My next round of Noob questions

travis32 · 03/11/2010, 10:57 AM

Well, this should be much smaller as I've been like sponge and taking a lot in the last few weeks. (no pun intended heh...)

1. My (green / brown) algae growth has been receeding quite rapidly since I added my ATO. (vs. topping off only once a day.)

I feel in general this is a good thing. However, i'm noticing more and more snails are hanging out on my rock and less are on the glass since there's less algae blooms on the glass.

More and more asterin starfish are starting to hang out near my polyps and other corals. (I have too many of the same colored polyps so if a few are eliminated I'm o.k. with that for now..) However, I take all of these as signs that they may all be competing for food supplies now.

I've been adding algae wafer (1 to 2) tablets every other day to supplement their diets. However, I'm afraid that food supplies may be dwindling. (I know strange problem to have..) Any suggestions on if this is normal and if there's anything I should do to keep the CUC fed until I get fish added?

2.) I purchased a new product called Kent's Marine Reef mix, or something like that. It's a primary calcium supplement with trace elements and dosed half what it said on the bottle. Since then, my corals all look the best they've ever looked. The hair mushrooms are opening larger than they have in the past and everything looks really great. I know all -in-one mixes aren't reccomended, but, I'm amazed at the difference within a very short amount of time! (Couldn't find calcium test kits locally.

so, I still need to test, but, the change to me indicates things were low.) Not really a question here, just any opinion on whether anyone's used this stuff and what are the bad things about this?

3. I also purchased Kent's Marine Phytoplex for my featherduster. I'm dosing half dose every other day for my one feather duster.. Could I dose more of this and on a daily basis for my snails and starfish? Or would that just be a waste?

4. I purchased a couple sliding window screens for $5.00 ea from the local hardware store to surve as tank covers to prevent fish jumping. The screens are a standard window screen mesh. Will this prevent enough light from getting in the tank. I did notice a slight dimming effect with the screens on the tank and off it. Will this impact the light getting into the tank too much for the corals? Or is it just the visible light that's affect, but the invisible spectrums are getting through just fine?

They seem to work great as a tank cover, but, if it prevents enough light from getting in I'll have to try something else. Although I think the impact would be about the same as a glass cover with salt encrusted over the glass. Probably minimal impact. Opinions?

5. I found someone locally that is dismantling their tank and selling off all their corals for cheap, so, I may be stocking up on corals before getting any fish over the next few weeks. My anticipated or hopeful first fish purchase will most likely be mid april; putting my tank at 8 to 10 weeks old. What's the impact of not having fish in the tank to generate a bioload? Will this cause too much bacteria die off and cause mini cycles when I do add fish?

sowellj · 03/11/2010, 11:14 AM

I'll answer a few of these genearlly. It sounds like your tank is pretty new so it may not be necessary to be feeding it the amount you are. This in conjunction w/being a new tank is likely contributing to your algae. The screen idea is good but I see the metal mesh as being problematic. It will likely corrode. What I did was got window frame material, cut squares to fit my tank, then used plastic garden mesh as the screen. As far as bacteria dying off, my opinion is that if you have algae growing, there is plenty of food around so I would not be too concerned.

travis32 · 03/11/2010, 11:36 AM

Tank is 5 weeks as of today with well cured rock. As far as algae, the concern with the algae is that it's going away and organisms look like they're searching for food and not finding any due to insufficient algae growing (there was a slight bloom that the CUC kept up with, but, now it's receeding and going away..)

Jstdv8 · 03/11/2010, 11:56 AM

you very well could be low on calcium, but its never a good idea to dose for anything you can't test for.

pugcrush · 03/11/2010, 10:09 PM

What kind of fish do you have or plan on getting? You may be able to go with a completely open top. Yes, always a risk, but I like the open top. If you haven't already gone with your fish selection, read up on which are jumpers.

