Newby looking for input/feedback

[Koresample]

Hi,

I just started a salt tank, it's 41G fluval. I have 49Lbs LR that i purchased that was well established in another tank, plus 60 llbs of aragonite live. The rock and sand has been in the tank for only about 4 days and my readings are;
HG 1024, 79.8 degrees, Ph 8.2, amnonia 0, Nitrite 0 and Nitrate 0. I have the Marine Glo and Power Glo lights on a timer for 10 hours on 14 hours off.
I have noticed coral coloration on my newest rock that matches the other rock overnight, but have not seen any algae start to grow. It almost seems too perfect, am i being set up for disaster?
I have about 6 crabs and 8 snails right now in there. Should i just keep checking my readings daily and watching out for dying critters? I plan on waiting another month before i add any fish, but should i be concerned about the critters/janitors?

thanks!

[Trigger Man]

You may need to add something dead to the tank to begin the cycle. There may not be enough dieoff occurring to start the process. As a second note, you did transfer a bunch of lr from another tank so that decreases the intensity of the cycle in many instances, and the tank my be cycled for the current bioload. Also you don't need to have your lights running for such a long time when cycling. When I cycle a tank I don't turn on the lights till after the cycle ends (keeps from the possible algae bloom).

[Alberta-newb]

Welcome to Canreef!

Sounds like your off to a very good start and have obviously done your homework (real parameters rather than "the water is good")

You may have some good established rock and sand, I started my tank with similar well cured rock and never had any appreciable readings. I did add a piece of cocktail shrimp into my tank to let it rot and see If I could get a spike but I guess the rock was established enough as even then nothing showed up.

[Koresample]

thanks for the feedback. The only semi-dead thing i added was a piece of rock from the other tank that had been out of water for about 8 days. it was totally white compared to the other rock with minimal purple growth. Is the purple stuff growing on the LR coral algae?

When i took the readings tonight all was the same except for the HG which was up to 1027. I added a litre of de-clhorinated water and will take the reading tomorrow. Is it normal to see that much of an HG change in 24 hrs? I don't think I lost that much water to evaporation.

[Trigger Man]

Yes the purple stuff growing on your rock is Coraline Algae.
As for your increase in salintiy it is due to the evaporation occuring in your tank. The less open spots in the tank top the less you should see in evaporation. Ideally you want to keep you salinity level as constant as possible, with many reefers on here keeping their tanks at 1.023 to 1.026. I keep mine at 1.025.
You can look at a auto top off unit if you find that the salinity level is fluctuating to much, or add some water in the morning and then in the night as needed (remember top off water is water that has no salt in it).

[Koresample]

thanks for the info, I topped off with de-chlorinated water (1 litre) and will check it again today.

[tang daddy]

alternatively if you don't want to chuck a piece of cocktail shrimp you could put some frozen mysis or brine and that way atleast the hermits will get a meal!

you can make an auto top off fairly easy aswell so it adds the water in slowly all you need is a plastic waste basket and a couple fittings from home depot, an airline hose and a nozzel from the sprinkler from the plumbing dept. I made one for under $20 and put 1g of water into it everyday then set the nozzel to drip 2 drops per second it usually takes a couple hrs to empty. Ofcourse this top off system is gravity fed meaning it has to be above you tank or sump.

[Koresample]

thanks for the tips, I don't have the room to put one of those drip feeds in though, so i"ll have to do it manually. I'll pick up some shrimp like you suggest and feed my crabs. The 1 ltr brought the HG down to 1022 again, so i'll just have to make that part of my daily routine now

I bought the Sea Clone Skimmer not knowing jack about skimmers (obviously) and i've been reading up on them that they are not too good, but can me modded to make them better. Mine has a nice cyclone vortex but i am not collecting any stuff in the cup or getting enough foam to spill over in to the collector cup. Any tips other than scrapping it already?

I also noticed i have what looks like a bright green coral algae forming on some of the established rock (not fuzzy and it looks like the same density/texture as the existing purple stuff), is this like the purple stuff and just leave it alone?

[fishytime]

Coraline algae can be many colors. Pink, purple, orange and green.

[Koresample]

Can it change from purple to green? What causes the color changes?