Needing guidance

[Paula C Owens]

hello all. I'm back for more advice. We have 150 gal drilled tank, live rock, 3 mollies acclimated to saltwater. Has been running in OUR home a month- month and a half. Ran in previous owners home for years. At first had MAJOR probs getting salinity level up and stable. Got salinity prob fixed then got green hair algae. Did water change and light brushing of live rock with tap(well) water to remove algae and brown gunk. Put everything back in tank everything going well. Also removed approx 20-30 lbs old live sand and replaced with 20lbs new live sand. Live rock is now getting the ugly brown covering again!!!!!! Will post pic of tank and test readings from Nov 1 to present.

 

[erinmegan85]

I'll take a stab at some stuff. I am by no means an expert. The brown looks like diatoms to me, which would be a normal part of a new tank. You're light schedule is pretty lengthy. I would cut it back to about 8 hours maybe even less. That will help curb algae growth and lessen the diatoms. What are you using to measure alkalinity? 300 seems really high as that would measure out to be about 16.8 dKH. Most people usually shoot for between 8 and 12 dKH. Are you planning on this tank being fish only with live rock? Salinity is still really low. Fish only with live rock should be about 1.021 on the low side. A reef tank should be closer to 1.026. I think your tank is just going through the ugly phase that a new tank will go through.

 

[Paula C Owens]

I'll take a stab at some stuff. I am by no means an expert. The brown looks like diatoms to me, which would be a normal part of a new tank. You're light schedule is pretty lengthy. I would cut it back to about 8 hours maybe even less. That will help curb algae growth and lessen the diatoms. What are you using to measure alkalinity? 300 seems really high as that would measure out to be about 16.8 dKH. Most people usually shoot for between 8 and 12 dKH. Are you planning on this tank being fish only with live rock? Salinity is still really low. Fish only with live rock should be about 1.021 on the low side. A reef tank should be closer to 1.026. I think your tank is just going through the ugly phase that a new tank will go trough.

Yes ma'am it will be a FOWLR tank. If we are going to make mistakes we prefer to make them killing even by accident as few of Gods creatures as possible. When we did the water change salinity in the tote we always use to mix th saltwater in was 1.045 after adding it back to tank and giving it a day to mix in with tank water salinity fell to
Where it is now. We are using just a cheap tetra brand multi test strip tester that out LFS uses to test there saltwater tanks with. After cleaning rocks and putting them back in I noticed the temp in our tank was staying up about 80* also!!!!! I have turned the heater down to about 66* trying to cool the tank down. My thermometer btw is on the opposite end from my heater and the tank is 6' long. Just looked at temp and it's now in the green at 77*

 

[Brew12]

Hello again Paula!

Erin offered some great advice. Cut the lights back to around 8 hours a day.

As far as your salinity. I know at one point you wanted to keep some soft corals. If you are going FOWLR now, getting to around 1.019 to 1.021 would be a good goal. The most important thing is to keep it stable when you get it where you want it. Make sure any water you add is mixed to the same salinity as your tank. Many marine fish do not tolerate swings in salinity well.

All new tanks go through an "ugly" phase. It just is what it is. Mine has some awful red bacteria and plenty of hair algae right now. It takes a few months of good parameters to get though this phase to the point where your clean up crew can keep up.

As for testing, if you have given up on corals, there really isn't any reason to test Alk. Or calcium. If you are sure your tank has cycled, the only things I would test for are pH and Nitrate. Even then, pH would be fairly optional since you shouldn't be doing anything to change it.

One last suggestion is to set the heater temp where you want it and leave it. Even if you have relatively little flow in your tank it will all stay roughly the same temperature. Set it at 77 (or wherever you decide to keep it) and leave it alone. Stability is very important for many parameters!

 

[Dom]

Nutrient export will help with the algae. I recommend a refugium. It doesn't have to be fancy, but I understand it needs to be about 10% of the total tank volume.

