some marine help please..

[ranmasatome]

ok... so after reading a little bit on marine... i realise that there are a few things taht are essential in setting up a marine aquarium..

the one that i have up now is using a weipro hang-on skimmer and a sump with bioballs in the first chamber and lots and lost of sand in the second chamber.. 3 and 4th chamber is empty..

i still regularly get those brown algae...on glass and stuff..

Would an FR help in this case?? and what other fancy instruments would be necessary?? sorry..but DAMMMMM newb when it comes to marine man...

would it help to get rid of the DSB and put macroalgae instead in the 3rd chamber (because its bigger)??

dosing of strontium, iodine and calcium is for the soft corals right?? what else are potential dosing chemicals?

some advise would be great.

[BFG]

What's your tank and sump size? What's in it? The usage of bio-ball are now considered to be unreliable in that it is a nitrate factory. If you would want to get a FR, use Rowaphos in it. If you want to get rid of the DSB chamber, replace it with chaetomorpha algae. You need to have a light source for it.

[solonavi]

ok... so after reading a little bit on marine... i realise that there are a few things taht are essential in setting up a marine aquarium..

the one that i have up now is using a weipro hang-on skimmer and a sump with bioballs in the first chamber and lots and lost of sand in the second chamber.. 3 and 4th chamber is empty..

i still regularly get those brown algae...on glass and stuff..

Would an FR help in this case?? and what other fancy instruments would be necessary?? sorry..but DAMMMMM newb when it comes to marine man...

would it help to get rid of the DSB and put macroalgae instead in the 3rd chamber (because its bigger)??

dosing of strontium, iodine and calcium is for the soft corals right?? what else are potential dosing chemicals?

some advise would be great.

Hi Bro,

Wat's ur display tank size?

How thick is ur DSB, the sand size and how old is it? DSB takes 4-6months to mature.

Have ur measure ur NO3 and PO4? If Po4 is getting too high, u can juz get the Rowa as BFG recommended and dump it straight into ur sump without using a FR athough a FR will be more efficient. Maybe can get a cheap resun FR (not sure of its performance tot).

Agree that bio-ball should go eventually. Maybe replace it will some seachem matrix or something instead.

Chemical? Hmm. For soft coral only, watch ur calcium dosing. Iodide is really difficult to measure and dose it with care. Read this link for more info on iodide. http://www.reefs.org/library/article/e_edelman2.html

For soft coral, its pretty easy to maintain. Decent lights, stable water and probably some food will be gd. Try feeding brine shrimp if ur soft coral has a big mouth like mushroom. Target feeding is the best in promoting growth.

Cheers
JC

[ranmasatome]

Thanks guys.. tank is 2.5 ft x 1.5 x 1.5
sump is probably 60cm x 20cm.

The DSB extends one entire section of the sump.. meaning its about 20cm tall x 10cm long x 20 cm wide. the DSB is old.. probably more than one year..

right now the water hits the bioball chamber first then goes to the DSB..then nothing after that...

i was thinking if i can remove the bioball and then replace it with the rowa first.. then the DSB...then in the 3rd chamber that used to house the skimmer (which is now hung on side of tank), i will add the chaetomorpha algae.. hows that?

[BFG]

It's better to have the skimmer in the 1st compartment to skim away all the nasty stuff. The 2nd compartment would be use by the macroalgae. The fourth will be the return pump.