My 50 gallon

[steve68]

well i just cant seem to get rid of this darn maidens hair algae & other types of algae
in this tank so i had to break out with the wire wheel brush on my drill & make a mess.
this is what the tank looked like before
the reasond the pictures look so bad is cuz the glass was also dirty

 

[steve68]

This is what it looked like when i was done
Cloudy but no algae

 

[mikem]

Looks good Steve, even tho I like the algae look. Did it come off the rocks with the wire wheel? Looks like the new pics. are missing some of the rock. What lighting are you using? I like the colors.

 

[steve68]

Thanks mike.
yes all the algae came off the rock but to be on the safe side i left the rock
out side & will be curing it again so the maidens hair algae never comes back.
i had a huge Tonga branch in the center & a few others that dint make it back in
the tank, i had this same problem last year & the maidens hair came back.
i like the open look there is more flow for the SPS, I'm using a 250W MH & 2 24 inch
VHO super atinics, my next bulb is going to be a 12k reeflux i like how the colors
jump out & i think i can sacrife growth in this small tank.

 

[mikem]

The maidens hair is the fern looking stuff? How soon are you going with the 12K's? I want to get them for all my tanks, but would like a good openion on them.

 

[steve68]

here is a picture of the maidens hair, at one time i thought wwow this looks cool
it grows like grass on the rock very very thick & holds a lot of garbage, i dint find
that out till it was to late.

i have a 12k reeflux on my frag tank & i love the colors.
IMO they are sweet bulbs not to white not to blue.

 

[mikem]

I like the algae. Thats the algae that I glued to some of my rocks (away from other rocks) and glued some to my snails. I raise mini serpant stars and put some on the algae to keep it clean and looking good. 2 weeks ago I added a racoon butterfly in that tank and what a mess now. He ate my zoo colection and was chomping on my algae. Of course the power heads got hold of the algae and spread it to the rest of my tank. I've had racoons before and they never ate anything but what I fed them. Even tho I love the look of the algae, I think I'll keep it out of my next tank.
Thanks for the info on the 12K's. Time to order 5 for my tanks.

 

[Edwardw771]

Don't tangs eat that algae. Or those sea hares? Mike that sux about the zoas I think I would cry. I can hold that Jerry Garcia frag your picking up today if you don't have a tank to keep it.

 

[mikem]

Thanks Ed. I put what I have left in the SPS tank.(not much) I will be down you're way to restock my new 110gal softie tank after it's setup next week. I bought 2 blue dot sea hairs and a lettuce nudi Fri. Can't find them in there now. Maybe the Racoon ate them too.

 

[steve68]

Edd the tang does not touch this stuff.
it grows thick & nasty that picture is old.
it is so hard to pull off the rocks that the only way to get
rid of it is to wire wheel it off but if u miss one little spot it comes back.

 

[Embowe]

Hey...not to jack your thread...but what are those things that look like small featherdusters in your pic? I also have them in my tank and still cant figure out what they are....thanks

 

[steve68]

those are mini feather dusters.
i dont have them in my 50 but in my other tank they are all over the sump.
that picture is my refugium on my other tank,

 

[Hitman]

That looks like Bryopsis to me, have you tried Lettuce Nudibranchs? I purposely tried to grow it in a small tank so I could put "frags" of it in my DT for a Lettuce Nudi, but could not keep up with what it ate.

 

[Embowe]

So I take it the mini featherdusters are not a bad thing?....

 

[Brian]

Nah, those mini feather dusters are a good thing. Some fish and inverts usually pick them off though. They are just filter feeders.

 

[Treadingwater]

Tank looks nice Steve, though I also think it looked nice before.

Even tho I love the look of the algae, I think I'll keep it out of my next tank.

Why the change Mike?

 

[steve68]

one thing i have notice since i remove that thick ugly maidens hair is the color
on all the corals is starting to pop out, I'll have to get better pictures soon
the real bad thing about this algae is that it grows thick & hold detritus.
i will never let that come back then again thats what i said last time.

 

[mikem]

Even tho I love the look of the algae, I think I'll keep it out of my next tank.

Why the change Mike?

If you seen today what that tank looks like from the Racoon fish, you'de understand.

 

[mladencovic]

My Yellow Tang would eat any kind of filamentous macro algae (heary, cheato,...) as wll as caulerpa. For sargasium, however, I had to bring big guns - Naso Tang.