# Reef Newbie



## bloatedguppy (Feb 24, 2008)

I recently got a 14 gal biocube that was from a friend that had 2 koi but they got rid of them and decided to jump into saltwater with this type of tank. It's my first time doing saltwater but I have done freshwater all my life and felt confident. I started this about 2.5 weeks ago and am still during the cycling prossess. Although I have done my research I still have some questions. I used live sand (enough to cover 1 inch of the bottom and have about 17.5 lbs. of live rock. I also used "Stability" from seachem for about a week and that has work out great so far. For my water I used tap water and mixed "Amquel" with "Instant Ocean" salt mix. All my water perimeters are in check so after about a week I added a "Chromis" and he's been doing great. After about 5 days my mom got me 2 small clowns which have been thriving and I know that's about the limit of fish for a 14 gal. Then after 2 weeks I added a peppermint shrimp and 2 hermits and all is good so far. Just yesterday I got a cleaning crew from my lf's which had 3 conehead snails, 1 emerald crab, and a cleaner skunk shrimp. Everything has be going fine and everybody seems to be healthy. My only concern right now is I've gotten a big algae bloom. It seems that there is a bit a mix of algae most of is being diatoms. It is a golden brown color and looks stringy in bits and also looks like bubble algae. Now I know usally you want to add the cleaning crew first but I made sure everything was good with my chromis. So my main question is what should I do about this algae outbreak? I've been doing a few water changes, I've pick at some of it, and my 3 snails have been going at, I've reduced my lighting to about 8 hours a day and I do not over feed. So Should I add more snails? My guys have been doing really good but theres alot to do and It grows rapidly within the day. If anyone has any suggestions please let me know even pm me. I also apologize for no pics.


----------



## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

No, don't add more snails, since that would not help,
The diatoms are just one of those things that happen, and there's precious little you can do about it. physically remove them by careful wiping for a few weeks until they finally start to vanish. Water changes only FEED them with new minerals, so cut back on those. Go ahead and put the lighting back to normal, since you need the good algae to grow to starve out the diatoms.
This will take several weeks to get rid of, and that is perfectly normal.


----------



## bmlbytes (Aug 1, 2009)

As TOS briefly mentioned you need to turn your lights back on. It is a common misconception that the lights need to be turned down to get rid of algae. If you have other things that will benefit from light, then you need to leave the lights on. They will compete with the algae for nutrients in the water. If you turn the lights down, the other algae, or plants (freshwater) will stop photosynthesizing and will stop absorbing nutrients. So not only are you not helping your algae problem, but you are also slowing the growth of the things you want.


----------



## bloatedguppy (Feb 24, 2008)

I currently got my algae checked and it is brown slime algae which is worse. I've gotten a few snails to help as my lf's said it is not good algae.


----------



## bmlbytes (Aug 1, 2009)

Well then you really got tricked by the pet store. Dinoflagellate (often called brown slime algae) are actually protists. In other words its not algae at all. It is a very small creature that reproduces very fast. Snails wont eat this, so the pet store fooled you into thinking you need snails so they could make a quick sale. All that will happen is the snails will add to the bioload, and you may develop real algae and you are feeding the dinoflagellate.


----------



## bloatedguppy (Feb 24, 2008)

So what should I do? Take back the snails, keep them? I know I need a good cleaning crew for a good system I just didn't want this stuff taking over my tank. My snails seem to be cleaning alot of this stuff off the live rock. I really want to start growing coralline aglae but my rock is very white after the snails clean it off. How many snails should I have in my tank? I have about a dozen now and I thought it wouldn't hurt to have alot of snails.


----------



## bloatedguppy (Feb 24, 2008)

Would it help if I put in my charcoal biocube filter pads??? I need some help cause this stuff sounds deadly from what I heard.


----------



## bmlbytes (Aug 1, 2009)

What you need is a cleaner tank. Reduce any nutrients in the tank. This includes ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. It also includes any nutrients you feed to corals. If you have a powerful mechanical filter, put that on the tank. Really over filter the tank until it goes away. 

You are right to be worried about it. Many dinoflagellates are toxic, and you really dont want them. 

A 14 gallon tank isnt too small to buy water for it. You might consider buying R/O filtered water or distilled water from the grocery store. If you have a test kit, test it for hardness and nitrate to make sure they didnt add anything back to it. R/O water should be VERY soft and slightly acidic to neutral. This will ensure you do not add unneeded nutrients to your tank. I buy 15 gallons at a time from the grocery store, and it usually costs me around $5. If you get the refillable containers, you will save a lot of money on the water and you wont be polluting the earth! I bought 3 of the 5 gallon jugs used in water machines in offices and such.

Anyway the key to getting rid of this "algae" is strong mechanical filtration and clean water.


----------



## bloatedguppy (Feb 24, 2008)

So should I just filter out the tank with R/O water now? thankfully I work at a grocery store so that will be easy to get. I can't really add or buy anymore filtering supplies since I don't have the money right now. I also don't have any corals yet. Most of my water perimeters are really good. ammonia is 0, ph is 8.3, my nitrates where at 15ppm the other day but my nitrites where around 0. I pretty much just used the basic setup that came with the biocube so I don't have anything really costumized. should I reduce any of the lighting or anything and how often should I change my water with the R\O water trying to get rid of this. I also heard raising the ph to about 8.5 for 4 days helps get rid of it. Is this stuff hard to get out or does it just take time with better water changes?


