pacman

I change 50% weekly for my 20 gallon tank. No skimmer and no chemical filtration. The small tank makes water changes cheap and easy. A large tank I would want to use a skimmer, run chemicals and dose rather than do water changes.

Denver's defense won the game. Awesome display of talent. Peyton retiring? I hear the 49ers have a ton of cash with his name written all over it. Split duties with Gabbert until playoff time. Let's wait and see!

I purchased my MP10 (not quiet drive) 2 years ago second hand. I was under the impression that these powerheads were very quiet but mine was not. I would not say it was super loud but it was way louder than my AC70 filter pump. After doing some research I found many posts complaining about how noisy these pumps get after some use so I just accepted that was the way they were. Other posts talked about changing bearings to try and quiet them down as well. After 2 years of use in my tank it was getting louder and louder every few months. A few weeks ago I was giving my tank a good clean and took the wetside out. I looked at the instruction manual and found with the MP10 you can take it apart all the way down to the magnet coming off the propeller shaft. I took mine apart and found brown gunk buildup in a circular pattern around the shaft and on both sides of the magnet as well as the back of the housing. I cleaned this gunk off, put it back together, and the pump was now alot louder! Stumped I did some more reasearch online and found out that the MP10 wetsides come prelubricated from the factory using food grade glycerin. That brown gunk was detritus/algae built up on the glycerin and was making the magnet spin off balance thus creating noise. Without any gunk or lube it was just the magnet rotating against the housing and shaft making it even louder. I applied some food grade glycerin to the shaft, the back of the housing and on both sides of the magnet, reassembled and now the pump is pleasantly quiet. Even the dryside runs alot quieter and cooler now. It also displaces alot more water than when the wetside was dirty. 25% now pushes the same amount as 50% power. Just being able to turn the power down now means it is barely audible above my AC70 pump. I would say to give this a try next time you are cleaning your MP10 and prior to replacing bearings it may save you alot of trouble. I am not sure if other models allow you to take the wetside apart down to the magnet but if so give it a try if yours is getting very noisy.

Vis do you have a pic of the brownish algae? I think it is important to get a good ID on what you are fighting to then be able to come up with an effective plan of action. IME once in a system algae requires alot less nutrients to survive than your corals. Stripping nutrients out of the water will most likely starve your corals before it has any effect on established algae. Algae will be able to use the phosphate/nitrates prior to them being removed by a reactor. You would only be removing the excess phosphates that your brownish algae does not use, and again that is most likely going to be the nutrients that would keep feeding your corals. Your best bet would be manual removal of algae and cutting back your photo period to 8 hrs per day. I find it is always a balancing act that regular large water changes and trochus snails keep very well balanced once you get it under control via initial manual removal and not overdoing the lights. Just stripping nutrients using chemical media rather than manual removal will most likely starve your corals before the algae.