38 gallon tank

[markp76]

My 38 gallon aquarium I have always wanted to do this saltwater aquarium. I love the colors that are in saltwater aquariums.

 

[Reefing Madness]

 

[Dkmoo]

wecome to r2r! very pretty tank.

wait until you get bitten by the coral bug =)

 

[markp76]

wecome to r2r! very pretty tank.

wait until you get bitten by the coral bug =)

I am already wanting to get some but I am waiting for my tank to get completely cycled I am doing a live cycle things are staying pretty consistent as far as the water Parameters I just got test kit to make sure I can get the kh and calcium and Phosphate in line and stable before adding them.

 

[Jeffcb]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

 

[markp76]

so I went and got some zoan corals not sure what exactly but thought it was nice looking under the blue tent this is all open and 24 hours after going into my tank seems to be liking it.
I also picked up a skunk shrimp to clean up the excess food my clowns don’t eat. I have 4 blue legged crabs for my cuc I still have some extra pellets and frozen food on the sand bed so I need to get more cuc I think. Waiting for my tank to cycle from what I added before I add more though. Any recommendations?

 

[Dkmoo]

so I went and got some zoan corals not sure what exactly but thought it was nice looking under the blue tent this is all open and 24 hours after going into my tank seems to be liking it.
I also picked up a skunk shrimp to clean up the excess food my clowns don’t eat. I have 4 blue legged crabs for my cuc I still have some extra pellets and frozen food on the sand bed so I need to get more cuc I think. Waiting for my tank to cycle from what I added before I add more though. Any recommendations?

Nice zoas

Not sure where you put it, but I suggest putting them on an island rock not connected to your main structure. Zoas can spread very quickly and take over a full structure.

Some hardy euphylias is what I started with. - torches, frogspawns, hammers.

Mushrooms like ricordias and discos also work great and add great color

Wear glove and protection when handling zoa - palytoxin is real but you should be save as long as you are careful

 

[markp76]

ok now I have this algae growing what is it and is it good or bad? And how to remove if bad I was told at lfs it was not diatoms. And it was ok not sure what they called it.

 

[Dkmoo]

The brown stuff? Looks like either diatom or cyano. Does it come off easy?

Looks like the beginnings of the ugly phase. Completely normal.

 

[maceto]

Welcome! Nice tank

 

[markp76]

The brown stuff? Looks like either diatom or cyano. Does it come off easy?

Looks like the beginnings of the ugly phase. Completely normal.

I can rub it off easily with my finger yes

 

[Dkmoo]

I can rub it off easily with my finger yes

Ok yeah, some kind of slime bacteria or algae. New tank will go thru a few cycles of then as millions of microorganism in your tank is jostling for nutrient competition and dominance. So will have many ebbs and flows and blooms and dieoffs until they all reach an equilibrium. Thats when we call you tank as finally "mature"

Depending on a lot of factors - how much you clean, how often you add new things, change stuff, feed stuff, equipmwbts..etc. honestly too much to list, this maturation process can take 6month to 1 year to reach.

 

[markp76]

Ok yeah, some kind of slime bacteria or algae. New tank will go thru a few cycles of then as millions of microorganism in your tank is jostling for nutrient competition and dominance. So will have many ebbs and flows and blooms and dieoffs until they all reach an equilibrium. Thats when we call you tank as finally "mature"

Depending on a lot of factors - how much you clean, how often you add new things, change stuff, feed stuff, equipmwbts..etc. honestly too much to list, this maturation process can take 6month to 1 year to reach.

Thank you for the info. It is much appreciated I was told something would eat it but not a snail. It was something else.

 

[Dkmoo]

Maybe some kind of other inverts. But in all honesty since this only temporary, any biological control you introduce now will just starve and die by the time this specific phase finishes. And when they die they'll tip the balance again and trigger another something else blooming.

Just keep up with your normal husbandry and manual removal is the only long term successful solution