redBernadino
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
So I went out today and stopped by the local saltwater store to see their selection of fish and coral. While I was there, I wanted to ask one of the guys there a few questions. I asked about a slime algae that was starting to grow on the top of my live sand, but he reassured me that because I had just relocated my tank (2 months ago) that the slime algae was just a phase that would eventually go away after a little while.. He also asked what lighting I had, and I told him I wasn't exactly sure, but that there were 4 fans on top of the light fixture under the canopy, 2 white, 2 blue, and he told me that they were good for coral, etc because of the light intensity. I told him that I kept both the blue lights and white lights on during the day, and at night, I turn the white lights off and leave just the blue lights on. He told me to turn them all off at night and to only have them both on for about 8-10 hours a day.. My other question was what could I do about the water evaporating from my tank because of the lights, and how could I rebalance the SL in the tank. He told me that adding, and please don't tell me this is a huge no-no, fresh water 
to my wet/dry filter would bring the SL back into its normal range without any adverse effects. So I went back to my apartment to give this a shot. Now, I have a 55 gallon tank, with about 60 lbs LR and 60 lbs live sand. When I did the water adding at around 4 today, everything was fine, and when I left to go to a movie at about 7:30, everything was swimming and looking good. My levels have been pretty stable, but a tad bit high in ammonia (.2) and nitrate/nitrite. So I switched off the lights and headed to the theater. When I got back tonight at about 12:30, my blue tang and cleaner wrasse were on the bottom of the tank motionless, but still alive; the yellow clown goby and the yellow tang had honestly lost most of their yellow color and seemed a bit transparent in places; but the xenia was still pulsing, the anemone was open, and the emerald crabs were still running around the bottom of the tank. So if anyone has any news on how bad I messed things up, please let me know. And I realize I may have committed the most heinous of cardinal sins in the Saltwater Aquarists Handbook, but any advice would help. Thanks for reading the long post..
to my wet/dry filter would bring the SL back into its normal range without any adverse effects. So I went back to my apartment to give this a shot. Now, I have a 55 gallon tank, with about 60 lbs LR and 60 lbs live sand. When I did the water adding at around 4 today, everything was fine, and when I left to go to a movie at about 7:30, everything was swimming and looking good. My levels have been pretty stable, but a tad bit high in ammonia (.2) and nitrate/nitrite. So I switched off the lights and headed to the theater. When I got back tonight at about 12:30, my blue tang and cleaner wrasse were on the bottom of the tank motionless, but still alive; the yellow clown goby and the yellow tang had honestly lost most of their yellow color and seemed a bit transparent in places; but the xenia was still pulsing, the anemone was open, and the emerald crabs were still running around the bottom of the tank. So if anyone has any news on how bad I messed things up, please let me know. And I realize I may have committed the most heinous of cardinal sins in the Saltwater Aquarists Handbook, but any advice would help. Thanks for reading the long post..
