Algae Bloom ?

[gstewart]

Hi I have recently aquired the following setup.

Juwel Vision 260
Red sea Protein Skimmer
UV steraliser
External Fluval 303 canister filter
uprated internal juwel filter

The setup came with a blue damsel, two yellow chromis's and a silver batfish. 2 peices of live rock and some anenomes.

lighting is 2 x white 1 x blue strip lights.

My concern is we transported 50% ( 130 litres ) of mature water however the other 50% was made up of treated tap water - dechlorinated and salt added. Its been about a week and i am just checking to see if the algae i am seeing is normal even if 50% of the water was mature ?

All filters are original so bacteria should be present in them.

The algae is light green covering glass and rocks - the living rocks are ( and were ) covered in a green hair like algae. sand has a middle brown colouring too.

Any help appreciated. I am hoping for a reef aquarium.

Thanks - Readings Nitrate 2.5, Nitrite 0, Phosphate 0.15

Green algaes are mainly from excess nutrient and phosphate levels. It may be that the PO4 is 0.15 ppm but when you initially added the new tap water to the system it was much higher and the algaes have since used it up for the most part. Have you tested the tap water directly to see what that level is? Keep in mind, foods will also add PO4 to a certain degree.

Once these algaes are established, I have found that they will not always go away by themselves even after the fuel source is eliminated. It requires some manual removal on your part as well as natural animals that may help if you do not already have them. I find zebra hermits to be very beneficial with hair algaes and a variety of snails will deal with the film algae. Cerith, nerite, trochus, turbo and margarita to name a few.

In a 57 UKgal tank, a mixture of 30 or so should be a good start for that size tank. I would also suggest not using the tap water again. RO water will be the best bet for top offs and water changes as you will not really know what metals and other unwanted minerals you are adding to the tank that may perpetuate the algae problem.

Which Red Sea skimmer do you have? The base model or the Pro model? It could also be part of the issue if not doing frequent enough water changes and the skimmer being to small, there would be elevated DOC in the water that will feed the algae.
Cheers
Steve

[gstewart]

Steve thanks for that.

Its the one that can handle 90 gallons so should be good enough. just tested for ammonia and levels are 0 so all is looking good ready to stock .

you said 30 or so snails - do you really need that many ??

Also in your oppinion what are some good starting corals and fish bearing in mind i have already aquired with the tank a blue damsel fish, two yellow chromis and a silver batfish ( which looks very like a tropical water mono ??! need to check that... )

thanks

Originally Posted by gstewart

you said 30 or so snails - do you really need that many ??

It will mainly depend on the waste producing animal load and the amount of nuisance algaes. If you want, you could start with 20 and see how it goes but as long as you do not exceed the tanks ability to feed them natutally it will be fine. The general recommendation is 1 cleaning animal for every 1-1½ gal of tank but as I said that also depends on need.

Also in your oppinion what are some good starting corals and fish bearing in mind i have already aquired with the tank a blue damsel fish, two yellow chromis and a silver batfish ( which looks very like a tropical water mono ??! need to check that... )

I should have noted this in the first post but the batfish (Monodactylus argenteus?) is a very poor choice for that size tank. I would recommend finding it a new home and a much larger tank.

The coral types would depend moreso on the type of lighting, NO, VHO, PC and such as well as wattage.
Could you give some additional details about this:

Originally Posted by gstewart

lighting is 2 x white 1 x blue strip lights.

Cheers
Steve

[gstewart]

Steve,

I have the two standard fluorescent tubes that come with the juwel vision 260 and an extra 45w blue tube. as well as chrome reflectors on all three doubling the output.

I have just compared a photo of the batfish with mine and its definately a mono ! Batfish's have more pronounced mouths. So that is good ? news i suppose !

Also now getting concerned about my yellow chromis's actually beinf yellow chromis's ! do they have yellow fins and spines on the back and occasionally turn stripey ?? noticed one earlier develop temporary black stripes on its body ?

The blue damsel is definately a blue damsel !!

Thanks

Originally Posted by gstewart

I have the two standard fluorescent tubes that come with the juwel vision 260 and an extra 45w blue tube. as well as chrome reflectors on all three doubling the output.

The most you could hope for with these types of lights are low light corals like mushrooms or non-zooxanthellae corals. I would urge caution with the non-zooxanthellae corals as they require much more care and must be feed regularly. If you wish to keep more types of corals, you will need to upgrade the lights to something with much more intensity like PC, VHO, MH or a combo. That would depend on your eventual goal though.

I have just compared a photo of the batfish with mine and its definately a mono ! Batfish's have more pronounced mouths. So that is good ? news i suppose !

The >>Monodactylus argenteus<< is indeed a batfish. It is quite large growing both in length (8-10") and in height. Unless the Juwel tank is quite long, it will still be a concern. They are ominivors but they lean heavily towards vetegatable matter so if you attempt to keep it, make sure you feed with that in mind. The chromis won't care what you feed.

Also now getting concerned about my yellow chromis's actually beinf yellow chromis's ! do they have yellow fins and spines on the back and occasionally turn stripey ?? noticed one earlier develop temporary black stripes on its body ?

It could actually be a true damsel as well, there are many that match that description. Chromis are from the damsel family of fish and share many characteristics. >>Here<< is a search place where you can try and find a match, just type chromis as the common name. Posting a pic of the fish might be faster though.

Cheers
Steve