two weeks on my aquarium,,,now what

[alex_d04]

I've had my 46 gallon marine aquarium for 4 weeks now and need some info on how to keep it looking good. I cycled it for a couple of weeks, then added fish about 1 week ago (4 of them). I checked the nitrate,ph and temp, and everything looks better than average on the scales. The live sand in some spots has tured into a light brown color and looks to be as there is some alge that is starting to grow on my live rock. Question...when should I be starting to do water changes in my tank? Cleaning out my skimmer and filter, and maybe other little things?
Question...Will two 18'' 10,000k coralife light bulbs be enough to suit corals if I was to start a reef tank??
If there's anyone who can help me, I will really appriciate it.

 

[Krish]

Welcome to RF! About the brown on the sand that is the beginning of diatoms...All a part of cycling and will subside over time as the tank matures. You can siphon it up as you do your water changes etc. What are your actual water parameters now (specifically nitrate, ammonia and nitrite)? If you are still reading ammonia and nitrite, then your tank still has a bit of cycling to under-go. As for cleaning your equipment, what all do you have? Some equipment and media require different attention say for instance, if you are running carbon, it should be changed no later than every 3 weeks otherwise it will release all it had absorbed out of the water back into the water once it has become exhausted. Filter pads, filter socks, sponges and/or floss, needs to be either changed or rinsed out every 2 days at the most otherwise the acculmilation of detritus will degrade water quality. Skimmers, you can keep the cup emptied as it begins to fill up and the neck is up to you how often you want to keep that clean (I've heard diffferent feedback on it) but I personally clean my skimmer's neck twice a week. As for the lighting, how much watts are the bulbs and what types of corals do you plan on keeping? Some corals don't require much light at all while others need very intense lighting...

Best of luck with the setup and I hope you enjoy the forum

 

[ronj]

Welcome to Reeffrontiers Alex!!!you can go ahead and start on water changes whenever you are ready!!!. the cleaner, the better...the tank is cycled, right??? that's alot of fish to add at once, especially since the tank is brand new!!!!i clean my skimmer neck and cup every time i empty it.. it runs different if i don't clean the neck..i agree with Krish...the algae is just part of the cycling process... it should go away after some time and some water changes....make sure you have good flow all in the tank..it will help with the algae.. you don't want any "dead spots". the lights that you have will most likely only sustain mushrooms and very low light corals

 

[alex_d04]

Yea this forum is AWESOME!!!! My Nitrate level is less than 0.3mg/l and my ph is at 8.2 whe I checked it yesterday. As for the filter, I have an aquaclear filter that has a foam instert that traps particles, a carbon insert, and a biomax insert. As for the bulbs, I have no clue as to what the watt amount. I bought it from seller who hasn't used it for about a year and had been sitting in his garage. It there a way to find out???? I'm not sure what type of corals I want yet. Something that is for starters or easy to take car of. AS A MATTER of FACT, I think I have a coral in my tank. It has atlease 40 leg things, its light brown with a white color mouth. then its body is like a finger and is also see through. I turned the lights on and it popped out from the back of my live rock!!!????
Shoud l I have changed my water by now??? What percentage should I change?

 

[Krish]

Any chance to get a pic of your "coral"? It would be good to find out if it isn't a bad hitchhiker that came in your rock (like aptasia etc) that may need to be removed just to be safe About those bulbs, if they are over a year old and may have been used, not sure how well they will work out for you. A bulb begins to lose it's spectrum after so many hours/months of use. When this happens, you may not be able to notice it with the "naked eye" but as the spectrum changes and the bulbs are aged as a result, they can cause un-wanted algae to grow so I'd try and find out how long the bulbs had been used.

The aquaclear is a nice hang on filter. I personally wouldn't use the bio-max...No real need IMO. All of your biological filtration and denitrification will be taken care of by your live rock. Just remember with that sponge in there...I wouldn't let it go longer than 2 days without rinsing it out and that is, in ro/di water or old tank water. As waste builds up in there and it sits, it will degrade water quality so you have to keep it clean. Excess nutrients caused by things like these fuels nuicance algae to grow. Also, if you were to rinse it in tap water filled with phosphates and/or nitrates you will be putting a sponge back into your system ready to feed un-wanted algae. That's why I personally don't use any sponges, filter socks, floss etc anywhere in my system...Not even on my pumps! As for your water changes, 10-15% is a good amount to change per week.

 

[alex_d04]

Well I guess I better start looking for a new filter and get rid of this filter that I just bought new couple weeks ago Oh well, I'll go and take a picture right now and will get in here in 10 min.

 

[Krish]

No man...No need to toss the filter. It's a great filter and you can still use it to run your carbon and is great for surface aggitation and even to run the sponge if you want. You just have to stay on top of keeping the sponge clean that's all. With a tank that can have as many as 5 different sponges when you include pumps etc, they can get tiring trying to keep up with keeping them all clean and you may eventually begin to slack off so I say why bother sometimes. I let my skimmer do the work, along with the help of my flow that feeds my corals with keeping the detritus in suspension and the rest, I siphon up every week. Don't throw away the skimmer man...You can still use it, just stay on top of that sponge

 

[moortim]

Well I guess I better start looking for a new filter and get rid of this filter that I just bought new couple weeks ago Oh well, I'll go and take a picture right now and will get in here in 10 min.

You don't have to get a new filter, just remove the sponge part of it. Almost every filter comes with some sort of sponge. You may have to find a way to keep things like carbon in the filter since some filters use a sock or sponge to hold it in place (I don't know about yours) but it doesn't mean your filter is bad. It sounds like you have done what is right for the most part, just remember to take things slow and WELCOME TO REEF FRONTIERS!

Tim

 

[moortim]

Dang it krish, you beat my response to the same thing by 4 minutes!

 

[moortim]

just out of curiosity alex dO4 how many pounds of live rock do you have?

 

[alex_d04]

I have about 35lbs-40lbs

 

[Krish]

Dang it krish, you beat my response to the same thing by 4 minutes!

ROFL!! That's what I'm here for

 

[alex_d04]

ok here is the "THING" ANY clue as to what this is???

 

[Krish]

YIKES!!!! Aptasia...That's what I was thinking! They spread like a bad disease and will sting all of your corals! Get rid of it and any others you see around the tank ASAP! If you want to know how bad they are, start a new thread and show that pic and see what responses you get

 

[alex_d04]

how do u remove it?? Just pull it out with gloves???

 

[moortim]

Take some kind of injector (needle/syringe of some kind), fill it full of boiling water and inject it into the aptasia. That will kill it, there are other ways as well but that is the one I like.

 

[Krish]

There are all sorts of techniques, one like Tim just mentioned, then there is injecting something called Joe's Juice into the aptaisa, a copperband butterfly will eat it as well, but then you will be stuck with a fish that will probably starve once it eats them all, a peppermint shrimp I think will eat them as well etc. I would look around your rocks really well for more of them. Usually if you see one, there are more.