If it were my decision to make, I'd wait it out. 6 weeks isn't a very long time and I wouldn't consider it cycled, even if my ammonia was reading zero. If algae is still a problem at 3-4 months, then I'd revisit the nutrient export strategy.

 

[Paula C Owens]

Hello again Paula!

Erin offered some great advice. Cut the lights back to around 8 hours a day.

As far as your salinity. I know at one point you wanted to keep some soft corals. If you are going FOWLR now, getting to around 1.019 to 1.021 would be a good goal. The most important thing is to keep it stable when you get it where you want it. Make sure any water you add is mixed to the same salinity as your tank. Many marine fish do not tolerate swings in salinity well.

All new tanks go through an "ugly" phase. It just is what it is. Mine has some awful red bacteria and plenty of hair algae right now. It takes a few months of good parameters to get though this phase to the point where your clean up crew can keep up.

As for testing, if you have given up on corals, there really isn't any reason to test Alk. Or calcium. If you are sure your tank has cycled, the only things I would test for are pH and Nitrate. Even then, pH would be fairly optional since you shouldn't be doing anything to change it.

One last suggestion is to set the heater temp where you want it and leave it. Even if you have relatively little flow in your tank it will all stay roughly the same temperature. Set it at 77 (or wherever you decide to keep it) and leave it alone. Stability is very important for many parameters!

Thank you!!! I was HOPING someone from my earlier posts of weeks ago would see this one and comment!!!!! My husband and I decided u til we do LOTS more research and learning we are going FOWLR. It's BEST for us and ESPECIALLY the fish and creatures LOL I had my heater set at 76 and for some reason it heats he tank to 80 and low 80s that's why I turned it down. I figured the heat was causing most of the algae and brown problem. As long as we aren't having to do too many water changes during the week or changing more than 20% at a time we can keep salinity at 1.021-1.026. Would it be ok to start my clean up crew at this point and about how long will the rocks be this ugly awful brown???!!!! I'm guessing this is like the "teenage" phase of cycling??

 

[Brew12]

Thank you!!! I was HOPING someone from my earlier posts of weeks ago would see this one and comment!!!!! My husband and I decided u til we do LOTS more research and learning we are going FOWLR. It's BEST for us and ESPECIALLY the fish and creatures LOL I had my heater set at 76 and for some reason it heats he tank to 80 and low 80s that's why I turned it down. I figured the heat was causing most of the algae and brown problem. As long as we aren't having to do too many water changes during the week or changing more than 20% at a time we can keep salinity at 1.021-1.026. Would it be ok to start my clean up crew at this point and about how long will the rocks be this ugly awful brown???!!!! I'm guessing this is like the "teenage" phase of cycling??

Glad to be around and that you are looking for more advice!

FOWLR is a great starting point. Just never use copper in the system and you can switch to coral when you are ready.

Heaters are very rarely accurate, so turning it down is fine. Next time just dial it down a little and see where it stabilizes. If it is still too hot, dial it down a bit more. Try to avoid big changes so you don't keep going above and below where you want to be.

Why are you doing so many water changes? You have a few small fish and no corals. You really have no reason to be doing water changes. Cutting back on the water changes may help with the algae, too. I would only change enough water to makeup with any water I pull out with cleaning. I would only do a water change if my Nitrates got above 20ppm. I doubt you have any nitrates since the algae is eating it all. In my opinion, it is a waste of time and money for you to be doing regular water changes at this point. There are people on here that have full blown beautiful reefs that haven't done a water change in over a year.

As for how long it will last? Can't really say. Every tank seems to be different. Don't overfeed, cut way back on the water changes, cut back on the lighting, and see what happens. Once you can keep a stable temperature and salinity you should be good to add your clean up crew.

 

[Paula C Owens]

Glad to be around and that you are looking for more advice!

FOWLR is a great starting point. Just never use copper in the system and you can switch to coral when you are ready.

