3 month old set up....moving too fast?

1

1sttimer

Member
I've had this saltwater setup for 3 months now.
I started out with live sand,base rock and in the filters I run hypersonic, phosguard and poly filtet . Ammonia and nitrite are at 0 and nitrate is at 5ppm. 0 phosphates
But I do have brown hair algae on te rocks. My pair of clowns are eating well ,feeding them once a day.
3 small frags consist of zoa, clove polyps and star polyps.
I also added 4 blue legged hermit crabs.
Now I know patience is key but how will I know I can add more stock? Water changes are done with tap water every other week...I top off with distilled water in beteeen . Will soon change to distilled water for water changes also.
 
Doing it slowly is key. Gotta use ro water or distilled water. Tap water is a big no. Brown algae could be an indication ur tank is still maturing or simply the tap water having phosphate.
 
I test zero for phosphates. I know it's a no no when it comes to corals,that's why I'm switching to distilled for water changes.
 
Is it OK to use distilled water and add the salt in the bucket and let the power head mix it for a couple of days prior?
 
Do you have a LFS near you that has RODI or SW already mixed?

When I first started I was also using tap, a few drops of declorniator, and wondered why I was getting so much green hair algae.

I went to my LFS that had RODI (60 miles one way) (true story) and got 40 gallons of mixed SW. While it was a few cents more it was worth it. I did a few trips over the next few days, until I did probably a 80% water change, due to it mixing. A 5g bucket of SW dumped over in the trunk is nice a nice thing to see when you get home and open the trunk, btw. (NOT)

Long story short. My tap water not only had chlorine fluoride and what ever else but the phosphate was through the roof. While the water change did not fix everything, most of the inhabitants were better. I went out that next weekend and ordered a RODI and hooked it up.

Once I added up gas and price of the water it was a no brainier.
 
I get distilled water for 4 bucks per 5 gallons.
The place is 2 mins from my house. I do 2 water changes per month which will cost me 10$ a month...not bad.
 
By using distilled water,do I need to add anything to it besides salt? Will that replenish all trace elements and whatever else the tank needs?
 
The saltmix has most of the elements to replace/add as needed.

I would work on getting a few good test kits and using them on a regular basis to get a good baseline. From there you can add what is needed.

As we say on the ambulance, treat the patient first. Always test before you just dose in the tank. It is possible the numbers are already where they are supposed to be.
 
1sttimer said:
The only test kits I don't have are calcium magnesium .
Here's a pic of the polyps with green hair algse .
Click to expand...
That tank is not ready for corals. Your Zoa's are not good. Also when you say "the only test kits I don't have are Mag and Calcium." Those, along with Alk. are the three most important tests you can do. Please slow down, wait for those first two or three BIG algal blooms to subside and then... Go slowly. I wish you luck and asking these type questions on here are what this forum is for. Keep using the resources you have and buy an RODI setup. For now, go to the grocery store, by Deep Rock Distilled water (Never use thier spring water)and do some SMALL fresh water changes. Be careful when doing top offs also, use fresh water for top offs. Remember, as your water evaporates, your SG climbs. Only mix up a bucket of Saltwater when doing a Change(take out 5 gallons put 5 gallons of Saltwater back in. If just evaporation, just the fresh. That make sense?

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Thanks for the response. I enjoy reading everyone's input.
Ill be doing water changes with distilled water . I pre mix in a bucket a day prior the water change. Can I put shells in the the distilled water to help increase the pH?
 
Crushed aragonite is a good calcium buffer, but, until you test for it and get a reading, dosing anything in that new of an aquarium is pointless. Just do small incremental changes.ake sure your SG is accurate. Do you have a hydrometer? By adding just quality sea salt, obtaining accurate test numbers and using quality water it's ALL you need to do right now. It's what this forum is for. To help others enjoy and most importantly ethically take care of the animals in our reefs.

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I meant to warn you that anything in your tank in a Bag (crushed media) it can become a detritus trap and may in turn cause more algal blooms.

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My substrate is aragonite. I don't have filter bags besides the purigen bags which nothing gets in. I did test 5-10ppm for nitrates. Any advise on that?
 
another thing, even though your test kit says 0 phosphates the algae says you do have phosphates, the algae is just using it up as fast as it enters the system so it is out of the water by the time you test for it.

good luck
 
Is Algae blooms necessary during tank cycle? My tank has been running empty for 33 days now. Ammonia and Nitrite is 0. Nitrate was 8 ppm 2 days ago. I just converted one of the AIO chambers as a refugium yesterday so this should help lowering the Nitrate. So far I am only getting diatoms. I am not running lights during cycle.
I got a free clown and xenia and they are in QT tank for 2 weeks now and going.
 
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