Hello Everyone,
75g
new to salt side of life
4 peppermint shrimp
1 coral banded
1 emerald crab
2 skunk shrimp
2 scarlet hermit
4 tiny blue hermits
A good way i have found to reduce diatom algae is to use pods. I must have acquired hitch hiker pods from the live sand I put in my newly cycling/cycled tank. My tank is 6-7 weeks old (acquired tank from aunty and uncle 6 weeks ago with LR already in it). In terms of chemistry the tank was in horrible shape, nitrates were super high 80-100ppm. Added one fresh bag of live sand fine and one fresh bag of arogonite fine. Did water changes to keep nitrates suppressed. Added couple shrimp, hermits and 1 emerald-crab to deal with extreme die off in live rock and aiptasia weed control (pepps ate aiptasia, especially when i fed the aptasia krill). Had a huge spike in diatom algae, it literally covered all the glass and sand but I left it in there to help me deal with my nitrates. I also moved rubble live rock to the filter sump and BAM, pods everywhere. The pods, or whatever they are, devoured the diatom algae. They absolutely ate all my diatoms like a delicious dessert. They look like tiny bugs that move very fast, in clusters on my wall. Some of the bugs have a white dot and some look different bigger/smaller than others. So i suspect these are plankton pods. Saltwater tanks are certainly about finding natures balance to deal with things.:fish2:
75g
new to salt side of life
4 peppermint shrimp
1 coral banded
1 emerald crab
2 skunk shrimp
2 scarlet hermit
4 tiny blue hermits
A good way i have found to reduce diatom algae is to use pods. I must have acquired hitch hiker pods from the live sand I put in my newly cycling/cycled tank. My tank is 6-7 weeks old (acquired tank from aunty and uncle 6 weeks ago with LR already in it). In terms of chemistry the tank was in horrible shape, nitrates were super high 80-100ppm. Added one fresh bag of live sand fine and one fresh bag of arogonite fine. Did water changes to keep nitrates suppressed. Added couple shrimp, hermits and 1 emerald-crab to deal with extreme die off in live rock and aiptasia weed control (pepps ate aiptasia, especially when i fed the aptasia krill). Had a huge spike in diatom algae, it literally covered all the glass and sand but I left it in there to help me deal with my nitrates. I also moved rubble live rock to the filter sump and BAM, pods everywhere. The pods, or whatever they are, devoured the diatom algae. They absolutely ate all my diatoms like a delicious dessert. They look like tiny bugs that move very fast, in clusters on my wall. Some of the bugs have a white dot and some look different bigger/smaller than others. So i suspect these are plankton pods. Saltwater tanks are certainly about finding natures balance to deal with things.:fish2:
