My new 50g

Oliver said:

Hi everyone,
I just thought I would give you some pics of my recent 50g set up. It is a future reef, and I currently have 2 mushrooms and 4 turbo snails to test it out. I am going to buy heaps of coral and snails on the weekend, can't wait. I currently have x2 aqua clear power heads, x1 small weipro from my old tank, 150w heater, tunze skimmer, 16kg live rock, 10 base rock, 25 kg sand. I have 3 lengths of the tank with flourecent lighting as MH is too expensive. The fish I am going to get are x2 ocellaris, x1 blue tang, x1 foxface, and probebly x1 lawn mower belly.

Click to expand...

Ok I am not going to flame you or anything but your going about this all the wrong way.You need at least 1 pound of live rock per gallon, but 2 is recommended.This is utlized to cycle and as a filter for your tank.The flourecent lighting looks nice but what kind are you talking about normal output high output very high output power?You have to have enough light to keep these corals alive.Also you cannot add that much livestock at one time as your bioload cant handle it.Bioload is the amount of waste that can be converted to nonlethal by products by you system and if you add too much too fast you tank will become full of waste and crash (kill off everything).

Oliver said:

thanks alot,
I am buying 3 deep sea water snails on saturday and I will probebly buy about 5 mushrooms to go with them. The flourecent lighting are aqua star, 18 W and I bought them at a fish store. How long should I leave the light on for?? I have this sponge thing on a peice of my LR, is this apstasia?

Click to expand...

The snails should be ok but how many 18 watters do you have?

Btw, hard to tell by pic but doubt its apt.

You also need to scratch that Blue tang from your list unless its temperary. They need at least 6 feet of swimming room and get way to big for you 50 gallon tank.

Oliver said:

Yes, i am only having it temperarily, same with the foxface.
My lighting, I have 3 lengths of the tank, each length is 36 watts. I have 2 white light sticks and 1 blue. I have just discovered alot of brown algea on my stone and sand. Is this normal, I also have some hair algea and green algea. I am currently topping off my tank with tap water that has been de clorinated and it has been in a bottle for like 2-3 days. Is this ok to use??

your help is appreciated

Click to expand...

That is not enough light for corals but enough for a fish only.Do not use tap water at it contains lots of trace elements normally.This feeds alot of algae blooms. You need more live rock too.