Getting saltwater tanks to look attractive

[LordJoshaeus]

Hi everyone...I am VERY frustrated with the hobby right now. No matter what, I can't get my tanks to look like what I want them to (namely, clean and colorful). Inevitably, algae grows everywhere (even when I keep nitrate and phosphate at zero), I can't keep the rocks clean looking, and now after my disastrous attempt at adding a HOB overflow and refugium my sun coral will not come out and my fish are hiding on me. I'm not entirely sure what I'm trying to ask here, but any advice on any of the above problems would be marvelous...should I simply restart my tanks? Thanks

 

[chefjpaul]

Lets slow down and start with the basics.
Water parameters.
Puctures.
Bio load.
Etc.

More details, more accurately help will come.

 

[LordJoshaeus]

Ah...sorry. The 10 gallon's nitrates vary from 5 to 10 ppm currently and phosphates read about .25 ppm (though I am unsure how accurate that is because it says that in ALL my tanks). The 5 gallon has 0 ppm nitrates. The 5 gallon has a wheeler's shrimp goby and a pistol shrimp, and gets a 40% water change once a week. The ten gallon has a couple hermits and snails, a royal gramma, a newly added Talbot's damsel, a pistol shrimp, a feather duster worm, and a sun coral, and also receives weekly 40% water changes.

 

[LordJoshaeus]

Here's the 10 gallon, with a few close up shots of the algae;

 

[LordJoshaeus]

Here's the 5 gallon;

 

[chefjpaul]

Age of these tanks? Lighting?

 

[LordJoshaeus]

The 5 gallon is about a month old and has an ABI tuna blue PAR38 23 watt bulb. The 10 gallon is about 2 years old and has a reefbar pro LED light from ebay that pulls 120 PAR at 14 inches below the surface.

 

[TheHarold]

You could start first with razoring the glass so it’s clean... that will improve aesthetics. Then work on the nutrients and such so you won’t need to do that as often.

 

[LordJoshaeus]

OK. Thanks. Unfortunately the 10 gallon is supposed to be a non photosynthetic tank and is inevitably going to have highish nutrients...should I rethink my plans?

 

[Patrick.S]

I have an all in one tank and I appreciate their clean look. Keeps all the stuff out of the display. I would also shy away from nps unless you have very substantial filtration capacity. Corals can be hard enough to keep sometimes without the added complication of tricky species.

 

[LordJoshaeus]

Thanks...maybe I will turn this tank into something other than an NPS setup.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Even out the lighting.
Move the rock or add to cover the hardware.
Look for smaller powerheads.
Try a piece of black plastic or paper on the Back to see if you like the look(I’ve had a plastic on the back of my 30 for 2 + years )it’s covered with corraline now.

The tank will evolve overtime as you and the tank progress , both astetically and coral wise.

It won’t happen all at once so patience is the word.

 

[Sailingeric]

Even the best system is a lot of work. I have to scrap my glass every day, check my skimmer, wipe the salt off, add water to the ATO... And that is an easy day.

 

[TheHarold]

Even the best system is a lot of work. I have to scrap my glass every day, check my skimmer, wipe the salt off, add water to the ATO... And that is an easy day.

Dunno about that much; I scrape weekly, skimmer weekly, ATO Weekly. Only daily is feeding for me.

 

[reeffreak911]

Something i found controls algae real good pin cushing sea urchin