Whats next? 3 weeks old tank ...

[Reefcan]

My 95 gal tank is been setup about 20 days, 100 lb cured liverock with some sand. never been changed water. Now the green hairy algae is growing crazy. there a sea hare/couple white urchins/2 shrimps/2 yellow gobies with 10 snails in the tank, hope can get rid of the algae. Am I doing it right?
Now the algea getting less very slowly, some of them grown very long,I have to pick them off by hand. I'm afraid of to buy any fish right now untill the tank is nice and clean. I tested water once a week, everything shows OK.
I bought couple rubblemaid containers with a water pump, try to change the water tomorrow. Should I ? what u think?
Is a refuge will help for the algae?
Should I just wait untill the algae is gone by itself ? When is safe to add fish? Kids want the clown fish so badly!!!
Thanks for any comment!

[moldrik]

A lot of people will tell you that your tank is most likely still cycling. It seems like you got a ton of stuff there, which is simply risky ( some stuff could die due to tank conditions ).

Water changes are always a good idea. You're taking some of the good and some of the bad out of it. It will lower any possible levels of amonia/nitrate ( since you're removing that bad stuff ) and adding in new fresh water. Your inhabitants will appreciate it.

The suggestion is always to "go slow". Take your time. There is a lot of stuff in the tank already, new additions cause new cycles to take place, so it's a good idea to one/two things into the tank and give it 2 weeks - 1 month before adding anything new.

I'm itching to get coral into the tank, but everyone has been recommending to wait. A stable tank will go a long way.

If you are getting a ton of hair algea, it is probably because you have a high phosphate level. Try to maintain that by adding a filter ( like a Halgen filter ). You can also just get a phosphate removal pad and stick it into your bucket when you're processing the salt. This way, by the time you put into the tank, a lot of phosphates get removed. Try borrowing a phosphate kit or pickup a new one, it could be that your phosphate levels are high. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, it gives your turbo snails a run for their money.

[Myka]

Originally Posted by Reefcan

My 95 gal tank is been setup about 20 days, 100 lb cured liverock with some sand. never been changed water. Now the green hairy algae is growing crazy. there a sea hare/couple white urchins/2 shrimps/2 yellow gobies with 10 snails in the tank, hope can get rid of the algae. Am I doing it right?
Now the algea getting less very slowly, some of them grown very long,I have to pick them off by hand. I'm afraid of to buy any fish right now untill the tank is nice and clean. I tested water once a week, everything shows OK.
I bought couple rubblemaid containers with a water pump, try to change the water tomorrow. Should I ? what u think?
Is a refuge will help for the algae?
Should I just wait untill the algae is gone by itself ? When is safe to add fish? Kids want the clown fish so badly!!!
Thanks for any comment!

When you tested the water, can you list what you tested for, and what the readings were? The long algae you're referring to the Hair Algae. Read the Guide in my signature on Hair Algae. That should help you out a lot. The algae won't go away by adding critters to eat it as the cause will still be there. You need to remove the cause of the algae. As your tank gets older you will have less and less algae issues.

Waterchanges are always good. 25% is a good amount to change.

You can add a fish when the ammonia is at 0, the nitrite is at 0, and the nitrate is less than 5 ppm. You could probably add a couple fish at a time to a tank that size. Don't add too many fish too quickly though or you will create a lot of grief for yourself, and your kids won't like to see you netting out dead fish. Keep to 2 small fish or one larger fish per 2 weeks, and you should be ok. Test your ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate before adding any new fish, and if they aren't as I listed above you need to get that corrected before adding more.

[Reefcan]

I really appreciated your advices, learnd a lot from you guys.
Moldrik: Its seems your tank has been running for 2 months, and you've not add any coral? So how long do you think we have to wait? How can we tell the tank is stable?
Myka: I tested phosphate(0), nitrate(0), PH(7.8-8.0), KH, calcium weekly, shows nothing wrong there. Is my test kit not accurate enough? Its a "Reef Master Test Kit" from API.
When I went to the LFS, they tested water for me (2 weeks later when tank was build by the guy who sold me the system), and told me to pick up some fish and coral, said it would be OK. I bought couple gobies and snails. After another week, I went back the LFS for the algae problem, they sold me a sea hare and 2 urchins, eventhough I don't like them, they looks sososo ugly! but the guy said they will take care of the algae. I'm not blaming them, but don't feel right.
The sea hare died lastnight......

[DJ_drew]

first things first
like the other guys said
theres too jmuch stuff in the tank for a tank thats only 3 weeks old
you should hav let your tank run at least 3-4 weekswith just the LR and then tested it no matter what.
there will always be a cycle small or large especiallywhen you put LR in a tank unless you moved the water with it that theLRwas inbefore hand
next thing you need to tell us is what kind of filtration you are using because if you're not filtering with anything thats a bad thing as well
lol
slow and steady wins the race with this hobby
ive had my tank up for about 7 months and i still dont have corals in mine
and with the kids wanting to see fish in there you might just hve to disregard them if you wanto have a sucessful tank
with every fish quarantining them is the best idea to make sure the fish are ok.
let us know what kind of filter you have and what kind of basic setup you have, and the test results would be a big advantage to us helping you out
it takes alot of patience with this, i learned that the hard way!

