I have a Red Sea Reefer 170 (24.5" x 20" x 20", 34 gallon display, 9 gallon sump) that has been running for the last 2 years, but has been somewhat neglected. I'll be around the tank more now and would like to get it looking nice. I'm currently working on solving some algae problems and would appreciate any advice. I think my eventual goal is to turn this into an anemone tank.
Tank has 1 maroon clownfish and 2 damselfish along with minimal clean up crew at this point. I've cut feeding down to ~15 small pellets twice a day. The fish consume all of it within about 10 seconds at each feeding. Running a reef octopus skimmer that I think I've tuned so that it will do something more than aerate the water. I can only work on the tank once a week, but I've started changing the filter sock, manually removing algae, testing the water, and doing a 5 gallon water change consistently.
Current parameters:
Nitrate 0 ppm
Phosphate 0.034 ppm
Calcium >500 mg/L
Alkalinity 7.2 dKH
Magnesium 1560 ppm
Salinity 34.9 PPT
Temperature 78.4
I have dosing pumps for 2 part (using seachem reef fusion 1 and 2). I've stopped dosing fusion 1, and will continue dosing alkalinity.
I'd like to add a clean up crew once the calcium and magnesium come down. Thoughts on clean up crew? I've used nassarius, ceriths, nerites, and hermits in the past but haven't had much success. Is it worth considering something like an urchin, blenny, or hopefully the tang police don't go too hard on me, but perhaps a juvenile tang contingent on having a larger tank to rehome it to.I've manually removed quite a bit of algae but have trouble getting the last bit attached to the rock.
Tank has 1 maroon clownfish and 2 damselfish along with minimal clean up crew at this point. I've cut feeding down to ~15 small pellets twice a day. The fish consume all of it within about 10 seconds at each feeding. Running a reef octopus skimmer that I think I've tuned so that it will do something more than aerate the water. I can only work on the tank once a week, but I've started changing the filter sock, manually removing algae, testing the water, and doing a 5 gallon water change consistently.
Current parameters:
Nitrate 0 ppm
Phosphate 0.034 ppm
Calcium >500 mg/L
Alkalinity 7.2 dKH
Magnesium 1560 ppm
Salinity 34.9 PPT
Temperature 78.4
I have dosing pumps for 2 part (using seachem reef fusion 1 and 2). I've stopped dosing fusion 1, and will continue dosing alkalinity.
I'd like to add a clean up crew once the calcium and magnesium come down. Thoughts on clean up crew? I've used nassarius, ceriths, nerites, and hermits in the past but haven't had much success. Is it worth considering something like an urchin, blenny, or hopefully the tang police don't go too hard on me, but perhaps a juvenile tang contingent on having a larger tank to rehome it to.I've manually removed quite a bit of algae but have trouble getting the last bit attached to the rock.
