New 75 gal ->Yellow/ Browning dust/ poop looking stuff?

monkeysteelr12

New Member
hey everyone, i am new to this forum, and new to salt water tanks. my 75 gal has been up for around 3 weeks now. about 40 lbs of live rock; and 2 starter fish in there.
Last week a brownish yellow layer of ( what looks like dust) started collecting on the bottom of the tank, ontop of the sand, and on the tops of the rocks.
i have no idea what this stuff is. hopefully someone can help me identify it.
heres some pictures.
thanks!
-Monkey

 

teresaq

Active Member
Diatoms - what type of CUC do you have. you might add some nerite snails to eat it up. though is usually goes away by itself.
You might want to blow off those zoos though.
T
 

monkeysteelr12

New Member
What does cuc stand for?
And what do you mean by "blow off thoes zoos"?
The people at the pet store said it was yellowing because there was chlorine in the water. But I think otherwise. They never saw any pictures so it would ne hard for them to judge.
 
S

shrimpy brains

Guest
cuc= clean up crew (snails, hermits, emerald crabs, etc. would fall into this category)
You can take a turkey baster (unused) or a small pump and blow the algae off your zoos!
It is definitely Diatoms and a good sign in a new tank! The cuc will get rid of it for you, or if you wait a little longer, it should clear up on it's own.
Newly set up tanks may go through several types of algae blooms. Just keep testing and stay on top of your maintenence and all should be well!
 

monkeysteelr12

New Member
im glad yall think its algae! its been adding up and is only "growing" or appearing on the tops of all of the surfaces. its mostly on the sides and closest to the glass walls.
So far i have no "cuc's" what do you guys suggest i get? would any types of snails work? i havent seen any crabs at the pet store but that would be interesting to have!
at some point in time i would like to add jelly fish to my tank- is there anything i need to do to prepare in advance?
i also have this strange but awesome looking white thing growing from one my my live rocks. looks like an octopus attached to the rock. my question is - what is it? and how do i get more?

thanks a lot. i understand i am a huge noob so thanks for bearing with me.
sorry for the crappy pictures.
 
S

shrimpy brains

Guest
The "white octopus looking thing" in the above picture is an aptaisa anemone. You won't have to do anything to get more.
If you don't kill it(aptaisa ex, joe's juice. are good products for this) it will quickly multiply and over run your tank.
When I first started out, I was very excited to have these also. I used to feed them. lol Big mistake!
 

monkeysteelr12

New Member
they are not dead. just brushed them up.

full tank shot


this thing looks dead


anyone know if i have to do anything special to have jelly fish?
 

teresaq

Active Member
Jelly fish need a species only and I believe round tank. They are an expert only fish from what I read.
What kind of water movement do you have?? do you have any powerheads????????
You need to add more water, it should be at least to the trim edge.
What filtration do you have???? Skimmer???? Lights????
T
 

monkeysteelr12

New Member
the water is usually at the top trim, however the day that i snapped the pictures is the day before the water change is due. the waterlevel falls that much in about a week. after this post im planing to do the change.
water movement= filter on the left side, 2 airstones that come on for 30 minuits every 2 hours, i have a powerhead from an old project that i could put in the tank, but its fairly low power.
no skimmer. just a emperor water filter. and a T-5 single bulb.
i wish i could have some jelly fish. ive seen them at the fish store in square tanks- just they are just chilling on the bottom. ( mostlikely cause there was no water movement)
 

