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SW Beginner

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
Oct 8, 2002
Messages
105
I know. It's about time. ;)

One thing I have come to realize in this hobby is things tend not to go fast nor as well as you think they should. The tank has been up and running now for almost two months. Started off with 10 lbs of beautiful Fiji rock and the following week added another five lbs worth of TBS LR. Turns out that move entered me into the Tank of Death sweepstakes. (Though it is slowly recovering now.) Ammonia was off the chart for almost three weeks, two of which the test color was closer to a darker shade of blue rather than green or yellow. Thankfully, for the past couple weeks it is reading 0, along with nitrites, and nitrates (albeit that seems a little unusual). PH reads between 7.8 and 8.0 with the temp running between 78 and 80.

During this time it seems I went through three algea blooms. One white, one brown, and one green. For the past few days it has been crystal clear. Of course, the clean up crew I added thus far has helped. Five (actually three as three appear to be empty shells but work with the Christmas carol here) blue leg hermit crabs, four red leg hermit crabs, three nassarius snails, two peppermint shrimp, and one turbo snail. SG of 1.025 seems to keep everyone happy though the majority of the lifestock, it seems, went into hiding this afternoon. I'm guessing their playing cards. :x ;)

Powering this modest 10G aquarium is a 50W Ebo-Jagger heater, 64W 50/50 PC lighting, $6 6" desktop fan from Wal-Mart for cooling, and two MJ 404s. One light goes on at 10, the other at 10:15, with 1/2 hour lunch breaks at 4 and 4:15, and lights out at 9 and 9:15.

Two questions for you for now (only two?!):

1. Looks like some sort of reddish-brown kinda purple looking stuff that dwells mostly on the bottom of my tank but has taken a liking to the live rock: What is it? I'm guessing it is cyno but am, quite frankly, unsure.

2. I have what appears to be a shriviling/curling up mushroom. Is it hungry or what? If so, what do you recommend feeding it? My niece and nephew are out of the question though I cannot say I am not tempted ... ;)

Unfortunately I do not have a camera to post mug shots of the tank and its crew but I may be able to talk my sisters boyfriend into taking some for me. I would like to apologize in advance for the look of the canopy if and when it is posted. It was my first one. :oops: :p
 
Most of what you described is quite normal when adding LR to and established or cycled tank. It basically puts you back to square one depending on the amount of uncured rock added and the tank size. In future you may wish to reference this instead and cure the rock seperately:
Curing Live Rock? I didn't even know it was sick!!

SW Beginner said:
One light goes on at 10, the other at 10:15, with 1/2 hour lunch breaks at 4 and 4:15, and lights out at 9 and 9:15.
Do you mean the lights go off midway? If so, I would alter that to a continuos time frame. While you deal with the algae bloom, lessening the amount of total time per day would have more affect.

Two questions for you for now (only two?!):
1. Looks like some sort of reddish-brown kinda purple looking stuff that dwells mostly on the bottom of my tank but has taken a liking to the live rock: What is it? I'm guessing it is cyno but am, quite frankly, unsure.
Sounds like cyano. Reduce the photoperiod, reduce feedings if any and syphon out as much of the cyano as possible. Do not use anything to blow it about or it will spread further, it must be removed. Have you checked for PO4 & NO3 levels?

2. I have what appears to be a shriviling/curling up mushroom. Is it hungry or what? If so, what do you recommend feeding it? My niece and nephew are out of the question though I cannot say I am not tempted ... ;)
LOL... what kind of lights and how are the water specs? Have you seen the peppermints or anything else near them that could be a concern? Sounds like something could be irritating them besides the relatives.

Cheers
Steve
 
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