mtsamples
New Member
Hello,
We recently returned to the hobby after a roughly 5-year hiatus and are amazed at how much has changed even in that short time. Now 8 months in with a Biocube 32 and stock lighting, though we plan to add two 21 LED blue light strips soon. Stock return pump and two Tunze Nanostream 6040s with alternating cycles. The total water volume is 25 gallons, and we run a Tunze Osmolator ATO. It's our first time with an ATO, and it's a game-changer. We are taking our time, trying to be more methodical than we were earlier, so livestock is minimal, consisting of a paired yellow watchman goby and pistol shrimp, scarlet cleaner shrimp, McCosker's Fairy Wrasse, a Colt Coral, and a little bit of Codium. CUC consists of multiple Nassarius, about 8 or so hermits, and some cerith snails. We change out 2 gallons of water a week and have been pretty consistent with numbers. NO3 stays around 15, Alk is 8.9, CA is 395, our goal is 415, and we are slowly trying to raise this.
Overall, things are going pretty well. We are struggling with some type of algae, possibly diatoms or cyanobacteria, spreading across the rock. It forms a mat and is not stringy; it's pretty easy to vacuum off the rock, but it grows back quickly. You can see it on the rock to the right in the attached photo. We would like to get rid of it before adding more coral, so any suggestions you have would be helpful.
We recently returned to the hobby after a roughly 5-year hiatus and are amazed at how much has changed even in that short time. Now 8 months in with a Biocube 32 and stock lighting, though we plan to add two 21 LED blue light strips soon. Stock return pump and two Tunze Nanostream 6040s with alternating cycles. The total water volume is 25 gallons, and we run a Tunze Osmolator ATO. It's our first time with an ATO, and it's a game-changer. We are taking our time, trying to be more methodical than we were earlier, so livestock is minimal, consisting of a paired yellow watchman goby and pistol shrimp, scarlet cleaner shrimp, McCosker's Fairy Wrasse, a Colt Coral, and a little bit of Codium. CUC consists of multiple Nassarius, about 8 or so hermits, and some cerith snails. We change out 2 gallons of water a week and have been pretty consistent with numbers. NO3 stays around 15, Alk is 8.9, CA is 395, our goal is 415, and we are slowly trying to raise this.
Overall, things are going pretty well. We are struggling with some type of algae, possibly diatoms or cyanobacteria, spreading across the rock. It forms a mat and is not stringy; it's pretty easy to vacuum off the rock, but it grows back quickly. You can see it on the rock to the right in the attached photo. We would like to get rid of it before adding more coral, so any suggestions you have would be helpful.
