New to site and hobby

Daffej

Daffej

New member
Hello. I am new to Reef Central and also new to the reef hobby. Glad to see a reef community for central Illinois. I have had a few freshwater systems but this is my first try at saltwater. I have a 36 gal bowfront that has been up and running for a little over 2 months now.

Substrate:
30lbs live sand
30lbs live rock

Fish:
2 ocellaris clownfish
Flame angelfish
Royal Gramma
Sixline Wrasse

Cleanup Crew:
10 nassiruss snails
10 hermit crabs
1 turbo snail
1 emerald crab
10 nerite snails

Coral:
Blue tubbs zoos
Orange zoos
Fire and Ice zoos
Pink zoos

Equipment:
2 powerheads
CPR bak pak skimmer
30" coralife 4 bulb t5 unit
200w heater
and currently building a aquaclear 50 refugium

I have been having some algae problems diatoms/red slime. Not sure if this is because the tank is only a few months old or if I am overfeeding.

Things I am looking to add in the near future:
CORAL LOTS AND LOTS OF CORAL
chiller (my wife won't run ac unless its over 95 deg in the house)
20 more lbs LR
ATO unit

Sorry for the long post. I will post some pics soon.
 
It definitely has become an addiction. I spend at least 4 hours a day either cleaning, watching or reading about it.
 
Welcome to the hobby and to RC. Don't worry about the Red slime algae. It is normal for new tanks and will eventually go away; not as fast as you want it to, but trust me it will. Patience is the key in the hobby. Problem is, most of us don't have any...it seems this hobby attracts many that have little if any patience and we want our tanks to be mature in a matter of weeks if not days. We want tons of coral and fish along with other livestock and unfortunately it causes us to rush things, then we have issues and things end up dying and we spend a lot of money.

Enjoy the hobby, enjoy looking at your tank and reading tons about what you've gotten into. Visit other reefers and look at their tanks...as long as it won't cause you to struggle and get rushed with yours. The best advice, take your time, ask a lot of questions, read everything you can find and come to your own conclusions, and learn from someone elses mistakes.

Rick
 
I have read everywhere that flow helps with algae problems. I have actually seen the opposite in my tank. The worst algae in my tank has a powerhead pointing right at it. I have a koralia 750 6" down on the left side pointed down at the rocks and a aqueon 500 circulation pump on the right side pointed up for surface breakage.

This should be enough flow for a 36 gallon correct?
 
[welcome]

Good luck with the hobby... Learn as much as you can about the hobby... Use all the resources available to you, including us... ;) Better to learn from the mistakes and experiences of others rather than repeat them...
 
Daffej said:
I have read everywhere that flow helps with algae problems. I have actually seen the opposite in my tank. The worst algae in my tank has a powerhead pointing right at it. I have a koralia 750 6" down on the left side pointed down at the rocks and a aqueon 500 circulation pump on the right side pointed up for surface breakage.

This should be enough flow for a 36 gallon correct?
Click to expand...

Sounds like you have enough flow. Remember what I said earlier, this is normal. Flow will help, but it is normal to have this, especially in the beginning. You may always have a little here and there. I'm finding you don't really need a lot of flow either, which is what I was going for until recently.
 
I'm going to aim the powerhead just above the rocks and see how that goes for a week or 2. Thanks for the tips. I was planning on buying 10 or 15 frags. Does anyone sell locally?

I was going to go to inland aquatics if not. Sailfin doesn't seem to have a great selection. Plus I'm still kind of upset with them after a ich incident.
 
medic29 said:
there it is....I didn't know this, but it makes sense I think.
Click to expand...

Even if it doesn't make sense, it's easy to experiment. Take a small powerhead such as maxijet or similar and point it at your rocks. Come back in 2 weeks and harvest that fresh crop of hair algae whipping in the current.

Contact "logan 12" about frags.
 
I will and do try to focus on the positive parts of my tank. Its everyone else that sees the tank that I am worried about. Don't want them thinking I am a neglectful or irresponsible owner of these creatures because I have algae everywhere.
 
My farm house is actually out in the country close to Broadlands but somehow its still considered Homer :confused:
 
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