I need help with my new saltwater tank….?
I have a 10gal tank with 7lbs of live rock, 10lbs of live sand, and 2 Damsels (which I put in 2 days after setting the tank up). It has been 6 days since I set it up and the last two days I have noticed that my live rock is turning a lot darker with algae. The little bit of coralline algae I had is turning dark red and the rest of the rock is getting some yellow and green algae. The sand is also getting a layer of algae on top. I have a hang on filter, and a Sea Clone 100 skimmer (which isn’t working right, millions of tiny bubbles fill the tank when I let any air in the line). I have 2 Coral Life compacts and a coral life 20k flourescent.
I have already done a lil research and some say it’s nutrients/bad water quality (which I’m pretty sure won’t be great until my tank cycles)/lack of cleaners (I was told to wait on adding cleaners until my tank cycles). I did a 25% water change today.
If you have any further help that would be great.
My LPS were the ones who recommended cyclying with the damsels. After I had already bought them I started reading about cycling with raw shrimp. And with the skimmer, I am not positive but I think there may be a piece missing. I know that what I have is set up right, but I got this skimmer from a friend who used it around 3 years ago and then he joined the army and it has been in storage for the past 2 years , so I am either missing a piece or the pump is not working correctly.
Sounds like a fairly normal tank cycle starting. I personally am not in favour of adding fish this early as the nirtate cycle will burn their gills and they will die a very slow death. Having said that though. A lot of people do this when they are cycling a tank.
Personally, I like to load a tank with water gravel and live rock then turn the filters on, run lights for 12 hours a day and forget about it for about 4 weeks. Then do the first water change and test the water again a day later and decide whether to leave it go longer or start building from there.
The key to establishing a solid, reliable salt water set up is patience and doing things slowly to start. I would leave the tank for another 3 weeks then add some clean up crew. Leave it a week more then add some more fish if you wanted. But I would be keeping the bio load as low as possible to start. Being a small tank you wont be able to have too many fish.
The skimmer is definately set up wrong. The bubbles should be inside the skimmer not outside. Check how you have set it up again as something is definately not right there. Maybe post some pics and we can have a look and see what is where it should not be.,
Good luck with setting the tank up. Once set up and stable they are so rewarding and not nearly as much work as people say. Just remember the key is slowly, slowly. Take it patiently to start and the rewards will come
i agree..sounds like a normal diatom bloom..( have you thought of cycleing a tank with some supermarket shrimp..since there dead already it doesnt put the damsels thru the torture..here’s a site devoted to saltwater fish keeping…
http://www.reefbuzz.com
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