clownme
Member
Here's the deal....
36 gal bowfront corner. Established 5 weeks, Fully cycled in three weeks. Plans are for a reef tank.
100 lbs LS, 48 lbs LR, Aqua C Remora hang on skimmer powered by a Maxi-Jet 1200. Two MJ 600's for water circulation, 24" Coralife compact lights with lunar lights. Lights are on a timer. 10,000 k and actinics run 9:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., actinics run alone 7:30 a.m. to 9:30a.m. and again 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. then the lunars 9:30 p.m. to 7:30 a.m. Light sits directly on the glass lid because no-one makes the plastic legs to fit a corner tank to get the light up off the top of the tank. I also run a small fan 24hrs a day, tank does not drop below 78. We are having a recent heat wave here in MA, hotter than usual.
My initial setup was tap water (bad I know), all water changes have been R/O since then.
I have completed two water changes, 4 gallons each for the past two Thursdays, this Thursday will be my third.
I am currently treating the tank with Phos-Guard, phosphates have been 0 for almost a week. I am also using Kent Marine Liquid Calcium because the calcium reading dropped below 400. Has been 420 for almost a week now, and Kent Marine Coral Builder because the kH was at 6dkH so I have raised it to 11 over a period of 5 days. I am feeding Kent Marine ChromaPlex, 3 drops once a week for the past two weeks. I had a lot of hitch hikers on my LR, I figured my filter feeders were running out of stuff to eat.
I currently have two peppermint shrimp, 2 Mexican turbo snails, 6 astrea snails, and 6 hermits. There also appears to be a small black sea urchin, 3 clams, and lots of live corals with small, almost transparent arms, or tentacles. I also had diatoms appear in the tank approximately 14 days ago.
Here are the numbers
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
pH 7.8 low was 8.0 on 8/7
Ca 420
kH 11 dkH
phosphate 0
SG 1.021
Sal 29
temp 78-83 increases from 78 with the 10,000k's running
Here are my questions...
1) Why would my tank start to grow green algae?
2) With all that I have read, nothing tells me HOW to raise my SG and Sal. Should I be using more r/o water for the water changes and less pre-mixed saltwater?
3) I thought I acclimated well, not drip method, but an hour or so of adding tank water while floating the critters, but I seem to have lost 3 Astrea snails over a period of a 8 days. Acclimation wrong?
4) Running the lights too long?
5) I have maroon bubble things growing on one of my clams, could it be the dreaded bubble algae? :scared:
Is there anything else I am doing wrong? I am insitent that I am going to master water chemistry before I spend a dime on a fish!
Give me some tips.....god knows I need help!
36 gal bowfront corner. Established 5 weeks, Fully cycled in three weeks. Plans are for a reef tank.
100 lbs LS, 48 lbs LR, Aqua C Remora hang on skimmer powered by a Maxi-Jet 1200. Two MJ 600's for water circulation, 24" Coralife compact lights with lunar lights. Lights are on a timer. 10,000 k and actinics run 9:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., actinics run alone 7:30 a.m. to 9:30a.m. and again 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. then the lunars 9:30 p.m. to 7:30 a.m. Light sits directly on the glass lid because no-one makes the plastic legs to fit a corner tank to get the light up off the top of the tank. I also run a small fan 24hrs a day, tank does not drop below 78. We are having a recent heat wave here in MA, hotter than usual.
My initial setup was tap water (bad I know), all water changes have been R/O since then.
I have completed two water changes, 4 gallons each for the past two Thursdays, this Thursday will be my third.
I am currently treating the tank with Phos-Guard, phosphates have been 0 for almost a week. I am also using Kent Marine Liquid Calcium because the calcium reading dropped below 400. Has been 420 for almost a week now, and Kent Marine Coral Builder because the kH was at 6dkH so I have raised it to 11 over a period of 5 days. I am feeding Kent Marine ChromaPlex, 3 drops once a week for the past two weeks. I had a lot of hitch hikers on my LR, I figured my filter feeders were running out of stuff to eat.
I currently have two peppermint shrimp, 2 Mexican turbo snails, 6 astrea snails, and 6 hermits. There also appears to be a small black sea urchin, 3 clams, and lots of live corals with small, almost transparent arms, or tentacles. I also had diatoms appear in the tank approximately 14 days ago.
Here are the numbers
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
pH 7.8 low was 8.0 on 8/7
Ca 420
kH 11 dkH
phosphate 0
SG 1.021
Sal 29
temp 78-83 increases from 78 with the 10,000k's running
Here are my questions...
1) Why would my tank start to grow green algae?
2) With all that I have read, nothing tells me HOW to raise my SG and Sal. Should I be using more r/o water for the water changes and less pre-mixed saltwater?
3) I thought I acclimated well, not drip method, but an hour or so of adding tank water while floating the critters, but I seem to have lost 3 Astrea snails over a period of a 8 days. Acclimation wrong?
4) Running the lights too long?
5) I have maroon bubble things growing on one of my clams, could it be the dreaded bubble algae? :scared:
Is there anything else I am doing wrong? I am insitent that I am going to master water chemistry before I spend a dime on a fish!
Give me some tips.....god knows I need help!