advice needed!

[mr.sykes]

Hi guys, I need some advice. I have had my tank up for about 5-6 weeks now. My water perameters look great. I have this brown algae on my sand bed and now starting to cover my LR. My LFS told me to look in phosphate kit and removers. I was wondering If a cleaner crew could help. Can you guys give me some advice as to what is a good starter crew? Thanks a whole lot.

 

[scotts]

Sounds to me like you have diatoms. It is a normal part of the tank cycling process. They will die in a week or two then you can fan them of of your sand and LR with either your hand or a turkey baster.
Funny I think you are the third or fourth person who has had the same issue today. I think I had better do some more reading on them so I sound a little more knowlegable about the. BTW you can do a search on this site for diatoms to see if that is actually what you have. I know I am going to search for them as soon as I post this.
HTH.
Oh yeah, WELCOME to the site!

Scott

 

[winstew]

Mine has the same problem I have read and discovered that it is pretty normal for a new tank to go through the stage and that they will eventually go away GIVEN that Nitrates go to 0 or close to it and there is no Phosphates for them to feed on. I cut down to like 5-7 hours of lighting and it seemed to keep it from spreading.

 

[mr.sykes]

Well all of my levels are at zero except my nitrates, they are at 10 or so. I used my hand to sift through the sand to cover it up. I am going to start an 8 hour lighting schedule tomorrow. I think this will help. It was on 12’s. Anyway I am still wandering what type of cleaner crew to start. I went to two LFS’s today, One witch is my favorite, said I should start with some snails and buy a phosphate kit and to start removing phosphate from my water. That’s all they had I guess. Anyway I went to the other LFS, witch sucks, and couldn’t get any help. I guess if you don’t plan on spending a lot they don’t acknowledge that you are there :notsure: . Anyway I didn’t get they info I needed. And thank you Scott for the welcome

. So Any thoughts for a starter cleaner crew?

 

[robpsca]

ours done the same thing just means your tank is going out of the cycle cleared up in about a week or two on its own didnt do anything special to get rid of it just went away

 

[scotts]

What size tank do you have? I prefer hermit crabs for my clean up crew and some snails. The hermit crabs are good because the eat the waste before it can break down in your tank.

 

[some1fishy]

If you do a little searching, you can find a cleaning crew package which will contain a variety of species. This site offers some good ones and so does those Dr. guys. Worth looking into, both quality.

 

[nakadoc]

cerith snails are known to eat diatoms!!!!!!! someone gave me an awesome site to go to. starts with a G and ryhymes BARF (.org) they explain all of these alge bloom problems and tell you the solution, cerith snails are the solutions for diatoms!!!!!!!

 

[mr.sykes]

Hey Guys for all of your insights on my problem. I have a 55 gal. TRU-VU tank. I've heard about snails becoming a problem because they reproduce fast and overwhelm the tank.. I heard this from another site. What kind of crabs whould you guys suggest? I know they is alot of kinds and some are not as hardy as others. Anyway thanks again.

 

[vfib2]

Originally Posted by Mr.Sykes
Hey Guys for all of your insights on my problem. I have a 55 gal. TRU-VU tank. I've heard about snails becoming a problem because they reproduce fast and overwhelm the tank.. I heard this from another site. What kind of crabs whould you guys suggest? I know they is alot of kinds and some are not as hardy as others. Anyway thanks again.
Snail dont reproduce that fast and when you get crabs they will kill someof the snails to take their shells. I have blue legged crabs and I really like them. I had red legged crabs 3 years ago and hated them. They seemed like a bunch of grade school kids. Seriously, It always seemed like they were fighting with other inverts in the tank and tearing stuff up.
Good Luck

 

[mr.sykes]

Cool good info on the red leg's. I thought they were not as hardy. The crabs I mean. Also Is it possible to have crabs and snails in the tank with a porcupine puffer? I know they are ok with alot of the fish I want to keep. My mom's work they have a tank with a porcupine , dogface, yellow tang, couple of clowns and extras I don't remember. Also I have a yellow tang in my tank. He is kinda shy. He is active when people arn't around , but he hides behind the LR when someone enters the room. does anyone have simlar behaviors with theirs? Thanks