20 Gallon Reef- updated 12/11/2007

[austinsdad]

The diatoms are a part of all new tanks and will go away soon. On the red stuff - read up on cyanobacteria (i think I spelled it right). It's not normal and you can avoid it with either better water movement or cutting back on the excess water nutients like food. How often do you feed and hows the nitrate readings these days?

an article on cyano is in the AA library you shuld check out.

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/article_view.php?faq=2&fldAuto=48

 

[WaterPond]

nitrate is holding steady at 5. I feed twice daily and the hermits get most of the stuff my clown doesnt eat.

I am going to get another powerhead for the other side of the tank. I think thats it because there is not much flow in that area.

 

[blazeyreef]

Well Jason this is the first time I have had time to sit down and catch up! (been gone since last sunday)
Tank is looking AWESOME!!!! loving the clown!
any thoughts on what you might add next?

 

[Hara]

your nitrates should be at zero, there isn't any reason to have a reading at this point in time. I feel your nitrates are due to your overfeeding. These are not freshwater fish and do not need that type of feeding schedule. That is also why you have cyano issues.

 

[austinsdad]

Ditto on the overfeeding. Once daily or every other day will be just fine IME & IMO.

 

[LandGhoti]

How pretty! I love it--great job!

 

[WaterPond]

your nitrates should be at zero, there isn't any reason to have a reading at this point in time. I feel your nitrates are due to your overfeeding. These are not freshwater fish and do not need that type of feeding schedule. That is also why you have cyano issues.

You're absolutely right, i went away for a night and didn't feed for brobably about 48 hours, and i came home and the cyano it going away and my nitrates are reading 0. I think everything is just hunky dory now. My diatoms are gone of the live rock but are still in some areas of the sand and in a small spot on the glass.

And Houston, next will be either a royal gramma or a bicolour blenny.

 

[WaterPond]

A little update!

I finally got my mushroom attached to some rock, and it looks great. Will it start spreading?

My feather duster is doing great!

Changed ged things around a tiny bit:

Everything is doing just great. Im so happy with this tank. I think im ready for my next addition pretty soon. I will have a look around to see whats available.

 

[Devilishturtles]

The mushroom might take some time to settle in, but be patient and it'll start spreading soon.

 

[WaterPond]

UPDATE!

I got my second fish. THis guy is possibly the collest thing i have ever owned. Hes a lawnmower blenny. I know alot of people say they are ugly, but i think he is just gorgeous. Such cool fish.

Im also getting TONS of algea growth, not that i want it, but im just amazed at the amount that is there at the end of the day. The algea is just growing on the glass, its the green stuff.

I also took out most of the chaeto. I will probably just give it away.

Everything is doing just great. My little mushroom head has about doubled in size, i hope it will spread soon. Im still on the lookout for corals in my price range, but without buying them off the internet its nearly impossible.

I will have a tank shot coming soon, i just did a water change, and its a little cloudy, so i will get one up once it clears.

 

[Devilishturtles]

Cool. Make sure you provide the blenny with food DAILY. And lots of it. Mine loved mysis and live brine shrimp, but in the end just wouldn't take to eating algae except some film algae off the rocks, and he died of starvation. If you can get it to eat prepared algae sheets or seaweed (you can find in the grocery store) that would be great for him. They are awesome fish, I agree. I want to try and find another for my tank but I want to make sure it will eat prepared foods before I buy it.

 

[blazeyreef]

awesome! I love lawnmower blenny's. Cant wait for a full tank shot!

 

[WaterPond]

yeah, that was something that scared me, but he has totally cleared away this rusty looking algea in my tank. I also got the guy at the LFS to show me that he will eat. He ate spirulina and staple flakes, so im sure hes fine with prepared foods. I love him

 

[smn723]

Nice start to your tank. Keep up the good work!

 

[WaterPond]

I canged the rocks around a bit to make it looks like i have more. Before i had people saying "i think you're lieing, you dont have enough rock in that tank" I plan on getting a few more peices to finish it off, i need another smaller peice in the front.

Here is my mushroom which is now over 1" across

Here is my feather duster:

Everything seems to be doing just amazingly. The base rocks are starting to blend in a little more which is a good thing. Do you guys think the tank would look good with some live rock rubble out front?
I was thinking it might look kindof neat.

Anhow, sorry about the crappy pics, my camera is not taking the best ones lately (hopefully its not the photographer)

Thanks for looking.

 

[blazeyreef]

any updates jason?

 

[WaterPond]

Sure, i guess it has been quite a while.

Everything seems to be running smoothly. I have been doing water changes every week, but was told don;t have to do that... so i guess i will see how things go with every two weeks.

My blenny has been out of hiding a little more lately, but still not long enough to get any good pictures of him.

I went on vacation for a while and came back to food caked everywhere in my tank, it even clogged my filter. I told my dad to just feed every other day and i showed him to just give a very very very small pinch of food, but he was an idiot and didn't get the picture, so a pinch to him means to shake the container over the tank, i come home and he said to me "the food comes out fast". GRRRR... so three water changes later i got rid of all visible food.

I think that is why i have horrible algea issues too.

Anyhow, also when i came home my water was very cloudy... so i added an extra AQ filter modified as a fuge. I now have an aquaclear 70 PH and HOB filter, and an aquaclear 50 HOB. I also have a small powerhead which is being used with my new UV sterilizer (Whooh, clearance sales are awsome, $17 for this bad boy). I hope it can help with the algea. It has kept my water alot cleaerer than usual though so i am very happy with that. Also, i dont have any more green algea growing on the glass.

The algea problem i do have is hair algea. EWWW... its everywhere.

Here is my UV sterilizer:

Anybody know a good solution to get rid of it. I was reading that lowering the temperature can help get rid of it, as can dosing calcium to get increased coraline growth.
--------_____________---------_______________---------____________---------________

Also, i got a new coral, anthelia, it is beautiful, it just sways in the flow, i love it!

I also bought this peice of LR because it had a little mushroom on it.

I also got a little conch, whom i love, the most interesting little creatures:

I think thats all i have to blabber on about.

 

[Devilishturtles]

Awesome I love my conch too.

With hair algae, I've found that manual removal (a toothbrush works great!) works best. Then increased water changes for a while keeps it at bay.

Best of luck.

 

[WaterPond]

I found my blenny stiff as a board on the floor this morning

 

[roka64]

Ack! Are you planning on putting some eggcrate on the top?