New Fish Only & Live Rock Setup

daledom

Reefing newb
Hi Guys,
I have just set up a new 4ft x 2ft high x 1.5ft tank. The tank has cycled and the levels are all great. I have now added 3 Percula Clowns and they are going great. They are eating and seem to be happy. I now have a problem that the sand is getting algae on it, I am using a marble sand and think I have made a mistake in choosing it.

The lighting is 6 x 54w T5's (4x10000k & 2x Actinic Blue tubes). I have them on for 12 hours a day. Is that too much ?

Do I need a cleaning crew ?

Is there a way to add more live rock now that I have added fish ?

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Cheers
Dale
 
Hi Guys,
I have just set up a new 4ft x 2ft high x 1.5ft tank. The tank has cycled and the levels are all great. I have now added 3 Percula Clowns and they are going great. They are eating and seem to be happy. I now have a problem that the sand is getting algae on it, I am using a marble sand and think I have made a mistake in choosing it.Sorry,I don't know what marble sand is.Aragonite base sand is the best for saltwater tanks.

The lighting is 6 x 54w T5's (4x10000k & 2x Actinic Blue tubes). I have them on for 12 hours a day. Is that too much ?Cutting back on lights(maybe 6hrs) will help.You will need the full 12hrs though when and if you decide on corals

Do I need a cleaning crew ?If the cycle is complete..sure,let the algae be your guide on what types and how many cleanup crew you're need

Is there a way to add more live rock now that I have added fish ?Buy fully cured live rock...not to much at one time and just add it in.If you go with uncured then its prolly better to cure it in a separate container

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Cheers
Dale

Dale....Welcome to the site!
Anymore questions feel free to ask.
 
Marble sand is crushed marble, very fine and white. It is sold in most aquarium shops here in Australia as an alternative, Should I try and remove it and replace it with proper sand.
 
I would while you only have a few fish and rocks.Can you put the fish in a holding tank while you change out the sand?Changing out the sand may cause a mini-cycle.Personally in your situation,I would go with a combination of dry/live sand or all live sand(aragonite base) so I could get the fish back in the display as soon as possible.

Maybe others can chime in on marble sand.I have never heard of it here in the U.S.
 
Since your tank is relatively new, I'd check and see if you could take the fish back and have the store hold on to them for you if you decide to change out the sand and add more live rock. Adding more live rock (1 to 2 lbs per gallon of water is recommended, I don't know what that is in kg or liters) will likely start a new cycle and could kill your fish. Algae problems are very normal in new tanks. If your levels are good, you should definitely add a cleaning crew to start working on the algae. And 12 hours of light is not too much, but like others have said, if you are having an algae problem, cutting back will not hurt.
 
You will likly see algae on the sand in a new tank. Non arganite sand or sand with silicates can cause a algae prob but algae will also have to feed on other things like nitrate and phosphate. I wouldnt remove the sand it will clear up in time with good husbandry. Alot of people are using non reef sand now to cut costs and I have added a quartz sand to my 55 to test it so far so good and I think the tank has been set up alittle over a month now. What are your perameters? Are you using Ro water? Are you doing water changes? What are you feeding the fish? By using bad water, over feeding and not doing water changes will cause exsess nutrients which will lead to algae. My 30gal reef didnt clear up till it was 3 or 4 months old, and now it look fine.
 
Ive never heard of marble sand either.I personally wouldnt use anything but aragonite in my tank.It just looks a whole lot more natural.
 
Thanks everybody for your advice, I have since done a water change and cut done to 6 hours of light. There has been a great improvement in the tank in just 3 days.
I have been told to only feed my fish every second day by my LFS, Is this OK ?
I have also added 2 turbo snails, would that be enough ?

My water parameters are
PH 8.2
Ammonia - 0ppm
Nitrite - 0ppm
Nitrate - 10ppm
S.G. - 1.020

Should I test for GH or KH ?
What other test do I need to do ?

Cheers
Dale
 
Two snail is not going to be enough of a clean up crew for a tank that size. I would add more as the algae grows and stop adding when the cleanup crew cna keep up with the ditrius and algae. Nassarius snail are great for cleaning the sand bed, and astreas snails are great for eating the algae off of the glass.
 
Now I don't know I have this right or not, but here's my take on your situation. Marbles are made of glass, glass is mostly made of silica sand, your sand is made of crushed marbles, so techinically you have a sand bed of silica....which is utilized by diatoms to produce there shells. My guess is that you have golden diatoms. You can leave the sand you have in there...but you will always have silica in your system. And thusly you will probably have diatom outbreaks frequently. I would recommend that you find a temporary home for your fish and snails, remove the sand, add in some argonite based sand and some more live rock. Let the tank cycle again if necessary, and then add the fish back in. Hopes this helps...and I hope I'm half way right. Maybe some of the pros around here can correct me if I'm wrong!
 
Thanks everybody for your advice, I have since done a water change and cut done to 6 hours of light. There has been a great improvement in the tank in just 3 days.
I have been told to only feed my fish every second day by my LFS, Is this OK ?Every other day is fine
I have also added 2 turbo snails, would that be enough ?You may need more as time goes on

My water parameters are
PH 8.2
Ammonia - 0ppm
Nitrite - 0ppm
Nitrate - 10ppm
S.G. - 1.020You need to raise your SG to 1.024-1.026

Should I test for GH or KH ?Testing akalinity is important in reef tanks.
What other test do I need to do?calcium,phosphate is also important.I also test Iodine and Magnesium,but they are not as important,regular water changes usually takes care of that.

Cheers
Dale

On the subject of marble sand....I had a chance to look it up in the states and marble sand is sold as pool sand.Matt may well be correct that its a type of silicate sand and may lead to algae blooms.Dale I would still change it out,but the choice is really up to you...good luck.
 
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