My 29 gallon reef

nport19 · Mar 18, 2016

I have had this setup for about 2 years now. It currently has a canister filter, protein skimmer a LED light soon to be replaced by a aquatic life t5 light. I use a RO buddie for water changes which I change all the filters on regularly. My temp stays around 84 degrees and my salinity is at 1.023-1.026. As for fish I have two clown fish a yellow tail damsel and a yellow tail dotty back. the bottom of my tank is part sand part bare and it covered with corals. I seem to be having this reoccurring small red alge break out and I can't figure out why it keeps happening. I do water changes once a week. Also does anyone know any good ways to get the pink hard alge to stay off my water fan? And does anyone have suggestions for corals that do well on shaded areas?

ou12004 · Mar 19, 2016

Not sure on the red algae, but I soak my pumps in vinegar every 2 or 3 months to kill and remove coralline algae.
I just picked up a sun coral but it needs to be fed regularly

nport19 · Mar 23, 2016

I will have to give that a try. I was also told by the pet store I go to that seaearchants work to get of coralline alge as well. Are they reef safe though? Anyone have any suggestions on where I can get cheap light bulbs for a aquatic life t5 setup?

ou12004 · Mar 23, 2016

An urchin will keep coraline off your rocks but not your pumps. I personally would not buy cheap t-5 bulbs, BRS has free shipping and ATI blue plus bulbs for around $20 I thought T-5s were no good until I switched to these bulbs and then everything took off.

nport19 · Mar 23, 2016

Good to know. Would those bulbs work on my aquatic life fixture? Sorry for all the questions but I have a bio cube filter cartridge on top of the sump area that holds my bio balls and I was wondering if it is possible to do away with that filter pad and most of the bio balls.

ou12004 · Mar 23, 2016

Yes they should work in that fixture, you can create what ever color spectrum looks best to you 2 Blue + or a blue + and a Coral +. I think you could replace the bioballs with live rock and run GFO and Carbon and get rid of the filter pad. With a canister filter it is important to clean them out every month, which is why I don't have one. The GFO should help with the redslime and if it becomes a real problem Chemiclean redslime remover has worked very well for me in the past.

nport19 · Mar 23, 2016

Ok. I ordered some replacement bulbs from
The site your recommended. Im a little nervous about replacing all my bio balls with love rock only because I don't have the space in that chamber to put it and I don't want to recycle my setup. As for the red slime I does seem to come back every time I think I get it under control so I think I will try GFO. I only clean my canister every now and then and all I run in it is carbon. I have turbo calcium is that something that can be added to the filter in a bag or something?

ou12004 · Mar 23, 2016

The canister filter is the most likely source of your problems, you can leave in the bioballs but I would clean it monthly at a minimum. Unless you have a lot of SPS or bigger LPS you do not need to supplement anything. With Turbo Calcium you dissolve it in a cup and slowly add it to the tank, most people do so with a dosing pump after they test to make sure it is low. I use Kalk in my ATO to increase Calcium and Alkalinity in equal parts. But as I said if you are doing weekly water changes you would not need to do anything for a longtime. Not many bad things happen from water changes but a lot of bad things can happen if dose to much of anything.
Here is half my tank as an example of water changes and Kalk in the ATO

nport19 · Mar 24, 2016

I like you tank. How many gallons is your setup?

ou12004 · Mar 24, 2016

This is half of my 100g I also have a 29g that I run with just a HOB filter

nport19 · Mar 24, 2016

That's cool. What lights do you run on your two setups?
Here's my 29 with the new light.

ou12004 · Mar 24, 2016

Looks good but it is hard to see the corals with the that much blue. I have a reefbreeder photon 48 and a 2 bulb T-5 with ATI purple + and a blue+ on the 100 and on the 29 I have a 4 bulb t-5 with 2 Blue +, a Aqua Blue and a purple + bulb. The 29 is in the 15k range when all the lights are on here it is right before I moved some of the corals over.