New SW setup, newbie too
- Thread starter Dan06
- Start date
Did a 5 gallon RO water change yesterday. The tank broke out with a fair amount of Diatoms and the LFS said it's typical for them to show up in newly established SW tanks, even with cured live rock and seeded live sand, he said it will take a while before the bacteria and tank is established enough to outcompete any small amounts of silica in the water. They suggested if I didn't want to be patient and deal with the tank being a little unsightly to start switching over to RO water and dilute the silica. Also gave me some silica removing media for my canister. The Diatoms hadn't grown or spread elsewhere over night, will have to see the results when I get home from work today. The difference yesterday was alarming from when I left at 8am and got home at 5pm.
I've yet to get a protein skimmer, the two guys at the LFS have differing opinions on them, one says it's a required to make life easier and keep film from building at the surface - the other says it's not prejudice towards just bad protein - it removes both good and bad, he suggests if I do religious water changes weekly I wouldn't have a need for a skimmer as I will have a light fish load as I am more interested in Corals than fish. They mentioned the Nitrates are the main enemy of Corals and as long as my fish stock is low and my WC's are consistant, I could get away with it...
But my surface film is out of control and even with the powerhead & canister I can't completely break the film at the top of the tank. I am sumpless right now, so I need a HOB skimmer - I've been eyeballing the Prizm with the surface skimmer - but both LFS guys suggested the Terminator as their personal favorite...
I hate the noise of water splashing or dripping, so a #2 or #3 powerhead just for the surface is out of the question for me, so skimmer here I come! Ugh!
I've yet to get a protein skimmer, the two guys at the LFS have differing opinions on them, one says it's a required to make life easier and keep film from building at the surface - the other says it's not prejudice towards just bad protein - it removes both good and bad, he suggests if I do religious water changes weekly I wouldn't have a need for a skimmer as I will have a light fish load as I am more interested in Corals than fish. They mentioned the Nitrates are the main enemy of Corals and as long as my fish stock is low and my WC's are consistant, I could get away with it...
But my surface film is out of control and even with the powerhead & canister I can't completely break the film at the top of the tank. I am sumpless right now, so I need a HOB skimmer - I've been eyeballing the Prizm with the surface skimmer - but both LFS guys suggested the Terminator as their personal favorite...
I hate the noise of water splashing or dripping, so a #2 or #3 powerhead just for the surface is out of the question for me, so skimmer here I come! Ugh!
No noticable diatom growth after work and so far today - some green algae on the glass has finally started to show up.
The Kenya Tree Coral is looking good to my eye, looks better and the polyps are open and extended. The feather duster/worm is out almost all day now, I've found 4 of the 'nuisance' Asterina Wega star fish, they so far have left the Kenya Tree alone and are doing a good job of cleaning the algae off the Live Rock...but they aren't really making a dent on it.
Getting more and more impatient to add a fish - but I really want a skimmer before I try... The LFS had a used Jebo for $30 that I could have tried - but they said it's garbage and I should get the Typhoon/Terminator or Remora and nothing else.
The Kenya Tree Coral is looking good to my eye, looks better and the polyps are open and extended. The feather duster/worm is out almost all day now, I've found 4 of the 'nuisance' Asterina Wega star fish, they so far have left the Kenya Tree alone and are doing a good job of cleaning the algae off the Live Rock...but they aren't really making a dent on it.
Getting more and more impatient to add a fish - but I really want a skimmer before I try... The LFS had a used Jebo for $30 that I could have tried - but they said it's garbage and I should get the Typhoon/Terminator or Remora and nothing else.
Got impatient and did the deed, I picked up 1 very small Clarkii Clown, less than 1 1/2" against my LFS's recommendation. Did a drip acclimation over the period of 2 hours or so. I've vowed to myself to remove the fish the moment it shows any sign of stress or illness.
I almost feel guilty going against my LFS recommendation to add a single fish yet - but I couldn't stand looking at my tank with 4 corals, live rock and nothing swimming around.
So far the Clarkii Clown has been picking at the hair algae on my largest LR and has taken to a deep cave, however he's been out and swimming around all day. By far the best looking fish after acclimating I've had.
