do i need more flow?

[popal]

hi all, i have a few questions...

1. i have a 3ft 3in 40gal fowlr and some shrooms, i have a fluval 304 external filter and a fluval 4 internal filter im not sure if i need more flow i mean when u look @ my tank the water surface is move quite a bit... i was think of removing the internal filter and replacing it with a power head, what are your comments?

2. now my tank has been running 4 12 weeks now and i dont seem 2 have any coraline algea growth... does it need a certain amount of light 2 grow?

3. now this i really ping me off, i have this green and red slimy stuff growing on my rocks,my filter pipes my skimmer pipe and my back wall, it has airbubbles growing on it aswell, i remove this horrible slime stuff but it soon grows back... what is this and how do i get rid of it?

thx so much 4 any replies so greatful :)

[popal]

anyone?

[mergal]

1. how many gallons per hour is that
2.; what kind of light do you have
3. cyano bacteria reduce nutrients in the tank

[eddie c]

first are you using ro water? and if not you should be, tapwater has phosphates which will cause algae blooms, i don't know what type of lights you are using, but you should be using halides, t5's or pc's in that order imo, also i would ditch the filter and get a skimmer the best that you can afford, imo that is the most important item in your tank, and get a couple of powerheads, placed at opposite ends of tank to eliminate stagnant areas, don't overfeed and keep to a reguler maintenance schedule and you will be well on your way.

[Kreeger1]

Yes you need more flow
A couple maxijets should work out good and cheap too

[mrreuben]

yup yup, more flow if you can.

[Cluckr7]

1. Canister filters and Power filters when used with media trap debris and waste, causing high nitrates and phosphates. I would either take the media out and use the fluvals only for flow or replace them alltogether with powerheads. Make sure you have enough liverock/don't overstock or overfeed to handle your nitrification filtration. 15x-30x tank turnover per hour is a good flowrate. That's 600 - 1200 gallons per hour as a rough estimate.

2. Keep your alkalinity between 3.2 and 4 meq or 8-11 dKH. Do this with a balanced additive such as kalkwasser in your topoff water, but make sure to research this as it can kill your tank if you do it wrong.

3. See #1. Also, I would get a good skimmer. Nice hang on tank skimmers for a decent price are Remora Pro (www.proteinskimmer.com), EuroReef, Coralife SuperSkimmer.
Also, don't overfeed, and use RO/DI water.

[popal]

thx 4 the comments,

i started of using tap water but switched 2 using Ro about 2 months ago.
i already have a skimmmer for my tank, saop shall i remove the internal and replace with a power head?
my lights are normal flouresances 1 30w marine white and a 30w marine glo.

the pump output of the fluval 304 ernternal = 260 US gallons an hour sorry dont no what it is for the UK
the filers circulation = 185 US gallons an hour so my tank is a 3ft 3in 40gal/180liters so is the filter ok 4 my tank?

sorry last question... in the fluval 304 i have a media called fluval biomax i also run carbon the the filter do i need the biomax if not what is the best way 2 remove it, how do you reduce nutreints in the tank?

thx 4 all your replies very greatful for your help on this long journey 2 sucsess :)

[Avi]

Originally posted by popal
thx 4 the comments,

i started of using tap water but switched 2 using Ro about 2 months ago.
i already have a skimmmer for my tank, saop shall i remove the internal and replace with a power head?
my lights are normal flouresances 1 30w marine white and a 30w marine glo.

Depending on what you'd want to keep in your tank, that lighting may be sufficient and may well not be sufficient, with the latter the more likely. If all you intend to keep is the fish and the shrooms, then you might be able to suffice with the lighing that you have. It's all right for the fish in any event, but even lower light-demanding coral like mushrooms would fare better with some more lighing than that. If all you ever intend to keep are mushrooms, by way of coral, then get a fixture with two 65-watt power compact bulbs or some t5's that bring you a similar wattage total. If you intent to keep more light-demanding coral, you may want to consider changing your present fixture to just holding actinics and adding a metal halide fixture that holds a 175 or 250-watt 10,000K bulb (14,000K if you prefer a little more blue cast.)

Originally posted by popal
the pump output of the fluval 304 ernternal = 260 US gallons an hour sorry dont no what it is for the UK
the filers circulation = 185 US gallons an hour so my tank is a 3ft 3in 40gal/180liters so is the filter ok 4 my tank?.

I'd definitely follow the advice you've gotten above regarding getting rid of the canister and using a good quality protein skimmer instead. I think that's the singularly best thing you would do to resolve the water issues.

Originally posted by popal
in the fluval 304 i have a media called fluval biomax i also run carbon the the filter do i need the biomax if not what is the best way 2 remove it, how do you reduce nutreints in the tank?.

If you want to continue using the canister for carbon alone, that'd be fine....but I would discontinue using the biomax or any other bio-medium in there.

I also recommend getting rid of the internal filter as above. Replace it with a power head or two. If you're just keeping the fish and mushrooms in there, try to get the flow in the tank to a total of, say, 15 to 20 times the total water volume. So try to have about 400 to 550 gph of flow in the tank. If you intend to keep other coral, particularly grouping coral like zoanthids get the flow to more like 20 to 25 times the water volume. I would get two Seio 620's for that tank....they have a nice diffuse flow instead of the intense, narrower blast of water that other powerheads have, and they aren't very costly.