New tank questions and pics

I'm two weeks into a cycle (pretty much done), I just need to get my nitrates down a bit. They're actually only at 3 so I don't think that is too bad. A couple of questions:

First, I have a good size aptasia attached to one of my rocks. I have read a lot about injections, etc but can't I just grab it with some tongs and dispose of it. I will adding a peppermint shrimp in the next few weeks but I'd just as soon get rid of it. It's the only one I've seen.

My first attachment is of one of my powerheads, as I hope you can see it is becoming covered with what is a long stringy type algae . Is this hair algae? Will this be handled by my cleanup crew? I've got quite a few hermits and snails on the way within the next day or two.

My second attachment is of a hitchhiker that came on one my live rocks? It appears to be an anenome of some kind???? Any thoughts?

The last picture is of my tank a few days ago before the algae arrived full force! At least the coraline is growing also. Many people on this board have helped me get this far so I thought I would at least show them what "we've" been working on. ;D

Hopefully, I've done everything right with the pics and they show up.

Thanks,
Glenn

 

Well one thing that you shouldnt do is pull out the aiptasia. That will not kill it, if there is even a tiny bit of flesh left it will regrow. I dont have the much expirence with aiptasia, but one thing that comes to mind (I will let somone else put some info about chemical ways to get rid of it) you can try to chip the part of the rock it is on off.

The algae on the powerhead seems like a green hair algae, you can try to simply pull it off. Turbo snails might do the trick as well.

The hitch hiker is hard to tell from the picture. It almost looks like a toadstoll of colt coral beginning...but if there is a central mouth then it is probably an anemone of some kind, polyp, or mushroom coral.

Hope this helps

 

Sorry I couldn't get a better picture, I'm having problems getting anything but a blurry mess out of my digital when it comes to tank pics.

I'm running my actinic's 11 hours a day and the others around 9. Is it too much light considering I have no cleanup crew or fish? Is that causing the algae?

 

Nice looking tank VT.

 

Well, right now that might be a bit long to run your lighting. Im saying this meaning that with less light there is less a chance of a bad algae outbreak. Once the tank is a bit older that ammount of light will be fine

 

CUC will not do much for hair algae, in my experience. Good circulation and nutrient control is best. I hear eventually it runs out of nutrients and naturally dies out. Can't wait!

 

The aptasia can be dealt with with Joes Juice. It works wonders for me! Bruce is right, if you try to grab it off with tongs or something, it will break off little pieces and each of those pieces will grow into a new one. Also, during the cycle period, again like Bruce said, it's not necessary to run your lights for that much time. You will only feed your algae and make it get worse. The cleanup crew will probably not do much for your powerhead, but mine are COVERED in algae and personally it doesn't bother me. As long as it doesn't hinder their function. Unless the hitchhiker is moving on its own, its probably not an anemone. Although I can't really tell what it might be. Don't take me wrong, but I think 2 weeks is still too early to call a tank pretty much cycled. That said, its really great to hear the coraline is coming along nicely! I like the way your rocks are setup, too! Sounds like you have your ducks in a row and this will turn out to be an awesome tank. Where are you planning on going with it as far as fish only? Corals (you will need more light)?

 

I'll try the Joe's Juice if the Peppermint's don't get the job done. I'm glad I asked about the tong method because I was getting ready to yank that thing out of there the other night! I thought it was cool at first and then I started researching what it was and was a little distraught!

As far as the cycle goes, I started with fully cured rock from a local tank so I had kind of mini-cycle with a little ammonia, a bigger nitrite and a little nitrate. I think I'm done that's why I'm adding the CUC. I want to get the snails and hermits in there followed by the shrimp and crabs. I want to go FOWLR for at least 6 months and then venture into some real easy corals that will add color and variety. Don't you think my lights are good enough for everything except maybe the hard corals? I've got almost 4 watts of T-5 per gallon?

 

biocolor blenny will eat the green hair algae

 

Oh, yea having LR from an established tank will definitely speed up a cycle. When I upgraded from my 29gal to my 46gal I didn't have to wait a single minute for the cycle. I bought a new hang on filter with biowheels, and took the "paper" from my older and bigger biowheel, cut it and put it on my new biowheels. Plus my LR was a little more than a year old, and I replaced my old sand bed with live sand from my LFS. As far as your lighting goes, its hard to say. Because for instance 150W of Power Compacts is not the same as 150W of Metal Halide. The general rule is 3-5WPG. I would think you'll be fine keeping mushrooms (those things are the KINGS of hardy world), and some softies like colt, leathers...but I wouldn't attempt an anemone, and even *I* cant have hard corals and I have more then 6WPG. But thats OK because personally I like softies and LPS better anyways.;D