[newtoreef]

I very new to this forum and hobby. I have a few questions and hope you can point me to the right direction.

I just set up my 55g tank for about 3 weeks.

Seaclone protein skimmer
Fluval 304 filters
about 55 lbs of live rocks, haven't add any corals
48" Oddysea light (2x65w anticts and two 12K) Good only on soft corals.

After three weeks I realized some brown diatom algae in the tank looking from a different angles of the tank. There are also brown algea fouling my sands.

This is normal? What should i do to remove all of these?

By the way can you give specific names on a few soft corals?

[SECRETREEF]

Tanks seem to go through a prosses of algae appearing every once in a while. This should be normal as long as it doesn't take over everything.

Take a look at the water you are using that it doesnt have phosphates, silicates, nitrates and so on; these things feed the algae.

Try not to overfeed and not to let food waste on the bottom of the tank. Clean the fluval 304 as much as you can so no waste stays there for too long for this will also feed the algae.

Some of the softies I would recomend for starting a new reef tank would be mushroom coral (coralimorpharians), polyps (zoanthids, palytoas), and kenya soft tree, colt, leathers and some lps (not actually a softy but some are really strong).

The only thing is to go slowly adding them. Try one at a time and give it some time for it to get used to the tank, buy frags (they are normally already used to tank life) and buy the less expensive ones until you get used to their care.

Hope to be of help!

Happy reefing!

[SECRETREEF]

And for removing the algae try to do it manually and get a clean up crew (emerald crabs, hermit crabs, snails, a blenny , and many other things that like algae).

[newtoreef]

Thank you for a quick response. What if my water has phosphates, silicates, nitrates, should i be changing water? or should i just using the pads to clean the tank and filters?

[unclejed]

Hello Vu.There are some who would tell you that once "the numbers" are all good the cycle is over and you are ready to go, I am not one of those. What many beginner (even some advanced) aquarium keepers are not (fully) aware of is that the full cycle takes at least 6-8 months. The reason being, mainly, is this is the time required to fully cultivate a total beneficial bacterial base and achieve a saturation of such. Also, allowing the tank to "season" and go through the inevitable mini-cycles and diatom blooms and get fully established is the key to a healthy and stable tank in the future. You could have one fish after about the 6 week mark, let the tank get established by light feeding and going through a moderate light cycle (6-8 hours) for the next 3 weeks. After that, add a few clean up critters (crabs and/or snails) and allow the tank to "catch up" to the added load (you may at this time add some live bacteria to help in this process) and give it another 2 weeks doing all your tests on a regular (weekly) basis and determine if the tank is stable. Water changes of 30% should be carried out once a month to once every 5-6 weeks. Coral should not be introduced (even soft) until the tank is around 3-4 months old. Too many beginners don't exercise the proper patience and discipline at this early stage of getting their tank going only to have problems and head aches down the road. Once the tank has gone through this full cycle period and the tank is stable, then and only then, should you add more difficult coral like hard coral. I always employed a bit of advice I got when I was starting out to add bacteria after each water change for the first and subsequent next 4-5 changes. After the 4th water change then and only then add to the tank and minimally at that.
Another good tactic I learned is to add (whatever you are adding) a couple days after a water change. This gives the new creature fresh minerals and trace elements and a good 3-4 weeks (I adhere to 4-5 week intervals between changes) to adjust to the new water parameters, light, temp etc. before disrupting the tank for the next water change.
I hope this helps.

[newtoreef]

Wow. Thanks unclejed!

This is really good piece of info and great advices. My tank current have L/R few small mushroom came along with the rock. Also there is a weird looking starfish stuck to the rock when i first purchased. It still crawling since i put the rocks in 2 weeks ago... But after reading your advices, I will need to wait patience witht the tank....

[map95003]

Vu...I second what Leon is saying...just be patient, your tank is still very new. Give it at least 6-8 wks to cycle, then add a small fish (chromis, dansel, clown for example) followed by a sml clean up crew with wkly tests. As you feed and the tank adjust to the bio load you could add another fish and let the water parms settle down again...repeat this process everytime you add livestock.

Like most of us, you will encounter algae problems along the way, I think it's part of the learning process...it helped me figure out flow, how much, how often to feed my tank, how often to do water changes, how many hrs to run the lights, what, what not and how often to dose additives, etc... Every tank is different, so advise is good but some of these things you'll figure out on your own.

Some of the easier corals for a new tank IMO..
mushrooms, xenias, leathers (not all of them), some zoas...

if you try and take the fast track and load up your tank with livestock it will look nice for a few days...then you'll really have some issues, things will die on you left and right.

good luck with the tank...don't get frustrated with the algae issues, they will go away in time if you keep doing the right thing...

[newtoreef]

Thank you Martin.
One quick question.

Should I feed any chemical(s) while waiting for the tank to be cycled?

Thank you..

[unclejed]

Originally Posted by newtoreef

Thank you Martin.
One quick question.

Should I feed any chemical(s) while waiting for the tank to be cycled?

Thank you..

No, no chemicals. You need to be testing; Magnesium, Calcium, Alkalinity and PH...Parameters for these are Calc = 380-480, Mag = 1180- 1450 and PH = 8.1-8.4, get all these in the ranges mentioned and figure out if you have to dose to maintain them.
Also, test now for; Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate and Phosphate. Ideally these should be 0 but in the beginning the Nitrate may run around 20 ppm.

[map95003]

Leon beat me to it again...doesn't matter, I learned quite a bit of the little I know about reefs from him on this site

If you're done adding uncured LR and LS to the tank just keep testing the parms Leon mentioned above. ~week 5-6 the nitrates should down (or close to 0) and you'll probably be ready for a water change. Most of the popular salt mixes on the market should do the trick initially, then you'll have to start dosing some Ca an Alk suplements or get a Ca reactor...I dose Kalkwasser and a 2-part solution. You may also have to dose an Mg supplement to keep the levels up..see Leon's recommended ranges above.

While the tank is cycling, do some research on corals and fish you might be interested in, don't be afraid to ask questions if you're not sure about anything.

By the way, do you have a skimmer and good flow in the tank now?