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I use cycle whenever I get a new fish to put in the QT. I don't use it to try to cycle the tank but for the fish. It helps make the fish acclimate a bit easier.

Littleneck or cherry clams I can tell mine are still alive by the little tornados of sand they send up when they breath the purified water out. they why we use clams like this since they wil remove small very amounts of nitrates but put pure water back in the tank. but it is negligable.

A sand sifting star should only go in a well established tank or about 120 gallon or more. People seem to like Maxijet powerheads. A 900 or 1200 should be sufficient.

You might want to check the magnesium levels also. If magnesium is low then your calcium and alk are hard to keep stable. The Mag level should be about 1250 or a bit higher. I have had the same problem with my pH around 7.8 and determined that it really isn't a problem as long as it's fairly...

Calcium should be 400 to 440

Trying doing the water changes weekly and see if that helps.

Also you said your power heads are 30GPH. You should have 10 to 15 times water turnover in your tank. So that would be; 55x10 or 550GPH to 55x15 or 825GPH so your powerheads need to move 555GPH to 825GPH. You may start seeing more problems then just algea since your are only moving 60GPH.

Those are diatoms. If you are using tap water then you might want to switch to RO (reverse osmosis) water. Most tap water will cause lots of diatoms.

One way to test if the air exchange is ok it to take a cup of tank water outside and run an airstone in it. If the pH goes up then your water may be lacking in the exchange of gases.

Beautiful tank as always Murph Sometimes a Bluethroat trigger will be fine with a cleaner shrimp or such. The key is to introduce the shrimp into the tank before the Trigger and then PRAY. I have a Hawaiian Trigger and he only eats what I give him. But, I would imagine if I gave him...

Originally Posted by jessica47421 crazy question what is a drip loop? i am going to but the gfi outlet tomorrow Most eveything electric that you buy for a fish tanks shows one in the instructions. Just loop the power cord before it gets to the outlet. That way if water runs down the cord it...

Originally Posted by mudplayerx Wise words I agree with: I have you guys beat on electrical scares though. I was adjusting the height on one of my pendant style metal halide's and the light slipped out of my hand while the height adjuster was set in "open" mode. The light fell into the tank...

I used to have soem shaving brush in my DT and took them out. Their leaves are like pine needles and when they come off they get all over the tank and what a mess.

You might have cycled since you have diatoms. Your pH level is not bad. Mine typically runs 7.8 to 7.9. what is more important is stability. Although seawater typically runs from 7.8 in the open sea to 8.4 (i can't remeber but could be 8.3) in the reef areas. Do you have a lid coverning your...

I would not remove the bio balls unless you have lots of live rock. You didn't say how much LR you had. With enough live rock you won't need the bio balls. You can replace the bio balls with live rock rubble but still need to clean/rinse it periodically. Since you are using city water you might...

What size is your tank, do you have any live rock or live sand? did you add all of the livestock at one time or did you wait a week or 2 between adding each fish?

Probably a goby. I have a Diamond goby and that's all he does.

With just LS I found the best way is to let my diamond goby clean it out from around the rocks and thats what he does.

If you look into costs of electricity by using LED lighting you might be surprised. IMO the lighting quality looks better then halides do on corals. They are also more adjustable.

It might be that the damsels may start harrassing the grouper and lion. You never know but if they do the big ones will probably eat em. Would be nice to see some pics of the grouper ***) oh, nm I see that one you posted already. I will try to zoom it so I can get a better look. They are such...