Rookie needs help

[co407]

I am a saltwater rookie and need some advise from somebody that knows their stuff. If anybody would answer some questions.
I would sincerely appreciate it.

I have a 40 gal long aquarium with the following specs.

Pro clear aquatics premier 125G wet/dry filter w prefilter.
Coralife super skimmer 125G
RIO+ 2500 powerhead - pump for wet dry filter
2 Coralife 20,000K 18in fluorescent tubes / 15 watts each.
2+ inch layer of sand
Live rocks
2 unknown kinds of anemone
1 clown trigger
1 porcupine puffer
4 damsels.

My concerns are...
The out of control slime from the anemones which happens every few days when they shrivel up. It seems they shrivel up after they eat then I see this stringy slime dangling from these things which winds up all over the sand bed in clusters - large spots of grey slime.

After the anemones shrivel up for many hours they blow up and get big and full again. When I turned out the lights completely overnight these creatures puffed up and looked really weird the next morning. Now I leave the left side of the tank lights on 24-7 and have the right side on a timer.

The fish swim to the dark side at night and sleep. The anemones stay on the left side where the light is on 24-7.

I also have an out of control red color algae problem.
Within a few weeks I have this red algae all over the rocks and its getting thicker and messier everyday. I cleaned up this mess and within a few weeks it came back and its looking realy ugly.

I do not know if this is ok and normal?

Please look at the pictures and let me know what you think.
http://www.chrisondo.com/aquarium/


I also change 5 gallons of water one day a week with reverse osmosis water and coralife salt. The aquarium has been set up for 3 months and the fish are doing great.

Thank you to anybody that reads this and helps me.

 

[skinnyjoe1976]

welcome to the hobby. couple of things off the top of my head. 1 is what are you water specs? 2 the red slime is cyno and is treatable. 3 the lights are not enough to support aneome's imo. the 2 you have look like hatian and yellowsebae these are some of the easiest and least light require anenomes. they can be a pain to care for. some people say they are for experienced people only but it can be done. i have a feeling that the nitrates are off the charts but could be wrong. do you have a cleaning crew? if not i would remove the trigger since it might eat the inverts and get some snails, hermit, and cucumbers and that might help with the algea. as for the gray slime i've seen it in the past but can't thing of the name. someone else will chime in on it. one more thing when the anenomes eat they will puff up and then deflate and at night they can shrink. thats something natural that they do. if you really want them i would recommend to upgrade your lighting to at least pc,s vho's or t5's. hope some of this helps. test the water and chime back in

 

[cham]

I agree that there might not be enough light. The anemones look really bleached out. Anemones do shrivel up (usually at night) as part of their regular routine.

I would get some phosphate tests done, that is most likely your culprit for all the algea. If you do have high phosphates then we can look into ways of cutting down on the import.

 

[cowboyswife]

I agree with the other two about the lighting, but I wouldnt leave one of the lights on all the time. How long have you had the anemones? Them being bleached out could also be from where you purchased them. If you got the haitian anemone at Petco, then thats probably why it is bleached. Red slime is also just part of having a newer tank. Siphon it out when you do your water changes, and you might look into getting atleast one powerhead to increase the flow in the tank. The red slime algae grows more where there is little flow in the tank.

 

[Pacific Reefs]

Welcome to the hobby. I would separate the 2 anemones since they are different species they could be stinging each other that close together. You must upgrade the lights to keep them happy. Also take a sample of your water to a local fish store to get tested. Ocean Blue isn't too far from you if you are in Casselberry. Once a week water changes helped me in the beginning. If you get a chance come to the ORCA meetings.

 

[skinnyjoe1976]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11088071#post11088071 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by cham
I agree that there might not be enough light. The anemones look really bleached out. Anemones do shrivel up (usually at night) as part of their regular routine.

I would get some phosphate tests done, that is most likely your culprit for all the algea. If you do have high phosphates then we can look into ways of cutting down on the import.

I would get some phosphate tests done, that is most likely your culprit for all the algea

damn i forgot to say that. good call cham. like becca also said increase the flow in the tank if possible.

 

[co407]

THANK YOU everybody....I sincerely appreciate all the friendliness and replies.

I read everything everybody wrote and here are my replies.

What does this mean “the lights are not enough to support anemone’s imo”.?????

I have no cleaning crew....I was told Mr. Trigger will eat a cleaning crew like a snack.

Nitrates test fine….I use a saltwater water test lab and everything tests good.

The trigger tried to gobble on the purple anemones 2 times the first day I put the anome into the tank and obviously got stung….the trigger swam up the purple anemone like it was food and bit it and I witnessed Mr or Ms. trigger spitting like it was sour….this happened 2 times then the trigger learned his or her lesson and never did this again.