03/11/2010, 10:57 AM	#1
travis32 Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: West Fargo, ND Posts: 2,161	My next round of Noob questions Well, this should be much smaller as I've been like sponge and taking a lot in the last few weeks. (no pun intended heh...) 1. My (green / brown) algae growth has been receeding quite rapidly since I added my ATO. (vs. topping off only once a day.) I feel in general this is a good thing. However, i'm noticing more and more snails are hanging out on my rock and less are on the glass since there's less algae blooms on the glass. More and more asterin starfish are starting to hang out near my polyps and other corals. (I have too many of the same colored polyps so if a few are eliminated I'm o.k. with that for now..) However, I take all of these as signs that they may all be competing for food supplies now. I've been adding algae wafer (1 to 2) tablets every other day to supplement their diets. However, I'm afraid that food supplies may be dwindling. (I know strange problem to have..) Any suggestions on if this is normal and if there's anything I should do to keep the CUC fed until I get fish added? 2.) I purchased a new product called Kent's Marine Reef mix, or something like that. It's a primary calcium supplement with trace elements and dosed half what it said on the bottle. Since then, my corals all look the best they've ever looked. The hair mushrooms are opening larger than they have in the past and everything looks really great. I know all -in-one mixes aren't reccomended, but, I'm amazed at the difference within a very short amount of time! (Couldn't find calcium test kits locally. so, I still need to test, but, the change to me indicates things were low.) Not really a question here, just any opinion on whether anyone's used this stuff and what are the bad things about this? 3. I also purchased Kent's Marine Phytoplex for my featherduster. I'm dosing half dose every other day for my one feather duster.. Could I dose more of this and on a daily basis for my snails and starfish? Or would that just be a waste? 4. I purchased a couple sliding window screens for $5.00 ea from the local hardware store to surve as tank covers to prevent fish jumping. The screens are a standard window screen mesh. Will this prevent enough light from getting in the tank. I did notice a slight dimming effect with the screens on the tank and off it. Will this impact the light getting into the tank too much for the corals? Or is it just the visible light that's affect, but the invisible spectrums are getting through just fine? They seem to work great as a tank cover, but, if it prevents enough light from getting in I'll have to try something else. Although I think the impact would be about the same as a glass cover with salt encrusted over the glass. Probably minimal impact. Opinions? 5. I found someone locally that is dismantling their tank and selling off all their corals for cheap, so, I may be stocking up on corals before getting any fish over the next few weeks. My anticipated or hopeful first fish purchase will most likely be mid april; putting my tank at 8 to 10 weeks old. What's the impact of not having fish in the tank to generate a bioload? Will this cause too much bacteria die off and cause mini cycles when I do add fish?

03/11/2010, 11:14 AM	#2
sowellj Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: greenwood, sc Posts: 712	I'll answer a few of these genearlly. It sounds like your tank is pretty new so it may not be necessary to be feeding it the amount you are. This in conjunction w/being a new tank is likely contributing to your algae. The screen idea is good but I see the metal mesh as being problematic. It will likely corrode. What I did was got window frame material, cut squares to fit my tank, then used plastic garden mesh as the screen. As far as bacteria dying off, my opinion is that if you have algae growing, there is plenty of food around so I would not be too concerned.

03/11/2010, 11:36 AM	#3
travis32 Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: West Fargo, ND Posts: 2,161	Tank is 5 weeks as of today with well cured rock. As far as algae, the concern with the algae is that it's going away and organisms look like they're searching for food and not finding any due to insufficient algae growing (there was a slight bloom that the CUC kept up with, but, now it's receeding and going away..)

03/11/2010, 11:56 AM	#4
Jstdv8 Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Wasilla, Alaska Posts: 1,420	you very well could be low on calcium, but its never a good idea to dose for anything you can't test for.

03/11/2010, 10:09 PM	#5
pugcrush Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: FL Posts: 305	What kind of fish do you have or plan on getting? You may be able to go with a completely open top. Yes, always a risk, but I like the open top. If you haven't already gone with your fish selection, read up on which are jumpers.