3 Month tank parameters

[cyberCoder]

Hi

Can you help if I should change anything for my setup and my plan below?

I have a 3 month 50 gallon tank with 3 fishes ( a clown fish , a damselfish, and an Eibli's angelfish ). The tank hasn't shown a diatom stage , it has some patches of black algae. It has some green algae, but they don't look like green hair ( not long enough to look like hair ). I just tested water parameter a few hours ago and they are :
PH : 8.3 Ammonia : 0 Nitrite : 0.03 Nitrate 3 Phosphate 0 Alkalinity 8.4 Calcium 350 Salinity 1.024.

I am currently already dosing very minimum 2 parts, more on Alkalinity and less for Calcium. I am wondering if I should increase the dosing for Calcium.

I am planning to add 1-3 fish and then in Oct add some soft corals.

I have rocks, sand and sump with protein skimmer, some Eheim Mech filter media.

 

[jurgenph]

your tank is still very fresh. let it go through it's stages and mature a bit.
keep doing regular water changes, no need to dose anything at this point.

J.

 

[BeejReef]

Have you inverted your Nitrate and Phosphate readings in your post? You say .03N and 3P.
Assuming you have them backwards, those are really good parameters. If that's where the tank likes to sit, I'd def let it stay right there.

The rocks changing color is a good thing. I don't know if you started with any live rock or have any coral frag plugs in there, but if there isn't even a speck of coraline algae in your tank yet, you might consider getting a friend or lfs to scrape a little off for you. Some people get lucky and are able to get it to start growing at about your stage.

 

[Auquanut]

your tank is still very fresh. let it go through it's stages and mature a bit.
keep doing regular water changes, no need to dose anything at this point.

I Gotta agree. At this stage, regular water changes and testing are probably your best bet.

 

[lapin]

PH : 8.3 Ammonia : 0 Nitrite : 0.03 Nitrate 3 Phosphate 0 Alkalinity 8.4 Calcium 350 Salinity 1.024.
I am currently already dosing very minimum 2 parts, more on Alkalinity and less for Calcium. I am wondering if I should increase the dosing for Calcium.

A few weeks before you add you corals I would increase my salinity to 1.025
This should bring up your calcium and alk numbers. You might not even have to dose the alk part anymore. The softies do not need the increase but might want the higher salinity. If you do decide to add some LPS or SPS you can add the calcium and alk part if that is needed.

 

[ReefNurd]

If you're dosing two part then that should be in equal amounts to create stability

Calcium @ 350 is too low in my opinion. I would recommend gradually increasing it to at least 420 ( up to as high as 480) over a few days and then determine your daily Alkalinity requirement to keep it stable ( 8.4 kdh is a fine ) and then dose the same amount of Calcium as part of your daily routine.
This should promote the start of Coraline growth as long as you have some source which will help in creating a stable tank capable of hosting calcifying corals (LPS SPS). I highly recommend this product which I have personally used to boot two new tanks this year and with good params you should see the start of Coraline growth in about two months.

Purple Helix Coralline Algae in a Bottle + Nitrifying Bacteria & Live Spores

ARC Reef's Purple Helix Coralline Algae in a bottle contains 7 different species of live algae spores. Seed your aquarium with epiphytic purple coralline.

arcreef.com

 

[cyberCoder]

Have you inverted your Nitrate and Phosphate readings in your post? You say .03N and 3P.
Assuming you have them backwards, those are really good parameters. If that's where the tank likes to sit, I'd def let it stay right there.

The rocks changing color is a good thing. I don't know if you started with any live rock or have any coral frag plugs in there, but if there isn't even a speck of coraline algae in your tank yet, you might consider getting a friend or lfs to scrape a little off for you. Some people get lucky and are able to get it to start growing at about your stage.

Thank you all for the reply.

Let me post the numbers again , and I am using the Red Sea test kits. I am testing weekly, changing filter socks every two days. I try to do as much as I can while at the same time hoping to keep it at a level that I can commit to.

PH 8.3
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0 - 0.05 PPM ( very close to 0 based on the color )
Salinity 1.024
Nitrate 3 PPM
Phosphate 0 ( this test kit is very easy to read as the color indicator is quite clear, and my tank has been swinging between 0.02 and 0. Some weeks were 0.02 and next week would be 0 . This week is 0 )
Alkalinity 8.4
Calcium 350

I added a picture to show the green algae. It's a bit on the back side of the rocks. I didn't use live rocks, all dry rocks.

