Even with an awesome skimmer (Bubble King SM250), high flow(Vortech & Tunzes) and ‘relatively’ small feedings (tangs and anthias!), I get a good amount of algae growth on my glass and bottom glass (my setup is bare bottom, no sand). In general, I have to clean my glass every three days because there is a layer of algae growth. Nothing major, but noticeable none the less. I was getting some aggressive growth of hair algae on the bottom glass and tried out a Seahare to fix the problem. Even though it did a decent job, it didn’t ‘fix’ the problem. After hearing some good reviews, I tried AlgaeFIX, a product from Aquarium Pharmaceuticals. They’re based in Chalfont, Pa, about a 5 minute walk from my Dad’s house! So far the results have been incredible. After 3 recommended doses, my hair algae is virtually gone! Cleaning my glass have become a weekly chore, instead of every three days. I’ve noticed that this product only effects the small hair algae and not the larger algae I have in the tank. Those seem to get weaker and need to be pulled out manually. My chaeto in my frag tank/refugium has taken a hit though; it’s not doing well. Overall, I’m very happy w/ this product. My long term cure is to add additional live rock for biological filtration(getting cooked now). Also, I’m going to restart my phosban reactor.

Here’s a link to the product: AlgaeFIX

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I’ve been a long time supporter of Tunze products. I currently have their osmolator top-off device, 2 Tunze nanostream 6025s, and 2 Tunze streams 6065s. I recently had some problems w/ my Tunze 6000 controllable pump. Since this pump is discontinued, some parts are no longer available. I contacted Roger, the man behind Tunze USA, and he informed me to send it in. After looking at it, he said he could fix it for $25 or offer to sell me their current controllable pump, 6105, at a huge(did I say huge?) savings. I opted to get the new pump and received it yesterday.

The new pump is a major improvement from the old pump. The new brackets allow the pump to swivel in all directions; the old pumps would only allow left or right movement. The new pump uses a computer laptop looking power supply and the driver is built in; the old pump had separate driver and power supply. My old 6000 was rated for 1850gph, the 6105 is rated for 3,434 gph (don’t ask me how they figure these numbers out?). I can reduce or increase the overall power of this pump w/ the supplied 12v, 18v, and 24v jumpers.  This pump is so much more versatile the the old one. I just hooked it up to my APEX controller and it’s controlling the Tunze to pulse from 30% to 100% power. Nice flow. Two thumbs up for Tunze!

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I’m a strong believer in using filter socks to capture detris from the water column. As long as you replace them every few days, they shouldn’t be a problem creating nitrates. I’ve been using off-the-shelf filter sock holders in my sump. Although they work OK, they’re not as cleanly designed and simple to use, as I would like. One of the problems is that I’m using  a 4″ and a 7″ filter sock holders to handle 3 inlets. That means I need to replace different size filter socks periodically and removing these socks from their holders are a pain in the butt. Recently at MACNA, I saw some custom sumps that had integrated filter socks holders. I’m going to copy these designs into my own in sump filter sock holder. I’ll be building this holder from 1/4″ pvc sheet. Much easier to work w/ than acrylic (but just as expensive!). Here’s the initial design. Water from the display and frag tank will be plumbed into a 18″x 4″x 10″chamber. This should reduce water splashing noise from these returns. The water chamber overflows into the filter sock holding area and into the skimmer area of my sump. What I like about this design is that the socks can be easily removed without moving the plumbing around, unlike existing hang-on filter sock holders. I may add an additional baffle to redirect all the water, coming through the filter socks, directly to my skimmer’s pumps intake nozzle. This should really make my filter system work at it’s optimum potential.

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