[Prismaco]

Heres another Q: about algea. First I brown algea. Its all gone, and now a new one came in. Its kind of thicker and a brownish green. I will post some pictures in about an hour or but was wondering if any one knew. This is whats currently in my tank:

16 Gallon
1x96W Coralife Aqualight CF hood w/ Quad 50/50 -Square Pin+
35lbs of LR
1.5lbs of LS
4 Green Chromi
2 Clowns
1 Damsel
1 Banded Shrimp
3 Blue Legg Hermit Crabs
3 Bumble Bee snails
1 Scooter (the colorful one, starts with an "M")
3 Pink tip Anenomes
1 Purple Anenome
Xenia
1 polyp (Still hasn't opened after 5 days)
Purple and Green Shrooms

7:00am- 7:30pm lights go one for morning feeding
Feed them forzen brine shrimp

10:30am-10:30pm
One small feeding before the lights go out.

I add a tablespoon of Kents Coral-Accel each morning along with PH buffer. Every other day I add a small amount of Kents liwuid calcium. I add about 3/4-1 gallons of tap water with drops each day for evaporation. I do water changes each week.

Nitrate 0
Nitrite 0
PH 8.4
Amonia 0
temp 80

Its been up for about 2 months today. .. anyone know whats causing the algea ? I was thinking about getting some more crabs. Would that help.

Pictures soon to come....

-Paul

 

[Buzz_Hog]

Where is it growing???

The brown stuff is diatoms...

 

[Buzz_Hog]

Oh... and that scooter that starts with an M... in a Manderine Blenny

 

[thefatman]

paul. yup the brown algae was diatoms. they fed off the silicates in the water. the new stuff is another algae, though i dont have the name. it fed off the diatoms, as well as the nutrients in the water. (i'm almsot certain this is how it was explained to me on my temp tank)

it's all part of the long term cycle.

oh and if you have a mandarin already. that's not very good news. they need an extremely well established reef with LOTS of pods and worms to feed on. the mandarin is the reason i wanted to go saltwater. but it has been suggested to me to not even think about one for at least one year after setup.

 

[Buzz_Hog]

Yep.... at least a year....

 

[CAT]

Did you mean to write "16 gallon" tank?

 

[Prismaco]

Yes its a 16 gallon. Here are 2 pictures. Well my mandarin is doing good. He's eating the pods and the frozen brine shrimp. Here are a couple of pictures of what I am talking about.

 

[Prismaco]

-Paul

 

[Prismaco]

Well if my mandarin starts to show signs of stress or something bad, I will just take him back to my work...


-Paul

 

[thefatman]

is 8 fish and four anemones, kind of high for a 16? wont it be too much of a bioload?

 

[Geoff]

is 8 fish and four anemones, kind of high for a 16? wont it be too much of a bioload?

not if you use a 90g refugium/sump for it.

G~

 

[Prismaco]

Well I was trying to get out my green chromis and my damsel but those guys a freakn hard to get out. That would be 5 <>< that I would be taking out...

-Paul

 

[binylee]

Looks to me a some sort of hairy alleagy. I have my lawnmower blenny to eat hairy, but I heard that hairy will disappear once water condition is right.
to get grid of a chomis?? That's kinda a shame. Because they're awesome. Maybe you just add a 20G or more sump. So you can keep them.

 

[Prismaco]

I have w/d thats made for a 75gallon...does that help ? Holds maybe about 5 gallons...i think...


-Paul

 

[mikeMersot]

If you are talking about the greenish stuff, looks like hair algae, although I can't tell much from the picture. WHat is that grey stuff? It looks a bit problematic to me, like some sore of bacteria or fungal growth perhaps. Doesn't look appealing. Looks to me like you have several problems, huge bioload, especially for a very immature system, lots of feeding, and lots of unnecessary additives. If you are testing 0 nitrate, it is only because you have a ton locked up in all that algae. You need less nutrients. Feeding is a bit much, and brine isn't a very nutritious food anyway. No need to add so much coral-accel, those proteins are just going to throw everything out of whack in such high doses. Once ot twice a week for your tank should be plenty. Also no need to does calcium, you dont have any hard corals to use it all up. Coralline may use up a little if you have any, but not as much as you are adding. And sadly, I must agree with Jay, the mandarin is a big mistake, the 5 gal sump isnt going to help. You need a large, mature system to support a mandarin long term. The anemones, well......I believe I have commented on before.
Do you have a skimmer?
Mike

 

[mikeMersot]

Oh on the crabs, you can add more crabs and snails and stuff, but it will only be a cover-up, if they eat it at all. You need to get at the root of the problem, excess nutrients.

 

[Prismaco]

Hmm...ok....I will lay off the coral-accel to once a week. I will also feed them once a day. I do have a skimmer which is a Berlin Classic. Its been doing its job and i get nice green smelly foam...


-Paul

 

[mikeMersot]

I know it will seem like you are starving the tank, but keeping down the nutrients will benefit the health of the tank much more then all the additives will. Do you use RO water?

 

[Prismaco]

No, I use drops. Should I start using RO water for top offs and water changes ?


-Paul

 

[mikeMersot]

Yes that would definitely help, in addition water conditioners will cause the skimmer to be overworked, producing a lot of extra skimmate, and making them less efficient.