Hi all hope all is well
Tank little over 3 months old since wet.
Ph measuring 7.8 for first 2 months so stopped testing with api.
About 1 week ago added 2 plastic holders for old filters from freshwater tank with crushed coral inbetween baffles in high flow area of tank and also finally installed protein skimmer,so im taking it crushed coral will only act as a buffer and stop ph getting low if drops but the extra aeration from skimmer promoting alot more gas exchange and expelling c02 and introducing more dissolved oxygen so higher ph in tank.
So just few hours ago i noticed quite a few of same colour/consistency of the light green coraline algae that was on back of one the hermits i introduced just over 1 month ago so im guessing its coraline starting to grow as i just added one of the essential things it needs whoch is ph above 8 ?
Current params
Ph 8.2
Amnonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 15- 20
300 litre dt with 65 litres actual water in sump.
4 x t5 tubes ,2 white and 2 blue on from 10 am ,9pm daily.
Calcium/ alk/ magnesium i not bought test kits yet as wasnt planning to add corals till least 6 month stage once get water more stable and go through some of the nuisance diatoms/ algae stages etc but will buy these test kits shortly as ovbiously to give more informed answer knowing these params is just better but think in such a young tank green coraline algae could be starting to grow already ?
First i cycled tank dry rock,dry sand,bottle bacteria and first livestock was few red legged scarlet hermits with green,red coraline algae on shells etc.
Then ive went through cyano bacteria and about 3 weeks ago diatoms/ possible red slime algae on glass,rocks,sand and now noticed these green specs.
Also just noticed just inside one of entrance to tunnels of goby/ pistol shrimp what looked like shrimp struggling but then pretty sure noticed 3 claws so thinking its going through its first molt since i had it ( which is about 2 weeks) goby usually very protective over shrimp when i go near tank especially when shine torch as lights just went out but shrimp i could just see but no goby about and usually he manhandles the shrimp back to more safety lol but then seen him come out another entrance then go through a cave and rest on rocks just above where shrimp was,like it knew shrimp needed little space to do its thing but still be close to help if needed.am i right in thinking because i added skimmer this aids in raising the ph then
Its easier for the shrimp to use the calcium/ alk/ magnesium in the water to go through a malt ? And also same for the coraline algae to use them to grow?
Where i see the green specs on the rocks ( more seems to be where the mortar is holding rocks together but still some on the rocks and read long time ago that coraline algae grows easier on mortar but also where green specs is the red slime algae or diatoms are not growing over it.
Edit: the 3rd to last picture is one the hermits with the green coraline growing on it and had it since bought it.
Also used hard plastic tube from coral feeder and tried to scrape green specs off rocks but couldnt scrape it off so seems all the signs point to coraline agae correct ?
Tank little over 3 months old since wet.
Ph measuring 7.8 for first 2 months so stopped testing with api.
About 1 week ago added 2 plastic holders for old filters from freshwater tank with crushed coral inbetween baffles in high flow area of tank and also finally installed protein skimmer,so im taking it crushed coral will only act as a buffer and stop ph getting low if drops but the extra aeration from skimmer promoting alot more gas exchange and expelling c02 and introducing more dissolved oxygen so higher ph in tank.
So just few hours ago i noticed quite a few of same colour/consistency of the light green coraline algae that was on back of one the hermits i introduced just over 1 month ago so im guessing its coraline starting to grow as i just added one of the essential things it needs whoch is ph above 8 ?
Current params
Ph 8.2
Amnonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 15- 20
300 litre dt with 65 litres actual water in sump.
4 x t5 tubes ,2 white and 2 blue on from 10 am ,9pm daily.
Calcium/ alk/ magnesium i not bought test kits yet as wasnt planning to add corals till least 6 month stage once get water more stable and go through some of the nuisance diatoms/ algae stages etc but will buy these test kits shortly as ovbiously to give more informed answer knowing these params is just better but think in such a young tank green coraline algae could be starting to grow already ?
First i cycled tank dry rock,dry sand,bottle bacteria and first livestock was few red legged scarlet hermits with green,red coraline algae on shells etc.
Then ive went through cyano bacteria and about 3 weeks ago diatoms/ possible red slime algae on glass,rocks,sand and now noticed these green specs.
Also just noticed just inside one of entrance to tunnels of goby/ pistol shrimp what looked like shrimp struggling but then pretty sure noticed 3 claws so thinking its going through its first molt since i had it ( which is about 2 weeks) goby usually very protective over shrimp when i go near tank especially when shine torch as lights just went out but shrimp i could just see but no goby about and usually he manhandles the shrimp back to more safety lol but then seen him come out another entrance then go through a cave and rest on rocks just above where shrimp was,like it knew shrimp needed little space to do its thing but still be close to help if needed.am i right in thinking because i added skimmer this aids in raising the ph then
Its easier for the shrimp to use the calcium/ alk/ magnesium in the water to go through a malt ? And also same for the coraline algae to use them to grow?
Where i see the green specs on the rocks ( more seems to be where the mortar is holding rocks together but still some on the rocks and read long time ago that coraline algae grows easier on mortar but also where green specs is the red slime algae or diatoms are not growing over it.
Edit: the 3rd to last picture is one the hermits with the green coraline growing on it and had it since bought it.
Also used hard plastic tube from coral feeder and tried to scrape green specs off rocks but couldnt scrape it off so seems all the signs point to coraline agae correct ?
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