decisions decisions refugium or skimmer plz help

you said you've done saltwater your whole life, now you trying tropical.. do you mean you've done freshwater Tropical your whole life and now trying saltwater? There is so much to know with Reef tanks. Coming from someone wo has kept Freshwater Tropical tanks for 17 years.. saltwater was.. how do I say overwhelming at first. So much chemistry and so much that can go wrong. Lets see some pics of your Hair Algae problem you might be able to bounce back wth proper practice. I had an algae problem for a while. Had some bad batches of water, but I bounced back. It can be done.

1) Let's get those lights replaced! what kind do you have

2)The canister!!! Dear god... change it very often like Luna said or get rid of it. With Live Rock being your main filtration. Flow and a skimmer is reeally all you need.

3) Are you using Tap water? If so this is also contributing

If you keep that canister you can try using media that's cuts down on phosphates.. I try not to use a lot of chemical media so someone else can chime in on that.


If you want my opinion.. depending on how much money you have.. get a skimmer... AquaC Remoras are very easy to use for beginners or an Octopus (best two skimmers for 150-160$ IMO).. Next Buy an Aquaclear power Filter and convert it into a fuge.. then you can have the best of both worlds at around $200.. If you need help just ask! did I say good luck!?

 

im 16 and i have no idea what type of bulbs i have but i can look it up and get back to you luna and i think once i get enough money im going to get a skimmer but new bulbs are first i think

 

and i use reverse osmosis water and i got that tested it fine my ph and alk are off though but im putting some buffer in to help it out and when i mean non tropical i mean i live in massachusets and i had tank stuff from around there from the ocean and aqua lung when you say buy skimmer for 150 and then a power filter is that a total of 200$ or or just the power filter with fuge?

 

and buy the way thanks everyone you have made it alot easier and ill definatley try to get some picks up of my tank as bad as it may look right now

 

Skimmer and fuge around 200. the AquaC is about 150-170 depending on your Tank size, and the Aquaclear is anywhere from 20-40, depending on your tank size. Do a search for an Aquaclear fuge build... I used the Aquaclear 70 on my 16 gallon tank.. this filter is rated at 300 gallons per hour, but I slowed it down for the fuge. You can buy a smaller impeller for the Aquaclear 20 and put it in the 70. Worked for me for about a year til I recently built a 10 gallon sump/fuge. Put a light on the fuge at night.. this will help buffer your tank! Good luck!

 

thanks ive been doing a ph buffer and manually removing which has been working great. but one of my lights just blue lights just busted so one side of my tank has normal lighting and one has yellow light

 

When i had my 55 i turned my ac50 into a fuge! Very easy! take out the media add some rubble and cheato and a small light. The light i used was a clip on light that was ment for reading in the dark and it was perfect for the application!