sezaro21
Community Member
Hello everyone. I've been keeping freshwater fish tanks for the past 20 years and this year, I decided to start my first saltwater setup. I converted my 75 gallon freshwater setup over to saltwater. I started the tank the last week of December. I used 80lbs of live sand, 60 lbs of dry rock, 2 bottles of Dr Tim's 1 and only bacteria. I used the first bottle the day I set up the tank and the 2nd bottle the 2nd week. For filtering I used to 2 Fluval FX4 canister filters because that is what I used on the tank before converting it to saltwater. They are I great condition so I didn't see the need to get rid of them. I ran 1 Hydor Koralia 1350 powerhead. When I set up the tank, I used tap water with Red sea salt. I did 10-15 gallon weekly water changes with store bought RODI water and Instant Ocean salt. The last water changes I used sand, filter ocean water that is brought in from about 200 yard from the beach at a marine biology institute. I have gone through the nitrogen cycle I believe as I've had my ammonia and nitrite skipped which have gone down to zero. After 2 weeks of start up, I was told it was ok to add a few fish so I added a pair of clowns, a purple firefish and a red firefish and a cleaner shrimp. After testing water again 2 weeks later with good results I was told it was ok to add more fish so I added a diamond goby, a YWG with a tiger pistol shrimp and a royal gramma.
My current parameters are:
ammonia 0,
nitrite 0,
nitrate 15,
PH 8.4,
Salinity 1.025,
Phosphate .5-1,
Temp 79
Everything was going fine but then the issues started. Since I came from freshwater, my LED strip was for freshwater. Everything in the tank looked amazing and beautiful. I decided to get a real saltwater light fixture because my future plan was to get an anemone for the clowns. I ended up buying the AI Blade Grow. The light looked so much brighter and souch better.
So now the issue. 2 days after the light was swapped, my tank started growing a red algae all over the rocks and the glass. I was able to blow it off and I thought all was good, but it just keeps coming back. At first it was just a red covering but the last few days it's becoming more stringy. I believe it's cyano because the red covering produces small oxygen bubbles all over it. I installed a 2nd Hydor Koralia 1350 powerhead into the tank to help with more flow because I read that helps. I bought a CUC that consist of 5 Mexican turbos, 5 Trochas, 10 asreal, 5 Nassarius as well as 15 blue leg hermits. The turbos seemed to really clean the rock and get it nice and clean but the red covering would be back by night time.
I don't know what more to do. I went from a beautiful tank to this ugly thing. The fish all seem healthy, and act normal. I check the ammonia, nitrite and the nitrate daily to make sure the addition of the cream up crew doesn't spike the tank.
This all started when I switched the light so I don't know if that is the cause of just a coincidence. I turned the light off yesterday to see if that helps because the tank looks better in the morning and then looks worse as the day goes on. Looked at the tank this morning and the rocks and glass look MUCH better, the water is just cloudy now. Please help. This is my first saltwater setup and I really want it to work out. Thank
Attached are what the tank looked like this morning
My current parameters are:
ammonia 0,
nitrite 0,
nitrate 15,
PH 8.4,
Salinity 1.025,
Phosphate .5-1,
Temp 79
Everything was going fine but then the issues started. Since I came from freshwater, my LED strip was for freshwater. Everything in the tank looked amazing and beautiful. I decided to get a real saltwater light fixture because my future plan was to get an anemone for the clowns. I ended up buying the AI Blade Grow. The light looked so much brighter and souch better.
So now the issue. 2 days after the light was swapped, my tank started growing a red algae all over the rocks and the glass. I was able to blow it off and I thought all was good, but it just keeps coming back. At first it was just a red covering but the last few days it's becoming more stringy. I believe it's cyano because the red covering produces small oxygen bubbles all over it. I installed a 2nd Hydor Koralia 1350 powerhead into the tank to help with more flow because I read that helps. I bought a CUC that consist of 5 Mexican turbos, 5 Trochas, 10 asreal, 5 Nassarius as well as 15 blue leg hermits. The turbos seemed to really clean the rock and get it nice and clean but the red covering would be back by night time.
I don't know what more to do. I went from a beautiful tank to this ugly thing. The fish all seem healthy, and act normal. I check the ammonia, nitrite and the nitrate daily to make sure the addition of the cream up crew doesn't spike the tank.
This all started when I switched the light so I don't know if that is the cause of just a coincidence. I turned the light off yesterday to see if that helps because the tank looks better in the morning and then looks worse as the day goes on. Looked at the tank this morning and the rocks and glass look MUCH better, the water is just cloudy now. Please help. This is my first saltwater setup and I really want it to work out. Thank
Attached are what the tank looked like this morning
