new 10 gallon tank!

Yah, I didn't have it out for long with that in consideration. Like I mentioned before I never bought them, they must have come from the live rock that I bought. I don't know much about starfish though.

Can someone tell me more about the T5HO? If I were to buy that which it's a great price. Would that be decent for anemone? I know anything will be better than what I have now. Also will I be able to lay it ontop of the hood that's on that tank or will I need a new hood as well? The T5HO is just the ballast with the bulb?

 

Bruce just got some T5. Check out the site that Mike posted. You can get
T5 from them and save some money.

 

question!!!!

after so long a white crusty layer will build up around the edge of the top of the tank. If salt doesn't evaporate, what is that layer of white crust? I've also seen this on freshwater tanks but not as much.

If you had aeration bubbling up through the tank I guess it could be salt fragments that get pushed up out of the water as the bubbles reach the top and burst. Those would slowly build up. but if you remove the aeration and it was salt how could it still be getting there?

 

That is salt creep. I happens from the circulation of the water in your tank. Any surface agitation creates some spray (even though you might not see it) this settles on the edges and the water evaporates, leaving the salt.

Mie

 

Latest news!

So I'm sitting in the room in the dark with the tank light on watching my tank before I go to bed. Out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw an entire piece of coral that I had bought move. Looked at it for a minute then I saw it again, and thought what the hell! So I keep watching and then I see these spider like legs creep around the outside edge of that coral. To my surprise I've got a tiny little crab in my tank now. I haven't gone for any photo shoots yet cause it's late and he'd be hard to get a picture of.

On another note my anemone has retreated into a crevice in the live rock. What that means I don't know, I thought anemone's move to where they get the most light, then why into a crevice?

I have a problem now, my tank walls, mostly the back wall is starting to look like a rainbow. I see brown, red, green blotches everywhere. and then I noticed a patch of bright red carpet covering a section of my crushed coral. What's all this algae? And What's a good way to clean/get rid of it? Tank magnet?

 

Sounds like your getting an algae bloom. I'd suggest turbo snails to get rid of it. You should scoop out as much as you can from the crushed coral, and you should also put some sand down, crushed coral collects lots and lots of algae.

The red carpet you are seeing is not algae, we call it red slime algae but it's really a bacteria, and it is vary harmful to things in your tank. There is a product that will get rid of it, something like slime away.

 

Check your phosphates! They are probably too high. Are you feeding to much? Add some more reef cleaners and do a water change. Describe the crab, as not all crabs are reef safe! As for the anemone, they are notorious for moving. They will continue to move until they find the ideal location in which to live, however, possibly stinging other corals in the mean time.

 

The algae bloom you're experiencing is perfectly normal in a new tank. I would add a phosphate sponge and do a water change. Did you pick up an r.o. unit?

 

When you say reef feeders/cleaners can you be a little more specific, give me some good species that would be good for a 10 gallon tank?

I will scrub down the walls of the tank to get the algae off and also shave off the little bit of crushed coral that has the red algae on it. I think I'll go and buy a bag of live sand and put a layer over the crush coral or mix it in.

The crab seems to be sticking to one piece of coral which is the white one on the left side of my tank that looks like a brain. I can't get a photo of him cause he's always hiding. It's hard to explain him. He's mostly light brown color, about the size of a dimer, maybe a little bigger. his front claws have a hint of red on them. If I had a picture of a bunch of crabs I could probably pick him out. It acts really timid, not moving around the tank much at all really. My impression is that it's not much of a threat to the other lives and corals in the tanks.

What I need is a few critters that will vacuum my rocks and get the green fuzzy algae off them. What would someone recommend?

 

Many types of snails(Nassarius, turbo, astrea, margarita and cerith) to name a few. Sea urchins(small) though most get pretty big eventually, blue and scarlet hermit crabs, brittle and serpent seat stars, green mithrax and sally lightfoot crab and peppermint shrimp.
This is a general list of reef safe cleaners for your tank. Hope this helps!