overall not happy with my tank....

[FSU]

I went very basic with everything to get it set up as fast as I could before Christmas so it would being going well when my older kids come for the holidays. Due to money and not being a patient person, I didn't really set up the tank how I wanted. It's very simplistic....tank, stand, sump protein skimmer, return, drilled in middle but not reef ready like I originally wanted. I have decent lights and 2 pumps with a wave maker. Guess that about does it.....and it's a 125g. The only thing I really like is the live rock set up (thx John :-) ) ....IDK.

Fish include:

5 inch Unicorn tang
5-6 inch Hippo tang
5-6 inch Sailfin tang
6 inch Magnificent Foxface
4 inch Flame Angel
2 chromis left lol
2 Snowflake clowns (if they actually are)
McCoskers Wrasse
Red Head Solon Fairy Wrasse
Bluehead Fairy Wrasse (what is supposed to be, but not sure)
2 Bangaii Cardinals
Starry Blenny

only coral are 2 purple mushrooms that came on live rock
3 cleaner shrimp
Fire Shrimp
1-2 peppermints (not sure they very rarely come out
6 or so Emerald crabs (one is HUGE)
many blue legs hermits and Nass snails with a couple dozen stomatella snails and one nerite snail (pretty sure its a nerite, it is always on glass, round shell...got it as a hitchhiker when I got some empty hermit shells

and fighting an algae bloom which just doesn't seem to go away for a few weeks now....*sigh*

[Sherita]

FSU, is this the 8 week old tank in your other post? If it is, the algae bloom is part of a new tank cycle, so don't get frustrated about that. We all go through this when we set up a new tank, or move an existing tank to another location. You are running a pretty heavy bioload for that size tank, so you might want to consider running a carbon reactor, and possibly GFO. You also might want to cut your livestock down a bit until the tank gets more established. JMHO.

Are you not happy with your livestock, or you want more corals/color? If you can give us some idea of what is bugging you about your tank, I bet someone on here will have suggestions for you.

[FSU]

Not sure what is bugging me to be honest. I used live sand and CURED live rock to cycle the tank and had very little algae bloom before with 0 lvls of nitrite, nitrate and ammonia. I haven't had anything die in thank either, with the exception of 6 chromis when when I first put them in. I didn't think my bio load was that big since most of my fish are relatively small in size and I was told by a handful of people that they keep 20-25 fish in their 125's without any problems.

I guess part could be not having any corals yet. Honestly, I am not real big on the colors of the Unicorn and Sailfin, but they are both awesome fish that come to me and eat out of my hand (real big with guests lol...along with the cleaners getting on my hand and arms). The chromis are ok I guess. I wanted a school so maybe that's my small problem with them.

[FSU]

and yes this is the 8 week old tank I posted about before.

[Sherita]

As long as you have algae you will see the low nitrate readings, because the blasted algae is using it up. It's been my experience that even using live rock, you will almost always set off an algae cycle if you move things quite a bit. I don't use live sand (unless it's the commercial trays you can buy), because if it's live from someone elses tank, you are going to stir up lots of detritus when you move it, and detritus will contribute to algae. Have you thought about a sea hare to get a handle on the algae? Or maybe an urchin? I'm surprised your tangs haven't decimated it, unless you have a LOT of algae, or it's the kind that tangs don't normally eat.

If you feel like color is lacking, maybe some brightly colored softies/shrooms or lps would make ya happy? The hybrid euphilia are eye popping in color, and then there's the neon green Palau nepthea. There are lots of "wow" colored palys and zoas out there, and some rics really light up. Of course, once you get corals, then you have to watch out that your tank inhabitants don't find them tasty (just went through that with a black and gold chromis that tried to kill my welso, and a damsel that destroyed a large colony of zoas).

I do understand what you mean about the blah colors on the sailfin and unicorn, but if they have big personalities and you like them, then it's your call. I can't say a lot, since my 72g houses a Scopas tang and a Kole tang (blah colors on both, but heck on algae). My corals are what lights up the tank.