I almost feel guilty going against my LFS recommendation to add a single fish yet - but I couldn't stand looking at my tank with 4 corals, live rock and nothing swimming around.
So far the Clarkii Clown has been picking at the hair algae on my largest LR and has taken to a deep cave, however he's been out and swimming around all day. By far the best looking fish after acclimating I've had.
No new hair algae showing up else where in the tank, whatever showed up last week is only growing longer - but it's not spreading out.
I picked up 10 small blue leg hermits to get started, they certainly won't take care of it all, but over night they had cleaned the face of one LR that was covered pretty well. This morning they were all in the gravel and appeared to have already made a dent.
LFS is going to be getting a few Sea Hares in Friday, I think I'm going to stop back tonight and put a down payment on two for the cleaning job this weekend and return one, or both when they have taken care of everything.
My Clown has been munching on the long strands too.
I picked up a small Green Zoa frag last night, broke off a couple pieces and placed them in various places in the tank, they stayed closed for the night, but this morning they were opening up - but the hair algae on the rocks seemed to be irritating them.
So my corals, so far are as follows
5 Kenya Trees
1 Purple Mushroom
1 Forgot the name but will post a pic..
1 Frag Green Zoa
Buying very small coral frags, mainly because they are cheap. Once I'm more confident in keeping the SW tank stable, I'll consider spending the 40+ for large pieces of coral.
I'm considering this weekend to drain some water and do some better scaping. I set up the LR right in the center of my tank, it looks decent but I think I want/need to push it back further in the tank so I can easily add new LR.
I picked up 10 small blue leg hermits to get started, they certainly won't take care of it all, but over night they had cleaned the face of one LR that was covered pretty well. This morning they were all in the gravel and appeared to have already made a dent.
LFS is going to be getting a few Sea Hares in Friday, I think I'm going to stop back tonight and put a down payment on two for the cleaning job this weekend and return one, or both when they have taken care of everything.
My Clown has been munching on the long strands too.
I picked up a small Green Zoa frag last night, broke off a couple pieces and placed them in various places in the tank, they stayed closed for the night, but this morning they were opening up - but the hair algae on the rocks seemed to be irritating them.
So my corals, so far are as follows
5 Kenya Trees
1 Purple Mushroom
1 Forgot the name but will post a pic..
1 Frag Green Zoa
Buying very small coral frags, mainly because they are cheap. Once I'm more confident in keeping the SW tank stable, I'll consider spending the 40+ for large pieces of coral.
I'm considering this weekend to drain some water and do some better scaping. I set up the LR right in the center of my tank, it looks decent but I think I want/need to push it back further in the tank so I can easily add new LR.
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Picture is from my Iphone, sorry it sucks...but you get the drift! This was before I added the Green Zoa's, as you can see I've yet to detach the new corals from the rocks they came on. I don't know how to do that just yet.
I'm also considering to roll on some black paint on the sides of the glass to hide the wires. I hate the black/blue backgrounds.
I'm also considering to roll on some black paint on the sides of the glass to hide the wires. I hate the black/blue backgrounds.
Instead of black paint you should be able to find black glossy like background. Reflective also which could help disperse some of the light towards the tank vs loss.
Just some ideas to prevent you from doing anything permanent like paint =) What if you wanted to remove it...that would be such a pain in the #*#*
About those wires. Visit a Lowes or Home Depot Electrical fastener side of the isle. There should be sticky back wire fasteners. YOu can cluster those wires with lets say Tie Wraps and use those sticky back tie wraps to run it across the rim of the top lip..then down one of your corners to hide it.
Just an idea
Just some ideas to prevent you from doing anything permanent like paint =) What if you wanted to remove it...that would be such a pain in the #*#*
About those wires. Visit a Lowes or Home Depot Electrical fastener side of the isle. There should be sticky back wire fasteners. YOu can cluster those wires with lets say Tie Wraps and use those sticky back tie wraps to run it across the rim of the top lip..then down one of your corners to hide it.
Just an idea
I thought about the fasteners for the wires, but I have to take the lights off the tank to do any work in there & I don't have very much room to work with behind the tank, so - it kind of has to stay messy for what I have right now. I don't like the backgrounds really, I've never had much luck getting them on any of my tanks to my liking.
