Topping Up Substrate And Adding More Live Rock

[ben3486]

Going to top up my crushed coral substrate. I was going to do this slowly, adding a bit at a time with week intervals, maybe like two mugs worth at a time. I've only got a 46ltr fluval edge so not a huge tank. And was worried about putting loads in and something going wrong lol. Does this sound the best way of doing it? Also, totally newb question I am sure and probably very obvious, but when finishing the new substrate so you guys just use Ro water? Tap water can't be sad surely?! Same with the live rock really. I'm guessing slowly slowly is the way to go so as not to overload the tank etc.

I'm also getting a lot of the hard calcium like pink stuff on my glass. This stuff is tough!! How do you guys go about removing this from the glass? I'm cool with it on the back glass but would like to remove it from the front.

Ah yea. One last question. Can any one who has a small tank like this recommend a power head? I wouldn't mind increasing the flow in the tank as I am only using filter in the back of the tank. And I think it may be giving up the ghost.

Thanks in advance

 

[Chad]

I don't recommend putting new substrate on top of old, so depending on how long what's in there has been in there I recommend moving what's there over and then putting the new on the glass. The reason is the detritus gets trapped and becomes more difficult to manage. Crushed coral is known to promote higher phosphates anyway so by addition to more on top this problem can increase. 
 
With rock I always suggest it go either right on the glass or on top of existing formations. Rock can shift as substrate is moved by animals and currents which can cause rock slides and danger. If you make sure the live rock is cured first then there's no worry about putting it all in at once. 
 
The hard calcium like pink stuff is coraline algae. It's tough stuff alright and if you let it build up a paint scraper won't get it off let alone a regular algae scraper. I let it grow all it wants on the back of my tank but keep the front and sizes clean. Coraline is actually a sign of a healthy tank as it requires specific conditions to grow which are the conditions we generally try to maintain in a reef tank. 
 
I find the Koralia powerheads (they come in all sizes) work very well. I've used them for years to good results.