Jason's Mr Aqua 25g cube

[ChouDawg]

Thanks! The tank is still a work in progress. As you can see I have some algae on the sand bed but I think that's under control. What I really need is a better skimmer. Right now I just have a little Bio Cube skimmer, i need something a little more heavy duty and with a water pump instead of air stones. I don't think I'm getting great water circulation through the skimmer despite it being in a high flow area of the sump.

That acrylic screen top looks great Jason, glad it worked out for you! Any close ups of how you made the acrylic frame, did you still use spline to hold the netting in? How much space do you have in your sump for a skimmer? I had a Tunze 9002 on my old AquaPod 24 that worked well with a small footprint.

[jasonp87]

That acrylic screen top looks great Jason, glad it worked out for you! Any close ups of how you made the acrylic frame, did you still use spline to hold the netting in? How much space do you have in your sump for a skimmer? I had a Tunze 9002 on my old AquaPod 24 that worked well with a small footprint.

I don't have any close up pics right now. I used a 0.375 square acrylic rod. Weld-on 3 to attach the pieces. The netting is actually held on by small dots of hot glue all the way around. Worked much better than I hoped. I had thought about cutting a groove and using a white spline but I wanted to try this first.

I think I have about 7x7" for a skimmer in the sump but I'd have to double check. The bio-cube skimmer has plenty of space.

[ChouDawg]

I don't have any close up pics right now. I used a 0.375 square acrylic rod. Weld-on 3 to attach the pieces. The netting is actually held on by small dots of hot glue all the way around. Worked much better than I hoped. I had thought about cutting a groove and using a white spline but I wanted to try this first.

I think I have about 7x7" for a skimmer in the sump but I'd have to double check. The bio-cube skimmer has plenty of space.

Oh wow hot glue haha never would've though, easier than dealing with spline for sure. 7'x7" is plenty of space for a decent venturi pump driven skimmer. The BM Nac 3 line looks like it would fit, a cheaper option that I've heard good results from are the SCA-301 skimmers.

[jasonp87]

New skimmer! Added an ASM Mini G that I modded to fit into my stand and sump. As it stood it was just a little too tall so a cut off the bottom couple inches and mounted the pump outside the body of the skimmer instead of directly underneath. This should be more than enough to keep my water clean.

[pigpimpc]

nice setu p!!!

[jasonp87]

nice setu p!!!

Thanks!

[YokoYoko]

Nice build! I like the ATO reservoir.

[jasonp87]

Nice build! I like the ATO reservoir.

Thanks, It was actually really easy to build. I want to go pick up some black for a new one and do a window. I think that would be really cool.

[jasonp87]

The Mini G seems to be working. I checked this morning and it had built up some pretty nasty junk in the collection cup. There wasn't a ton but what was there was dark. So far a big improvement over my old skimmer. I'll let it go a couple more days and see if it needs anymore tuning.

[jada1]

Looks good buddy great job on the acrylic work.

[jasonp87]

Looks good buddy great job on the acrylic work.

Thanks Danny. Building stuff myself has made it a lot easier to get everything just the way I want it and save a good amount of money. If I had gone with a regular tank for my sump it would've been about half the size since my stand isn't very large. It's also saved me a bunch of money. Custom sumps and stuff are expensive. The ATO reservoir I built probably would have cost me around $150 if I bought it from a store. Overflow boxes can be pricey too, esp if they're custom.

[jasonp87]

Well I've been battling algae in the tank for a while now and I'm not sure what else to do. I guess it's good that it isn't getting any worse but it would be nice if the steps I've been taking would show some positive results. I have this thick green algae that can get long and flowing. I have tried hermits, snails, a lawnmower blenny and most recently a sea hare. I also reduced feeding to every other day, been doing water changes, reduced lighting hours and replaced my biocube skimmer with an ASM Mini G (rated for around 60 gallons). It's been producing really nasty skimmate so I know it is pulling junk out. Nothing seems to work on this stuff. Parameters are all normal. I'm sure my phos and nitrates are higher than they read since the algae is absorbing them.

The only other thing I can think of to eat the algae is a tang but I don't really have the water volume for one.

Below is a pic of the algae, this is a different tank but its the same stuff. It coats rock, sand and is starting to move onto the glass near the bottom of the tank.

[ChouDawg]

New tank syndrome is probably the cause of that algae, I had the same stuff covering the harder to reach parts of my tank. I found manual removal to be the best bet. After my past two tanks that I started from "scratch" I've seen that after about the 6 month point things really start getting established and maturing and the algae kind of naturally goes away, manual removal helps keep it bearable while you wait it out and once it balances out it won't come back, hopefully..I've found using airline tubing you can get some of the algae into the tube, close off the end with your finger and pull that will get you a good grip on the algae, then release and it should get pulled into the tube. It's tedious but necessary if you want to keep the algae in check, your herbivores won't be able to keep up with algae management until it's stabilized.

[DiverDave]

What's your pH, ALK AND CA+ levels? How much is your pH fluctuation from day to night? What is the flow rate in the tank?

Keep the pH up and stable, above 8.0 at all times and the higher the better. CO2 is your enemy. If your pH is dropping significantly at night its due to CO2 increasing. When your lights come on, the bad algae feed off the CO2. I know that OLD information states that you should dim, or not use your lights…that's old and counter productive. If anything, keep those lights pumping 24/7 and starve the tank of food. Keep your ALK above 8.5meq/l and CA+ at 450+ to encourage Coraline algae growth, and minimize free CO2 in your tank. The algae in your corals will get all the CO2 they need from the coral. Toss in a bag of chemi-pure pro with GFO to assist in lowering your PO4 and nutrients released from the algae die-off.

Keep the flow heavy to keep detritus suspended for the skimmer to remove.

You said you've tried hermits and snails. I agree that we should support local stores, but if you're looking to get a crew that will clean up your tank, go to the GARF website and get you're crew from them. Each critter is $1 so even when you figure in shipping, you're still better off than the local stores if you buy more than 20 critters. I recommend you get 3x the amount you think you'll need, let them clean up the tank, then sell them off to other members.

Good luck and keep us posted.

DD

[jasonp87]

Ammonia: 0
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: 0 (probably higher but algae is masking)
PH: 8.2
Phosphates: 0 (same thing here as nitrates)
DKH: 6 kinda low
Calcium: 410
Spec Grav: 1.024

Flow: mag 5 return, 2x koralia nano 240 power heads

Sump lights stay on 24x7 for the fuge and macro I have in there so PH fluctuation should be minimal.