Hello all.
I pretty new to saltwater and have a 83g in wall tank with 20g sump. My tank is about a month old, but prior to filling it, I cycled 60# dry rock (dead shrimp, Macrobaceter, Dr. Tims) for 4mo in a large trash bin. The last month I added 20# of live rock. Once the tank was filled, the rock was added and the tank was cycled within a week. About a week later, I added two clowns. They have been doing great. There is some coralline growth on the dry rock. A couple weeks after the clowns were added, I noticed some hair algae, so clean up crew, about 20 snails were added. All has been doing well, but the hair algae has spread a bit. I use RO/DI, have a UV sterilizer. Parameters are great, maybe too good with nitrate 0, Phos 0.05, salinity 1.026. My plan is to just watch the hair algae and be patient with it for a couple of months. Continue some manual removal during weekly water change. Watch params. I only feed the clowns once a day, frozen mysis, and don't want to overfeed despite my nitrates and phosphates being so low. I also have a protein skimmer that I haven't turned on yet because my nitrates and phosphates aren't very high. If hair algae worsens, I'll add more CUC or get a tang (was going to anyway but wanted to wait about 4mo). I also want to add some softies, but want to wait until the hair algae declares itself and tank matures more in the next month or so. Does this sound like a legit plan? Thanks in advance.
I pretty new to saltwater and have a 83g in wall tank with 20g sump. My tank is about a month old, but prior to filling it, I cycled 60# dry rock (dead shrimp, Macrobaceter, Dr. Tims) for 4mo in a large trash bin. The last month I added 20# of live rock. Once the tank was filled, the rock was added and the tank was cycled within a week. About a week later, I added two clowns. They have been doing great. There is some coralline growth on the dry rock. A couple weeks after the clowns were added, I noticed some hair algae, so clean up crew, about 20 snails were added. All has been doing well, but the hair algae has spread a bit. I use RO/DI, have a UV sterilizer. Parameters are great, maybe too good with nitrate 0, Phos 0.05, salinity 1.026. My plan is to just watch the hair algae and be patient with it for a couple of months. Continue some manual removal during weekly water change. Watch params. I only feed the clowns once a day, frozen mysis, and don't want to overfeed despite my nitrates and phosphates being so low. I also have a protein skimmer that I haven't turned on yet because my nitrates and phosphates aren't very high. If hair algae worsens, I'll add more CUC or get a tang (was going to anyway but wanted to wait about 4mo). I also want to add some softies, but want to wait until the hair algae declares itself and tank matures more in the next month or so. Does this sound like a legit plan? Thanks in advance.