my first reef at 4 months

[mudskipper1]

Hi everyone, I am just looking for some input on my first saltwater aquarium which is a reef. It is the 40 breeder in my current tank description below. I am going through some pretty serious hair algae right now, and the turbo snails and Emerald Crabs are an effort to combat it. I do 6 gal. water changes every 2 weeks and add aragamilk to the new saltwater. I keep my lights on from 8:30 am to 9:30 pm. I know that is longer than most, and that could be contributing to my algae, but my montipora digitata does a lot better with the slightly longer photoperiod.

The equipment:

AGA 40 breeder 36x18x16t- drilled w/ a 1-inch bulkhead, in a DIY corner overflow.

DIY stand/skirt
Cherry Canopy
DIY 10 gal. sump/fuge
250 watt heater
DC fan (for summer)
Koralia #2 (600 gph)
2 small Rio PH (80 gph/each)
ViaAqua 480 PH (200 gph)
Powersweep (approx 120 gph)
QO 1200 (approx 200gph after headloss)
Aquaclear 70 (approx 150 gph)

Livestock:
Fish:
pair ocellaris clowns
orchid dottyback(Fridmani)

Inverts:
peppermint shrimp
Skunk Cleaner Shrimp
3 Emerald Crabs
Cleaner Clam
2 Turbo snails
2 Nassarius
2 Margarita
5 Astraea
2 trochus
4 scarlet reef Hermits
3 Mexican Red leg Hermits

Corals:

Several types of mushrooms(multiplying like crazy)
GSP(in a mood right now, polyps not fully extended)
Kenya Tree(dropped 2 branches so far)
Pulsing Xenia(reproduced once and grown pretty well)
Yellow polyps
Button polyps
Green and brown zoos
orange and green zoos
Montipora digitata(growing pretty well)


Misc:
Flatworms(have the flatworm exit, and Im sucking them out as well. Any Reccomendations as to amt. of flatworm exit to use. I have heard that people sometimes use more than reccomended, should I?
Macros in display(trim regularly, but kinda like the look)
Im growing out frags of several of the corals so I can sell/trade(zoos, kenya tree, monti digi, button/yellow polyps)


I would like to upgrade my lighting at some point, but on a highschoolers budget that is gonna be pretty tough. I would like to get some lps corals (Hammer, Frogspawn, brain, candy cane, bubble), maybe a derasa clam and a GBTA at some point in the future. I recently ordered from www.Saltwaterfish.com, and I got the cleaner shrimp, the emerald crabs, the cleaner clam, the orchid dottyback, and a canary blenny. Everything did fine except the blenny which arrived upside down and died within 24 hrs.

I would like to get one or two more active fish, that are aquacultured/tank raised. Any suggestions?

Just looking for input on my tank as far as livestock, equipment, plans, anything. Feel free to point out any flaws or ask questions.

Now for pics, finally:

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Thanks for reading

 

[mudskipper1]

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[jjj1100]

tank looks good....is that hair algae, I can't really tell. If so you may want to get that under control as t spreads fairly rapidly

 

[mudskipper1]

oh and my params are as follows according to API:

Ammonia-undetectable
nitrite-undetectable
Nitrate-undetectable
Phosphates-undetectable
Calcium-450
Alk-9

Red Sea Magnesium-1350

Temp-78-80
SG-1.024


And I run carbon continuously in my sump

 

[mudskipper1]

Thanks jjj1100, and yes it is hair algae, and i am working on it, lol

 

[mudskipper1]

also, feel free to post pics of your first reef tank

 

[stuccodude]

i would if you tell me how to post pics in the easiest form possible, i have a photobucket account and the pics i post come out as a small white box with a x in the middle

 

[mudskipper1]

what I do is click the "IMG" button above the main box when you hit reply, and a box comes up. You paste the IMG code from photobucket in that box and hit enter or okay or something like that. Then, it will pop up in the main box.

 

[an411]

stuccodude I think that is cause they are to big you may have to resize it

 

[stuccodude]

how do you resize an411 and thanks too mudskipper thats what i was doing but i think an411 may have the answer

 

[Cope]

What type of macro algae is that?
(edit) not the hair alage (HA) but the "leafy" lookin stuff?
Thanks
Cope

 

[mudskipper1]

umm, not exactly sure, i know that it is not bad as long as you keep it trimmed, but other than that i dont know, it came on the LR

 

[Scoobaman17]

I have it in my fuge. Not sure what it is but I'm going to use it in my 5 gallon cube for my GF when I get her velvet damsel she wants. Nice looking and growing. Also if you don't have a good clean up crew Get the 100 mixed snail package from reefscavengers.com for 69.99 I think. I have that in my 100 and NO algae whatsoever!

Also if no on the clean up crew, get a sea hare BUT TAKE IT BACK after it cleans your tank otherwise it WILL DIE! You must realize this, everyone tends to say "o it's doing so good...... never to be seen again!

 

[mudskipper1]

I already have a decent CUC so I think I am just going to wait for it to run its course and fix whatever problem caused it, as long as it does not grow over everything.

 

[mg426]

Nice looking tank !!! Get after that HA ASAP and dont let up, that stuff gets a toe hold and its look out.

 

[dsn112]

I would consider a Phosphate reactor also, they cost like 70 bucks all said and done, will help with the phosphate issue that is probably causing your algae. Your api test reads undetectable for phosphates for a few reasons.
1. The algae uses them up before they will appear on a test.
2. Mainly this one, that test is junk. The rest of the api stuff is decent though.

I would also think about adding some more flow. That helps too.

 

[mudskipper1]

yeah, I have been trying to pull the HA off, but arent macro algae like the ones i have supposed to help reduce phosphates among other things, at first the HA was mostly on the sand, I increased the flow and it moved to the rocks, now I have PHs aimed right at the HA and it doesnt seem to mind. Should I try leaving the lights off for a few days, to get rid of the HA? Should I cover the tank during this?

Thanks for the input, and keep it comin

 

[mudskipper1]

Anybody have any experience with turning off lights to get rid of HA?

 

[Scoobaman17]

I still vote a cheap sea hare from the lfs. Give it about a week and that should do the trick and then take it back to the store.

 

[Porkreefer]

bump for nice setup