Stingray's First Saltwater Aquarium

[Stingray68]

My brother-in-law is giving me his 3 gallon nano tank. This I my first time I have done saltwater to please be patient with me while I learn.



He has this one coral that is still alive. Well I think it is alive, not really sure. It used to double in size during the day but shrink at night. All his other corals were over taken by Cyanobacteria. He is going to take every thing out clean it and then give it to me to care for. What can I have in there corals? Fish? Shrimp? And what all am I going to need to do to care for it. Thanks for helping this freshie.

 

[Stingray68]

Could anyone tell me what kind of coral that is and if it is save able?

 

[Ericwm]

It kinda looks like a trumpet or a lobo,it's hard to tell cause it looks like it has receded quite a bit. How are your parameters and how much flow and lighting do you have?

 

[Stingray68]

It kinda looks like a trumpet or a lobo,it's hard to tell cause it looks like it has receded quite a bit. How are your parameters and how much flow and lighting do you have?

I will have to check on flow but this is the lights

 

[Ericwm]

Well that should be enough watts of lighting for lps but I am thinking the cyano is a result of low flow and possibly high nutrients. I would suggest increasing flow and a good sized water change. For now you could try to squirt the cyano with a turkey baster to get it off your coral. I have read that once algae starts to grow on the skeleton it is pretty much a lost cause.

 

[Stingray68]

Ok I will try anyway

 

[Sniperhank]

The coral looks like a plate coral. It is pretty unhappy, I won't disagree with that.

Lets start with the basics of things to get this on the right path. The current substrate is crushed coral, I would suggest replacing it with sand since crushed coral gets all kinds of gunk stuck in it and leads to nitrate issues.

Cyano is a flow and nutrient issue, like stated. Use a turkey baster or something similar to suck the stuff out of the tank. It looks like there aren't any powerheads in the tank, so you will definately need some. This isn't jus for the cyano bacteria, but coral need proper flow so they can feed from the water column.
Cut back on feeding and use RO/DI water so you can get the nutrient issue under control will start to solve the cyano and hopefully prevent an algae outbreak, as they feed off the same nutrients.

 

[Stingray68]

The coral looks like a plate coral. It is pretty unhappy, I won't disagree with that.

Lets start with the basics of things to get this on the right path. The current substrate is crushed coral, I would suggest replacing it with sand since crushed coral gets all kinds of gunk stuck in it and leads to nitrate issues.

Cyano is a flow and nutrient issue, like stated. Use a turkey baster or something similar to suck the stuff out of the tank. It looks like there aren't any powerheads in the tank, so you will definately need some. This isn't jus for the cyano bacteria, but coral need proper flow so they can feed from the water column.
Cut back on feeding and use RO/DI water so you can get the nutrient issue under control will start to solve the cyano and hopefully prevent an algae outbreak, as they feed off the same nutrients.

Is there a certain kind of sand you recommend? And I believe my brother in law was using tap water so that is one of the reasons for the cyano(he doesn't feed anythinng).

 

[Sniperhank]

Agrigate based sand or pool filter sand work well. The tap water def isn't helping matters, switching to distilled will do wonders. Once you address this, you might want to look into stronger lighting if you want to keep corals. Compact lights just don't cut it.