Stupid Brown Algae. HELP!

[mrg02d]

Unfortunately, your tank is stocked with all those damsels. Your tank likely will not support any more fish. Youll have to remove the damsels if you want other fish. The damsels also will likely terrorize any new fish since they have established themselves. They may even go after each other later.

Good thing you found us! Make sure to run any new ideas by us first. Remember, LFS are there to make money. They wont always be straight with you...

Matt

 

[Tryin2layadime]

Unfortunately, your tank is stocked with all those damsels. Your tank likely will not support any more fish. Youll have to remove the damsels if you want other fish. The damsels also will likely terrorize any new fish since they have established themselves. They may even go after each other later.

Good thing you found us! Make sure to run any new ideas by us first. Remember, LFS are there to make money. They wont always be straight with you...

Matt

well i only got the damsels to establish the tank. i plan to trade them in on some lionfish and maybe a puffer. they wont be in there much longer but i wanna get the diatom under control before i put more expensive fish in there.

 

[milhous3er]

Maybe look at a dwarf lionfish, or a fumanchu lionfish. Volitans will get way too big for a 55 gallon tank.

 

[Tryin2layadime]

well im trying to sell my 55 so i can buy a 125 from a store near my house. but that fumanchu one is ugly as ****. and the dwarf is to small imo. but ya your right 2 lions would grow to big but the shop also near me gives credit on fish trade in. so i would just trade them for smaller ones when the time came.

 

[thincat]

Most lfs's do a trade in on the assumtion that you will kill the fish before it gets to trade in size.

 

[harmy4993]

I wonder if people in apartments buy puppys with the intent to trade them in when they get bigger.

 

[mrg02d]

Its very sad that LFS do this to fish. I dont blame the hobbyist, I blame the LFS. They know exactly what they are doing. I dont really understand why they push such cheap fish on people like that?

Id push LIVE ROCK more than ANYTHING for those starting up. My 7lbs of live rock cycled my 7.5g tank in a week.

If I was a LFS, I would push cured live rock on my customers. That would make much more money than a $3.00 fish and get that person back in much faster for more stuff. Not to mention, I could sleep well at night knowing that the fish are also sleeping well.

Matt

 

[Tryin2layadime]

my fish are completely healthy. and i like my fish i bought them to start the hobby up this wasnt the lfs idea. i knew about the trade in before hand when i had a fresh tank.


and live rock is something i need to buy but i dunno if i really want it in my tank. i see some tanks and it looks good then i see others and ya well it looks like doo-doo. im afraid mine will look like doo-doo.

 

[mrg02d]

my fish are completely healthy. and i like my fish i bought them to start the hobby up this wasnt the lfs idea. i knew about the trade in before hand when i had a fresh tank.


and live rock is something i need to buy but i dunno if i really want it in my tank. i see some tanks and it looks good then i see others and ya well it looks like doo-doo. im afraid mine will look like doo-doo.

Well then you should have known better than to cycle with live fish. Not only is it cruel, but a bit stupid seeing as people cant wait for the cycle to end. Doing PWC to keep ammonia and nitrites down (for the poor fish) during the cycle is only going to remove food for the bacteria you are culturing. Also, those fish dont add any nitrifying bacteria so you must wait or find something that does have it.

Those fish likely will have more long term health issues from being exposed to ammonia for prolonged periods. Just because they are "fine" now doesnt mean they will be later. Studies show that exposure to ammonia damage the fish.

Purposefully adding fish to cycle a tank is illogical for the above reasons.

Matt

 

[Tryin2layadime]

well i had the water tested by a place in nashville and they said it was safe to add the fish so i dunno. they were gonna get my business reguardless of it being now or then and they are more fish friendly and are not in it for the money so to speak.

i didnt know any other way to cycle the tank other then damsels the lfs said it was easiest to do it that way. just now did i see a link about adding raw shrimp to the tank. had i know that i would of dont that. **** im still learning so in due time will i know where i went wrong and know how to fix it in the future.


i still need to do some research on live rock and how to mount it higher in the tank and how to keep it from moving so on and so forth.

 

[mrg02d]

" i bought them to start the hobby up this wasnt the lfs idea. i knew about the trade in before hand when i had a fresh tank.
"

This leads me to believe that you did know what you were doing by adding the fish to cycle the tank. But now you are saying that the LFS told you to do this, and that you didnt know about the dangers of it. Maybe you meant to say something different here?

Im quite confused by what happened...

matt

 

[Tryin2layadime]

your right your confused but yet you read it right.


the lfs didnt push the "sale" on me, i planned to buy the damsels first anyways hence i bought them to start the hobby not to start the cycle. i let the tank sit to try and cycle it first. i didnt know what to put in there for the first month or so before i added fish.

 

[mrg02d]

your right your confused but yet you read it right.


the lfs didnt push the "sale" on me, i planned to buy the damsels first anyways hence i bought them to start the hobby not to start the cycle. i let the tank sit to try and cycle it first. i didnt know what to put in there for the first month or so before i added fish.

Ok, so then the LFS promoted the use of the damsels for cycling purposes...Back to my, "shame on the LFS" statement.

At least, now you know.

As for the live rocks...They really make things much better in the tank whether they look nice or not. Id buy some live rock and some cheapo base rock for the live rock to "seed".

Aquascaping really comes down to imagination. You can use reef safe epoxy to aid in the aquascaping.

Matt

 

[Tryin2layadime]

where are some sites for decent priced base rock and live rock?

and yes now i know. like i said im still learning im asking all kinds of questions and the lfs like i said doesnt try to make the sale like the bigger markets do. they are locally owned and operated and strive for repeat business not steering ppl wrong.

 

[mrg02d]

where are some sites for decent priced base rock and live rock?

and yes now i know. like i said im still learning im asking all kinds of questions and the lfs like i said doesnt try to make the sale like the bigger markets do. they are locally owned and operated and strive for repeat business not steering ppl wrong.

Ebay is a great place for live rock. Ive bought all my live rock on ebay and been happy. Reefcleaners.org is a great place for dry base rock. I have bought from them as well and am happy.

Matt

 

[Tryin2layadime]

thank you man.

 

[mdaniel2882]

Silent : no i used tap where my tank is located is by a outside hose. i ran the water threw the hose then added it to the tank treated and let sit for a few days running threw filters then i added the salt and sand to the mix. but since then ive been adding 2-4 gallons of filtered RO water and ive added that several times

Mitchell : thanks for the info ill look it up

Thincat : yes ive heard it called diatoms but ive done a water change actually i did a half water change. so what are my options from here

MANY garden hoses and outside hose bibs have copper alloy connectors. do NOT use these to fill your tank.

 

[thincat]

PWC helps in the fight with diatoms, but the only cure is time. They will burn themselves out in "due time". Put in some snails and that will help it along. It's called "the rights of passage". lol

 

[SnowZz]

diatoms all day, then youll go through o no i have green hair algae phase, then the o no whats the this green algae, then finally youll hit the is this pink algae ok? this all takes about 1/2 to a year depending on how much you feed over feed, frozen vs flake , supplements. I recommend 1 feeding every other day, and try to not use any supplements if reef. Also water changes every other week, finding the best results with these, only coraline algae grows in my tank now, all the other algae has died out minus an occasional bloom of some sort but then dies.

 

[Tryin2layadime]

thanks snow. and i do flake food for right now. once i get the lionfish i plan to do some live feedings. As long as it will die out i guess ill have to deal with it. i add about 3 gallons of RO a week due to evaporation. and i have no live rock at the moment i need to find a spot who sells it cheaper then my lfs since they want 7 bucks a pound.