Please help-Ugly Brown Junk on my LR

[daisymoonbeam]

Brand new tank, only had a fish for two days so lights have only been on 12 hour shifts for two days.

All of a sudden there is ugly brown stuff (I assume it is BAD algae) on the live rocks (please see pic, it's the only one in my gallery, click on camera icon above this post) but I don't know what to do for it. Do I need cleaners like snails or something?

Also, my new fish is a Royal Gramma and looks like he scratched his head and left a white spot. The LFS sold me a bottle of stuff to put in the water to help repair his scratch. Anybody know anything about this. I am sort of afraid to put anything in the water.

Thanks,
Daisy

 

[jjirsa78]

Has the tank cycled?

Have you tested your water?

The algae is probably diatoms - very common in most new tanks. It'll pass, but it'll disappear faster with a cleaning crew. For a 46G tank, a handful of snails and/or crabs will help with many kinds of algae, including diatoms.

Not sure about the white spot - if it's a single spot, it's less likely to be Ich, but I'd still spend some time researching. I've never seen anything like that on my Royal Gramma, not sure how it would get scratched (those things are slow, cautious swimmers, and while they'll explore EVERYTHING, I don't know how it'd get hurt like that).

 

[bertoni]

What exactly is the product that the LFS sold you? I wouldn't dump medications into my reef tank in general.

 

[ahill3780]

Agreed. I also would ask how long the tank has been running.

Here is a link to a thread from our lovable mod WaterKeeper that I recommend you check out:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=239848&highlight=refugium+AND+setup

It will answer most of the questions you now have and a lot of those that you will come back with if you go on your own. It's a Looonnnggg thread but you can skim through it and focus on WK's long posts - those are the instructional posts and supply you with most all of your answers.

Good luck, happy reefing, and:

<img src="/images/welcome.gif" width="500" height="62"><br><b><i><big><big>To Reef Central</b></i></big></big>

 

[daisymoonbeam]

The stuff LFS wanted me to use is "Melafix". Actually the whiteness on his head seems to not be as large today. Not going to use it unless I absolutely have to since I don't want to put in un-necessary things.

The tank has been running for about five weeks. The water was just tested a few minutes ago and is as follows:

PH 8.2
Ammonia 0
Nitrate 0
Nitrite 0
Temp 79.5 degrees.

 

[bertoni]

The tank is very new, and blooms like the one you describe are very common. A few snails might help clean up the tank. Cerith and Trochus have worked well for me.

 

[daisymoonbeam]

OK, so no panicking for now.

Thanks all for the input