Algae scrubber or bio pellets

[Company101]

So I am on the road working. And have much time to kill. As a few if you know I have a really bad algae outbreak. Tank is 7 months old.

I got some used LR. from a guy on Craigslist. Great deal. $1.00 a pound. Would do this again. Except I would probably dip the rock and put it in quarantine for a while.

So the question is. This is a survey. I hope it's ok to ask.

There are several different models of each. I am weighing the options of DIY or already built.

I will be starting this venture with bioclean. A product I found and did some research on. Looking to buy it from marinedepot.com.

 

[SAKTEK]

So I am on the road working. And have much time to kill. As a few if you know I have a really bad algae outbreak. Tank is 7 months old.

I got some used LR. from a guy on Craigslist. Great deal. $1.00 a pound. Would do this again. Except I would probably dip the rock and put it in quarantine for a while.

So the question is. This is a survey. I hope it's ok to ask.

There are several different models of each. I am weighing the options of DIY or already built.

I will be starting this venture with bioclean. A product I found and did some research on. Looking to buy it from marinedepot.com.

If it was my tank, I'd go with the scrubber! I too travel for work, and tried pellets a few months ago. Initially it started off great, my phosphates and nitrates were under control, then from one week to another, all hell broke loose, I lost most of my sps, my chalices lost most of their color. The pellets stripped my tank way too quick. Before I knew it, it was too late. I'm not saying they're bad, but in my case, I'm not home during the day to feed enough. HTH!!!

 

[jduck]

I would look at macro algae for sump, and possibly a bigger skimmer.
What are the water parameters in your tank?
Then look at how the excess nutrients are getting into tank. Are you using RODI water? have you tested it? specifically tds
Is it being over fed for the amount of fish you have?
Its possible that the rock that you got was full of phosphates and it is leaching out? water test may tell you.
Depending on what corals you have growing. I would look at just pulling the rock and possibly giving it a Hydrogen peroxide dip to kill hair algae, or even as far as acid bath.

 

[Company101]

Macro hasn't really taken off in my sump. I have tried. I need to do more looking into why it doesn't do well.

Not sure parameters as I am working out of town.

Tds from RO/DI is 0-1

Just bought a new skimmer about two months ago. And I am thinking about the rock leeching. And dipping or acid bathe has crossed my mind. Tank is fairly new. 7-8 months old. With a mixture of livestock. Looking back. I should have dipped the rock long time ago. But it wasn't a problem until about 2-3 month ago.

My wife is going to the LFS this morning with a water sample.

 

[fishroomlady]

I ran pellets a while back for about 4-5 months and it didn't really do a lot for my phosphate or nitrates. I did feed heavy and had a pretty high bio-load. That was my experience and I know several people love pellets. My understanding with pellets is that it's really used more for nitrate reduction/control than phosphates. I would look at the scrubber or adding some phosphate absorbing media (I use phosguard) - it doesn't require a reactor. I think whatever you choose, you're going to need to do a good scrub down of those rocks.

 

[Windy]

My systems have mostly had algae scrubbers and deep sand beds. I have purchased and been given live rock covered in hair algae and after several weeks it slowly goes away. I have also tried macro algae in a refugium. If the macro grows you can still get hair algae in your display. If you put in an algae scrubber, the macro will die just like the hair algae. Once set up, an algae scrubber is maintenance free for two weeks. That lets me travel with less concern about water quality.