New here

[Steve'o]

Hi Everyone
I am new here and looking for some advice and help.
I have a jbj 28 gal nano cube that I setup a few moinths back. I have a fair bit of coral and live rocks in it and a few fish. Also about 6 snails and a slug. Though they would help me with my algae problem...??
I am doing a 5 gal water change once a week and trying also to suck up any debris on the sand floor... my tank is an algae magnet.. seems like I am cleaning it every single day. Is this nornmarl?
I bought an Protien Skimmer as i was told this would help. but does not fit behind the tank so I have to have it inside the tank and the top just barely fits under the lid of the tank so not sure if this is even going to work.
I am testing my salt levels and they look good to me.
Temp is good I have a heater.
How do you keep your tanks so clear?
I want that.. please help?
Steve'o

[fishytime]

welcome to Canreef......... algae blooms are quite common in the first few months of a tanks life......the duration a severity will very greatly depending on a lot of variables:wink:.....tell us some numbers......like how many months exactly.....how much live rock...... how many and what kind of fish...what do you feed your fish and how often do you feed.....power compact lighting?..... how old are the bulbs......are you running the stock JBJ return only for flow or do you have some other kind of flow inside the tank?.....knowing some of these answers will help us to figure out what your algae issues might be

[Steve'o]

Thanks Fishytime,
My tank has been going since beginning of Feb. I have about 25 lbs live rock in the tank, and live sand on the floor.
Fish.. 1 clown, 1 Tang and 1 damselfish
I have had a couple of my coral die on me.. can't figure out why yet. but most are doing well these days.
I feed them fevery day frozen brine one day and a bit of the flakes the next.
My lighting is the LED which is pretty bright I think has dusk and night lights also
Yes just the stock jbj return flow.
Steve'o

[reef-keeper]

Welcome to Canreef!

[ALang]

Welcome to Canreef!
I thought about your comments to me last night, and I'm glad to see you on here today.

You mentioned that there is live rock and sand in there.
Were the live sand someone else's or purchased in a bag "live"?
Were the live rocks cured in someone else's tank or bought at a fish store?
Did you let the LR and LS go through their cycle before adding fish and corals?

As Fishytime said, give us some concrete numbers as to how long you let your tank cycle prior to adding fish?
Did you really test your water? Most newbies I know (not to be insulting) said that they did, or that they had the store do it for them, but haven't any idea as to the numbers.

We have all had fish stores who are not very reputable tell us things that are incorrect or downright false.

That's another thing... find a well-reputed fish store and stick tho these like glue. They are invaluable to all sorts of answers.

Was the tank/ lights new?? If bought used, the lights maybe off spectrum.

Try feeding your fish a little less.

Keep up with the water changes. I really think that you're still going through your cycle, or maybe never have had the time to finish cycling.
Patience is hard to have in this hobby, but you do have to practice this in order to succed.
Good luck. Lenny.

[Steve'o]

Hi Lenny,
Sand was purchased in a bag.
Live rock was from a store here in Calgary, Wai's Aquarium.
Prob not let it cycle.. diod not know about that till I got into it more and started reading a lot.
I do check my Salt levels and my Temp. I also take a sample to the store and he checks for PH.. which is low for me so have been adding for that.
Is there more I should be checking?
Lights came with the unit, built into the top.
My next one will wait a few months before i add anything to get it cycling well ;)
Steve

[ALang]

Yup, it is the dreaded cycling.

You don't need to worry about the pH right now. Get everything else stable first:
I assume your ammonia is a non-issue or your fish would be dying or dead.
Then test your Nitrite, this is the second item you need to be at 0ppm.
Then Nitrate. This will go way up before it drops slowly down.

When you get it to near 0ppm, and keeping that figure for a few days, then you are ready to add **slowly** fish, one at a time over the next few weeks, or even months. Test in between of each addition of fish. Keep water changes steady, preferably either weekly or bi-weekly, depending on your needs.

Depending on what style of tank you want to keep, FOWLR, LPS, or SPS, you will need to test for Calcium, Alkalinity, Magnesium, at the minimum. Get these to the recommended levels, and keep them up by dosing, or Kalkwasser top-off. When all these are good, you can add your corals, if you wish.
HTH. Lenny.