Re-establishing My Aquarium, Advice Needed.

[suggs]

if you are using live rock as the only bio filter then you will need more, also a lot of flow is important with most marine setups, with the rock its worth trying to find some second hand from someone who's selling up, you will get double the amount for the money and it will be better quality as its been in a mature system for some time, when its in a shop and newley cured it will be pretty much scrubed bare.

try having a look on the for sale section on here or normaly plenty on here www.ultimatereef.com thats if your in the UK

 

[Cassette87]

Hey guys, just one quick question... I'm starting to see some brown algae growth in the tank, and i'm guessing this is because of the phosphate content of my water... My question is this.. Is this algae growth merely a part of the inital cycle? or is it strictly due to my water quality. (I used tap water, but live near chicago, so it isn't terrible. I also used prime generously when initially setting up.) If this is simply an issue of water quality, i will slowly perform 30ish percent water changes, adding R/O water, in hopes that the brown algae will go away, does this sound right? Also, Will adding more life rock and a power head to move the water more minimize the amount of algae growth? Thanks in advance guys!

 

[SkiFletch]

Could be a bunch of things Cassette, lets try and narrow things down. How old is the tank? Have you measured phosphates, if so, what are they? How much LR do you have now? Is the brown algae more furry or slimy in appearance? Is it on your sand, rocks, or both? Any cleanup crew members present?

Brown algaes are usually either Diatoms or Cyanobacteria. Diatoms are usually present from around week 1-4 or until cleanup crew members are added (most cleaners love eating diatoms). Cyano usually shows up around 3-5 months into the tank if its going to get them. Both can be fueled by phosphates, and cyano has the unique abiliy to use silicates for fuel which is in almoast all tapwater. Either way, switching to RO water to eliminate these and other possible contaminants should be done immediately.

If you do have a phosphate problem, consider running some rowaphos in the system to help lower it. Remember, these nutrients can be stored in your LR so unless you can find a predator of the algae, it may take a while to get ahead of.

 

[Cassette87]

Could be a bunch of things Cassette, lets try and narrow things down. How old is the tank? Have you measured phosphates, if so, what are they? How much LR do you have now? Is the brown algae more furry or slimy in appearance? Is it on your sand, rocks, or both? Any cleanup crew members present?

Brown algaes are usually either Diatoms or Cyanobacteria. Diatoms are usually present from around week 1-4 or until cleanup crew members are added (most cleaners love eating diatoms). Cyano usually shows up around 3-5 months into the tank if its going to get them. Both can be fueled by phosphates, and cyano has the unique abiliy to use silicates for fuel which is in almoast all tapwater. Either way, switching to RO water to eliminate these and other possible contaminants should be done immediately.

If you do have a phosphate problem, consider running some rowaphos in the system to help lower it. Remember, these nutrients can be stored in your LR so unless you can find a predator of the algae, it may take a while to get ahead of.

Ski, The tank is at about 8-9 days old now. i have not yet measured PO, but I intend to pick up a test kit tomorrow to hopefully see whats going on. There is currently 15 lbs of live rock in the aquarium. It is hard to tell to be honest, but my opinion is that the algae looks more like a slime, at least on the rock. It seems to be present on both rock and sand as well. All that is in the tank thus far are the two Scarlet hermit crabs and the LR. I would think that it makes sense for these to be diatoms, and seeing as the crabs dont seem to care about it much, I don't think theres anything helping me as far as the cleaning crew goes. i picked up some "PhosX" today and put that in my filter loop, but was forced to put it early in the filter system, so i don't know how much it will help. tomorrow i will post my PO levels, and i was told by a friend who is experienced in the hobby to use some "seachem stability" and pick up a damsel in order to speed everything up. any thoughts on this? any thoughts on the powerhead? the filtration system i have now is flowing 250GPH, but some areas of the aquarium look a little stagnant, I just don't want an overkill whirlpool scenario. Thanks in advance for your advice and time!

 

[SkiFletch]

With the tank only a few days old its PROBABLY diatoms. Try tossing some Cerith, Trochus, Astrea, or Turbo snails in there and see if they munch on it. Nassarius snails wont touch it, they're carrion eaters.

250gph on a 29g tank is less than 10 times turnover. I'd purchase a smaller powerhead around 200gph and sink it a little lower in the tank to help with turnover.

Lastly, phosphates exhist throughout the water column, so anyplace you can put phosphate removing media and flow water past it will help lower phosphate levels in the system.

 

[Cassette87]

With the tank only a few days old its PROBABLY diatoms. Try tossing some Cerith, Trochus, Astrea, or Turbo snails in there and see if they munch on it. Nassarius snails wont touch it, they're carrion eaters.

250gph on a 29g tank is less than 10 times turnover. I'd purchase a smaller powerhead around 200gph and sink it a little lower in the tank to help with turnover.

Lastly, phosphates exhist throughout the water column, so anyplace you can put phosphate removing media and flow water past it will help lower phosphate levels in the system.

Looking closely at the algae that is on the aragonite, it appears to be more hairy, however the algae on the LR does not appear hairy, but more or less just a stain of color. Is there any information i could provide you that would allow a precise answer? i suppose a picture wouldn't be much help?

 

[SkiFletch]

A pic would be a lot of help

 

[Cassette87]

A pic would be a lot of help

alright! here you go

Let me know if there is a certian angle you would like, it is hard even in manual focus to get a picture that really shows it well

 

[Cassette87]

Hey, I just got back from the shop i normally purchase everything from, and they must have had every test kit except one for Phosphates but, i did pick up a penguin 660 powerhead, so I'll have a little more current now. it's only 170 GPH, but I simply didn't want to go overkill on the current in the water, and i suppose it's going to take some experimentation to figure out where to place it.. any suggestions? Thanks guys! Oh and also, I forgot to mention about the algae, that the longer the lights are on, the darker it appears, and probably faster it grows.

 

[tmreynolds]

I have similar brown algae at 4 weeks. We think thats diatoms too. I will be getting a clean up crew to deal with it soon.

 

[Cassette87]

What sort of inverts/fish do you intend to get for cleaning this mess?

 

[tmreynolds]

What sort of inverts/fish do you intend to get for cleaning this mess?

My CUC will consist of

10 Nassarius vibex Snails
10 small mexican Cerith Baja Snails
1 Mexican Turbo Snail
10 Scarlet reef hermits (aka redleg hermits)
5 Trochus Snails
1 Dwarf Brittle Starfish
2 Skunk cleaner shrimps
2 True peppermint shrimps
2 Porcelain crabs

 

[Cassette87]

What sort of inverts/fish do you intend to get for cleaning this mess?

My CUC will consist of

10 Nassarius vibex Snails
10 small mexican Cerith Baja Snails
1 Mexican Turbo Snail
10 Scarlet reef hermits (aka redleg hermits)
5 Trochus Snails
1 Dwarf Brittle Starfish
2 Skunk cleaner shrimps
2 True peppermint shrimps
2 Porcelain crabs

wow, that's quite a few members, i intend to get a dwarf lion and a couple of other similarly aggressive fish, so i'm a bit more limited to thwhat i can have in my tank as far as a cleaning crew goes.

 

[SkiFletch]

Those are definitely diatoms. Once you get your expertly chosen cleanup crew in there you should have very few of them left

 

[tmreynolds]

Those are definitely diatoms. Once you get your expertly chosen cleanup crew in there you should have very few of them left

I know someone who can advise on CUC