30g build

[Beengirl]

Apparently I've got bubble algae. It's not bad yet so ill be trying to take them out tomorrow. Has anyone else dealt with this type of algae?

I had a couple that came in on a frag plug. I took the whole plug out of the tank and removed them with tweezers.

 

[DIZZLE808]

I actually just took out the ones I was able to see. I had to do it while it was in the tank though because I didn't feel like taking out all of the rocks. One of them bursted so I hope that doesn't wreak too much havoc in the days to come

 

[DIZZLE808]

New addition

I added this guy earlier today. Most likely the last fish I'll add to my tank, well I might try and squeeze in a bottom dweller at some point as well as more members of my CUC, but for now this is it.

 

[DIZZLE808]

updated pic

so here is a pic of my tank. So far everything is going good and everyone is happy! last addition was a feather duster, I'm probably going to add a few more of them too but as of now I have:

2 blue/green Chromis
2 Clowns
1 Lemonpeel Angel

2 hermits
3 Turbo Snails
1 Skunk Cleaner Shrimp
1 Strawberry Crab
1 Feather Duster

 

[HovaRockz]

Looks good love the scape...your doing an excellent job

 

[DIZZLE808]

thanks Hova! I really cant wait to uprgrade to a bigger tank!! hopefully later this year I can get a 100gallon tank...hopefully lol

 

[Jmkb02]

Wow that lemon peel looks like it grew fast!

 

[DIZZLE808]

Wow that lemon peel looks like it grew fast!

lol its a different fish. the first one I bought had small black spots on him, I didn't want to take any chances so I took him back to the lfs I bought it from and got the one I have now.

 

[Jmkb02]

I have heard that juveniles are born with a black spot and will lose it as it matures. Was this it??

 

[DIZZLE808]

I have heard that juveniles are born with a black spot and will lose it as it matures. Was this it??

I know exactly what your talking about but no this was not the case. These were little black spots all over, mostly around his dorsal fin.

 

[Jmkb02]

Oh ok yeah no bueno then, hopefully your Lfs will take care of him...

 

[DIZZLE808]

ideas

so I'm getting pretty annoyed with these diatoms, just can't seem to shake them. I know that I pretty much just have to wait it out but is there nothing else I can do to get rid of them? they've been around for about a month or so.

I do around 15% water changes every Saturday and I use RO water for top offs.

Also a few rocks have these specs of purple on them... Coralline possibly??

any and all input is greatly appreciated.

 

[Jmkb02]

That looks to be cyno my friend. A good rule of think is if you scrap it and it comes right off, no bueno. How are you feeding habits? Light schedule? Do you have a Tds meter to test the water you are adding and toping off with? These are things that I had to go through. Also, look into a Gfo reactor. Usually around a hundred bucks with Gfo.

 

[DIZZLE808]

That looks to be cyno my friend. A good rule of think is if you scrap it and it comes right off, no bueno. How are you feeding habits? Light schedule? Do you have a Tds meter to test the water you are adding and toping off with? These are things that I had to go through. Also, look into a Gfo reactor. Usually around a hundred bucks with Gfo.

The brown or the purple looks like cyno?

When I do scrape the brown off the glass it takes a while for it to come off. I siphoned it off the sand one time and about a week later it came back.

I feed once a day alternating between frozen mysis, brine shrimp and flakes. My lights turn on @ 10am. @ 7pm I turn off the white and switch on the moonlight. Too much light you think?

I don't have a TDS meter but I will look into that very soon.

 

[Jmkb02]

The brown or the purple looks like cyno?

When I do scrape the brown off the glass it takes a while for it to come off. I siphoned it off the sand one time and about a week later it came back.

I feed once a day alternating between frozen mysis, brine shrimp and flakes. My lights turn on @ 10am. @ 7pm I turn off the white and switch on the moonlight. Too much light you think?

I don't have a TDS meter but I will look into that very soon.