I guess you will need to figure out whats bugging ya before you can do something about it :)

[FSU]

Thx for all the info! The algae I am getting is the brown stuff on the sand and rocks. It's not too terrible bad, just looks like dark brown sand in a good portion of the tank. The sand I am using is the bagged live sand so don't believe it would cause any nitrates, or would it? I have moved a lot of my rock around within the last couple of weeks when I set it all up with John's help. I know one problem which is my own fault is that I am sure I over feed the tank. The 4 big ones are such aggressive eaters, I feel like the others barely get any food.

I have never had a seahare nor do I know anything about them, but rest assured, I will learn some things on them. Urchins I have always had problems with them moving rocks and causing tumbles, so I stopped using them.

It could very well be the lacking of color. Those two fish are kinda blah in my opinion. The sailfin isn't too bad, but opposed to a yellow tang, well you know the difference. The Uni has really nice blue, but its so little and the rest is gray, so yeah lol. Corals might be the way to "cheer" up this tank. I will definitely take your suggestions on the different kinds. I have always loved the ultra and rare colored zoas. Im a little nervous though since they are usually real expensive and I stuck that flame angel in there. It's my oldest daughters favorite fish though, it was hard to tell her no lol

[rrasco]

The biggest thing to remember is, nothing good happens quickly in this hobby. If you were anticipating setting up a reef tank, then you definitely need more corals. Once you get your tank stocked up with nice corals I guarantee you can sit and stare at them for hours on end. I know I do, and my reef is only 29g. Watching the corals open/close, their growth, and the fact that you can feed them is the most interesting to me. I can't believe how much some of my corals have grown since I have had this tank...it's only 5 months old.

Do you have any snails in your clean up crew?

[BBQHILLBILLY]

Get dragon or yellow head. Sometimes yellow head will drop sand on coral, the dragon might be better. They should keep sand more clear.

I like to use a lotta sand. Its a home for all kinds of critters. Also engineers like to dig under rocks and make homes.

Another source to get the sand moving and clear.

[FSU]

rrasco, I have about 65-75 nass snails in there with lots of hermits as well.

[FSU]

BBQ, you talking like a gold sleeper head goby? lol, I use to have one of those and it was pretty big. He dropped sand on EVERYTHING lol. It was definitely cool to watch though, might be a great idea.

[Big_Pun]

its hit or miss with dragons, i call my girlfriends dragon frosty, it will scoop sand swim to middle tank and sift. signal or two spot goby's are the best imo, just hard to get eating prepared food sometimes. ive had luck feeding them krill.

A 8 week tank is still very new and it will always get uglier before it gets better. stuff will cycle in and out through out the life of the tank, all you can do is hang in there and keep up good husbandry habits. like water changes with good water(ro/di) changing outt carbon and gfo if your using(chemipure elits is great also), cleaning skimmer not just the cup but pulling out the whole thing and cleaning body plates and pump/impellar. now you wont see instant results but lil by lil the tank will mature to a nice reef.

[rrasco]

I have a few nass, but they hide all the time and only come out to eat meaty leftovers when I feed. The nerites and dwarf ceriths seem to have cleaned up most of my diatom algae when I had some. I am actually starting to get a little bit of buildup in the sand lately, not sure what from, but it's not that bad yet.

I think the fact that reef tanks take months if not years to mature is their best attribute. This is not something anyone can drop enough money on and be successful with overnight. It takes knowledge, experience, and patience to achieve a successful and mature reef tank. Knowing that you nurtured an advanced ecosystem into a state of maturity and sustainability is something that is unique to a hobby such as reefing.

[Sherita]

Ok, dark brown looking stuff is most likely one of two things.......either dinos or cyanobacteria. Both are part of the normal cycle when starting up a new tank. If it gets totally out of hand, you can use Red Slime remover for cyanobacteria. Dinos are a bit harder to get rid of.