----------



## bmlbytes (Aug 1, 2009)

Change it every time you get a significant amount of nitrate. Make sure you still add the salt 

I don't usually mess with pH because the chemicals you use to do that are so unstable. Just keep the tank really clean and you should be able to get rid of this stuff. Use the aquarium brush on it too to loosen it from the wall, so it can get sucked up by the filter. If you have ANY extra filters add them to the tank. Once the algae is gone, I would recommend replacing the filter media.

Leave the lights on at normal lighting. The algae from your live rock should remove a lot of the nutrients from the water.


----------



## bloatedguppy (Feb 24, 2008)

But if I brush it off it usally spreads more its a bit on the live rock and sand so should I just do a big water change now and get all of it out that I can? I notice my skimmer has been taking alot out usally filling it's cap within 6 -8hours. Would it help at all to add a active carbon filter pad? I havent been using it yet but would this help at all? From what I read its better to have the lights off while having the dinos and I notice they grow more from it.


----------



## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

carbon will help... but frequent water changes using pure RO water instead of tap will help more.


----------



## bloatedguppy (Feb 24, 2008)

So should I scub it off the rock then do a water change and add the carbon filter?


----------



## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

yeah, that's right, if you really want to go that route.

I'm tellin' ya, every time you change water, you are adding a new batch of mineral food for these. They grow and grow until they deplete the tank of excess silicate, and then they fade away. They are pretty much harmless, especially since you don't yet have any corals. You are worried over nothing; this is something almost all new tanks go through, and always have.

RO water doesn't have much in it in the way of excess anything, so using it does help quite a bit.


----------



## bloatedguppy (Feb 24, 2008)

So it's quite normal then? I did do a water change with some purified water from the store and I sucked most of it out. everything seems to be alot cleaner there are still a few little patches on the sand but it's not as bad as before. So these guys grow then go away after awhile?


----------



## bloatedguppy (Feb 24, 2008)

also whats the best way to deplete the silicates?


----------



## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

You can either use some phosphate/silicate remover in your filter, or you can just wait a few weeks.


----------



## bloatedguppy (Feb 24, 2008)

So in most part this is just part of the cycling process?


----------



## bmlbytes (Aug 1, 2009)

The nitrogen cycle is a different process.


----------



## bloatedguppy (Feb 24, 2008)

Ok can I get a straight answer here. One of you are telling me this is a normal process and the other says to do alot of water changes. I mean is it gonna help if I do water changes and now only use the r/o water or is it gonna make it worse? I just would like it to go away so it dosent pose a threat to my fish and inverts. I know it takes awhile for a tank to mature but I wanna make sure I take the right steps. I know I probably added to much too quickly but I got what I got now and I want to be excelling in the hobby, I just don't want to crash my tank or rush anything. I thank you though for the answers and tips.


----------



## bmlbytes (Aug 1, 2009)

There is often more than one solution to a problem. 

In this hobby, there is no "right" way to do it. Every aquarist/reefer has their own methood to solving problems, and taking care of the fish. Changing the water with PURE water as to keep nutrients out of the tank is one way to kill them, and so will not changing the water so that the silicates and certain nutrients will be used up will also kill them. They are two completely different methoods with the same goal. Pick one or the other, it really doesn't matter. You need to find a methood that works best for you and your tank. The problem is we do not own your tank, and we can only off what works for our tanks.

Take this into consideration. It is likely that most if not all of these are different in some way from my reef tank: The pH, nitrate, nitrite, phosphate, general hardness, carbonate hardness, chlorine content, brand of salt used, size of tank, type of substrate, type of live rock, the amount of light, the type of light, how long the lights stay on, the temperature of the water, the specific gravity of the saltwater, what chemicals you may or may not add, the nutrients you may or may not add, what bacteria or spores are floating in your air, etc. 

It is impossible to tell you exactly what will or wont work for you, we just offer suggestions based on our experience and what we have read/researched. Try one of our methoods, and if it doesnt work try the other. 

I know you are confused, and you have a right to be. It's your job to take the information we give you, and pick a best solution. If I were you, I would attempt TOS's solution first as he has more experience than me, but if your problem doesnt get solved, or if it gets worse, move on to my solution. You will quickly learn what works best for your aquarium.

In other words, there is no straight answer.


----------



## bloatedguppy (Feb 24, 2008)

Alright that's more of an answer I'm looking for. I have kinda mixed both of your ideas together as I did a good water change and I've used r/o water, I'm glad I got more snails and hermits as I see they are taking alot of the nutrients the dinos take such as uneaten food and cleaning up the live rock/sand. I've also notice that I have some more light green and purple algae growing from my live rock and the dino's are fading away. I thank you guys for helping and I'm sorry for my stubborness but this is what I love most about the hobby is that you keep learning. All of my fish and inverts are doing quite well and healthy even my scarlet skunk shrimp hand fed from me tonight and I've only have had him for like 4 days so I must be doing something right.


----------

