5g going on 17g Tank

[reefwars]

Originally Posted by syncro

Thanks for the detailed reply DCDN. The brown algae has lasted 5 weeks. It started just after the cycle finished (week 3) and has gotten progessively worse. Today is week 8. Hair algae started about 3 weeks ago not too bad but slowly getting bigger. How do you tell if you are feeding enough? My fear is the only way to tell is when animals start dying. I've had one stomatella snail die but I think he went through the powerhead. The nassarius snails appear to be growing.

Ammonia, nitrite and nitrate: 0
pH: 8.2-8.4
Salinity: 31
Temp: 24.3 *C
I haven't tested anything else.

Lights: 12h per day, 10am - 10pm
Food: pinch of cyptopleeze, few mL of phytoplankton every other day
Additives: a few mL of MicroBacter maybe once every two weeks
Water: RO/DI water change roughly 30% every two weeks
No reactors, just a little sponge filter and carbon.

Coral
Green star polyp
Blue cloves
Red plating montipora

Invertibrates
3 tiny nassarius snails
3 dwarf blue legged herbit crabs
1 stomatella snail
3 tiny asterina stars
1 porcelain anemone crab

Fish
none

Should I reduce the photoperiod to say 8hr/day and lower the light so the montipora gets more intensity? I'll also get a phosphate test kit.

no worries glad to help so yah the brown algae is all part of establishing an aquarium and yours my friend is still very very young it should dissapear in time, i would think your problem is phosphates so buy a phosphate test kit and start testing for it. you can reduce your lights a bit but with corals you cant really cut them down a whole lot but you would be safe with 8-10hrs to help a bit. what kind of lights do you have??

remove the sponge in your filter unless you rinse it well daily it is known to just keep nutrients in your tank which is what we want to avoid in a reeftank

what are you using for test kits?



i wouldnt be feeding any liquid foods as your corals you have dont need them they feed fine from photosynthesis and dont require any supplemental feedings.


it is safe to say that overfeeding is when you add food to your tank that doesnt get eaten or builds up on the sand bed or can never find its way to your livestock, or more than a couple times a day.since you have no fish the food your feeding is probably only getting half eaten so feed just a small pinch every 2-3 days for now.crabs can be target fed with meaty foods like brine or mysis but really dont even need that they are scavengers and find food in your rockwork and sand regardless if you feed or not and a pinch every day is too much for just 3 small hermits great for fish but crabs are slow and lazy and wont hunt it down they will wait untill they come across it.



buy a phosphate test kit along with a test kit for alk,mg,and calcium.

i wouldnt buy anymore corals or any fish untill you have a handle on testing for the above mentioned and understand the basics of how they work.its quite fun actually just learning and testing.

make sure that the powerheads in your tank are not leaving any dead spots in your tank or places where flow cannot get.


any questions just ask away cheers

[syncro]

Thanks reefwars

Originally Posted by reefwars

you would be safe with 8-10hrs.... what kind of lights do you have??

Reduced lighting to 10 hours per day. NanoCustoms Evil 14k PAR38 LED bulb (5 x 3 watt Cree LEDS)

Originally Posted by reefwars

remove the sponge in your filter unless you rinse it well daily

Removed sponge. I've replaced it with filter floss. Is this reasonable if I change it out weekly?

Originally Posted by reefwars

i wouldnt be feeding any liquid foods as your corals you have dont need them they feed fine from photosynthesis and dont require any supplemental feedings.

I've read that some zooxanthellae coral do filter feed though I haven't come across anything about GSP or montipora specifically (Nourish them and watch them grow and Is your reef anorexic). I'll stop the phytoplankton for now.

Originally Posted by reefwars

feed just a small pinch every 2-3 days for now

Will this be sufficient for the porcelain anemone crab? He is a carnivore filter feeder.

Originally Posted by reefwars

what are you using for test kits?

API test kit for pH, ammonium, nitrite, nitrate

Originally Posted by reefwars

buy a phosphate test kit along with a test kit for alk,mg,and calcium.

Any recommendations for test kits are welcome. There are so many. Regular or low range phosphate test kit? How about the Hanna checkers for cost or accuracy? It sounds like the cheap API kits are good for some tests, like nitrates, but not for others, like phosphates.

Elos Aqua Test Phosphate Test Kit ($29 for 160 tests)
Seachem MultiTest pH/Alkalinity Test Kit ($14 for 75 tests)
API Calcium Test Kit ($9)
Elos Aqua Test Magnesium Test Kit ($30 for 40 tests)

Should I run some GFO or other phosphate media? Which one?