My New (1st) Build
- Thread starter denrobare
- Start date
- Tagged users None
Newb73
Valuable Member
As long as its not Deep thick red you are fine. Brown slime Diatom algae is part of having a new tank, its not ony unavoidable, its desirable. The only way to avoid it would have been if you literally took the sand, rock, and water out of another tank and just transported it in with yours. Even if you used RO/DI water for the intitial fill up (which i have never done as it would take forever for me to make that much water at once), you would probably STILL get that. My tank has been cycling two weeks now and it is JUST now getting that on the rocks (i assume because thats the only place it can grow with the clyclone of water circulation i currently having going on in there presently...lol).
Also dont kill youself watching the tank and tinkereing with it. Other than sitting around buying equipment (like lights, pumps, wave makers, RO/DI units or what ever other stuff you need/can afford)....literally leave it alone. A watched tank never cycles.
I leave my lights on 24hrs the first week and bump the temp up to around 82 degrees and run cheap low k rated rated lights over the tank for the first month, along with running a cannister filter (all help promote bacteria and algae) and wont even BOTHER testing the water for a month. After a month, ill dial back the temp, get rid of the cheap floursents, but ill run the cannister for a full 3-6 months before removing the denitrfying biomass (read nitrate producers) and only running it with a prefilter screen and the occassional carbon. (just my .2 cents). After that you have to make sure you wash off the prefilter at least once a month and replace it about once a year.
If i were home all the time i would set up an overflow and a sump but im gone 4 days a week and its just not safe to run a sump of any kind on an undsupervised tank (its challenging enough to keep a skimmer dialed in on a cycle that will last 4 days before needing empting)...
Really limits what i can accomplish as a reefer but i digress......
denrobare
Community Member
Well, been about a week or so since last update. Diatoms are a little stronger now then before, but not overly bad. I did pick up a few snails and hermits to work on that.
My one fish and anenome, a Condy, have also been alive for about 2 weeks now so thats great. NO deaths. I am going on vacation for 2 weeks and a friend is house sitting. Hopefully that goes well and when I get back I can get my better lighting and start a coral or two and add some more fish.
The tank has been up and running for about a month now, maybe a little longer. Will report on it when I get back and add some pics.
My one fish and anenome, a Condy, have also been alive for about 2 weeks now so thats great. NO deaths. I am going on vacation for 2 weeks and a friend is house sitting. Hopefully that goes well and when I get back I can get my better lighting and start a coral or two and add some more fish.
The tank has been up and running for about a month now, maybe a little longer. Will report on it when I get back and add some pics.
SeahorseKeeper
Where's the mysis?
Sounds like everything is right on track. 
denrobare
Community Member
Ok, back from trip out to CO for Elk. No Elk for me but thats all good. Brother-in-law got a decent one.
Anyway, bad news. Before we left, 3am the morning of actually, we woke up to a leak in the tank. It was dripping off the stand pretty good. Ended up draining about 3-4 inches and the dripping seeemed to stop. When I got back into cell phone coverage I found out that it had started leaking some more on my friend who was staying at the house with the pets. Thankfully he is a contractor and was able to drain it some more, make a contraption to catch some water and temp. caulked around the leaking seem.
It is still leaking at the moment. I have ordered some aquarium safe silicon and have done some research as to how to proceed here. It appears that the inside seem on one of my back corners is leaking pretty badly. I can see air bubbles in about an inch or two worth of the inside corner seem. The primary seal that holds the glass together also looks like its not holding the glass well.
So the plan is to drain down to about sand level, going to take live rock out and place in pales of water that I drain out. Then going to dry out the corner really well and cut out the silicon seal from the inside corner. I am going to reseal the inside and put a bead of silicon on the outside as well. Hopefully that takes care of it. I will give it 48 hours to cure and then start refilling with some of the drained water and a decent portion of new water, maybe 50% or so. Figured this wouldnt be a bad time for a major water change since the diatoms are pretty strong atm.
Any thoughts or suggestions???
Anyway, bad news. Before we left, 3am the morning of actually, we woke up to a leak in the tank. It was dripping off the stand pretty good. Ended up draining about 3-4 inches and the dripping seeemed to stop. When I got back into cell phone coverage I found out that it had started leaking some more on my friend who was staying at the house with the pets. Thankfully he is a contractor and was able to drain it some more, make a contraption to catch some water and temp. caulked around the leaking seem.
It is still leaking at the moment. I have ordered some aquarium safe silicon and have done some research as to how to proceed here. It appears that the inside seem on one of my back corners is leaking pretty badly. I can see air bubbles in about an inch or two worth of the inside corner seem. The primary seal that holds the glass together also looks like its not holding the glass well.
So the plan is to drain down to about sand level, going to take live rock out and place in pales of water that I drain out. Then going to dry out the corner really well and cut out the silicon seal from the inside corner. I am going to reseal the inside and put a bead of silicon on the outside as well. Hopefully that takes care of it. I will give it 48 hours to cure and then start refilling with some of the drained water and a decent portion of new water, maybe 50% or so. Figured this wouldnt be a bad time for a major water change since the diatoms are pretty strong atm.
Any thoughts or suggestions???
Last edited:
greenbleedin
Community Member
Hey! So far everything looks great! Answer to both your questions..I use to get the micro bubbles a lot too since I did a DIY fuge..when the water would overflow to the middle chamber it would cause a lot of bubbles that would just enter my tank then..and it was very loud. I used a sponge at the bottom of the middle chamber then added this like filter wool (its real thin filtration media, it will spread apart like the halloween spider web stuff lol) It made it super quite and no more bubbles and its cheap! As for the coraline algae, you gotta put a piece of live rock in your tank. To help it spread fast and grow like crazy. Buy Purple Up. It is unbelievable how well Purple Up works..your rocks and glass will be covered in no time. Purple Up also replenishes Iron and Calcium which are bother major things for corals/inverts. Good luck, please p.m. me if you have any questions man
and its cheap! As for the coraline algae, you gotta put a piece of live rock in your tank. To help it spread fast and grow like crazy. Buy Purple Up. It is unbelievable how well Purple Up works..your rocks and glass will be covered in no time. Purple Up also replenishes Iron and Calcium which are bother major things for corals/inverts. Good luck, please p.m. me if you have any questions man
