Reactor Time!!!!!!

[noo2usa]

That's it!!!!!!!! I have a dual GFO/ Carbon reactor sitting in the corner collecting dust. I've been fighting cloudiness and algae, so I think it's time to hook it up. Anybody have any thoughts on these things?:doubt:

 

[thewackyreefer]

A little carbon never hurt (unless you got the bad Kent batch)! Definitely should help with cloudiness unless it's a bacterial issue.

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

I feel like I should pump my fist and sing..whoa oh oh oh!

Yes hook it up!

 

[mcarroll]

Well, if you have it already, it's hard to argue against using it.

But...

Those symptoms sound like a cry from your tank for more/bigger water changes and maybe a round of detritus syphoning is due? Maybe?

Tell us what has your average water change schedule been recently?

What is the tank size and fish population and how much/how often do you feed?

Any sponges in use for filtration such as in a canister filter or pump prefilter?

How old is your tank?

-Matt

 

[noo2usa]

I have a 120 with 6 medium fish (want 2 more ). 2 corner overflows, with an aqua C ev180 skimmer. A little bit of coral. Water changes are about every other week at 12 gal. each. It's been up about 4 months.

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[pumarjr]

I do weekly w/c's on my 60g system @ 6g. tank is thriving. If you have the reactors already why not hook them up, the carbon will help with nutrients and the po4 will help with excess phos.

 

[mcarroll]

I have a 120 with 6 medium fish (want 2 more ). 2 corner overflows, with an aqua C ev180 skimmer. A little bit of coral. Water changes are about every other week at 12 gal. each. It's been up about 4 months.

All the right components for all the possibilities.

You could/should certainly bump up those water changes to weekly. 10% would probably be more like 15 gallons including your sump volume, eh? There's nothing wrong with doing 20% water changes if it's called for. Skimmer is capable of wet-skimming, but you'd have to set the air flow/water level to do so. (This can make a large amount of skimmate in a bug hurry when you're first tuning it, so be prepared with an auto-shutoff bucket of some sort. AquaC and others sell them. You will eventually want to sleep, so this is practically mandatory.

Poke around in the sand some and see if you get any brown sediment - should ideally be nothing but pure white sand. Brown means the sand is already fouled and you should start siphoning it out to go bare bottom or to be replaced with new sand. Can be done slowly over time....it's also possible that only part of the sand bed is fouled. This is also a sign that you may need more flow or to rearrange your flow to keep poop and food from settling into the sand so fast.

If you are feeding more than every other day, there's a good chance you may be over feeding. In general, you should be leaving your fish a little hungry after every feeding too.

All of these should add up to a resolved algae issue.

-Matt