F
fishyclown
Guest
Hi all! I've just been given (yes given!) a 70gal reef tank from my neighbor. She had it for 4 years and it has gone by the wayside since she's had kids. So I was the lucky one she trusted to take it and love it like she once did. I'm a science teacher and am very interested in learning everything there is to know about this (expensive!) hobby... 
I've had the tank for about two months now. We moved it from her house to mine (well the guys did) with about 2 inches of water and all the substrate (crushed coral and shells) still in it. The LR and three fish were removed. We siphoned a lot of junk out of the water and totally sifted through the substrate because it was covered with red stuff. When the water was refilled the rocks were placed and the fish were reintroduced. Everyone is happy and lively. They even wanted to eat that night.
When I say everyone, I mean: 1 yellow tang who has filled out better since he's been eating properly, 1 percula clown, and one yellow tailed damsel... plus some tiny little worm type things that have a hard white casing and pink to red feathery plumes that come out. She called them feather duster worms, but I had always thought they'd be bigger. I also have noticed some of what I think I've identified as bristle worms. I saw 5 of them last night and asked the lfs guy what to do about them. I found that they are bad & I should remove them. I'm going to try with plastic tweezers since metal might do something bad to the water. Are there any kind of critters that might eat them for me?
One thing I've discovered is that I have a red algae/bacteria problem. I've narrowed the cause down to the lighting, since the shadowed areas under the LR aren't getting covered by it. I've had to do some serious cleaning twice already and each time I've pretty much done a 50% water change because I'm trying to suck up so much of the red stuff. Can this be bad? I even took a toothbrush to the rock because it was so thick. The red stuff came off like moss and I found that there was some good green algae underneath it. The tang didn't appear to be eating the red stuff, so I figured it wouldn't hurt to try and irradicate it. Oh yeah, I forgot that there's a limpet in there and he seems to be eating it.
I currently do not have any sort of clean up crew. I was waiting to add stuff because I wanted to learn more first before adding anything that I might accidentally kill. How long do the fish really need the lights on? I want to decrease light to help curb the growth of red - whatever it is. What kind of animal would eat it?
Sorry the message was long, wanted to give a little history to help any advice. Thanks in advance for anything. I've really enjoyed reading from this forum.
Thanks,
Shelly
I've had the tank for about two months now. We moved it from her house to mine (well the guys did) with about 2 inches of water and all the substrate (crushed coral and shells) still in it. The LR and three fish were removed. We siphoned a lot of junk out of the water and totally sifted through the substrate because it was covered with red stuff. When the water was refilled the rocks were placed and the fish were reintroduced. Everyone is happy and lively. They even wanted to eat that night.
When I say everyone, I mean: 1 yellow tang who has filled out better since he's been eating properly, 1 percula clown, and one yellow tailed damsel... plus some tiny little worm type things that have a hard white casing and pink to red feathery plumes that come out. She called them feather duster worms, but I had always thought they'd be bigger. I also have noticed some of what I think I've identified as bristle worms. I saw 5 of them last night and asked the lfs guy what to do about them. I found that they are bad & I should remove them. I'm going to try with plastic tweezers since metal might do something bad to the water. Are there any kind of critters that might eat them for me?
One thing I've discovered is that I have a red algae/bacteria problem. I've narrowed the cause down to the lighting, since the shadowed areas under the LR aren't getting covered by it. I've had to do some serious cleaning twice already and each time I've pretty much done a 50% water change because I'm trying to suck up so much of the red stuff. Can this be bad? I even took a toothbrush to the rock because it was so thick. The red stuff came off like moss and I found that there was some good green algae underneath it. The tang didn't appear to be eating the red stuff, so I figured it wouldn't hurt to try and irradicate it. Oh yeah, I forgot that there's a limpet in there and he seems to be eating it.
I currently do not have any sort of clean up crew. I was waiting to add stuff because I wanted to learn more first before adding anything that I might accidentally kill. How long do the fish really need the lights on? I want to decrease light to help curb the growth of red - whatever it is. What kind of animal would eat it?
Sorry the message was long, wanted to give a little history to help any advice. Thanks in advance for anything. I've really enjoyed reading from this forum.
Thanks,
Shelly
