5.5g nano log

[jmac4978]

Hooked up a Seaclone 100 that I bought off of a friend of mine. This is my first skimmer and I know that they are touchy. I set the air line so that it has lots of micro-bubbles in there and its starting to foam up to the top, but I guess I have to wait a few days for it to 'break in'. Its kinda putting out a bunch of micro-bubbles into the display, is something I can correct? Its pretty huge looking and I just kinda put it in there without changing the aquascaping just to get it in. I'll arrange it little by little to get it kinda hidden. Pic coming.

 

[jmac4978]

I dont know if I like how much room it takes up, but I guess the good outweighs the bad here.

Flow in the skimmer

Foam

Back glass has absolutely no more room for anything! I'm wondering if the tank can support all this stuff hanging on the back, I know it cant be lite. Comments?

 

[jmac4978]

Well, the skimmer seems to be working well. Its pulling out a pretty nice skimmate. But this update does not come without a problem. I got home from work to see a bunch of bubbles scattered mostly on the rocks and sand in the lower left corner of my tank. Some others scattered thru the tank but pretty scarce. I initially thought it was bubble algae! OMG, one thing after another. However, I've never actually seen bubble algae, only heard of it. So I search it out and finally find a picture of it...now I dont think thats what it is. They are not green and they are very thin. I managed to shake some off of one of the rocks, and it rose to the top of the tank and dissappated like you'd think a bubble would. What would cause this? Is there a wierd patch of flow or something? I dont really have any bubbles coming into the water from the filter nor the skimmer anymore. Any ideas? Thanks for taking a look. Happy reefing!

 

[Gordonious]

Bubbles could come from the skimmer at night time. Supposedly the tank chemistry can change a good deal when the lights are out. On possibility. Another it could be something seeping out of the LR. How long did the LR cure? Is any of the LR new? Regardless it still could be something if the chemistry of your tank, or the algae, or some animal is opening up the rock. Hard to say.

 

[jmac4978]

I think you hit it on the head, Gordonius. Thanks for your advice. I'm sure it was the skimmer putting the bubbles in the display. I cut a sponge and attached it to the skimmer output. I know it will probably build up nasties, but I'll just have to clean it regularly. Its better than seeing these bubbles all over the place.

Well, this post is just an update really. My tank still looks crappy, in my opinion, but I think I'm to a spot where I have a handle on it and can improve it slowly. Last week i bought an 3 stage RO unit which has really shown good effects to the tank. My water params are the best they've ever been after a few hefty water changes. Ammo .25ppm, trite 0, trate 0, phos 0, pH 8.0. Ammonia is the thorn, I dont know whats causing it but I think I'll add some Ammolock. I pulled out the rock that I could that had alot of algae on it to treat my Foxface to some home-grown goodness, but I have yet to put it or any other in its place. So the tank looks bare, but I'll be working on it in the coming weeks. So heres a few pics...

Full tank shot...

My newest addition and only fish. He's really small, too small for my liking, but he's all they had and I'll fatten him up...

Moon polyps...

Un-named polyps...

Here's the moom polyp rock. When I put them in, 2/3 of them thrived but the other 1/3 never opened and look dead. Is it ok to leave them in there to decompose or should I cut them out and risk stressing out the good ones? I'd like to just let them in there, but I dont know if there will be any ill-effects of doing that.

Thanks for taking a look and any comments, questions, or advice is definately welcome.

 

[Gordonious]

The moon polyp rock could be the source of ammonia. I am not sure if you should remove them or not, but perhaps adding a hermit crab or two would help remove any dead stuff. (That is of course only if you like hermits.) That level is not horribly high for a new tank, but definitely want to bring it to 0ppm as you get your tank stable. Personally I would be pulling out the algae as much as possible and getting in there with a razor blade to clean the glass including that below the substrate line.

How long of a photo period are you on now? You want the photo period to be as short as possible while still keeping the corals healthy. I would not add other corals till you get the algae under control. That algae is the only thing standing between you and a beautiful tank.