[bri74]

hello again first i must say thanks for all the help everyone its been greatly appreciated. Now that my tank has been up and running for about 6 weeks and i put a lion in last week and he is doing very well eating alot and very nice color to him. Now a couple days ago i have started getting some brown spots in the tank i was wondering if its time for a water change cause I am not sure how long to go in between changes? O and also the lion is getting pretty greedy everytime I put my hand to the top of the tank to open the hood or anything he rushes me like hes gonna bite my hand off is this normal behavior i understand they are agressive but wow. Also he is the only fish in the tank i was thinking of getting some cleaner shrimp for the tank? would this be ok?

[e_baer]

Well, I have 2 lions. How often do you feed your lion? What is the size of the lion? How often do you feed the lion? What type of lion is the lion? You should do water changes every week. The brown spots, do you have a pic of them?

[rlcline76]

Brian,
The brown patches on the glass and possibly on your rock and substrate are diatoms. This is normal. I would do a water change weekly. Lionfish are a little aggressive, be careful when feding or putting appendages in the tank!

[e_baer]

Ive heard some bad stories about people getting stung, how they get stung with multiple pines, and not just one. Their muscle will start to deteriorate

[Marc Smith]

Originally Posted by bri74

hello again first i must say thanks for all the help everyone its been greatly appreciated. Now that my tank has been up and running for about 6 weeks and i put a lion in last week and he is doing very well eating alot and very nice color to him. Now a couple days ago i have started getting some brown spots in the tank i was wondering if its time for a water change cause I am not sure how long to go in between changes? O and also the lion is getting pretty greedy everytime I put my hand to the top of the tank to open the hood or anything he rushes me like hes gonna bite my hand off is this normal behavior i understand they are agressive but wow. Also he is the only fish in the tank i was thinking of getting some cleaner shrimp for the tank? would this be ok?

Ok..heres the deal. You are going thru the "Cycle" at this point ride it out...."No Water Changes!!!!!" Why? You are feeding the monster. Let the diatoms eat it way to it's death. Give it about 2-3 weeks, and it should start going away. Also test all your levels.... Po4 - Ammon - Nitrite - Nitrate. The 2 big one will be Ammon, and Nitrate. When they read 0 Start adding a clean up crew, and start to do water changes.

After the cool brown stage you will soon get the really cool Green stage! What a glow under Atinics This will go thru, and clean itself out in 3-4 weeks. CAUTION!!! if your PO4 is high this is where you can run into Cyano, and hair alage. Thats another topic for another day

[bri74]

ok so i wont do the water change and i will just ride it out I hope it wasnt too early to put in my man eating fish! I think he will be ok though. So I should just leave the brown spots and it will go away or should i scrape the crap off?

[Marc Smith]

You can Scrape the glass... Want to see your lion fish right? =)

It will just back, untill it has consumed all it's food.

[bri74]

hey i cant figure out how to put pics on here yet but soon i hope. The man eater is about 4"long and has been eating the heck out of krill and scallop pieces. I feed him about half a krill a day.

[bri74]

Also all parameters are good!

[bri74]

ok one more for now! when I do perform a water change do i mix salt with water in separate containment then add to tank or how?

[e_baer]

yes, mix everything in a seperate container. Its nice if you can get a power head and just let the head mix the recipe up overnight.

[Marc Smith]

Originally Posted by bri74

ok one more for now! when I do perform a water change do i mix salt with water in separate containment then add to tank or how?

The best way to do this is mix in a seperate containor for 24 hours adding some sort of airation like a powerhead or airpump. Then addd the containor slowly for about an hour. Lot of people will say dump it in, but with your size tank an extreme change in A) Salinty B)Temp could stress you fish out.


Also by airating your water for 24 hours. It will keep your buffers in your saltmix stable, and not causeing any instablity by just adding the water right after you make it.

[bri74]

hey i feed him once a day about half a krill but yesterday I gave him a whole one and he had no problem devouring that.

[bri74]

he is about 4" long

[Troyboy112]

I have the brown dots in my tank as well-

I was told by my local saltwater aquarium store to shorten the daily light cycle of my tank lights, and switch from feeding the fish daily to once every 2 days. So far, so good- the brown dots are starting to fade away. I also picked up a cleaning crew consisting of small snails and hermit crabs (before I just had 4 Turbo snails and a large hermit crab).

Anyways, Good luck with your tank...

[bri74]

ya just got home from lfs with 6 snails and they are all over the tank so far.

[e_baer]

You are reallyo only supposed to feed the lion 3-4 times a week. Athough, the lion is fairly large and the krill are small. perhaps if he seems so hungry, try to feed him a little more. but less at the same time. larger amounts fewer amount of times.