another question about lights

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stainless_wm

Aquarium Advice Activist
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Oct 2, 2005
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187
Location
Kansas
Hello.
I have a 3 month old 35g with 2 chromis. last week I added 2 small spotted cardinals. the tank has been holding steady at SG 1.022, ammonia .25, PH 7.8, nitrite0, and nitrate20-40. these numbers have been fairly consistant. Mostly I have been pleased with the progression of the tank.
About a month and a half ago I started growing this black fine hair like algae. LFS has called it a black slime mold. LFS tested my phosphates said it was good but GAVE me some phosguard to try. It didnt help.

A friend suggested a higher wattage light. My Current light is just a full spectrum 20w "spectra Rays."

He suggested a 90w Diy kit. but I havent been able to find much info on them.

I dont plan on getting too carried away with coral or anems at this point. So I guess it would be a FOWLR. Live rock will be comming soon, I believe this is a Good algae vs. bad algae thing....right?

I have read about a lot of different lights, and I am pretty unsure of what light would best take care of the algae and also support the fish I have now and the rock I will get in the future.

I think I will get the rock from liverock.com. I hear a lot of good about their rock...


any discussion would be great thanks...
 
Welcome to AquariumAdvice.com!!! :smilecolros: :smilecolros: :smilecolros:
First things first...you need to get your NH3 down to zero. Even .25 is deadly to fish. I suggest lots of water changes over the next couple weeks.

NO3 and PO4 are the likely culprets of your algea out break. Water changes with high quality RO/DI water will help. Upgrading your lighting right now will most likly make things worse.

Can you describe your tank in detail...substrate, filtration etc...? liverocks.com has some of the best rock you can get. I recommend 50-60lbs. Good luck.
 
Pretty simple tank, crushed coral substrate. maybe 3-4 inches. handfuls of shells and coral pieces that have been found on beaches (washed and cleaned years ago)

Emperor 400 mech filter and bio wheels, and a skilter 400 (Skimmer and filter)

2 chromis and 2 spotted cardinals. All 4 fish are quite small.
 
As mentioned, keep up on the water changes until your NH3 is at zero. That is priority one. The CC substrate could be part of the NO3 issues. What are you feeding the tank, how much and how often? Do you vacuum your substrate?
 
I have located a place for ro. Friday I changed about 8 gallons of water out. I was gone all weekend, with a friend feeding the animals, but I am not sure he was cuz the cat was pissed!!!
But the "Black Algae" has broken up, and appears to be dying off. I am not sure if it was because of the fresh water of the friend who was not feeding. (perhaps it was being starved out?)

Either way, I feed tropical flakes, twice a day, only as much as they can eat in 2 mins. I don't vacuum the tank, I have one of those siphon vacuums, but it just sucks (well it dosn't and that is the problem) so what I am doing (and I am sure this is wrong) is washing my hand and arm real well, and just digging in letting the filters do their jobs.

To transport the RO I went to walmart and bought 2 5gal gas cans. Do you think the plastic of the gas cans will be any problem, Obviously the gas cans were not used and were rinsed before being used for ro.
 
I have been changing the water with ro. but I havnt been getting carried away with it. I still have some of the black algae. I have also been cutting back on the food. I last tested the ammonia a few days ago. it was kinda hard to tell. On the color chart, it was in between 0 and 20. So I am not sure whats up.

Would some liverock be an appropriate course of action in this new of a tank?
 
I have been changing the water with ro. but I havnt been getting carried away with it. I still have some of the black algae. I have also been cutting back on the food. I last tested the ammonia a few days ago. it was kinda hard to tell. On the color chart, it was in between 0 and 20. So I am not sure whats up.

Would some liverock be an appropriate course of action in this new of a tank?
 
If you’re using “Aquarium Pharmaceuticals” brand of test kits the NH3 test should be completely clear for a 0 reading. Any color at all and I would do a pwc until it’s 0. I’d get a new siphon vacuum tank cleaner to better clean the sand and clear up your NO3 problems.

stainless_wm said:
Would some liverock be an appropriate course of action in this new of a tank?

You can add lr at any time but make sure it’s fully cured before adding. Unless you do plan on getting it from http://www.liverocks.com/faq.html As they claim it doesn’t need curing. IMO I’d still cure it anyways for at least a week with ph and check the levels before adding to the tank to avoid any spikes to be on the safe side.
 
Are you sure your tank finished cycling? What did you use to cycle? 4 fish in a tank that has not finished cycling is a problem. You are going to have to keep doing water changes to keep ammonia/nitrites down which will in turn prolong your cycle.

I would not add anything until you get the ammonia under control. Adding LR would be beneficial but I agree with the above stmt of making sure it is cured. LR.com rock is awesome but you will probably see and bit of an ammonia spike evne in an established tank. With temps dropping in some areas, die off might be more of an issue as well.

Good luck
 
I guess I am not sure that it is done cycling. I thought it was, because the NH3 initially spiked to almost 4 then dropped, then the other subsequent parameters would spike then fall. But I guess it is very possible that it is not done.

So I guess, which is worse? attacking the NH3/PO4 problem with rigerous PWC's, or back off the water changes to let the cycle finish?

How do you know the cycle is finished?

my Crushed Coral is pretty clean looking still, except for this black algae that I am fighting. is this any indication of the bacteria grown within the CC?
 
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