Starting a 65g Reef

L

lt.smash

New member
3 weeks into a new tank.

Water is at 80-81 degrees.
65 gallon dsiplay with 20g Long sump
75lbs of dead rock (+ / - )
50 lbs of live sand

I been feeding the water about a 1/4 of a block of food a day with the main pump off for 20-30 mins.

I just noticed Little brown sports are occurring on my bleached white rock along with the top of sand bed. Glass is still very clean.

Lights (t-5) are one 8.5 hrs a day

I have not done any water changes

Long term plan is go corals, but 6 month plan is fish only. Nothing too exotic on the fish. A few clowns, chromis, gobies.

What are the brown spots?
Is it time for a cleaning crew?

Thank You
 
What are your water parameters? Has the tank finished cycling? Little brown spots may be diatoms. Hard to say if your tank is ready for CUC without knowing your parameters and if your tank has truly cycled. Adding CUC while still cycling will most likely kill the CUC.
 
Are you testing ammonia nitrates and nitrates? That will tell you when the cycle has completed. you don't need to run the lights until you have fish or corals. you are just inviting algae. the brown spots you mentioned are most likely diatoms and are a normal part of the cycle towards the end.
 
I just tested my Nitrate, and its just about at 0 (somewhere between yellow and orange)

My reef kit did not come with the ammonia test, but I have a fresh water ammonia test kit....Will that work?
 
I used a "fresh" water test kit

Ammonia - .25ppm - .50ppm (somewhere in between)
Nitrate - 0
Nitrite - 0

Brown spots are increasing.
 
Added a purple dotty... Heres to hoping he lives.

I also picked up a CNC for a 20 gallon since there is not much to go around yet.
 
lt.smash said:
I used a "fresh" water test kit

Ammonia - .25ppm - .50ppm (somewhere in between)
Nitrate - 0
Nitrite - 0

Brown spots are increasing.
Click to expand...

The freshwater ammonia test will not be accurate. Your ammonia levels need to be 0 before adding any fish or critters.
 
The brown spots seemed like they have doubled on my 'dead rock' and now its creeping onto the glass

My sump has about 10lbs of live rock and I am using live sand.

Do I do a water change?
When do I add my CUC?
 
thegrun said:
Please take the time to read the stickys at the top of this forum, especially the ones on setting up a new tank:
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2075632
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1031074

They contain a wealth of information and will help you avoid major issues. You need a basic understanding of the nitrogen cycle before you add anything to the tank.
Click to expand...

Thank You, I have been using them as a reference during my 4 month long tank build.

understand how the cycle works, I did not see anything in those threads about water changes, brown diatoms, or when to add a CNC

My white rocks are nearly all tan now....
 

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As everyone else suggested. DO NOT ADD anything(Fish, CUC, coral), while ammonia is still present.

Once ammonia, and nitrite are 0. Then you can add your clean up crew, then wait awhile, then slowly add fish, usualy 1 or 2 at a time. This will allow your bacteria to catch up to the bioload.

Ammonia, can kill fish, and at the least, is very hard on fish. Very inhumane as well.
 
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