[chuck hickey]

Have a 24 gal Nano. Looking for some sort of outboard skimmer that will fit with the tight fitting lid on the nanocube. Main problem is that I have dusty film of green (very lime colored green) algae that I can't seem to get rid of. Not bad in the tank or on live rock, but on the surface, almost like an oil spill on top. I can use some filter pads and scoop much of it out, but have to do this daily.

tank is 24gal nano - with about 30 LBs of good live rock - a few polyps, brain coral, and a piece of macro algae. midas blenny, shrimp, hermit crab, fire fish and small perc - so I don't think I'm overloading. Sand bottom. Been using a phosphate filter pad to cure a little bit of red algae.

last several water changes have used distilled water and commercial salt mix. Next couple will use RO/UV treated water.

How do I get rid of it - and is there a nano style skimmer out there?????

[chuck hickey]

Oh - water test parameters have been good -with nitrates and trites near zero. ph and everything else seems stable and within norms. dont have a phosphate test, so don't know about that.

[Frag Hag]

Hi chuck hickey!

Current USA just came out with a submersible, nano size (6.5" H x 2" Dia) protein skimmer (32.95 at Nanotuners.com)

I have a 24 g nano as well, and am waiting to see if it is worth buying or not. So far, reactions have been mixed.

So, in the meantime it's water change, water change, water change. I have been told "the solution to pollution is dilution".

Re: excess algae - I don't know how old your tank is, but barring overfeeding, your distilled water could very well be contributing to the problem. Switching over to the RO would be a good place to start.

Good Luck!

Shay

[Frag Hag]

Me again.

I noticed you live in San Diego and have been using a commercial salt mix. Are you aware that you can get free filtered ocean water from Scripps Institute?

I wish I lived a bit closer, I would definitely be hauling the water containers down there.

Shay

[chuck hickey]

Thanks - I seemed to have read that somewhere about the free filtered ocean water. I'm only 20 miles away - or so... so I should be able to drop by there with a couple of 5 gal. containers. I'll see if I cant find another one. That would set up some pretty darned easy water changes.

I have changed to RO water instead of distilled and there seems to be some improvement.
One thing I noticed on a couple of pieced of rock are some small purplish looking bubbles - pretty hard. This weekend when cleaning the tank I push relatively hard on a bubble and it broke - emitting a lime green something into the tank. Perhaps this is where it is coming from. I have seen several of these bubbles (about the size of 1/2 a pencil eraser) on various pieces of rock. Maybe 10 of them in the tank. I'm afraid to bust another one. I think I'll watch them to see if they grow and erupt or what. They are located in very bright locations on the rock and in places with good water movement - not hidden in a dark/still corner.

[ibjmg]

bubble algae/valonia ? Ive only seen them dark green in my tank, and you should not let them burst (that just moves the seeds to another part of the rock. My experience I just twist them gently and they break off the rock w/o popping (Ive had my share of popped ones)

My Opinion

[chuck hickey]

two things:
1. got an emerald crab - and it is taking care of much of the green bubble algae
2. Did the cassette box mod to the tank and that got rid of the green surface algae - in about 30 seconds.

[BubbaWPB]

Hmmm.... how did you get your emerald crab to eat the bubble algae? I got four and none of them will touch it... can I send them to you to be trained?

[chuck hickey]

It seemed to actually search the stuff out. Started on some red slime I had - picked through that and stirred stuff up - and then started on a piece of Tonga rock that had the bubbles on it. He just attacked it like he was starved.

maybe I should start a school for crabs.

[romunov]

I would first try a series of water changes to get whatever is growing in there under control. Relatively large ones can be done in a tank of that size. I personally wouldn't bother with a skimmer, since a 40% water change can be done in 5 minutes.

[chuck hickey]

to those that were reading this - I did confirm and have now used the FREE filtered sea water from the Birch Aquarium in La Jolla. I've got a couple of 5 gallon containers and will get another one or two for hauling seawater home. Set up a big bucket in the garage that hold a heater and airstone - so water changes just got MUCH easier to do. All it costs me is gas (I live about 20 miles from the aquarium). My guess is that much of my problems came from the original distilled water and possibly the R/O water that I purchased as 2 water changes with the filtered sea water seems to have cured 90% of the problem.

[Frag Hag]

Enjoy the free filtered water, but there might be some changes on the horizon - I read this on a local board recently:

"I was at the pier yesterday and spoke with some guy that had just got water and talked to one of the keepers there. There was something mentioned to the effect that they are considering caping off those spouts. The reason being that the big trucks are coming in there still and selling the water for $1 per gallon. The Ocean Motion Company, has 2 trucks that hold 25,000 gallons each. The electricity bill for scripps/ucsd is $1mill+ a month. There are 3 big pumps at the end of the peir that move 12,000 gallons per minuite. The expense is killing them and they are going nuts trying to control the big trucks.
Like I said, this is second hand info, as I did not get there till after this guy was told this. I sure hope they don't cut off the supply, I am sure there are alot of us who use it and that makes this hobby affordable for us.
I have been using scripps from day 1 with zero problems. You just need to learn to read the water for problems. ie: red tide excessive foam at the shore line."

[Frag Hag]

Oh, and regarding the emerald crab -

Don't freak if you notice a carcass on the nano floor. I held funeral services for a fully intact emerald corpse pulled from my leather this morning, only to notice the damn thing roaming around my tank later that afternoon. Twice its size, and eating everything except the bubble algae.

Who'da thunk they molted in one piece?

[chuck hickey]

Haven't noticed the emerald molting, but it always freeks me a little when a see an dead cleaner shrimp in the tank. Takes a moment of panic scrambling to look around for the suddenly bigger fella - especially if he happens to be hiding out at that time. One in my tank seems to molt about every three or 4 weeks - but he does eat like a pig.

I'll look for the emerald shell - there is probably one in there under a rock somewhere as he is definitely bigger than when I bought him. I'm taking everyone out this weekend and re-arranging the rock for a little better stability. Got to find a new home for a rapidly growing hermit, too.

[fishgeeksrus]

In regards to your green surface film...
Had a friend with the same problem. He said that he upgraded to a larger pump and it took care of the problem.