My first reef (90g)

[Rikotek]

Thanks for the advice BCOrchidGuy!
I didnt know about the chemicals sticky, it IS really useful.
I haven't gotten any test kits for alk or calcium, but the pH did manage to hit 8.5 which is nice.

Now for the bad news. I now have a small outbreak of Green Hair Algae in the tank. I caught it early enough so I am working with it now. Because I have no fish or snails or anything in the tank, I am simply performing regular water changes with store bought R.O water (to keep the phosphates down) and I have disabled my lights. I figure if there is no light for about a week, the GHA can't spread much more and if there are no phosphates to feed on then all the better.

All of my tests for pH, Amonia, Nitrate/Nitrite and Salinity are in the safe areas. I am going to introduce some herbivorous snails in a couple days. They should be able to eat at whatever GHA is left and I will slowly increase my photoperiod over the next week or so. If anyone can recommend a type of snail for this purpose I would really appreciate it.
I hear Turbo snails are good for this but I am not certain.

[mark]

Welcome fellow Edm reefer.

Not to push any one vendor but for inverts (and now more) Neals the guy.

http://216.187.96.54/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=57

[jslaney]

Thanks for posting your setup,

I am one step behind you in setting up my first Salt tank as well. I was thinking about the cycling process too, as I will soon be starting it.

Is it possible to cycle your tank with the lights off? I mean not indefinitely but once your live rock has been in there for three weeks you could then switch them on. It would probably reduce your chances of getting nuisance algae.

Its just rough to have all those nutrients floating around without being able to put in anything to eat the inevitable algae. Lights off mean no algae can grow right? Unfortunately neither can anything else. Might be worth it in the beginning though.

[Rikotek]

Originally Posted by jslaney

Thanks for posting your setup,

Is it possible to cycle your tank with the lights off? I mean not indefinitely but once your live rock has been in there for three weeks you could then switch them on. It would probably reduce your chances of getting nuisance algae.

When I had a breakout of green hair algae, I turned the lights off for 2 weeks (I only had some snails in the tank and whatever was living in the live rock at the time). Over the course of the 3 weeks I hand plucked as much of the algae as I could. Having the lights off greatly reduced the rate of growth and I was able to get it under control

-Eric

[Rikotek]

The tank is doing very well now so I figured a quick status update and some photos are in order.

I added another 20 Turbo Snails and I am planning on getting some more corals (maybe some mushrooms too) next month.

All test readings are within safe ranges.

Added a second small powerhead so there is good circulation in the water now. I will replace it with a proper Seio when budget allows.

Trying to control the Red Algae on the rock on the right hand side of the tank. Just plucking some out before every water change.