howdy

twotall · #1 February 14th, 2007, 01:16 PM

Just an old country boy trying to get my wife's sw tank all set up. I use to have one a long time ago and having trouble remembering everything. The worse part about it is trying to get it set up, teach her as i go, and drive my big truck. Well for starters i have a 46 gal bow tank with two emp. 400 and a 80gph pump. I have around 25 pounds of live rock, 4 damsels, one yellow tang, a whole bunch of snails, 3 emerald crabs, about 8 blue legged hermit crabs, and one brittle star fish. My wife went crazy for fish will i was out on the road this time. The only thing i have a question about was this time when i came home the tank had a brown stuff(brown algae i think) on the tank and on the sand. My wife said it just appeared and i was wondering if anyone had any suggestions. Also a peice of living rock she bought has now got barnacls on it is this a bad thing and do i need to get rid of them. The rock also has feather dusters on it. thks twotall

bobby · #2 February 14th, 2007, 01:55 PM

Welcome to living reefs.

What are your perameters? How long has the tank been set up? Sorry to say it, but a 46 gal tank is way too small for a yellow tang. I dont know about the barnicals, but the feather dusters are good they are natural water polishers. The algae sounds like diatom. If you go to the top of this page click on helpful articals in that tab you can find info on alot of different stuff and algae and diatoms are one of them. What kind of food do you feed the fish? It aslo sounds like you could use more flow. Lack of flow can cause a diatom prob. I would add another power head on the oposite side of the one in there now.

twotall · #3 February 14th, 2007, 02:25 PM

Just got in last night and my wife had used up all the test stips so i will have to go here in about a hour when the store opens up and get me some more. I thank you for that info on diatom, would have not even thought of some of that , thks a bunch.

bobby · #4 February 14th, 2007, 02:37 PM

How old is the tank? It is very common for a new tank to have algae outbreaks. What kind of food do you feed the fish? Flakes, pellets, frozen ect.... I also had a algae prob for about 2 months then I switched to frozen food and it has cleared up. Flakes and pellets can cause exsess phosphate in your water and cause the alge.

twotall · #5 February 14th, 2007, 02:51 PM

Tank is about four months old and we feed flake food to them. with the occasional seaweed salad mix. thks jrh

RigoSharon · #6 February 14th, 2007, 02:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twotall

Just an old country boy trying to get my wife's sw tank all set up. I use to have one a long time ago and having trouble remembering everything. The worse part about it is trying to get it set up, teach her as i go, and drive my big truck. Well for starters i have a 46 gal bow tank with two emp. 400 and a 80gph pump. I have around 25 pounds of live rock, 4 damsels, one yellow tang, a whole bunch of snails, 3 emerald crabs, about 8 blue legged hermit crabs, and one brittle star fish. My wife went crazy for fish will i was out on the road this time. The only thing i have a question about was this time when i came home the tank had a brown stuff(brown algae i think) on the tank and on the sand. My wife said it just appeared and i was wondering if anyone had any suggestions. Also a peice of living rock she bought has now got barnacls on it is this a bad thing and do i need to get rid of them. The rock also has feather dusters on it. thks twotall

HEY BOBY THANKS FOR THE TIP HOW TO UPLOAD MY PHOTOS..I JUST POSTED SOME OF THEM HOPE YOU SEE THEM SOON AN GIVE SOME TIPS...TALK TO YOU LATER

bobby · #7 February 14th, 2007, 03:03 PM

Rio not a porblem, cant wait to see them.

Twotall, I would switch to frozen only, the flake food has ash in it and can cause your phos to get out of hand. Well we'll wait to see what your test kits say. Remember though if they read 0 on everything and you have algae it can be a bad reading because the algae will eat the exsess nutrient and make your tests look good.

Seaweed from what I have heard and read is good. I have used seaweed but not long enough to give a review on it.

JellyMan · #8 February 14th, 2007, 05:39 PM

hello and welcome to the reefs, yes Bobby is correct sounds like diatom algae happens to all new tanks just part of the cycle you can get some snails they will help clean it up if you dont want to wait. Flake food is notorious for ash which is a phosphate feeder which is a algae feeder be careful. Do the barnicle things have tentacles if so your prolly looking at jewel corals they just need moderate lighting and water movement though I cant tell you without seeing pics hope this helps on your insight.
Chris

**Bifferwine** · #9 February 14th, 2007, 06:28 PM

I agree, add some more flow to your tank. I also had problems with phosphates when I used flake foods, algae got out of hand, then I switched to frozen only and haven't had a problem since. Welcome.

yote · #10 February 14th, 2007, 09:47 PM

Hi twotall
Im going to agree with everbody else above.
Being as your in Dalton,you might want to check out the Chattanooga reef club.
And where in Dalton is there a decent fish store?

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twotall (February 14th, 2007)