Hi, I'm Matt. I have been meaning to post, but have been dreading the long list of questions I have developed over the past month. I have had a salt water tank for about a year and a half now. I started out, oddly enough, with a 10 gallon and about 10lbs of live rock, live sand, a few snails and crabs. After it cycled for a few months I tried fish. A blue and yellow damsel first. Then a couple chromis, which the slightly larger damsel picked on so much that the one jumped out of the tank. It ate the other, got some type of tumor on its lip, its enire jaw fell off, stopped eating, and died. All that in about a month. Neat. So I tried another blue/green chromis. Worked. Then another. All did well, and I learned reeeally quickly how to manage water chemistry in the little tank.
Then I upgraded to a 46gal, slowly increased the cleaner crew (which I am still doing) and after the water chemistry calmed down, added two false percula clowns in November, and an algae blenny a couple weeks ago. I also now have 4 mexican turbo snails (three others have died), an emerald crab (one other died), one peppermint shrimp (two others died recently), a red leg hermit, and about 7 blue leg hermits. Over the course of the several months I upped my LR slowly to probably around 60-70 lbs. I got a bunch free, which might be the cause of the problems I am having... (I also added a few simple-ish corals, but I will add info on that later.)
Problemo numero uno: A bunch of my cleaner crew has been dying... which is weird because there is a good amount of algae all over the tank. Green, hair, bubble all came with the free LR. I keep the back of the tank for algae to grow, and only clean the front and sides. I am pretty sure that they have enough to munch on. Another weird thing is that the algae blenny seems quite thin, as if he isn't eating. He doesn't touch the hair algae (there's not a ton of it, I should notice some progress, right?) or any other algae for that matter from what I can see. My nitrate/nitrite levels seem to be near 0 all the time.
Another problem: Red algae! Oh my god, make it go away!
Here's what I have done to try to fix the problem:
-A pad bought from the LFS that removes organics- silicates and phospahtes in particular. I placed it in my canister filter as per the directions on the pad. hasn't touched the cyano at all. Should I try phosban instead? I heard the pad I'm using works just as well/better since it removes silicates as well. Unfortunately I don't have the name/brand of the pad.
-I replaced the carbon again when I put the pad in.
-switched to frozen brine shrimp only instead of flake/pellet. also use zooplankton for coral
-kept the lights completely off for 3 and a half days. two days later, all algae looked healthier than it was before. question mark?
-slow addition of snails and crabs. My thought is that it isn't good to add too many at once. Am I right about this or should I add a bunch now? any suggestions to numbers and specific kinds?
-Blenny. I was told to add him. He's cute, but it's time for him to start doin' stuff! he eats, but rarely, and I seem to have to supplement with "sea veggies". He nibbles on that a bit, sometimes.
-RoDi water (I started using it the day I joined here and learned how detrimental tap water is to the reef) I have done about three or four 10-15gal water changes since I began using RoDi.
-two powerheads (topfin 50gal), pointing at each other. They seem to do NOTHING to the tank. Any suggestions of better brands to get?
And I have a confession. I don't have a protein skimmer yet. If I get one, will this help as well? I am looking at the AquaC Remora with Maxijet 1200. Does anyone know how loud these are? Any other suggestions if I eventually plan to keep more challenging corals and other fish? I'm also thinking of upgrading to a larger tank in a few years. Any suggestions to a HOB skimmer that can be used for something over 100 gal's? the 1200 is only good for up to 75.
Another thing going on in the tank: bristleworms (the tiny, under 3cm ones) and these tiny starfish that I believe are brittle/serpent stars. I have heard both are okay, and the one remaining peppermint shrimp has been keeping the bristleworm population under control I think?
I mentioned coral above. I have a Kenya weed, orange mushrooms, green star polyp, and a black and white thing that kind of looks like a stalk (which I was told is a low-light coral)? As for lighting, I have a 36''Nova Extreme with T5 and actinic bulbs.
Sorry for the long post and all the questions. I have about 18 months of screw-ups to admit to and get help with! The next posts will be much shorter. Thanks in advance for anyone who replies to this!
Then I upgraded to a 46gal, slowly increased the cleaner crew (which I am still doing) and after the water chemistry calmed down, added two false percula clowns in November, and an algae blenny a couple weeks ago. I also now have 4 mexican turbo snails (three others have died), an emerald crab (one other died), one peppermint shrimp (two others died recently), a red leg hermit, and about 7 blue leg hermits. Over the course of the several months I upped my LR slowly to probably around 60-70 lbs. I got a bunch free, which might be the cause of the problems I am having... (I also added a few simple-ish corals, but I will add info on that later.)
Problemo numero uno: A bunch of my cleaner crew has been dying... which is weird because there is a good amount of algae all over the tank. Green, hair, bubble all came with the free LR. I keep the back of the tank for algae to grow, and only clean the front and sides. I am pretty sure that they have enough to munch on. Another weird thing is that the algae blenny seems quite thin, as if he isn't eating. He doesn't touch the hair algae (there's not a ton of it, I should notice some progress, right?) or any other algae for that matter from what I can see. My nitrate/nitrite levels seem to be near 0 all the time.
Another problem: Red algae! Oh my god, make it go away!
Here's what I have done to try to fix the problem:
-A pad bought from the LFS that removes organics- silicates and phospahtes in particular. I placed it in my canister filter as per the directions on the pad. hasn't touched the cyano at all. Should I try phosban instead? I heard the pad I'm using works just as well/better since it removes silicates as well. Unfortunately I don't have the name/brand of the pad.
-I replaced the carbon again when I put the pad in.
-switched to frozen brine shrimp only instead of flake/pellet. also use zooplankton for coral
-kept the lights completely off for 3 and a half days. two days later, all algae looked healthier than it was before. question mark?
-slow addition of snails and crabs. My thought is that it isn't good to add too many at once. Am I right about this or should I add a bunch now? any suggestions to numbers and specific kinds?
-Blenny. I was told to add him. He's cute, but it's time for him to start doin' stuff! he eats, but rarely, and I seem to have to supplement with "sea veggies". He nibbles on that a bit, sometimes.
-RoDi water (I started using it the day I joined here and learned how detrimental tap water is to the reef) I have done about three or four 10-15gal water changes since I began using RoDi.
-two powerheads (topfin 50gal), pointing at each other. They seem to do NOTHING to the tank. Any suggestions of better brands to get?
And I have a confession. I don't have a protein skimmer yet. If I get one, will this help as well? I am looking at the AquaC Remora with Maxijet 1200. Does anyone know how loud these are? Any other suggestions if I eventually plan to keep more challenging corals and other fish? I'm also thinking of upgrading to a larger tank in a few years. Any suggestions to a HOB skimmer that can be used for something over 100 gal's? the 1200 is only good for up to 75.
Another thing going on in the tank: bristleworms (the tiny, under 3cm ones) and these tiny starfish that I believe are brittle/serpent stars. I have heard both are okay, and the one remaining peppermint shrimp has been keeping the bristleworm population under control I think?
I mentioned coral above. I have a Kenya weed, orange mushrooms, green star polyp, and a black and white thing that kind of looks like a stalk (which I was told is a low-light coral)? As for lighting, I have a 36''Nova Extreme with T5 and actinic bulbs.
Sorry for the long post and all the questions. I have about 18 months of screw-ups to admit to and get help with! The next posts will be much shorter. Thanks in advance for anyone who replies to this!
