new tank setup i got a few questions plz help if u can

[karllenz87]

ok guess i just setup my 1st real sw tank about a week ago!!!!!im really excited...curently it has 20lbs of "cured" live rock in it.. and 20lbs of african chiclid substrates its almost sand like a little bigger tho.....i have a heaqter and a whisper 60 on it running some kind of black foam and carbon. i also have a small power head installed not sure what it is tho.....o yea and its a 55 gallon tank with the stock lights that came with it..i also add DR tim one and only bacterial agent on tuesday as directed by my lfs. I also followed the instructions and add my already acclimated gsp into the ttank on wensday. now for the questions.

1. my tank is not reef ready i believe....i want to at some point add a sump/fug is that possible??? if so is it a very hard diy project to do???

2. i posted a few pictures of the substrate and live rock on my one rock there is this drack stuff growing it looks purple when i take a picture of it what is that??? on the other rock and on the substrate all this brown specks appeared what are the???

3... i have not really seen an amo spike what so ever so far my nitrites get a little high .3.....i did a 10gallon water change last week. im gona test my water now see where its at and post back with results..


i also post some pictures..

[karllenz87]

ok so here are the pics the one picture is os the same rock a week ago when the brown stuff was not on it this brown stuff scares me

[brackeeper75]

Hard to tell from the pic, but it looks like some kind of algae dying off, or maybe even a dead sponge...??? I would take out whatever it is. The brown on the sand looks like the start of a diatom bloom, typical in every new tank, and should go away on its own. If you cant stand to look at it just syphon it out.

[karllenz87]

the that spongy fluffy thing is probably something dea and should be removed correct??

[karllenz87]

here are my test results
nitrites are at no2- is at 0.3 still :(
amo: still at 0

testing ph next
and attempting the GH and KH tests i have but have never done them

[brackeeper75]

the that spongy fluffy thing is probably something dea and should be removed correct??

YES!!

[karllenz87]

KH:=14 drops using the tetratest kit


i cant get my gh test to work i did 200 drops its still red im doing something wrong lol

[karllenz87]

PH is at 8.0

[karllenz87]

here is a better pic of the sponge thing that i took out and what is the purple/black stuff on my other rock??

[karllenz87]

umm a few more questions too stocking wise im looking at a lionfish if they arent tooo dangerous to keep i am allergic to shell fish....some kinda of eel as well those are the two fish that i can think of that i definatly would like to get.....what else could i stock with these guys...are there any low light coral that i can keep with the light that i currently have???? what about shrimp and crab and snails...i know my puffer will probably go after the snails idk about the crab what can i stock as a cleaner crew???

[brackeeper75]

The purple stuff is coraline algae. Its a good thing! Lionfish are venomous! In oreder to help you with stocking we need to know how large your tank is.

[karllenz87]

the tank is a 55 gallon and currently has a green spotted puffer in it

[BadRoma1]

don't get any fish at this time, because your nitrites will get worse. you want dwarf lionfish for your tank. your tank is so small for all the stuff that you are interested in. i would get some kind of bacteria to help with nitrites, like biospira of dry marine biozymes.

[karllenz87]

i did add bacteria last tuesday dr tim one and only

[BadRoma1]

just add dry bizymes then. it's cheap and works great.