New to saltwater/pics of tank progress

[andersoned14]

Here are some pictures of my 90 gal tank. I posted my latest picture of the tank in the intro section but will repost it here. Some of the equipment I have are a 48" coralife 4-65w bulbs, two artic and two 50/50. I am running a wet/dry filter that is rated for a 125gal, with a meg drive return. (I bought this used so I am not sure of the gph on the pump there is nothing on it to idenitfy the size. This will be fun to replace when it fails) The skimmer is a eshopps 150 rated for 150 gal and this is in the filter. For flow I have two korlia #3 powerheads. I put 100lbs of sand and 75 lbs of rock. My livestock as of now is a copperband butterfly, a black clown, a turbo snail, a camel shrimp, a sand shifting star fish, scarlet hermitt, 3 blue leg hermitt and a emeral crab. Everything is going good haveing fun learning but would like the green algee to go away. I have been advised to only add cleanning crew till it is.
I plan to add a tang still not sure what kind any advice would be helpfull a goby and a flame angel, I am also not sure if this would put my tank at cap so if not I would be open to other suggestions. Thinking I was going to try so low light corals(easier) once the tank settles in a bit more. Thanks in advance for all the help.





:Cheers:

 

[Cathic]

Algae is probably a water movement problem even though you have 2 #3's on there. Might be a few to many hours of lighting. Give me a little more info?

EDIT: Also looks great, and good start, can we also get water parameters?

Finally welcome to the Reefs!

 

[VAreef]

Looks really good. You can remove some of the green algae by hand. Just pull it out. Your tank being very new is going to go through algae stages. Have you been doing any water changes? Like Cathic said whats your water prams look like specifically Nitrates. It will take a few months but good water changes, lower light times will clean up those nitrates and slow that algae down a bunch.

 

[andersoned14]

Ammoina is 0 Nitrites is 0 Nitrates is 10 I do a 10 gal water change every week or a 5 gal Wed and Sun. Temp is around 79 kh is at 9 and ph is at 8.4 S.G. is at 1.024. A friend of mine said might be over feeding a little, so I am going to change some things there and add less food. One thing I never thought of was to clean under the bio-ball is the wet/dry filter so that is getting cleaned out next. Also, the lights are on 12hrs a day so I going to change that to 10hrs and see if that helps. Those are the only things I have test for, Is there any thing else I NEED to be testing or changing. Thanks again

 

[VAreef]

Ah Bio balls and wet dry filter. You gotta make sure they stay pristine clean. Thats why most of us just use a sump. I got tons of algae growing in my sump. It eats the Nitrates. Over feeding causes algae because it causes higher nitrates. dropping to 10hrs of light will help you may even wanna go further to 8hrs.

 

[Cathic]

Sounds good for now, i would try to get all the nasty algae off the sand, siphon it or else scoop it out. Turn your lights down like VA said, 10 or 8 hours, until you get it under control, if it still grows, might not be enough water movement across the sand, if that is the case, just adjust powerheads until you get a good flow across it.

 

[andersoned14]

Would I be able to change my wet/dry to a sump by just pulling the bio balls and sponges and putting a light in there to help algae grow? Promblem might then be my skimmer could it stay in there or would it have to go? It is not a hang-on---sump only

 

[Bifferwine]

You can definitely turn your wet/dry into a sump/refugium. That's what most people do with old wet/drys. If you need to make a separate section for your skimmer, go to Home Depot or Lowe's and get a piece of plexiglass cut to fit. Then glue the baffle in with some silicone.

 

[VAreef]

I think I have heard of people doing just that. Thats all a sump is really is just a light growing algae and a protien skimmer. Heck you can use a rubbermade can to make a sump out of.

 

[PRC]

Alot of people use rubbermaids for sumps in lieu of another tank. They're easy to set up. I have the same tank as you do, I think you're having a flow problem as well as lighting, over feeding...I'm going to post an article that I read a couple of weeks ago (as soon as I find it). I think your Koralias are hitting the back of that rock, and the flow is getting stopped.

Also check out the algea scrubber in the DIY forum. I'm not recommending gettign rid of any of your equipment. All I run is an algae scrubber in a 55g sump. I don't have a skimmer, filter, etc. My nitrates are 0.

But I think your major problem is flow. I would add another Koralia, and the article that I post will help you point them.

Here's the article: there are multiple parts of the article...but this will get you there.

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2007/1/aafeature/view

 

[Bifferwine]

To put things in perspective, in my 90 gallon tank, I run four Koralia 3s.

 

[VAreef]

That green hair type algae will grow even in higher flow areas. I got tons of it in my sump and that stuff is just blowing in the current. My eyes aint that great anymore but that is what it looks like to me. Cyno likes the real low flow. Algae likes Nitrates, Phosphates, and light. And thats all algae. Still it is a newer tank. As the LR gets set it will also help get rid of some of those nitrates. When in doubt change it out. You will never go wrong with doing a water change.

 

[andersoned14]

Just finished a water change and a good wipe down of the sump to get rid of any thing that might be causeing nitrates. Also changing timer to run lights for 8 hrs. We will give it a week and see if it helps. Thanks for all the help. My other concern would be with that copperband. I bought him thinking it was an easy butterfly to have----wrong feeding seems to be the problem. I have had it for a little more than a week and it seems fine, but have never seen it eat. I hate to loose it That was one of the fish I stared at before I ever bought a tank. I have fed it the same food as the LFS, mystic shrimp and Formula #1. My clown loves it all but butterfly lets the food hit himself it the face without taking a bite.

 

[VAreef]

I am always worried about a fish that doesn't eat. That usually means they are on the demise. Maybe a bit of garlic in its food could entice it to eat? An eating fishn is usually a healthy fish. I love that fish as well but I have yet to actually get one.