Heaters are very rarely accurate, so turning it down is fine. Next time just dial it down a little and see where it stabilizes. If it is still too hot, dial it down a bit more. Try to avoid big changes so you don't keep going above and below where you want to be.

Why are you doing so many water changes? You have a few small fish and no corals. You really have no reason to be doing water changes. Cutting back on the water changes may help with the algae, too. I would only change enough water to makeup with any water I pull out with cleaning. I would only do a water change if my Nitrates got above 20ppm. I doubt you have any nitrates since the algae is eating it all. In my opinion, it is a waste of time and money for you to be doing regular water changes at this point. There are people on here that have full blown beautiful reefs that haven't done a water change in over a year.

As for how long it will last? Can't really say. Every tank seems to be different. Don't overfeed, cut way back on the water changes, cut back on the lighting, and see what happens. Once you can keep a stable temperature and salinity you should be good to add your clean up crew.

Sounds good to me!!! I turned temp down gradually over a few days time. I just don't know why it has to be set at 66* to be 77* lol (the heater is only rated for 100 gal tank and this one is 150 gal) it's crazy LOL

We were doing water changes so often because our nitrates were sky high off the charts. It had been suggested with water changes the nitrates would drop. Idk what changed with this last water change other than lightly scrubbing the LR, changing out some of the live sand, lowering the heater, and adding the plankton stuff but nitrates are atleast ON the charts and seem to be dropping in time within normal range or atleast heading in that direction.

As for feeding I only feed the mollies every other day and only what they can eat in 3-5 minutes time frame.

What would YOU suggest for a starting CUC? I DO know we both(hubby and I) want 1-2 Emerald Crabs.

 

[Brew12]

Sounds good to me!!! I turned temp down gradually over a few days time. I just don't know why it has to be set at 66* to be 77* lol (the heater is only rated for 100 gal tank and this one is 150 gal) it's crazy LOL

We were doing water changes so often because our nitrates were sky high off the charts. It had been suggested with water changes the nitrates would drop. Idk what changed with this last water change other than lightly scrubbing the LR, changing out some of the live sand, lowering the heater, and adding the plankton stuff but nitrates are atleast ON the charts and seem to be dropping in time within normal range or atleast heading in that direction.

As for feeding I only feed the mollies every other day and only what they can eat in 3-5 minutes time frame.

What would YOU suggest for a starting CUC? I DO know we both(hubby and I) want 1-2 Emerald Crabs.

Not sure why your nitrates are that high, but it is good you are doing water changes.

I would go with 20-30 blue leg hermits, the 2 emerald crabs, and a variety of 50-60 snails. That should be a good start.

 

[Paula C Owens]

Not sure why your nitrates are that high, but it is good you are doing water changes.

I would go with 20-30 blue leg hermits, the 2 emerald crabs, and a variety of 50-60 snails. That should be a good start.

That would be a good START???? how big of a cleanin crew is needed??? That seems
like ALOT to me LOL

 

[Brew12]

That would be a good START???? how big of a cleanin crew is needed??? That seems
like ALOT to me LOL

It's a big tank! You will hardly notice that many in there after awhile. That is actually much smaller than many people recommend. I went with less than that in my 120g but I need to add to it now. I'm still learning too!

 

[Cory]

If you want to get rid of the algae make sure:

Your replacing evaporation with pure water. Tap water will make it grow.

Use some gfo phosphate remover. Change every two weeks.

Get a good protein skimmer and or look into an algae turf scrubber.

Clean up crew! On the reef most hair algae is consumed by sea urchins. The rest by low phosphate due to bacteria/phytoplankton growth.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Thank you!!! I was HOPING someone from my earlier posts of weeks ago would see this one and comment!!!!! My husband and I decided u til we do LOTS more research and learning we are going FOWLR. It's BEST for us and ESPECIALLY the fish and creatures LOL I had my heater set at 76 and for some reason it heats he tank to 80 and low 80s that's why I turned it down. I figured the heat was causing most of the algae and brown problem. As long as we aren't having to do too many water changes during the week or changing more than 20% at a time we can keep salinity at 1.021-1.026. Would it be ok to start my clean up crew at this point and about how long will the rocks be this ugly awful brown???!!!! I'm guessing this is like the "teenage" phase of cycling??

