Help A Newbie - New Tank Questions

[jrlevins]

Hello All, I grew up with my parents having a 200 gallon tank and remember all the water changes and having my face plastered against the glass for hours. Three weeks ago I purchased my own tank (one owned for 8 years by a patron at a local fish store). After all these years I've forgotten most of the knowledge required to own and maintain a healthy tank. The tank was, from what I can tell, properly maintained and came with 50lbs of live rock and sand. I've been doing my research online but the plain truth is I just don't know who to trust! So I thought joining up here, I would be safe in having the community tell me the straight news. Ok, with that out of the way, here is my setup:

46 gallon Glass Bow Front Salt Water Aquarium
Coralife 36" Compact Fluorescent Lights-
96 Watt True Actinic Blue Compact Fluorescent Light
96 Watt 10,000K Daylight Compact Fluorescent Light
2 x 3/4 inch Lunar Blue-Moon-Glow LED lamps with separate on/off switch and power cord (installed on main lamp)
Filter is 350 Marineland Penguin Filter
Seaclone Protein Skimmer - w/original box
'Koralia 3' water pump/mover with magnet, plus other Marineland powerhead/ water movers
backup/extra Brand New in Box - 350 Marineland Penguin Filter.
200w Water Heater
4 stage Bulk Reef Supply RO/DI with brand new filters.

OK, so I did my first 95% water change with the RO water and let it sit for a week at a PH of 8.2, SP of 1.024, temp at 79.8F with 4 hermits and 2 slugs, thinking this would start the cycle. Checked my Ammonia, Nitrate, Nitrite, and PH yesterday with normal levels. So I figured lets start it up and got 4 damsels being that I remember them to be hearty fish that can help your cycle. I checked my levels again today and everything is still zeroed out, I guess I just have to wait for the ammonia to rise.

So my end game is to have my centerpiece be a really nice anemone and a pair of clowns. I wanted to get input on other corals, inverts, and fish that should go well with this. Any input is much appreciated.

I have also taken some pictures of the live rock and things growing on it and was hoping to get everyone's take on what exactly I have growing here and what should be left alone and what needs to be scraped away.

I'd really appreciate any and all advise you all can give me!

Full Tank Shot
[IMG]http://i54.*******.com/2h30bgk.jpg[/IMG]

HARD Green Stuff?
[IMG]http://i51.*******.com/a1q2oh.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i53.*******.com/2jfj9.jpg[/IMG]

Soft hair like green stuff?
[IMG]http://i51.*******.com/35krjeu.jpg[/IMG]

Red Stuff?
[IMG]http://i56.*******.com/j8ictu.jpg[/IMG]

Weird White Ball in center of photo that keeps getting bigger?
[IMG]http://i53.*******.com/3531usy.jpg[/IMG]

Any insight on the multiple different colors in this photo?
[IMG]http://i54.*******.com/20jqsdh.jpg[/IMG]

Once again thanks in advance for all your help!

[profntbtr]

all the hard colors are just variants of coralline algae, i believe. the soft yellow green is a yellow sponge.

[jrlevins]

Awesome, thanks for the information. Any recomendations on livestock for starting out?

[streak]

Welcome!!.. Other then your going to get told that Damsels are the Devil.. 100 times.. looks like your off to a great start. I would watch that red patch on the 5th pic down real close though it looks kinda like cyno bacteria all tanks go threw this. I woke up one day and my entire sand bed was covered.. I freaked. if you have an extra powerhead just aim it at the rock to help it get some more circulation over there. If i had your tank i would have a total of 4 water movers 2 at the towards the top across from one another and 2 on a timer(main lights) one behind the rocks and one in front of the rocks above the sand. YMMV.

[jrlevins]

Thanks for the info. I understand the need for water movement, and I'm not about to question people more knowledgable than myself. But, oh wait, yes I am! When I look into the tank there appears to be very heavy circulation everywhere in the tank. I see small particles whipping around everywhere. Do you still suggest that I add that many more water movers?

