[marciemp]

We have a 72 gallon tank that has fish (one blue tang, on eyellow tang, 2 orange clownfish, one clarki clown, one maroon clown, a yellowtail damsel and little yellow guy who hids in a hole goby I think) and 3 hermit crabs, and a snail, live rock and a couple of corals that came on the live rock (button zoanthid polyps and mushroom coral). We got the tank second hand 2-3 weeks ago and set it all up. Everything went great with the move, and all of the fish and critters survived well.

Now there is this fluffy green algae growing on a couple of rocks. It is actually pretty but I worry if it is a problem. Maybe I am lighting it too long (I usually leave the lights on for about 10-11 hours a day). The light are power flouresents I think (2 bulbs both doubled like a long U, one yellowish white one blue) with 2 moon lights that are on at night. The LFS told me to check phosphates and the level was one colour more than zero, but I can't remeber the exact level. She told me to use this stuff to lower it but I am not sure if it is safe for the fish and inverts. Maybe I am feeding too much? I read if you are home to feed the fish a few time s day just as much as they can eat in a minute or 2, maybe this is too much? I also leave some dulse seaweed in a clip, the blue and yellow tang and the maroon clown love it.

There are also a lot of nitrates which we have been trying to lower by regular water changes (10% every few days), but so far nothing is lowering. When we moved the tank we did about a 40% water change. Any suggestions as to how we can lower the nitrates best (amount of water change and how often).

We also had one aiptasia anemone about 1/2" wide that the LFS said to get rid of. She told me not to cut it or touch it so I just removed the whole rock from the water broke the rock in half (because the other half had a mushroom coral on it) and threw out the piece with the anemone. Now on another rock we have something similar but it is clear, about the same size, is this a young aiptasia? When I pulled the rosk out of the water the anemone went into a hole, and there was some slimey stuff where it had been.

Also refering to the coral. They came with the aquarium and I think they must have just grown on the rock since the former owner didn't buy them. There is one large group of brown button zoanthid polyps and 2 small groups, and 3 individual mushrooms that are purplish. The 2 mushrooms are growing in the weirdest places. One is right in the middle of the button polyps, and another is close on a rock with the small group of buttons. Why would they grow so close or right in the middle of another coral, won't they die? Is there any way to move them? Since we bought the tank all of the corals seem to have grown a lot. The button polyps are now sort of greenish in the middle.

Any info would be appriciated.
The water prams are
Ammn 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrates as high as the test indicates at 160
SG 1.024
PH 8.2
temp 78-79 F


Thanks
Marcie

[wicked_nacl_h2o]

Based on what you have said, I would say keep up the water changes, and make sure all of the food is being eaten. Seems like the nitrates are just off the chart high, and with regular changes, they should come down.

As far as the coral, I would think that as long as they are growing, they are happy where they are and probably wouldn't worry about them.

As a final note, it is nearly impossible to get rid of aptasia completly. You could try adding peppermint shrimp, they will eat aptasia (usually depending on the exact species of shrimp)

[marciemp]

Thanks for your help.

What is the best way to tell the difference between Peppermint shrimp and camel back shrimp? Seems like the LF stores here are not very knowledgable, none of them so I can see us ending up with the wrong species. There are only 5 stores that sell a good amount of marine critters, and only 2 of them are specifically for saltwater. Most of the time when I ask a question I know more about the answer than the owner or employee does, which is frustrating. If I can learn from a book and the web he should too.

Anyone else have any advise about the algae? We went out and bought 4 more snails (2 turbo and 2 something with an A), and a blue legged hermit crab. The snails went fast to work and are moving all over the tank cleaning up. Any other good cleaners for algae? The hermit we bought was pretty big (shell maybe 1 1/2") maybe we should by several very tiny hermits to clean better? Or more snails? Which kind of snails is best?
Anything else for cleaning the sand? We actually have a fairly deep sand bed which was unintentional (2-3" in places, much less under and around the rocks), as we added more sand when we bought the tank (it only had 1/4-1/2") and ended up dumping way more in than we thought, and didn't notice till after the water was in.

Turns out the phosphates are between 0 and .5 which is high, how can we lower those? We only have a tap mounted filter for the water, can't afford a RO filter yet. On the plus side I topped up evaporatioon last night and did a 10-12 gallon water change today and the nitrates were between zero and 5. Not sure how they lowered so fast, I hope that's a good thing though (they were last tested 3 or 4 days ago)

Thanks again

[wicked_nacl_h2o]

The only way I know to tell is that the peppermint shrimp are VERY dark red. The catalina cleaner shrimp is very light red. I guess that's not much help unless you see them together. The book "Marine Invertebrates" by Ronald L. Shimek, PhD is a handy resource for all things invert.
Snails can't eat macroalgae or maidens hair, but they prefer diatoms and microalgae. The Super Tonga Nassarius snails, or bumble bee snails, along with conchs are great for the sand work. Remember tho, the brown microalgae feeds on the phosphates in your water, so it is beneficial. Too many snails may clean your tank quickly, but when the algae is gone, they will slowly starve to death. A very cruel and unnecessary fate A screw on tap water filter is your best bet for reducing phosphates as much as possible. Phosphates aren't produced in your tank, as far as I know. A good biofilter (live rock and live sand) along with patients should allow phosphates to decrease. Personally, I NEVER add chemicals to my tank to reduce the level of anything...just doesn't make sense. I may be reducing a parameter that I test for, but in turn I have added something that I do not test for. It is not unusual at all for such a young tank to have large fluctuations in nitrates while the biofilter finds a balance.
It seems like you are crossing Phosphates and nitrates up...maybe I just misunderstood. Also, make sure you follow the test kit directions EXACTLY.
Do not cover the end of the test tube with your finger when you shake it, you can skew the results. And, make sure you allow the colors to develop fully. Keep a log of your readings, it will make diagnosis of problems easier.

[dphilbert]

I'm not all that experianced with this, but 1 blue legged hermit in a 72 gallon tank isn't going to do too much. I've been told that 30 is a good amount for my 20 gallon tank, so i think you would want a whole lot more in a tank that size

[TEBMSU97]

I had it forming all over my rocks during the cycling period and even some on the glass. It was not a severe case, but the new clean up crew has made short work of it. I am only running a 12 gallon nano, but have 5 hermits (I think they are dwarf red tips, cleaning machines) and six snails (3 cerith and 3 margaritas). I am definitely no expert, but I would up your cleaning crew for sure.

[poohpouri]

I had a algae probelm a month ago! I use rowa- phos in a cannister filter and also have cut my lighting down to 8hrs a day, I reduced my feeding as well and algae has all clear up. I do water changes fortnightly I feel that reducing lighting and cutting back on feeding has helped a great deal.
Have you tired testing nitrate with a differebt test kit?