I really like what you said about getting the Coraline. Just read ReefNurd's post as well, question for both , should I try to get soft coral ( 1-2 ) to source the Coraline and growth of Coral , or should I try Purple Helix , give it a few months first? I am not in a rush.

Secondly, should I deal with the green stuff in the picture? Clean them, leave them alone , etc? The sand is still quite clean, it's the shade in the picture on the sand. I had to turn off the light, otherwise the green stuff won't be "visible".

I agree about Calcium being low. I honestly don't have the experience, but that's what I read that ideally it should be 400-420.

 

[lapin]

I added a picture to show the green algae. It's a bit on the back side of the rocks. I didn't use live rocks, all dry rocks.Secondly, should I deal with the green stuff in the picture? Clean them, leave them alone , etc? The sand is still quite clean, it's the shade in the picture on the sand. I had to turn off the light, otherwise the green stuff won't be "visible".

I would not worry about the green stuff. It shows your tank is alive. A new tank will go thru changes and green is one of those colors.

I really like what you said about getting the Coraline. Just read ReefNurd's post as well, question for both , should I try to get soft coral ( 1-2 ) to source the Coraline and growth of Coral , or should I try Purple Helix , give it a few months first? I am not in a rush.

I would first raise salinity then get 1 or 2 softies. This will bring in some bacteria and algae you dont have. If you do want coraline, you will need to raise your calcium level. A lot of people want it at first then spend a lot of time scraping it off the glass. It seems to like to grow on glass first.

 

[BeejReef]

What he said.

Would not personally bother with bottled coraline additives.

 

[ReefNurd]

The arcreef coralline is the only ‘corraline’ product that is actually made of coralline spores 7 different types and they also have a pink version with extra types and backed up by there own research. This is totally different than the other coraline additives which are nothing more than calc and mag in a bottle and I wouldn’t personally recommend. I can speak personally to the increased speed of coralline growth and also the different types that have appeared in my new tank ( I mixed a bottle of purple & pink ) and now have a health population in less than four months. Note some types of coralline take longer to form than others.
The green algae you have looks familiar. If it’s the darker green type just on the surface that is hard to remove that is usually what you get before coralline starts to appear.
Either way coralline will eventually find its way into your aquarium and grow and I was skeptical about this product at first ( and have no affiliation with them ) just very impressive results so wanted to share.

 

[ReefNurd]

I’m away from home at the moment but will post a picture of my results when back on Sunday.

 

[cyberCoder]

Thank you all, and ReefNurd, please share on Sunday.

One more question for everyone, to raise the level to 1.025, here is my calculation with 10 gallon water change :

50 gallon water

40 * 1.024 + 10 * 1.029 = 50 * 1.025

Would it be safer to change 10 gallon with 1.027 first , and wait another week to change one more time?

Is it necessary to be overly cautious?

 

[jurgenph]

Thank you all, and ReefNurd, please share on Sunday.

One more question for everyone, to raise the level to 1.025, here is my calculation with 10 gallon water change :

50 gallon water

40 * 1.024 + 10 * 1.029 = 50 * 1.025

Would it be safer to change 10 gallon with 1.027 first , and wait another week to change one more time?

Is it necessary to be overly cautious?

i just top off with salt water, evaporation will do the rest for you.
easy peasy, no calculating.


J.

 

[ReefNurd]

OK so as promised I just took these pics of my new Frag tank I started earlier this year. About 6 months old now and lots of different coralline growth. Note the live rock is now covered in the green hard algae like yours and starting to get patches of coralline growing. Powerheads are the first place to appear of course. This was a brand new setup/equipment so all the coralline had to come from the product I mentioned in my previous post. Test corals have just gone in last week and are doing well so far.

 

[cyberCoder]

Looks good. Thank you for sharing!

One more question please help

I have three fishes a clown fish , a damselfish, and an Eibli's angelfish, and now my tank is adjusted to 1.026. a little bit high but I decided not to do anything for now.

I notice the Clown fish is more aggressive, essentially attacking the blue damselfish from time to time , and the angelfish seems to be eating less. It still eats but seems less not sure if it's related to the 1.026.

I am quite worried about the angelfish, it's been 1 month for him in the tank. Should I move to the quarantine tank?