on?
There are some good reef keepers on this forum,i'm sure the'll be glad to help.
all d best.
Dimitri

the T5 tubes I have are 2 x 54 watt actinic and 2 54 watt marine white
then I have 2 T8 40 watt marine white.
They are only about 5 months old.

The cycle is
11:30am 2 T8 40 watt marine white brighten up slowly and are full on at 12:00
12:05pm 1 x 54 watt actinic and 1 54 watt marine white come on
12:30pm 1 x 54 watt actinic and 1 54 watt marine white come on
9:00pm 1 x 54 watt actinic and 1 54 watt marine white goes off
9:30pm 1 x 54 watt actinic and 1 54 watt marine white goes off
9:35pm 1 x led blue moonlight 5 watts strip comes on
9:35pm 2 T8 40 watt marine white dim down slowly and are full off at 10:00
2:00am 1 x led blue moonlight strip goes off

so full lighting on approx 10 hours.

I think the hair algae is due to rock I purchased that was uncured and used the cured rock in system to cure it.
I have a feeling even though it was cleaned before being introduced it must have had something in it.
it is extremely porous and weighed practically nothing when purchased.
Had never used it before, I got it from UK its like a dead piece of coral reef.
you can see it in this vid better in the centre.




Then again I could be wrong about it but cant figure out what else is causing it.

Hey,
for the sand,you can get starfish(sand sifters)they live in the sand and are reef friendly,they'd get rid of that brown/reddish algae/bacteria.also Salarias(algae blennie) is quite good for algae,a bit aggressive and extremely territorial towards its own specie,so one only.
as for the live rock,it looks like you have liverock and the clear whitish one is pretty much dead "live" rock.amongst proper live rock and good conditions it should get a build up of coralline algae(purple).
for the cloudiness,maybe UV filtration would do the trick.
for the anemone,it could be a question of flow?but i had one that was always retreating in a crevice out of site which is very frustrating with the clowns following it:angry:
a bit rusty so hope this helps:)

dont have a problem with the cloudiness anymore, that was when sand was first introduced on tank startup.it settled out

diatoms on sand are also gone just get some on the glass now. clean off with magnetic algae scraper and blade on back glass.

anemone is still hidden away but hes taken a piece of food yesterday and 2 piece today

flow is pretty high ( MAYBE HE DOESNT LIKE IT) as ive got 4 X 12000lph pumps on back glass and the one in the corner cycles between 4000lph/6000lph/12000lph
also the return from sump is ocean runner 6500.

the 4 12000lph pumps were added recently but cant remember if he was hiding before their addition.

By the way my rock has started to colour up but the problem is the hair algae now.
lattest vid of tank is the one under the equipment video

Wow,that's a massive water circulation!!!good!but i don't know if it's good for everybody?!
just those 4x12000L/h that's 48000L/h in total???? are you sure it's not 4x1200L/h ?
roughly for 530L including the sump...
it could be the reason why your anemone's sheltering inside the rockwork...
the hair algae is a pain alright,turbo snails?

the two pumps at back are rated at 12000lph but are split into two outlets so not certain if its 4 outlets of 12000lph or 4 at 6000lph
i stuck the two of them back to back.
I have lots of cerith,aterea and dove snails.
black and white, blue, red and scarlet hermits.
nobody seems to eat hair algae.

bought 5 turbos recently only one survived trip from Dublin, dont know why!
dont know if hes eating it either but for ammount of it its hard to tell.

only thing is they are bloody expensive in the shops