Drew

[tang daddy]

What drew and everyone on here has said is correct slow and steady wins the race.....

I am always one to give out the advice but not eat it when it comes to a new tank. I started my new tank 50g 1.5 months ago with water from my 120g and the rock was from a store it had been there for a long time which essentially was like they cooked it for me, no lights were ever on the vats so there was hardly anything growing on it. Before I brought the rock home I shook it well and dunked and swished the pieces till I was really tired. I then put the rock and my tank water together and left it for 8 days. After this I checked the params and did a wc.

I then started to add some of my corals from my 120g like zoas, fungia plates, and candycane. A week after I added a few more corals were added, all seemed good and then some algae started sprouting.

I added a few turbo snails and they cleaned most of the stuff up the rest I pulled out with my hand(being pricked with a diadema urchin and not having great success with a seahare surviving I only use turbo snails).

A few days later I got cyano bacteria, this was probally because of the heavy feeding to my lps corals, no skimmer, low flow, and new tank syndrome. New tanks always get a cyano stage but this was pretty out of control and instead of using a chemical to get rid of it I used sugar.

A week after and a mix of wc and ramping the flow the cyano is completely gone and the algae is no where to be seen. It seems like the tank cycled pretty fast for me because I had introduced water from a seeded tank which already had the bacteria established. Plus shaking the rock got rid of some of the nutrients built up in it.

My fairly new tank is awesome, I still havent added any fish in it and probally wont for another 2 months because the fish I want to put in is fairly expensive and I want to make sure the tank is seeded with lots of pods and life and fairly conditioned. All corals are doing great with the weekly feedings but I may change that to bi weekly.

The reason why I posted such a decent amount of info is to let you know what stages will happen in your tank. Do not be worried about the algae, instead of increasing the bio load why not do some weeding, wc and see if the algae starts to get less. If you go and add more fish you will likely have to feed abit more which may feed the algae more aswell. If you need something to tie you over get some zoas or a cheap mushroom something easy to keep and also tie you over for abit. hope this was somewhat helpfull.

cheers

[Reefcan]

Originally Posted by DJ_drew

first things first
like the other guys said
theres too jmuch stuff in the tank for a tank thats only 3 weeks old
you should hav let your tank run at least 3-4 weekswith just the LR and then tested it no matter what.
there will always be a cycle small or large especiallywhen you put LR in a tank unless you moved the water with it that theLRwas inbefore hand
next thing you need to tell us is what kind of filtration you are using because if you're not filtering with anything thats a bad thing as well
lol
slow and steady wins the race with this hobby
ive had my tank up for about 7 months and i still dont have corals in mine
and with the kids wanting to see fish in there you might just hve to disregard them if you wanto have a sucessful tank
with every fish quarantining them is the best idea to make sure the fish are ok.
let us know what kind of filter you have and what kind of basic setup you have, and the test results would be a big advantage to us helping you out
it takes alot of patience with this, i learned that the hard way!

Drew

Here is what I have:
95 Gal reef ready tank
30 gal sump
super skimmer
Outer Orbit 250WX2 MH HQI/T5X4 48"
2 power heads, and something else like return pump and heater.

[Reefcan]

Originally Posted by Myka

When you tested the water, can you list what you tested for, and what the readings were? The long algae you're referring to the Hair Algae. Read the Guide in my signature on Hair Algae. That should help you out a lot. The algae won't go away by adding critters to eat it as the cause will still be there. You need to remove the cause of the algae. As your tank gets older you will have less and less algae issues.

Waterchanges are always good. 25% is a good amount to change.

You can add a fish when the ammonia is at 0, the nitrite is at 0, and the nitrate is less than 5 ppm. You could probably add a couple fish at a time to a tank that size. Don't add too many fish too quickly though or you will create a lot of grief for yourself, and your kids won't like to see you netting out dead fish. Keep to 2 small fish or one larger fish per 2 weeks, and you should be ok. Test your ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate before adding any new fish, and if they aren't as I listed above you need to get that corrected before adding more.

I've read your guide some weeks ago, BTW: It's great. I changed 15% water, like you said give them a short cut.
I didn't test ammonia either nitrite. I tested nitrate. The test kit I have only need to look at the color if change, and compare with the color on the box. It doesn't tell how much, like 5ppm.

[Myka]

Originally Posted by Reefcan

I've read your guide some weeks ago, BTW: It's great. I changed 15% water, like you said give them a short cut.
I didn't test ammonia either nitrite. I tested nitrate. The test kit I have only need to look at the color if change, and compare with the color on the box. It doesn't tell how much, like 5ppm.

Thanks for your kind words. What brand of test kits are you using?

[Reefcan]

Originally Posted by Myka

Thanks for your kind words. What brand of test kits are you using?

I tested phosphate(0), nitrate(0), PH(7.8-8.0), KH, calcium weekly, shows nothing wrong there. Is my test kit not accurate enough? Its a "Reef Master Test Kit" from API.