The purple looks like cyno, the brown is def diatoms. Try and keep the glass as clean as possible, that's so you can see your fish! Lol.
I would maybe go to feeding every other day for the time being, until you can get your diatoms under control. Also meant to ask, your skimmer, is it pulling out as much as you feed? It should be a close measurement. If you feed and add say 1/3 cup of food, you should be pulling that out daily. It may just need a little longer to pull out the protein, hence feeding half as much.

Your light schedule should be fine, maybe start at 11 vs 10 just to help really jump start the reduction in phosphates. It's kind of a real pain and there's no fast way to just get rid of it all unfortunately. Oh on the cyno, if you siphon it will come right off the rock. Very easy to clean that, the diatoms will be the biggest issue.

 

[DIZZLE808]

Yeah I'm gonna go to feeding every other day, hopefully that helps with the diatoms. as far as the possible cyano goes, I'm going to try and siphon that out this weekend so we'll see what happens with that. There are some really dark green spots one of the rocks too and I'm pretty sure thats cyano so I'll be getting that out as well.

I'm not running a skimmer on my tank. I just have the cannister filter. Since I've gotten my tank up and running I've been thinking about getting a hob skimmer but I haven't made up my mind yet. Thanks for the info about it though, definitely gave me some food for thought.

 

[Jmkb02]

Yeah I'm gonna go to feeding every other day, hopefully that helps with the diatoms. as far as the possible cyano goes, I'm going to try and siphon that out this weekend so we'll see what happens with that. There are some really dark green spots one of the rocks too and I'm pretty sure thats cyano so I'll be getting that out as well.

I'm not running a skimmer on my tank. I just have the cannister filter. Since I've gotten my tank up and running I've been thinking about getting a hob skimmer but I haven't made up my mind yet. Thanks for the info about it though, definitely gave me some food for thought.

Yeah the dark green is probably also a cyno, it comes in a couple different shades. Siphon will take it right out.

I didn't realize you had a canister filter. I have never had one of these, but I did help a client throw hers away. She had a 55 with a canister and couldn't for the life of her, get rid of her algae problem. Cyno, hair, bubble, you name it she pretty much had it. Her nitrates were through the roof! Maybe try and go with a Fuge or at least a sump. They are far more beneficial than I can explain, but the more rock and sand you have, the less problems is the short of it. Also adding media such as a skimmer is much easier and better looking on the eyes IMO. You could
pick up a smaller tank pretty easily and make your own if you wanted to save quite a few bucks. Just an idea, and my opinion.

 

[Jmkb02]

I'm not running a skimmer on my tank. I just have the cannister filter. Since I've gotten my tank up and running I've been thinking about getting a hob skimmer but I haven't made up my mind yet. Thanks for the info about it though, definitely gave me some food for thought.

Oh and a skimmer is a must on any salt water tank. I don't know how much you want to invest in this hobby but you will get what you pay for.

 

[DIZZLE808]

It's been a while since I posted here but here's a little update. Tank is almost 5 months old and everything couldn't be going better! Finally got rid of most of the diatoms and added a pencil urchin and a brittle starfish a few days ago and they're doing great. Hard to get a pic if the starfish as he only moves around at night.

 

[DIZZLE808]

Planning upgrade to 55g

Aloha everybody.

So I'm planning on upgrading my 30 long to a 55g within a month or two. I'm just curious as to what is the best way to go about getting this done. Cycling/transferring stock etc. so I'm just looking for a few pointers while I do my own research on the subject.

my current stock:

2 Clowns (might be down to 1 Clown. I havent seen one since last night...I'm hoping he'll show up when I get home today )

1 Blue/Green Chromis (had 2 of them, one died mysteriously about 2 months ago, after taking everything into consideration I think it was microbubbles)

1 Lemonpeel angel
1 Bicolor angel
2 feather dusters
1 brittle starfish
1 Hawaiian Red Lobster
1 Strawberry crab
1 Pencil Urchin
1 Cleaner Shrimp
assorted hermits and snails