flabbergasted
New Member
I have a 10 gallon Coralife Bio Cube size 16 that has been setup since October 10, 2024. It seems to be well established as I started it with live rock from my smaller tank and more bought from a LFS. I have a "long arm" anenome that I have had for about a month. But let's start with some background on the tank.
I bought the tank used from the aforementioned LFS. Since I set it up, algae growth has been a problem. It started out growing bright green algae very rapidly. I tried using hyrdogen peroxide as recommended, which did not seem to do anything to slow the grow. Then I got some API Marine Algaefix, which slowed the growth, but didn't stop it. The instructions say to use 1ml per 10 gallons starting every 3 days until under control then once per week.
After a couple of weeks of fighting the green algae, the red algae started to grow and it grew fast. I have had long red algae hairs waving in the water for a while. I have added 4 snails that do a good job on the walls and another snail I never see except when I clean and run my finger through the sand to confirm it is still alive, because it is always under the sand and a conch, which does a great job scarfing a lot of the algae.
I have a moderate amount of control over the algae growth but it still has a ways to go. Now comes the anenome.
I talked to the owner of the LFS yesterday who said the red algae is from not enough oxygen in the water. He said if I add a pump to circulate the water, that would add more oxygen and I would see the anenome open up more. I told him it does open up quite a bit sometimes, but not all the time. He suggested it was right after a partial water change, and I confirmed that was the case. I also, reduced the light exposure for a while to no more than 8 hours per day with only 4 of those at full daylight and 2 before and after at sunrise/set and no moonlight until the algae growth is put under control.
So I bought an Aquarium Masters AquaPulse model 10 which moves 1320 gallons per hour. I have redirected it several times to find a good position so it doesn't move the water too fast. Instead of opening up more, the anenome is just rolling round a small circle in the bottom of the tank like a tumble weed. I moved it to a couple of other spots where it seemed like the movement would be less, but it just floated itself back to the middle of the tank floor where it is rolling around like a tumble weed.
So my question is, is there too much circulation for the anenome? Should I wait to see if it finds a spot it likes? The other fish in the tank include a pair of clowns, a blue tang and a yellow wrasse. They seem to be a bit happier now although they didn't seem unhappy before. As I am finishing this post, the anenome has planted itself beside the base of a rock for a couple of minutes, but has gone back to rolling around the bottom of the tank. There is no way to lower the amount of flow on the pump. Any ideas for something that can be adjusted so I can reduce the flow while still increasing circulation over the default pump that comes with the Bio Cube would be appreicated. It just seems to be too much flow to me.
I bought the tank used from the aforementioned LFS. Since I set it up, algae growth has been a problem. It started out growing bright green algae very rapidly. I tried using hyrdogen peroxide as recommended, which did not seem to do anything to slow the grow. Then I got some API Marine Algaefix, which slowed the growth, but didn't stop it. The instructions say to use 1ml per 10 gallons starting every 3 days until under control then once per week.
After a couple of weeks of fighting the green algae, the red algae started to grow and it grew fast. I have had long red algae hairs waving in the water for a while. I have added 4 snails that do a good job on the walls and another snail I never see except when I clean and run my finger through the sand to confirm it is still alive, because it is always under the sand and a conch, which does a great job scarfing a lot of the algae.
I have a moderate amount of control over the algae growth but it still has a ways to go. Now comes the anenome.
I talked to the owner of the LFS yesterday who said the red algae is from not enough oxygen in the water. He said if I add a pump to circulate the water, that would add more oxygen and I would see the anenome open up more. I told him it does open up quite a bit sometimes, but not all the time. He suggested it was right after a partial water change, and I confirmed that was the case. I also, reduced the light exposure for a while to no more than 8 hours per day with only 4 of those at full daylight and 2 before and after at sunrise/set and no moonlight until the algae growth is put under control.
So I bought an Aquarium Masters AquaPulse model 10 which moves 1320 gallons per hour. I have redirected it several times to find a good position so it doesn't move the water too fast. Instead of opening up more, the anenome is just rolling round a small circle in the bottom of the tank like a tumble weed. I moved it to a couple of other spots where it seemed like the movement would be less, but it just floated itself back to the middle of the tank floor where it is rolling around like a tumble weed.
So my question is, is there too much circulation for the anenome? Should I wait to see if it finds a spot it likes? The other fish in the tank include a pair of clowns, a blue tang and a yellow wrasse. They seem to be a bit happier now although they didn't seem unhappy before. As I am finishing this post, the anenome has planted itself beside the base of a rock for a couple of minutes, but has gone back to rolling around the bottom of the tank. There is no way to lower the amount of flow on the pump. Any ideas for something that can be adjusted so I can reduce the flow while still increasing circulation over the default pump that comes with the Bio Cube would be appreicated. It just seems to be too much flow to me.
