20 gallon long 3 weeks old

[nanoman95]

Hey all

I’m new to saltwater and my friend has moved away so we had his tank and his live rock (around 4kg plus some ocean rock). Everything seems to be going smoothly minus bits on the surface? I’m worried that my water is not getting enough oxygen. Ph is 7.8, Ammonia, nitrite and nitrate all at 0, waiting for phos tests to come but everything else is in parameters although pH is low. Any tips or advice? Comments in general would be great! We plan to build up the rock more, I’ve changed the positioning so I can get to some pest ball anemones this evening as they come out when it’s dark

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Looks like you are using a very weak powerhead. Or else its dirty and needs to be cleaned, not much flow coming out of it.

I would suggest to add another powerhead on the opposite side, definitely need more agitation on the surface.

Have a look at the sicce voyager nano powerheads, they are inexepensive and very good quality for the price.

Needs more rock, as you mentioned.

Looks like a good start to me

 

[BairCorals]

Welcome to r2r! Yeah some surface agitation would help getting the ph up, that little pump just doesn't seem to be doing it. another thing to check is your alk. Alk is the ability to maintain ph. Somewhere between 8-10 would be good. As for the bits up top, unless you get some sort of surface skimmer or overflow, they're gonna be there. You can get a filter sock and run it across the surface every now and again to clean it if you'd like but honestly I wouldn't worry too much on that

 

[BairCorals]

Mine has bits too so don't worry, I got the slw10 from jebao. Like 50 bucks and full adjustment and pulse and everything you could want out of a little cheap pump.

 

[tnw50cal]

20 gal long 4 years in. It didn't always look this good( I can show pictures of same tank completely overgrown in green hair algae). Let me start by saying STOP chasing numbers. The PH in the tank in the picture is 7.8.(tank is in basement where people/pets live). Your going to go thru all kinds of stuff(different ugly stages) with the tank for about the first 2 years then it will mature and you'll wonder what you did that made it start running so good. I dose nothing in this tank. just do 10% water change ever week. There are 4 fish in this tank, a pair of Clowns and a pair of Yellow Tail Damsels. Both lay eggs all the time.

 

[nanoman95]

Thankyou all for your input! Really appreciate your help on this! I’ll stop stressing about it and invest in some decent flow hopefully that will help

Any tips for the hitchhiking ball anemones? I didn’t know if peppermint shrimp would tackle them

 

[Digimes]

What are you using for actual filtration? Couldn't tell from the picture. Welcome aboard !!

 

[BairCorals]

Here's a product that would pull some of that surface stuff off and give you an ato. You can put some carbon and filter floss and it'll clean everything up for you. Just another idea. https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/sumpless-ato2-auto-top-off-system-xp-aqua.html

 

[Chrisv.]

Any tips for the hitchhiking ball anemones? I didn’t know if peppermint shrimp would tackle them

Did your peppermints eat them, or did you find another solution?