PDA

View Full Version : brown on rocks and coral


clownbob
11-23-2009, 07:46 PM
First post for me:

I inherited a 20 gal tank on Friday with two fish (yellow with white stripes clown and a blue with yellow tail). I had to transport the tank so I put 3/4 of the water into containers and took every thing home. The tank was covered in algae on the glass so I wiped it off before re adding the water that was drained for the trip.

The rock and coral are covered in reddish brown algae and the white gravel (is it gravel?) on the bottom was also this dark reddish brown.

I went into a fish store on Sunday and the guy told me to put my hand in the tank and stir it all up and the filter could clean it. He said to do this 2 - 3 times a day. I have swished it Sun pm and Mon am so far (today) but the stuff on the rocks doesn't look like it is doing any good. Do I just need to keep doing this? The bottom is looking better but it seems that now some of the red brown stuff is mixed into the gravel rather than just being on top.
Any other suggestions?

elitesurfer
11-23-2009, 07:56 PM
Could be diatoms forming because of mini cycle or cyanobacteria.

muck
11-23-2009, 08:17 PM
Welcome to Canreef Clownbob!!

A picture or two of your setup would help.
Are you running a skimmer currently?

clownbob
11-23-2009, 08:40 PM
I don't have a skimmer and I don't know how to put a picture on here. I am new to the forum and a 3 day old marinist (is that a word?) with not even a basic knowledge. I did want to rescue this tank and give it a shot of making it look good. The 5 grand daughters all love the 2 colourful fish.

At this point all the knowledge I have is from one visit to the store. They checked the water and said that every thing was OK but I needed more salt. It was at the lowest acceptable level and they said to raise it to the highest level. I am raising the level 1 notch a day.

While there they sold me:

Chlor-out
Essential Elements
Liquid Calcium
Strontium and Molybdenum
De-Tox
Frozen Shrimp

I inherited:

Ammonia Tester
ph tester
NO2 tester
Hydrometer
Ph indicator solution/Ph up/Ph down
Eclipse filer system
Heater
Coral life scientific grade salt
instant ocean
temp guage
lots of little stuff (algae scrapers, nets, etc)

The fish are healthy and have been alive for several years in this tank. It had only been neglected for the last short while before my friend passed away.

elitesurfer
11-23-2009, 09:00 PM
> Make sure your temp is at around 78 degrees.
> Use the hydrometer to test the specific gravity. This tells you how saline your water is. Aim for 1.023. Instead of dumping the salt into the aquarium directly, use a spare bucket and mix the salt in pure water.
You need to circulate the water you're mixing and aim for temperature a bit higher than that of your tank. So, you will need a heater and powerhead for this. Use your hydrometer to test the salinity once the temperature is at around 79~80. Aim for higher specific gravity if you have lower amount in your tank and vice versa.
You shouldn't be using tap water for the aquarium. So, you'll have to look into buying filtered RO (Reverse Osmosis) water. If you don't have a RO filter unit, look into buying water from your local fish store (LFS) or superstore.
> The two fishes you have are clownfish and royal gramma.
> Visit http://www.nano-reef.com/articles/ for useful info on how to maintain your tank you've recieved and a lot of information about saltwater aquarium.
> To post images, you can upload your pictures to website like tinypic.com and tag the url with img url

muck
11-23-2009, 09:05 PM
> Make sure your temp is at around 78 degrees.
> Use the hydrometer to test the specific gravity. This tells you how saline your water is. Aim for 1.203.

I think you mean 1.023.
Personally I like to aim for 1.025 (specific gravity of natural seawater)

elitesurfer
11-23-2009, 09:12 PM
I think you mean 1.023.
Personally I like to aim for 1.025 (specific gravity of natural seawater)

Woops thanks for catching that. Wouldn't want to misguide up a new reefer. :)

clownbob
11-23-2009, 09:16 PM
The temp in the tank is 78

The specific gravity is presently at 1.022

My hydrometer has the numbers 1.020 - 1.024 in red. I was going to get it to the 1.024 line. Do you think I should go to 1.025? Will this help with red/brown algae problem?

muck
11-23-2009, 09:27 PM
Does the red/brown algae look like this?

http://www.melevsreef.com/id/cyano.html

clownbob
11-23-2009, 09:37 PM
kind of like that - there's a darker part on the right of the picture that looks more like mine - could be the lighting. there is a red slime on the glass behind the rocks (can't clean without moving the rocks).

elitesurfer
11-23-2009, 09:39 PM
If it IS the stuff in muck's link, changing temp and salinity aren't gonna help. 1.022 isn't bad but you can push it to 1.025 as muck suggested.

clownbob
11-23-2009, 09:49 PM
When I was cleaning the algae off the glass with the scraper I brushed into a piece of rock and it made it real white. Is that harmful? Can I use a BBQ brush to gently wipe the algae off the rocks?

The only coral in the tank are two small (approx 2 inch wide pieces of 1 - 1/2 inch high) fingers. They stick straight up and completely covered in the algae.

elitesurfer
11-23-2009, 09:54 PM
If the brush isn't contaminated, you can give it a try but siphon out all the algae that tries to float away.

clownbob
11-23-2009, 10:03 PM
I gave it a little brush on one rock and it comes clean. I'll do small amounts at a time. There are no big pieces after I brush - it kind of just goes into very tiny pieces that can't really be siphoned off. They do go to the filter so most of it should go there or settle on the gravel which can be filtered later.

elitesurfer
11-23-2009, 10:07 PM
If you don't have a nitrate NO3- (not Nitrite NO2-) test kit, I'd recommend to get one so you can test wat your levels are at.

clownbob
11-23-2009, 10:12 PM
What's the difference between NO2 and NO3?

Going out for a couple hours - will check form when I get back.

Thanks for the help. I just hope I don't get addicted to this.

clownbob
11-23-2009, 10:13 PM
Question: Is there a way I can have the thread go directly to the newest page instead of having it always start at the beginning of the thread?

elitesurfer
11-23-2009, 10:18 PM
Question: Is there a way I can have the thread go directly to the newest page instead of having it always start at the beginning of the thread?

Click on the little blue box with arrow sign ( > ). It takes you to the last post of the thread.

muck
11-23-2009, 10:21 PM
Click on the little blue box with arrow sign ( > ). It takes you to the last post of the thread.

or change your setting in User CP (control panel)
have a quick read...

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/faq.php?faq=vb3_board_usage#faq_vb3_thread_display

clownbob
11-24-2009, 05:31 AM
Thanks - I found the CP setting and reset it.