WARNING! Loaded with questions...

I'm new here, but I have questions, so I'll introduce myself here. Intermediate reef keeper- I currently have a 12g Nano reef which I will be transferring into a 40g tall with a 16g sump for a seahorse setup.

My questions are about my other project, a "tank rescue" if you will. My chiropractor has a 24g Nano with one Percula clown (used to be two- one died after I did a 25% water change- NICE), tons of unidentified macro algae, and a few blue leg hermits that I added. My main concern is the thick coating of dark greenish to black slimy algae (or cyano?) on the back wall and live rock. Sides of tank near sand substrate are covered too. In addition, there's a REALLY WEIRD jelly-looking growth on one of the rocks. It's kind of green/pink and translucent, firm to the touch, and it took some prodding to rupture. I think I'm taking that rock out, but I'd kinda like to know what it is and why it's there... it wasn't there during my first cleaning of the tank.- it developed over the course of a few weeks. Any ideas? I don't think it's the dead clown... I certainly hope they would have removed that.

The filtration is really SAD, to be honest. The filter area only contains a small, made-for-nano white filter pad (about 7"L x 3"W x 1/2" thick) and a slew of bristleworm-producing bio balls. That's IT. There is room for sponge blocks, but they're missing. I need to add more media, and suggestions are welcome- this tank needs some serious help. I will be doing another water change and PH/nitrite/nitrate, etc. testing soon.

Questions for this tank: First, how many snails and scarlet hermits should I add for a clean up crew? I don't want to overload the tank with inverts, and I can't seem to find how many per gallon I'm supposed to add. There are currently NO SNAILS in the tank.

Second: THIS IS FOR DOWN THE ROAD- What types of SMALL COLORFUL fish, and how many, can I add as tankmates for the Percula? Again, I don't want the bio load to be too much. EASY corals will be added at some point too- not planning on adding anything else for aesthetics.

Thanks in advance for any advice you can give! I would love to get this tank back to its potential good health and beauty.

 

hi welcome to 3reef for the cyano problem i would increase flow to that area, get a better filter(that should be priority 1) also decrease feeding to the tank as for the other algae thats on the rocks i dont know what it is but what you can do is take the rocks out put them in a bucket of saltwater and scrub em then once they look clean your CuC can handle the little stuff. for the clean up crew id add about 10- 20 snails and maybe 5 hermits. and for fish i would look into gobys. my personal favorite is the green clown goby. you can also go onto liveaquaria.com and they have a whole section of good nano tank fish. good luck!!

 

First.. welcome to 3reef!

From what I have seen the general consesnsus is 1 snail or hermit per gallon of water, at least this is what I have seen when buying CUC packages.

As far as fish i will let the others help you out there, good luck!

 

Well first things first, you need those parameters. If you can get pictures that would also greatly help. As far as snails and such, I would contract John Maloney at reefcleaners.org. He will build a custom clean up crew for you and let you know exactly what you need. It really hard to say how many snails per gallon. It more depends on how much algae you have, what types and what type of snails you want. Again, John is basically an expert at this so he can provide much more meaningful advice.

As for fish, a yellow tailed damsel, a small wrasse of some sort, like a sixline wrasse a goby, or another clown.

 

Thanks guys! Drew, I will heed your advice STAT. I actually bought a bunch of corals with my 40g which came with two powerheads that I'm not going to use... (seahorses need lower currents). I can add those easy. I'm going after work to clean and add some CUC critters/filter media, so hopefully after the holiday it will start shaping up. Thanks so much for the fast reply!

 

no problem

 

First of all about the clean up crew. You can go to ReefCleaners.org | Clean Up Crews and Macro Algae - Home and they will customize a plan for your specific tank. Reefcleaners is a 3reef sponsor and everyone here is very pleased with their livestock and customer service. At first what they recommend may sound like overkill, but trust me, they know their stuff.

Secondly about the algae. The algae is feeding off of access nutrients in the tank. This could be from using tap water instead of RO/DI water, from not performing water changes frequently enough, or from overfeeding the fish. If there is only a clownfish in there right now, it would be very easy to overfeed that tank especially if there aren't many snails and hermits to clean up the uneaten food. You can also try adding a phosphate pad as part of the filter media.

Is there a skimmer on the tank? Any tank will benefit from a skimmer. It's possible to have a nano without a skimmer, but water conditions must be kept perfect and weekly water changes are a must. A small yet powerful hang on back skimmer can do wonders for a nano tank.

Hope this has helped. And welcome to 3reef

 

This dark hard thing that you popped sounds an awful lot like bubble algae. Do a google search to verify.

 

Thanks, Falcon. As far as using tap instead of RO/DI for top-off, I'm not sure if they have done this in the office. I'd never use that in my marine tanks... talk about the kiss of death. I learned not to use tap water the hard way, when I had my first reef tank. I'm going right after work to my LFS to get some supplies. The phosphate pad is definitely a good idea, so I'll be buying one tonight.

As far as using reefcleaners.org, I've heard great things about them. However, this week I'm taking advantage of my husband's vacation time (no sitter needed for our 4 year old daughter), and I'm going to my LFS to get some snails (I've already researched types, and I know what kinds I want to put in this particular tank). Yes, I'm also using this as an excuse to puruse their fish selection as well, while taking some much-needed "recreational time for mommy"!

This tank doesn't have a skimmer. I know a small one would be GREAT for it, and I'm certainly not going to run my seahorse reef without my Coralife 65. I may just purchase a small skimmer one tonight. I've got my work cut out for me, I know... but I really want this tank to be successful.

Thanks again for all the advice! I'm thinkin' I need to take pics of this tank to enter in the Cyano's Revenge worst tank contest! LOL

 

Well, it's not dark and hard... it's pinkish and translucent, and although it took some prodding to rupture it, it's soft and slimy on the surface (and inside) with some give when poked. Kinda feels like the stalks of a Xenia, but firmer- with the same smoothness on the surface. Hard to explain. If I didn't know better, I'd say it was a cocoon of sorts.

I will try to look this up, but it's like nothing I've ever seen.