my 1st Marine Tank - more pics! made some changes

[Stuquarium]

hi guys,

i've been doing a bit of reading and i've made a few slight changes to the tank.

1. the light - it was marine-glo as pictured here:

now it's power-glo as pictured here:

i've also added a small red star fish. i didn't notice how dirt it was with that brown algae before. shoudl i just wipe it off or let the starfish clean it?

anyways heres a few more pics, massive improvement i think.

the whole tank

from the left

from the right

the clowns

the humbug

the starfish

the powerhead covered in brown ick!

hope you guys enjoyed the pics, any info or ideas on the brown algae would be great.
also now that this is a power-glo how many hours a day should i leave it on ?

 

[mjvincent]

Leave the algae on the tank... You might want to consider a couple turbo snails though to help with algae control. I have my lights on 13 hrs a day on a timer switch...

 

[MYTY1705]

are those linkia stars???? They look great. One looks like it's arms are regenerating was the dismemberment in your tank or LFS? Agree with mj on the snails to hepl with the algea, 1 or 2 per 20 gallons should do for turbos or 5 per for astrea. I would add hermits, brittle stars, and other cleanup crew as well. WHat a great start!!!!!! Tank is very nice.

 

[Steven A]

WOW thats great, what are you using as filters ?

 

[Stuquarium]

thanks everyone! i'm proud of my 1st tank.

yeah i think the clerk at the LFS might have been a bit rough with him when i bought him but his arms is slowly growing back. oh and it was sold to me as a "red" star fish... technical huh.

i'll look into getting some turbo snails, and leave the algae.

the filtration is a Ehiem Cannister filter. a top head filtet (unknow brand - the black thing)and plenty of live rock!

any one around here live in melbourne, australia? and know of any good marine aquariums? i went to 4 yeserday, 3 were horrid, one i bought the star from the other one was over an hours drive away in geeling, any hints melbournites?

 

[seaham358]

keep an eye on the star... Linkias require mature tanks with more LR to stay healthy. The fact is they are not sure what linka stars eat and reccomend mature tanks with LR so there might be enough algaes for it to survive. Try not to tough it with your bare hands either because the oils fromt he skin can harm them.
I like the lighting change..

 

[Stuquarium]

thanks for that. theres about 15-20kgs of LR in the tank, how old must a tank be before its considered mature?

 

[seaham358]

I would not add a linkia star to a tank unless it had a min of 1-1.5 lbs per gallon and the tank was 9months-1 year old. This is from experiance... I listened to my LFS and added a nice maroon linkia to my new tank and I watched him slowly melt away. I did a long acclimation on him so I don't feel that was the problem... I did some reading on these and was pissed at the LFS after learning about them.