[briankmarsh1980]

the more flow you have the better

[jrlevins]

ok, so I don't need to worry about the fish having to work too hard against the current? Sorry if this sounds like a dumb question

[TXSea]

That's some real nice pieces of live rock you got there! Hard to find nice holy and funky shaped pieces without paying an arm and a leg for them. Most fiji rock now is jus big boulder pieces. The tank looks well cycled for the live rock part. I would run that tank for a couple of months before adding any more bio load to it. Remember, with saltwater, patience is a huge factor in the success of your tank. Looks good though. I had the red cyano explosion when I first set up my tank but I used Chemi-clean to get rid of it but I did follow the directions exactly as they are printed to keep from harming my clean up guys and my corals. Good luck!

[jrlevins]

Thanks, I'll look into the Chemi-clean. So it sounds like everyone is convinced that is red cyano. Maybe that's why my ammonia levels never spiked because it was eating it! Or am I just way off base with that comment?

[89Foxbody]

SeaClone skimmers are reputed to be crap, so you might want to look into something like an Eshopps PSK75H which will also hang on the back of your tank. I'd also upgrade to an Emperor 400 if you are content with the HOB style filters (and the center brace allows).

I would add additional means of water movement. Aqueon makes great circulators, and you can also get Maxi-Jet pumps now that come with the lamellar flow kit which is pretty handy. Koralias are always good too, of course.

As far as your ammonia comment, the cyano doesn't have any effect on that. It's not even really a plant, it's actually a form of photosynthetic bacteria. It will feed on nitrate in your system if there is any present. I'd suggest scrubbing it off with a toothbrush and with the help of a partner, siphon it out as it comes loose. It should go away eventually with your regular water changes. It usually thrives in high-nutrient, low-flow conditions.

[sjwitt]

If it truly is cyanobacteria you won't need to scrub at all to get it loose. A turkey baster blast will dislodge it. If it holds tight it's not cyanobacteria and ok to leave alone. Since you got fully cured, mature live rock and sand you may not see a cycle because your biological filter is still in tact.

Out of curiosity, why did you do a 95% water change? Regular WCs only need to be 10-20% at the most... less if you do WC more often than once a month.

[jrlevins]

Thanks for the replies, I will attempt the turkey baster method and let you know how it goes. As for the 95% water change it was due to the water I initially put in was de-chlorinated tap with salt added for 1 day while I was making enough RO water to do it right. When I purchased the tank we had to drain almost all the water and I didn't want what was growing to die in the day it took to make the right water, so the guy at the LFS suggested I do that. Was that bad advice?

[jrlevins]

I attempted to blow the red off with a turkey baster and also tried to scrape it off. It's pretty well stuck on there and wont budge at all. Does this mean it's not cyano? If not what do you all think it is?

[thebkramer]

Originally Posted by jrlevins

I attempted to blow the red off with a turkey baster and also tried to scrape it off. It's pretty well stuck on there and wont budge at all. Does this mean it's not cyano? If not what do you all think it is?

If it won't scrape off.. and it is hard.. its coralline!!

WELCOME TO RC & THE ADDICTION!!!

[ReefKnot]

Yeah when I had gotten my first tank going, about a month after the cycle, I started getting those bright green hard algaes. No one ever confirmed if they were coralline but I doubt it, because the eventually turned a darker green and then I started getting spots of purple coralline on them. Not sure about the red stuff, does kind of look like cyano but if its hard and you cant get it off the rock, it probably isn't.....
but I'm not an expert.....

[jrlevins]

Thanks guys, any thoughts to the previous comments regarding my Ammonia, nitrate, and nitrite levels. I checked again today and everything is still zeroed out. Does this mean I'm cycled in and I'm just not going to see a spike due to the biofilter already being established, or am I just too early?

[jrlevins]

OK, so I went to the LFS store today and picked the guy's brain for about an hour, I'm sure he loved that! But I ended up getting 3 frags of coral. One is a Australian Peach Zoo, a Dragon Eyes Zoo, and a Green Star Polyp. Any one have these or some tips on placement in the tank?

[jrlevins]

I also had a question regarding my PS, if you all don't mind sharing your input. How often should i run it? Should it be running all the time or only at certain times?