New to the reef hobby and forums- question

Brother Silas

Brother Silas

New Member
Hello, all
Been lurking a while and have translated the collected knowledge into a new BC 29 setup. Apparently my existing hobbies weren't taking enough cash out of my pocket. :)

I've been up and running about two weeks now with the live rock. I have yet to see an ammonia spike(unless it happened within a short time period and I missed it when I was out of town), and all other basic water issues seem to be in order. I'm thinking of getting the Sapphire Protein skimmer, which I've been hearing good things about. Has anyone incorporated LRRubble along with the skimmer in the back chambers? Or is that overkill?

The first picture was taken two days ago, and I'm not sure what I'm looking at here. I assume it's a weed of some kind because there are little ones sprouting in the substrate, but have not been able to identify it on any of the various web sites out there. Any advice would be appreciated.

Also included is a pic of one of my other growth areas. Plenty of bright green and purple grass/hair. Is it time for a cleanup crew to take care of this mess, or is it too soon to be adding critters to a new tank?

I can take more detailed pictures if it will help; I just don't want to use too much space until I figure out the way stuff works around here.

Thanks for any info you can provide!
 

Attachments

  • unknown plant.JPG
    unknown plant.JPG
    22.3 KB · Views: 64
  • other growth.JPG
    other growth.JPG
    37.5 KB · Views: 64
saltwaterfarm

saltwaterfarm

Well-Known Member
Welcome to the sanctuary! I have a bio cube 29 as well. I have also heard good things about the Sapphire skimmer. I didn't use the LR/LS in the back since I used both in the display. I don't know if you will have room in that center chamber with the skimmer. Hope that helps.
 
B

boozeman

Well-Known Member
:welcomera you have some nice hair algae growing there :D
did you use the 'frozen shrimp method' to cycle the tank?
 
aquaman3680

aquaman3680

Well-Known Member
Hi! First of all welcome to Reef Sanctuary. You will find tons of people here who will be of great help to you here. One thing that we love here is PICTURES! Any pictures of your set up would be awesome!

About the algae, I would say it is some type of hair algae. Also on those rocks I see some type of cyano (the purple bubbly stuff). This is completely normal for a new setup such as yours. What are you using for flow? If you have no powerheads I would suggest purchasing some powerheads to increase your flow to blow some of the algae off and keep it down.

The skimmer I am not familiar with. The only HOB (hang on back) skimmers that I have experience with are the Aqua C Remoras, work awesome, and the CPR BakPak, also a great skimmer but a little bit noisy.

Any extra info that you can provide us about your setup would be great.

Matt
 
Brother Silas

Brother Silas

New Member
Hair algae- that makes sense, I guess.

Nothing fancy in my cycle- added the water, then live sand and base rock, then live rock. First water change was last week. I have been using filtered tap water and Oceanic salt mix. (R/O will come later. gotta give the credit card a break)

Here's some more recent(5 minutes ago) pictures of the same guys. Shall I assume that these are OK to have, for now? Should I be moving forward with the cleanup crew?

I just don't want this to get out of hand if there is a problem.

I'm using the stock BC powerhead for now. I widened the opening into chamber 2 as suggested to improve flow. Other than that all stock.
 

Attachments

  • bigger.JPG
    bigger.JPG
    19.4 KB · Views: 61
  • bigger 2.JPG
    bigger 2.JPG
    20.6 KB · Views: 61
aquaman3680

aquaman3680

Well-Known Member
For right now there isn't much you could do. You can add a few crabs and add some powerheads to get control over that algae as it can become a huge problem. The more pressing issue is the cyano that stuff can cause huge problems and doesnt die easily. I would defiantly recommend looking into the maxi jet power heads possibly 2 600's or 900's would do.

Just my opinion

Matt
 
Brother Silas

Brother Silas

New Member
boozeman said:
what are your parameters?
Click to expand...

Temp- 79.1 deg F
pH- 8.3ish
Nitrite- 0ppm
Nitrate- 0ppm
Ammonia- 0ppm
SG- 1.022+
I'm using a kit from Aquarium Pharmaceuticals who sound as if they can be trusted with chemicals- but what do I know.

Based on my limited knowledge, I haven't cycled yet. Or maybe I missed it and am doing everything right by accident- not what I'm betting on.
 
B

boozeman

Well-Known Member
my guess would be that there was no cycle yet, as there wasnt anything to kick start it...and the filter you are using isn't removing the phosphates from the water and that combined with your lights is fueling the algae.
 
BrothaWolf

BrothaWolf

Well-Known Member
Hey Brother welcome! If you go with the sapphire skimmer which I highly recommend, you wont have room in chamber two for LRR You can however remove the false bottom in chamber one and place it there or you could place it in chamber 3 on top of the pump which I do NOT recommend OR you could do like I did and add an HOB refugium with some slight modifications and add rock and sand there.
http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/nano-reefs/14853-skimmer-refugium-mods.html
Honestly you can pack enough rock and sand into the display the amount you could fit in the back chambers is minimal.
Sounds like you may be looking at getting a larger pump since that is the only reason I can think of to widen the opening to chamber 2. Ive tried both the maxi 1200 and the Rio 6HF in the Cube and for me both pumps caused way to much flow and made my fish very unhappy. I have had great success with the stock pump and prefer it to the others. I guess it all depends on what you want to keep in the long run
 
Brother Silas

Brother Silas

New Member
Thanks to all for the advice.

I hear chemi-clean can help with the phosphate problem, so I'll get some of that and shorten my light cycle for now until I get a new filter and R/O setup.

I had read on nano-reef that widening the opening to chamber two was generally a good thing to do, especially if I decided to get a larger powerhead at some point down the road.

Does anyone know where to find fittings to adjust the flow in the tank beyond the limited range of motion provided by the stock nozzle? Then I could direct the flow to provide more movement over the rock. Haven't been able to find any parts at any of the LFS around here.
 
lcstorc

lcstorc

Well-Known Member
I wish I could offer help but I don't know the answer.
Just wanted to say welcome to RS! :)
I would put a piece of shrimp in the tank to kick start a nice cycle. Then you will know for sure when it is ready for inhabitants.
 
D

daveat

Member
the live rock and stuff should have started its own cycle by the stuff that died on it.

the cyno is NOT hard to get rid of, just takes time, its part of an "extended" cycle. some people just let the tank ammo, trites and trates cycle and then fight the cynobacteria for the next few months... BUT you can also just let it grow and grow and will eventually absorb all the nutrients (phosphates) that it feeds on.

more flow helps by increasing the bio filtration capacity.

as far as the algae build ups you can throw in some snails and stuff to help keep it down but its normally best to let it go.
 
lcstorc

lcstorc

Well-Known Member
Sometimes die-off from LR can start a cycle but it doesn't sound like you have had one yet. At the very least be sure to stay on top of your paramaters if you decide to add livestock. You may start a cycle then and need frequent water changes to get a handle on it.
 
sasquatch

sasquatch

Brunt of all Jokes~
PREMIUM
Hey Brother Silas ! Welcome to RS! try throwing 1/2 a cocktail shrimp in there and wait a few days, if you get a good cycle now its lots better for later. Steve
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top