Bown Alge

by **fihsboy** » Wed Jan 07, 2009 3:41 am

add some more carbon. carbon will help on odor.......your main problem is that water. the water has chloramines silicates metals chlorine and other sediments that your algae is blooming off of like crazy. algae smells.....trust me you dont want to stick your head in my refugium......it gives off a nice aroma. My reef tank lights run 12 hours a day, and everything in it depends on those lights. its a long day for the reef....and a little extended of what it is in the wild....but I like to see my tank. I see you said its 90 gallon.......thats pretty damn big. lol. Thats a lot of problem algae. nothing is going to happen fast in that much water. I got out of freshwater because I couldnt control algae....went to saltwater where you control algae with algae. :-) I would assume it would work the same in freshwater......do you have a sump? Would you consider running one so you could have an algae filter in the bottom? It might solve your problems forever......but you still have to switch to RO water. :-) haha. Good luck man!

by **nighthawk2207** » Wed Jan 07, 2009 6:05 am

i would run a sump just don't know how they work or how to do it, an if the water is the biggest problem i will take care of that asap but how do i move 90 gallons of ro water??? what if i conditioned the water before i ran the tank kuz i used both a water conditioner an cycle i don't think i mentioned the conditioner earlier

by **Snowboss4492** » Wed Jan 07, 2009 4:55 pm

first off the oscars are probably the biggest producers of waste in the aquatic world, goldfish being a close second....so definately get another 110 i would strongly suggest running 3 110's easily....you really want to filter {turn over} a minimum of 3-4 times the tanks capacity - - -i ran a 110 on my 20 gallon tank before i bought a wet/dry system also with a protein skimmer and 2 power heads so i was moving more water in a 20 than you are in a 90 right now

Go to a walmart and see if they have a culligan water dispenser - - - if so they are RO filtered, the first time you buy the 5 gallon jug it's like 13.00 full but after that it's just 33 cents a gallon to fill em back up...........i have 6 five gallon jugs that i rotate all the time.......it's a pain in the tail but a good RO system starts at a couple hundred bucks...............which i will be getting soon as im setting up a 200 gallon tank and that would require a friggin truck dedicated to water .......lol

definatley change the bulbs and cut back on the lighting

also watch your feeding....oscars are pigs and will eat when ever they can....that doesn't mean they are starveing, once a day or even once every other day until you get this under controll won't hurt them

in the interum, get a plastic turkey baster and gently "blow" the algae every day or even a couple times a day and let the filter take care of it, clean the filter every couple days and in a few weeks you'll have this beat I'm sure

Keep us posted,

Boss

by **nighthawk2207** » Wed Jan 07, 2009 6:23 pm

okay sounds good, but now i have another problem i think one of my oscars is getting ich how the hell does that happen???

by **nighthawk2207** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 12:38 am

well i picked up another aquaclear 110 an some ich medicine i had a tank before an have never had the problems i'm having now an it was the same size an everything so i don't know if i'm trying to keep everything to perfect an over treating a problem that doesn't really exist or what but its wearing me out

by **fihsboy** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 1:40 am

do NOT overdose ich medicine. And do realize once you treat ich that you have to do a water change a few days later. Ich medication will kill the parasite yes......but it also burns the hell out of the fishes gills....Ich comes from stress. Its like our flu. sounds like you have it under control. My lfs says it best....for all you phosban/carbon/nitrate reducing guys....If you control your phosphates with chemicals now......your going to have to control them as long as you own the tank with chemicals, because you have no other way. Set up a system that will take care of itself. If you can run a sump. DO IT. its worth its weight in gold. EVERYTHING is easier. waterchanges, dosing,filtering and nutrient removal. Im not a big freshwater guy....i have a 2.5 gallon. haha. BUT you could run Java moss to export nutrients run 4-5 T5 fixtures from walmart over it and you wont have ANY algae in your main tank.....it will all be in your sump where no one can see it. It will cut down on your need for water changes......it will cut down on chemical costs........it will cut down on maintence........it will cut down on stress. Costs a little to start up....but after that its smooth sailing.

by **fihsboy** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 1:42 am

http://www.aquahobby.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=29491

Check that out! Thats got some awesome pics of a guys home built refuge that just uses sand as a denitrifier to clean the water in his display. Awesome build.

by **Snowboss4492** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 3:19 am

well said blue................i mean fishboy, lol

so much so that i am starting to draw and refugium into my sump plans on the new tank, i thnk i want a hard cors sock filter in one tank and a full blown macro fuge in another

by **nighthawk2207** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 6:20 am

thats way over my head what the hell is all that stuff?? why are there palnts in there, is that like a home made filter??

by **nighthawk2207** » Thu Jan 08, 2009 6:28 am

how big of a sump would you need for a 90 gallon an i'm guna need info on stuff i'm guna need to set it up would a 30 gallon sump be big enough kus i have an extra 30 gallon tank already how do you do it??

Bown Alge

53 posts • Page 2 of 6

Bown Alge

53 posts • Page 2 of 6