This is rediculous

[OhTheHumanity]

5 days my tank has been set up and already my white substrate is turning brown. This is one of the most stressful "hobbies" I ever had the "fun " of having.

Anyone want to buy a brand new set up cheap in the Northern California area cheap?

[WarOrks15]

you just giveing up? what size tank is it? and list what you have in the tank. have you tryed to get some help 2with the brown algae.

[Biggen]

Your tank was is going through the cycling phase, correct? What you are probably experiencing is diatoms blooms. They are totally natural and will abate in time.

Don't get discouraged. I doubt there is anything you are going through that each of us haven't dealt with as well. We can help you through it...

[ReefRaff]

thats like tiping a glass of milk and complaining because the milk spilled. it's just something to be expected.

[OhTheHumanity]

So I should just let the diatoms go and they will go away? I have 25 astrea snails in there. They are a waste of money. They literally have to be retarded. I have spent the last 2 days doing nothing but turning the little suckers up right. I don;t know what is bad, I don't have the time to sit down and do hours of research on animals that will eat the animals I want to keep. I used RO water so there wouldn't be an algae bloom. I spent extra money not to get silica based sand so I wouoldn't have the algae bloom.

I have a boat load of anemones that I'm told are aiptasia and I have to get rid of them.

I thought I did everything like I should have but it still seems to not be worth the $1500 that I put into it. (and I got off cheap) I thought this was going to be relaxing, but it's has been nothing but stress. Let's put it this way. It is not much fun always always worried what you're doing is going to end up costing you more in the long run.

[OhTheHumanity]

I'm not going to get out of it this quick I'll give it 48 to 72 more hours and see what happens. I'm just blowing off some steam. Everytime I think I have it figured out something new pops up and makes me wonder "what now".

[loganj]

Astreas do tend to have problems staying upright at times. Once they've been in there for a while, and all the really dumb ones have died off, you'll have a pretty good clean up crew. I personally like nerites better...ceriths are nice too. One thing that may be bothering your astreas is the ammonia/nitrite that is probably in the water...inverts, snails especially, are very sensitive to that. I wouldn't add anything else until the cycle has finished. The diatoms will go away in time...it's a rare tank that doesn't have them at first. Also, don't worry about the aiptasias until the cycle has finished. Then get some "Joes Juice" and kill them. Very quick, easy, and works great. Remember...nothing good happens fast in a reef tank...give it 48-72 more DAYS before you decide it's too much trouble.

[clueless]

And if the algae grows.....do something else.....if you think the snails are too big of a hassle..then get rid of them...anyway they don't seem to like you...maybe they really do have mental problems..lol..

[Salt4Us]

I know Saltwater can be fustrating, it's not as fast as freshwater, but believe me it's worth the wait! That's the hard part of this hobby is the waiting especially when you go into a LFS and want to buy everything and want to have it look just like one of the display tanks. Please don't give up, I hate to see ya lose all that money. Hang in there and post lots of questions these guys are great! Believe me it's worth the wait!

[clownfish]

Give it time. This hobby is more about patience than relaxation. When I first set up my tank and had nothing but LR in there for a month, I thought "what a drag. I want fish...This is taking too long!"

then I started see all the tiny life that was beginning to bloom and swim around my LR. I was amazing. Try that with FW...

You want relaxation, sit front of your tank and just look for a while. Trust me, that's when you find it worth it.

[cmor1701d]

As Logan said...

I wouldn't add anything else until the cycle has finished. The diatoms will go away in time...it's a rare tank that doesn't have them at first. Also, don't worry about the aiptasias until the cycle has finished. Then get some "Joes Juice" and kill them. Very quick, easy, and works great. Remember...nothing good happens fast in a reef tank...give it 48-72 more DAYS before you decide it's too much trouble.

Every one here has been through this. I bolded the best advice I've ever received here, in Logan's quote above.

I started by buying everything the lfs sold me as a 'package' deal. THEN I found AA. I had just started cycling my tank so I removed all the cc and replaced it with a dsb, added base and lr. Had a cloud that lasted a week before I could see the rock again. Went through a couple of blooms and cyno outbreaks. Kept reading this forum and learning. It's a year later and now my FOWLR is about to become a reef tank.

I looked at your profile and noticed your occupation. Dream about what your tank WILL be in time.

[Cesspool]

i agree with every1, wait it out. when i started my first tank with my lil bro over a year ago i waited 2 whole months b4 i but fish in. (used the shrimp method). first the tank reeked from the shrimp den it had scads of nasty gunk growing all the place which was very unpleasent. it was a 155 bow in high trafic area which made it even worse!!! we waited it out and everthing turned out pretty good. just give it some time. u cant build a house in a day and wat ure trying to do is set up a whole ecosystem, i garentee the wait will b well worth it