What is this?

[Henny]

I'm new to SW tanks and wanted to know if anyone could tell me what this stuff is growing on my sand and live rock? I've searched other forums but I'm not sure if it is brown algae/diatoms or cynobacteria. My tank has been set-up for about a two months but this stuff just started showing up last week after I added two damsel to help cycle the tank.:confused: I just want to confirm what it is so that I can determine what action to take.

[MissT]

looks like diatom

you have any nassarius or cerith snails? they help keep the sand stirred up to keep the stuff from getting a head start on you. other than that, you just need to let your tank age a little bit which takes time! It'll cycle out as long as you keep a good clean up crew and do your regular water changes

[Henny]

I don't have anything in the tank now besides two damsels, what should be inlcuded in my cleanup crew? and how long does it take for the tank to age?

Thank you for your help

[MissT]

What size tank is it?

[Henny]

135 gallon

[MissT]

If it were my tank, I'd have:

40 Red/Blue legged hermits
20 Scarlet Hermits
30 Nassarius snails
20 Astrea snails
20 Cerith snails
2 Mexican turbo snails
4 emerald crabs
1 lawnmower blenny


I know it sounds like a lot, but do it in two rounds. You'll be glad you did because having a good cleanup crew is invaluable. A good rule of thumb is up to 1 hermit and 1 snail per 2 gallons of tank volume. If you have a refugium, add 5-10 nassarius and ceriths to that.

As far as how long it takes a tank to come around in its cycle, that's really variable depending on the amount of liverock in the tank, your total biological load and filtration capacity. You'll notice that your tank will begin over time to produce less "gunk" in the skimmer (if you have one) and it will begin to kind of clean itself up, with the help of your clean up crew

[MissT]

Oh by the way,

Welcome to MAAST!!!

[erikharrison]

Yeah man, warm welcome. You should give us the total run down of your tank, you have a ton of people here to help!

[JimD]

New tank syndrome can be alarming at first, just listen to the above advice, do a little research here and youll be fine...

[Henny]

Thanks for the help. I'm on my wat to the lfs to get started.
Tank Specs:
135 Oceanic /w cherry stand and canopy
2 standard 36" flourescent light fixtures
Mag 12 pump as return
HOB overflow w/ about 900GPH flow rate
3'X12"X18"h sump I think about 20 + gallons
Turboflotor 1000 skimmer w 2500 oceanic pump
1 koralia 4 power head
1 aqua clear 70 power head
80 lbs aragonite sand
80 lbs live rock
ph 8.3
Ammonia 0 ppm
Nitrate 5.0 ppm
Nitrite 0.00 ppm

My plan is to set this up as an aggressive tank with very hardy fish untill I get more experience. Right now my thoughts are 1 volitan lion, 1 mimic lemon peel tang, 1 yellow tang, and 1 humu rectangle triggerfish. What do you all think?

[Bill S]

Normal during cycle.

Fish seem OK - the mimic & yellow might not get along right away, but they have a bit of room. Mimics turn brown as they mature...

Welcome to maast.

[loans_n_fishes]

Welcome to Maast! :)

I know people used to recommend cycling tanks with cheap fish, but adding damsels to cycle the tank is unnecessarily stressful to the fish. Live rock and sand will do the job just as well. Just my .02 for your future tanks. (And they WILL come :))

Sounds like a cool tank! Have you ever had an aquarium before? I've had my original saltwater tank for 2 years and still am quite the newbie! Of course since then I have added a seahorse tank, a seahorse baby tank and a 65 gallon tank that has yet to be set up. Oh, I also have a 29 gallon freshwater tank that has been set up for around 5 years.

[TinyTanker]

remember when acclimating inverts and cleaner crew, they typically are the most sensitive so a drip a second is the best way to acclimate double the amount of water you are acclimating them in over an extended period of time, it will ensure a healthier transition. Your first corals should be hearty corals, when purchasing askthe store guys like jim and Deep Blue to point out the mushrooms and other hearty corals that can withstand break in periods good luck

[Henny]

Thanks for the info, I didn't realize that using fish were no longer recommended for cycling until after I already had them for about a week. Next time I'll know better. They are doing fine for now but may be fish food later. We'll see. This is my second attempt with saltwater the first time I don't think I let the tank mature enough before adding fish and I lost interest after my powder blue tang died. I was into freshwater for a while I maintained a ten gallon growing up. Then when I got my own place I bought a 46 gallon then a 120gallon. I had three red belly pirahnas, 1 blue acara, 1 jewel and 1 fire mouth cichlid (not in the same tank by the way) Freshwater was much more forgiving than compared to SW I just think the SW fish are more attractive. I also thought about african cichlids too but SW has more of a variety of fish that I like.

Almost forgot I went to the LFS and they recommened I order a clean up crew online to get a better flat rate price. So in the mean time I just bought two mexican turbo snails and 10 scarlet hermits. Thanks for the advice everyone and thank you for the warm welcomes!

[MissT]

Word of advice: be very careful ordering stuff online. A lot of people on here order regularly so ask first if you find a good deal! It's really wierd that a LFS would send you to the internet instead of working with you to get you what you need an want. I'd think about going to another store...

[Henny]

Thanks for the advice. I thought that was weird too. I checked the prices at drs foster and smith and for the stuff I wanted the prices were pretty much the same. I think they were trying to save me money by recommending I just get a pre-packaged cleanup crew. Anyone familiar with Alamo Aquatics?

[sawarf]

I ordered cleanup crew from www.garf.org (http://www.garf.org/) and had a good experience! They seem to be friendly and were helpful with my many questions.

Just my 2c worth...

[Henny]

Thanks I'll check them out.

[Henny]

Thanks again for everyone's advice. I got my cleanup crew in right before Thanksgiving. Right now I have:
20Red/Blue legged hermits
10 Scarlet Hermits
15 Nerite snails
15 Cerith snails
3 Mexican turbo snails
2 emerald crabs
They are doing an awesome job Thanks for the list MissT.

I also had a lawnmower blenny but he didn't make it. I think I added him to the tank to soon. I also got the nerite's instead of the astrea and nassarius because I read that they were supposed to be better algae eater's but they mostly stay at the top of the tank So I think when I get my second batch I'll get some nassarius and astrea like MissT suggested and another lawn mower.

My question now is when I add a volitan lion and a trigger fish later on how safe will my clean up crew be? Should I be worried that they will eat everything in sight?

[MissT]

the lion shouldn't touch the snails and hermits. emerald crabs... possibly, yeah, but let them do their job of getting you through your first algae bloom, mow down some of the bubble algae and then think about putting in the lion. Be careful what type of trigger you end up with because some of them are known to nip at the rays of lions and some of them will crush shells of inverts. Cleaner shrimp would not be a good idea for you because they make excellent snacks for those fish.
To give a suggestion as to what triggers you might think about looking at: Pinktail, Niger, or Bluw Jaw. They're all fairly harmless to most other fish and are all nice looking additions to a tank.