sweatervest13

Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by monkeysteelr12 http:///forum/thread/385023/new-75-gal-yellow-browning-dust-poop-looking-stuff#post_3375577
the water is usually at the top trim, however the day that i snapped the pictures is the day before the water change is due. the waterlevel falls that much in about a week. after this post im planing to do the change.
water movement= filter on the left side, 2 airstones that come on for 30 minuits every 2 hours, i have a powerhead from an old project that i could put in the tank, but its fairly low power.
no skimmer. just a emperor water filter. and a T-5 single bulb.
i wish i could have some jelly fish. ive seen them at the fish store in square tanks- just they are just chilling on the bottom. ( mostlikely cause there was no water movement)
You need to do daily top offs of fresh water. Each day your tank will evaporate water (just fresh water the salt stays in the tank!!), so that water needs to be replaced. If you don't you will have a lot higher salinity they what you first have when you do your W/C. This could be very bad.
Also, most if not all saltwater tanks don't use airstones. Most people try to stop bubbles in their tanks and the tiny micro bubbles can be harmful. Powerheads, YES, you need to get flow in your tank and powerheads are the best way to do that. You can get away with not using a skimmer, some people do and just increase the amount and frequency of water changes.
Your rock work in your tank looks good. As far as your lights go, you might be a little under powered for corals. T-5's are good but you prob need more then just one. You might want to wait for some of the experts on this fourm to chime in a bit more.
Good luck with your tank!!
 

monkeysteelr12

New Member
daily top offs. check.
bubbles can be harmful? i would rather not take out the air pump :( i guess i could program the timer so it comes on less frequently.
i will add in the power head that i have(ViaAqua80- 79 GPH) . what would be the most aesthetic way in doing so? if anyone has any pictures of their setup for an example- i would greatly appreciate them posting it.
what is the use of a skimmer? is it a MUST HAVE? or is it a tool that will just make my life easier?
im not looking into corals right now. thats probably going to be in a year or so. after i get the salt water tanks down.
would the "aptaisa anemone" be considered part of a coral?
about to go to the pet store to get some snales. will post with pictures once i get back!!!
 

teresaq

Active Member
ok, I am going to say alot of your algea is because you have no water movement. You need at least two, one at each end. Hydor Koralia are good, and have magnet attachments so they dont fall. I would go with a couple of 3 or 4s. There are tons of threads with powerhead placement. I like mid tank on the end, one pointed knda up and to the front, and the other end, pointed a little down and to the back, so you get a nice circle movemnt of water. If you go to -- search --- and put in -- powerhead placement, you get lots of threads that might help you
top offs need to be done daily. I topoff at least 2 gals a day in my 150 and a gal in the horse tank.
Air lines and stones are not used in salt water. the fine bubbles make a mess. if you want to keep the lines, at least take off the air stones. I use an open line in my horse tank, but not my reef.
Lights. since your not going to do corals, at least move the ones you have up high in your tank so they get as much light as they can.
pic of powerhead

skimmers help remove organic waist in out tanks. Think of the wave in the ocean and all the gunk that the foamy waves deposit on the beach.
T
 

sweatervest13

Active Member
Quote:
would the "aptaisa anemone" be considered part of a coral?
Part of coral or not, they are not good. They are kinda like crab grass on your lawn. You could have a nice big beautiful lawn and then get crab grass or other weeds and it does not look good. Plus it spreads like crazy. They make many products to kill this pest anemone (Joe's Juice, aptaisaX: google it and you can find something) that you can find online or at your LFS. I had two when I started my tank and thought I had something cool, but killed them off. I have a friend who is old school SW and his tank is completly over ran by this anemone. It looks kinda of cool but he is going to end up having to take his tank completly down and boil his rocks to get rid of it. Kill them now!!!
The powerheads that Teresa was talking about are good and not too bad on price. Think of it this way, the ocean has a current and the current is the life of the reef as it brings food and nuetrients to everything. So you want to have a lot of movement in your water to try to match the ocean.
 

teresaq

Active Member
ok, now for your filter. All you are running is a hob filter??? what size ??? how often are you changing the filter material??? and are you changing it all at once??
i dont think you have enough filteration on this tank either.
once you start adding more fish, your really going to have a bio load that that small filter can not handle. I see your tank isnt drilled, that dosent mean you cant run a sump, or some kind of wet/dry filter that would be much better for your tank.
T
 

monkeysteelr12

New Member
the CUCs did the trick. cleaned up most of the algae.
i also bought 2 starfish. one is hiding, i have no idea where he is. hes been missing for like 24 hours.
heres some pictures of my filter and heater. i plan on buying another filter sometime soon. i was thinking about buying the exact same one i have now. but idk- you tell me.
i have not changed any of the filter stuff yet. my tank has been up for maybe 3-4 weeks.
how should i go about changing the filters? how regularly ?
 
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