I love the trigger and he or she is the most beautiful fish I have ever seen….so I will not turn my back on him â€"œ get rid of him â€"œ her.

I bought the anemones from fishy business and was told the specific ones I choose are real hardy and easy to care for.

For some reason the purple anemone moves over to the white anemone ….I moved it several times and it always moves over to the white one.

I don’t know if these guys really sting?
I have moved them both with my bare hands and never felt any pain.

I want a 125 gal tank so I don’t see it a good investment to spend $hundreds of dollars for a 4 ft light rig for this small tank, I rather keep saving for the 125 and get super lights for that.

I have sucked up the slime and algae and it keeps coming back worese and worse every time. I an stuck and dont know what to do.

I paid this teenager from a fish shop to come to my house and fixz this and he was a total *** wipe.

I said I will pay you $50 to come to my home and change my water and test it.

He didnt bring any water or a test kit.....
He walked in my house...looked at the tank and said looks good...ok all done.

I said look man..you stated you would test my water and clean the algae. He came back the next day and stirred up my tank killing my puffer and was a complete idiot.

I mean when people call me for computer problems I show up prepared and take care of business....I dont just show up and say nice....now where my money.

I guess thats the difference between 18 yrs old and 30 yrs old.

Ohh and if I cant fix this on my own I will gladly pay somebody cash to visit me and fix this mess for me and teach me.

YOU guys ROCK.....and how do I become a member?? The links are broken??

 

[cowboyswife]

Anemones rely on light for survival, and we dont think that your lights are strong enough. Those anemones really do sting. The skin on your hands are too thick to feel it, but if you rub your forearm up against it a bunch, it can hurt and cause you to have a rash. You can sign up to be a member at the next meeting, but Im not sure exactly when it is.

 

[cham]

Cowboyswife is right.

An anemone is basically a coral. It has zoozantelle in its tissue that is a form of algea. The algea feeds off light and in turn feeds the anemone much like SPS corals (IMHO SPS are only minature anemones with skeletons, but thats another subject).


The zoozantelle algea like most all algeas have pigment (color) and the lack of color in your anemone indicates the lack of zoozanthelle and the lack of food for your animal.


I'm no anemone expert, but thats my understanding of them.

 

[co407]

Thanks Kate.

I really appreciate you and everybody else that took the time to read my post and write me back.

I will take your wordabout being stung.....I dont want a rash....haha.


Yes please let me know about this club and meetings.
I would love to meet all of you and learn from you guys...

 

[cowboyswife]

Oh lol thats just the quote. My name is Becca

 

[co407]

Mr. Cham....everything you spoke is way beyony my head.
Another good reason to join the club and meet everybody.

I love learning and understanding new things...

 

[sytanek]

Are you using RO/DI Water or just RO water. I would recommend upgrading your lighting most of all, in my opinion, which doesn't necessarily mean anything, they look very very bleached. Does the tank receive any direct sunlight? That can cause algae to spawn more frequently.

 

[co407]

Please re read my post here....I do have a protein skimmer and list all of my gear and water info.

 

[sytanek]

Another Idea perhaps would be a UV sterilizer.

 

[co407]

I learned a lot from reading your replies and chatting with some of you.

However I still do not know how to control this red algae and grey slime problem.

30 mins ago I used my siphon - gravel vacuum tube and vacuumed the sand removing as much of the grey slimey algae or whatever this stuff is as reasonably possible.

The red algae is thick all over the live rocks and I did not touch that.

I know the grey slimey material will come back within 2 weeks.

Please tell me what do I do to control this problem, aside from vacuuming the sand bed every week.

Last and mabye even a stupid question.
If I have to resort to using special chemicals to kill this thick red algae and the slimey gray algae. Will it kill my live rocks which has green algae on it which my damels nibble on?

 

[jade2122]

Just use Chemi-Clean red slime remover. works like a charm, wont hurt the live rock or fish. usually one treatment wipes it out in a few days. costs about $15 for enough doses for a 300 gal tank

 

[co407]

Thanks....

I will research this and buy some tomorrow.

 

[cham]

lol, sorry. I will try to keep it simple.

Chemi clean will clean up the algea mess but keep in mind that it will come back. You are just treating the symtom and not the problem.

Phosphate is a nutirent that is most likely your culprit. I would have a local fish store (preferbably Sea In The City since she has a nice mini lab set up) test your water for Phosphates.

 

[cowboyswife]

I had to use Chemi clean on a few of our tanks, and it worked great. Getting your water tested at a store will help to figure out if anything is off with your water. But your tank is still fairly new, and the red slime is just part of having a new tank.