some help for a beginner please.......

[oneflysi]

i am fairly new at the sw/reef setup. i have had fw all my life and just began my reef tank back in late december. i will do my best to list what i have, but i may have some of the names wrong. either way, i'm sure you'll know what i mean. i currently have a 55 gal setup with about 40 lbs of fiji LR. i have a live sand base of about 3-4 inches using agronite or something (a type of "live" sand). so far the only water change i have done is a 5 gallon change. also in my tank i have 3 emerald crabs, 1 red crab, 3 brittle stars, 5 turbo snails, 2 blue damsels, 1 green chromis, 2 yellowtailed damsels, and 1 clownfish. i do have minimal inverts on some of my live rock as i got some from a well-established tank that already contained some mushrooms and tubeworms. as far as equipment...i am running a dual topfin filter (not sure on type, but filters 100+ gal per hour). and seaclone PS (which has been collecting good amounts of funk lately). and 2 550 powerheads for current. also using a 36" smartlite powercompact with 10000K at 110 watts.
couple of questions...and ANY help is appreciated.
-should i be using more light?
-should i do another water change...if so, how much?
-how often should i change the filters in the wet/dry topfin?
-and currently i have been having a green algae problem. it is growing on the glass like a madman. i could probably clean it at least everyday. the tank is outta sunlight, and the lighting is 12 on, 12 off. the snails don't even make a dent in the algae. it is also growing somewhat on my live sand...but not as much on the fiji LR. any help on what to do??
i've been reading some posts on here for the past couple days...and have learned some interesting things. but haven't really seen anything to help out my questions (did see some stuff on algae, but not particular to my problem). so sorry if i have reposted questions that are asked almost daily. but your help is greatly appreciated. i will post some updated pics of my tank within the next couple days. thanks!!
-One

 

[cyn]

Ok,
I am not too experienced with all of this either, but I will try to help. First, what are your water paremeters? Need to know pH, ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, Specific gravity, and Phosphate for starters. In your reading, I am sure that you have read that Phosphate fuels alge. That would be my second guess in causing your alge problem. My first guess is that your lights need to be scaled back for a while. I would start turning them on a half hour later every day and off a half hour early. Keep scaling back untill you are down to 6 to 8 hours of light a day. Test your water for phosphates and get phosphate sponge to help if the level is high. This is only a temporary fix, you will need to find out where the phos. is coming from.
I do a 20% water change every 2 weeks. A water change will help to dilute the phos. as well. And when you scrape the alge off the glass, have a siphon ready and suck the stuff out, otherwise you are seeding it elsewhere.
By scaling back the photo period, removing as much alge as you can and finding the food source, you should see results. Be patient, it will happen.
cyn

 

[oneflysi]

thanks for the help! off hand, i do not have any results from my water test. i usually take it to get tested, and have only done it once myself. from now on i am testing it myself though. i can test it tonight and post results tomorrow.
that is one problem right there....everytime i do an algae scrape i just let it go. i had no idea i should be siphoning. oops. so that explains why i could do it everyday.
i will also scale back the lighting. to 10 on, 14 off.
i buy my water from the local aquarium store, and when topping off i use my RO tap from my kitchen.
what is a phosphate sponge? never heard of it. i will have to pick on up if it will help. thanks.
i think i have just been doing a few things wrong. not enough water changes, and not siphoning during algae scrapes. those 2 things look like they will cut down my algae growth tremendously.
thanks again for your help! any other replies are appreciated.
-One

 

[striker]

If you want to keep corals(soft or hard) you should start looking at making an upgrade. The stuff in your tank should be fine with the lights you have now though with an upgrade there will be a significant difference. If the algae you have is green then I've been told that it is normal and should later start turning to coraline. 10-12 hrs of light is the norm but I'm wondering how long you've been running your bulbs. You want to definitely get your own test kit and maybe look into buying another powerhead or two. In my 29gallon I have three directed in seperate directions and it has been great so far. Maybe you can get two smaller ones and keep one aimed directly on the glass and the other near the surface. When you get the test kit check the water you use from your ro tap and the water that you get from the fish store. Sometimes they use older equipment or filters and a lot of the minerals get through. The last thing that might help is adding another cleaning crew with different snails(my mexican trochus are large and are constantly at work on my glass), some red hermits(docile unlike blue-legs) and maybe a cucumber or something else that can help with sifting the sand. Sorry for the rambling and I hope this helped. Good luck.

 

[oneflysi]

i did forget to mention above that i have 3 red-legged hermits in the tank...but i have never seen them off the LR.
i also don't think that this green algae will turn into coralline...because most of the algae is growing on the glass.
i think water current may be low also...i will pick up a couple more powerheads and see if they help out.
and i have only been using this powercompact for one month now. before i was using a 50watt coralife bulb in my 36" hood. i was told to use both my powercompact and my coralife bulb in my tank...but don't have the room above the tank at the moment.
i know i will need more light if i plan to get inverts, but for fiji LR is my lighting suffecient to keep them alive and coralline growing?? that is my concern...i don't want the $200+ i've spent on LR to go down the tube because my lighting is insuffecient.
thanks again!
-One

 

[cyn]

Phosphate sponge is an additive you use similar to the way that folks use charcoal. I have never used it, but I know most LFS carry it and have read rave reviews here about it. My phos. is undetectable and was only once even slightly positive, below the color level of the test kit.
HTH,
cyn

 

[marine fanatic]

You stated that you have 2 550 PH's in a 55. I have 2 Penguin 550 PH's in my 55 and I have pretty good current. The trick is the angles of them. I have one 4" from the bottom angled at 55 and one on the opposite side 4" from the top angled at 110. Adding more is not a bad idea but try to angle your existing PH's to maximize current.