"Newcomer Questions"

Hi!

My husband and I are the proud owners of a 46 Gal reef/fish tank and are loving every minute of it. We have been online searching for answers to some questions and absolutely love this website and are hopeful you can help us. We have 1 Six Line Wrasse, 1 Fridmani Pseudochromis, 2 clown fish, 1 bubble anemone, 1 hammer coral, 1 frogleg coral(?), 1 rhicordia (sp?), 1 mushroom rock, 2 leather corals, 1 brain coral, 1 green star polyp, 1 candy coral, 2 other corals (that I'm not sure what they are called - I think one is a "Christmas Tree") and 12 snails. Here are a few of our questions: We run several tests everyday on our tank and results are good. We were getting brown and green algae in our tank on the walls and rocks. We have metal halide (T5) lights on a timer. Initially, we had all lights (moon, sunlight, etc.) running for a total of 12 hours. We have since reduced that time to 8 hours. The brown algae is gone; the green is still there. It seems to get worse every time we do a water change. One a week. Our tank is only 2 months old. What else can we do? Next - We think we are overfeeding the fish and coral. We feed the fish flakes once a day; and the coral get fed twice a week (cyclopeeze and frozen marine cuisine). How much of the cyclopeeze and cuisine do we need to give in a feeding? We have been using a medicine syringe and giving about 12 ml on a feeding. Yesterday, we noticed our NH4 was a tad high. Possibly overfeeding??? I feel like a mom of more kids and want to make sure they have enough to eat... Two more questions: The rhicordia has been moving and moving and has now found its home by wrapping itself around the hammer coral. Is that safe? Lastly, what other types of fish would be good to add into the mix? We are looking for something very colorful like the mandarin, mccoskers, leopard or scott's fairy.... as well as any other type of fish. Thanks - we look forward to hearing from you!

Cat

 

Do you get readible phosphates ?
how much are you feeding ?
whats your tank cleaning crew consist of ?
Skimmer ?
How old are the bulbs ?
and the ricordia moving ontop of the hammer ( one will win , one will lose the battle ) a chemical war is on .
Sorry added>
I noticed you have no tang/s ( algae eaters ) they are great for helping control algae.
Thats an aweful lot of stuff with a tank thats only 2 months old, any coraline growing ?

 

do you use RO/DI water ? this could be the base of your trouble, high phosphates?
does the tank get any direct sun light ? (not good)

 

At 2 months old you are about right on schedule with the algae bloom. As long as its not hair algae (Bryopsis) it should subside as the tank matures. When you test are you testing for Phosphates? if so what is the reading? As long as your phosphates are low your feeding schedule seems to be okay. That is about what I feed my tanks.

As far as the ricordia goes, even if it not safe good luck moving it. I have one that has attached to the base of a frog spawn which is the same type of coral as a hammer and it seems to be doing okay, so I would not worry about it.

As far as more fish goes, I would hold off for some time and let your tank mature, you already have quite a few for such a young tank. But when it comes time unless you have a good supply of copepods you might want to stay away from the Mandarin because as far as I know thats all they eat, and they eat allot of them.

 

Also, 1 more thing >
You say it seems to get worse when you water changes ?
do you have a RO/DI unit ?

 

Howdy! and welcome to 3Reef
be really nice if could post some pics for us pic freaks

 

Welcome to 3reef. If you havent finished with the cycling period, you shouldnt have any livestock. Luna

 

Welcome to 3Reef>>>>>>>