30 gallon newbie! eek! lol

[clk666]

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so far ive got ... one oscellaris clown... one starry blenny ( which i cant get a pic of!) and one multi colored urchin!.. OH plus alot of algae which im hoping to get some hermits to dispose of! hehe!

[lpsreefer]

nice start!

[chris88]

Hermits wont touch you algae, and snails wont do much either. you need to find the root cause of it which is probably excess nutrients from over feeding and not enough skimming and water changes.

[clk666]

Originally Posted by chris88

Hermits wont touch you algae, and snails wont do much either. you need to find the root cause of it which is probably excess nutrients from over feeding and not enough skimming and water changes.

hmm well i dont think its too much feeding because i just got my fish not long ago and before i had them there was still algae. i dont have a protein skimmer but i do use RO water... and i do a water change every seccond week or so... you think even using the RO water would cause it?

[MKLKT]

Originally Posted by chris88

Hermits wont touch you algae, and snails wont do much either. you need to find the root cause of it which is probably excess nutrients from over feeding and not enough skimming and water changes.

Agreed, treating the cause will serve you much better in the long run. Generally hermits and snails eat and clean up detritus and other stuff that you can't easily see. Investigate sources of phosphates and silicates in your water and try to reduce them, even just fixing that will starve out the algae. You can also try macro-algae which will feed on a lot of things that you want to remove from the water anyway.

PS Starry Blennies are my favourite, you can check mine out in my tank journal

[clk666]

hmm macro-algae sounds like a good plan ill try to get some! and ill definately check into geting rid of phsphates and silicates!

thanks!

[ScubaSteve]

If you have new powerheads or other equipment, those can be a source of silicates and the like, so trying to track down a culprit can be a fruitless adventure (though it is necessary). If it's a new set up you'll just have to ride through it. On a 30g I recommend weekly water changes... The water volume is just too small to go a long time. I run only nanos and I've found that more the more frequent, the better. And since it's a small tank, water changes aren't huge... So you have no excuse to complain :P This will help with the algae.

I've run nanos both with and without skimmers and, though I still have mixed feelings for them, they're a good investment. The more nutrients you take away from the algae, the more it will disappear. Make sure you do water changes when the algae start to die off to get the nutrients they release out of the water.

Looking forward to see where your tank goes! Shoot me a PM if you ever want some nano help or ideas.