Hi, can you get a close up of the rocks. Lets see what you have. Def cuc time. Im not a big fan of crabs pers. Id add slowly too. Snails and crabs. Depending on what and how much you feed will depends on cuc needed.
Big messy fish with a lot of meaty food> yea crabs. Slime, algae, mulm, dinos? snails.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/choosing-cleanup-crew-critters.258695/

May I ask, what kind of tubes are you running in the light??

 

[Paula C Owens]

Hi, can you get a close up of the rocks. Lets see what you have. Def cuc time. Im not a big fan of crabs pers. Id add slowly too. Snails and crabs. Depending on what and how much you feed will depends on cuc needed.
Big messy fish with a lot of meaty food> yea crabs. Slime, algae, mulm, dinos? snails.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/choosing-cleanup-crew-critters.258695/

May I ask, what kind of tubes are you running in the light??

Our lighting is T5 white
T5 blue
Blue LED
Past week week have only been running the T5 white and for about 2 weeks before that we went dark for 24/7 that full 2 weeks
Here are the pics you requested.

 

[Brew12]

Our lighting is T5 white
T5 blue
Blue LED
Past week week have only been running the T5 white and for about a full 2 weeks before that we went dark for 24/7.
Here are the pics you requested.

Ummm... didn't you say you were having an algae problem? Where is the algae?

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Our lighting is T5 white
T5 blue
Blue LED
Past week week have only been running the T5 white and for about 2 weeks before that we went dark for 24/7 that full 2 weeks
Here are the pics you requested.

Thanks.

It looks to me like normal ugly phase stuff. Time for cuc. Coralline should be on the way too.

Ummm... didn't you say you were having an algae problem? Where is the algae?

Right? Not a very ugly ugly phase is it?

 

[Paula C Owens]

Lol
Yes brew that was right after we set up tank we got that green hair algae so we went dark for about 2 full weeks and replaces some of the sand and lightly scrubbed he LR. I'm sorry if my original post was misleading on the algae part. I was trying to give info on what probs we had already gone through as well as what was goin on now.

 

[Brew12]

Thanks.

It looks to me like normal ugly phase stuff. Time for cuc. Coralline should be on the way too.


Right? Not a very ugly ugly phase is it?

If my ugly phase looked that good I would worry my CuC would starve!

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Lol
Yes brew that was right after we set up tank we got that green hair algae so we went dark for about 2 full weeks and replaces some of the sand and lightly scrubbed he LR. I'm sorry if my original post was misleading on the algae part. I was trying to give info on what probs we had already gone through as well as what was goin on now.

I think ya done good.
starve it and then get it out.

 

[Brew12]

Lol
Yes brew that was right after we set up tank we got that green hair algae so we went dark for about 2 full weeks and replaces some of the sand and lightly scrubbed he LR. I'm sorry if my original post was misleading on the algae part. I was trying to give info on what probs we had already gone through as well as what was goin on now.

I know going dark may work and many people recommend it but I think it is a waste of time. Again, that is my personal opinion. Your algae is growing because something is feeding it. You can turn off the light and get it to die off, but that doesn't deal with the underlying problem of nutrients. Granted, if you can completely eradicate any trace DNA from the algae it will be gone forever, but something else will just take it's place.
If you have nutrients leaching from your rocks or sand, when the algae consumes it all, the algae will die. The more algae you grow in your tank, the faster it will consume nutrients, and the faster it will die off. The problem is that it looks ugly so no one wants to go this route.
This is why people grow Chaeto in their sumps or build algae scrubbers. The idea behind this is to grow the algae where you want it to consume the nutrients instead of in your DT.