Any way you could post a pic? That would help a lot. Also, think about adding a bunch of trochus snails to your crew. They do a fantastic job at eating most of the really annoying stuff. Much better than nassarius (who hide under the sand and eat detritus and meaty foods), or turbos (who knock everything over). You also might think about a tiger tail cuke, they will hoover that sand bed and keep it clean, without knocking things over or spitting sand on corals.

I don't think a sea hare is going to help you much with what you have going on. They are really good for gha, not good for dinos or cyano.

And one of the best places to find great prices on corals is the local MAAST swap. We just had one, not sure when the next one is. Also, keep an eye on the for sale forum, lots of good stuff pops up there.

This hobby requires patience, lots of it. And a sense of humor really helps too:bigsmile:

Edited, because apparently I can't spell :shades:

[FSU]

It's the brown algae with the little bubbles, think its the dino right? It's def not slimy, more of just a color change on the top of the sand and again with the little bubbles. I'll try to post pics but I am having a helluva time with my wifes camera. I have tried several times to get some nice pics to no avail....so far, camera 4 Rick 0 lol

[rrasco]

Does it look like this? This stuff can grow on the sand too.

http://www.rrasco.com/AquaticPics/29reef/IMG_0609_sm.jpg

[FSU]

yes, not nearly as many little bubbles though

[rrasco]

I believe that is diatom algae. That was day 5 of my cycle, it went away on its own as the cycle completed. I will warn you though, it got much worse, before it got better.

[FSU]

Lol day 5....I'm on day 56 ;-)

[rrasco]

If it makes you feel better I set this tank up on 7/9 and in the last 2-3 days I starting getting diatom algae on my sand, so it's still possible 6 months in too. I can post a pic later if you would like.

[FSU]

I believe you! ;P I'll try again to get some more pics...might have to use my phone if I don't get a handle on my wife's camera!

[kkiel02]

With that algae you need to find where your phosphates/silicates are coming from? By limiting these you will limit the growth of algae. It can come from sand(what sand did you use?), water(are you using ro/di water?), and food(which you said you are overfeeding so you may want to cut back some to see how the algae reacts).

Here are some examples of what I use to give you an idea- Aragasnow sand, RO/DI unit(I did start getting hair algae as my filters were spent), and I feed my whole tank two cubes once a day(right now its 1 cube of fish and reef 1 or 2 as I switch off between those and one cube of PE Mysis).

This ought to get you started on the algae...at least I hope it does.

[FSU]

The live sand is the bagged kind that I used, 120 lbs of it. I get RO water from a couple LFS since I do not have a RO/DI unit yet (soon). If you want names PM me plz. For food, I am using several things. I have no corals besides mushrooms, so I use Marine One flakes, Marine One kelp flakes, frozen mysis, marine cuisine, and H2O Life spirulina with brine shrimp and mysis. Then of course I use red nori for the bigger fish maybe every other day. Oh, I only use this once in a while, but it is dry hatchery diet from Sustained Aquatics. The clowns go nuts over it. I do not feed much of it when I use it which is maybe once every 3-4 days. The rest of the foods is mixed, whatever I happen to grab. They are not all at once. I feed once in the morning, say a cube, then another cube at night. Or it might be some flake then a cube at night. You get the idea. Like I said though, I probably am over feeding and will take your advice and try cutting down some. They're such pigs though lol

[FSU]

BTW, I think part of what I do not like is that my tank isn't RR. There didn't happen to be any RR 125 -150g when I got my tank, so I had it drilled in the back and went from there. The RR's just look so much nicer, are so much quieter, and seem to have much better flow (maybe it's just me). Think I might keep my eye out for a RR tank, get a bigger sump for more room and filtration, and then think of reasons why I need another tank, possibly bigger, to my wife whom isn't involved in the hobby at all besides just looking at the fish and corals (once I get some).