Many qUEstiOnS

[3fins]

Hi im realtivly new at the sw stuff and i need some advise and help... i have the stock lighting in my tank and i wont somthing that i can keep all sorts of corals and fish and the light to look cool. What can it get? i dont have a lot of $ to spend but i want somthing thats good looking and WORKS.

2nd quetsoin:

I have a lot of algea and have already have had the algea booms. But its green aglea and when i come home from school, its all green on the glass and sandbed. I srape it off with my magfloat and my snails eat some here and there but is not very good looking. I also have a little bit of red slime algea and some hair algea. I have chemi pure and purigen and have had them for about 5 days now and havnt prevnt aglea and red algea, what can i get for the algea problem, ill c what i can do about getting pics, thanx for ur help

[sperry]

You can keep Frogspawn, Hammer, Torch Corals, Xenia, Mushrooms, Ricordia, Zoas, Polyps lots of things.

If you dont have any corals in the tank now leave your lights off. That will help get rid of the algae. You need to figure out where the algae is getting its food and then reduce that. Are you testing your water for Nitrates and Phosphates? Are you using tap water? If so that is probably where the nutrients for the algae are coming from. Start using distilled or better yet RO/DI water. You can buy it at the fish store or at places like Wal Mart. How many snails and crabs do you have? You may need a few more.

[3fins]

ya im using tap water and i have like..15 snails and 15 crabs.

[sperry]

Do you have any corals now? Stop using tap water.

[3fins]

well i take the tap water thing back. Im using well water but its drilled 576 feet deep and its from the wilcox reservoir, its the same thing that u get bottle water from. and i dont have any coral in my tank . Its been up for about 6 weeks. I have 1 clarkii clown and a anenm. Hes realy pretty and doing well. My nitrats 0 and nitrets are o
ph is a littel hi
amonai is very hi

but i dont know how to get it down...

[Illuminati]

If your amonnia is high you are in a world of trouble. I'd take back the clown and the anemone, the anemone shouldn't even be in a new tank. Also what is "very high"?

Also about the well water. Go buy a TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) meter and test your water. I have well water and my TDS before my RO machine is over 300, for reef tanks it should be ZERO.
"Bottled" water isn't always a good thing for marine tanks anyway.

If you won't spend money on the RO machine at least buy distilled water from the supermarket. That's a huge stepup from the well water.

[Doglover_50]

Hello fellow reefer on a well. Mine is over 200 feet deep. It's not the fact that it's the same as spring water or something--it's that it (like city water) has particulates and lots of dissolved solvents, as colin noted--mine is over 200 before my ro/di maker.

PH may be a function of the well water itself.
As Colin noted, if your ammonia is up, your livestock will die. crabs and snails included. I would do a big water change YESTERDAY--25% minimum. Others may argue with me, but I might think of up to a 40% change. then another 25% change tomorrow.
I'd also think about taking stuff back to the store--but if anything dies, just one thing--I'd seriously consider taking it back to avoid killing the rest.

[sperry]

colinadam and Doglover_50 covered the well water very well. If you think about it, once you get the ammonia down and the tank stable you will only need to buy a couple of gallons of water a week so it isnt expensive to buy distilled or RO water and your tank will be A LOT better off.
Anemones are hard to keep alive in a small tank, they need quite a bit more light than what comes in a Bio Cube, when they move around they can sting your corals which will injure or kill them. They also have a habit of getting sucked into the water inlet and dieing. Clown fish will host in other things like Frogspawn, Hammer and Torch Corals, Xenia, Kenya trees so you dont have to have an anemone for your clown.
Do the suggested water change, try to take back the clown and anemone or find someone to fish sit for a while and get your ammonia under control. It might be from over feeding. How much Live Rock do you have?

[3fins]

about 25-30 pounds of lr. But my problem is i dont have a place were i can get my fish to.. i live in the middle of nowhere. =( the guy at the store ( he was wrong ) said i could have a fish in there to get the cycling done faster. ^ like i said

And also thanks for your help with this.

[3fins]

they wont take back the fish.. NOW they tell me....darn =(

[YellowDesmo998]

Do daily water changes of 10%-20%. Be sure to let your water age a day. That means you will need to make 20%-40% of your total water the first day then rotate out the older water into the display tank.

The water changes alone are stressful but to use newly mixed salt water is that much worse.

[nanorfj]

Will your store take them back and hold them for you until your cycle is finished?

[Illuminati]

Well first I would never shop at that store again. Any LFS that sells a clown and an anemone to someone that is still cycling a tank is not somewhere you want to turn to for help or livestock.

Anemones need pristine water quality and high light, both of which you don't have right now (not your fault either).

I had a Clarki and he was a jerk, killed a firefish and nipped at my blue assesor, took every piece of live rock out of the tank to catch him and give him to a fish store. So even if the clown lives you have to take that into consideration.

At least you mix your own water, major waterchanges is the only thing that will lower the ammonia. Use the distilled water from the market and it will help.


Try to find another local fish store, most pet stores have saltwater fish selections.
Good Luck

[sperry]

Well first I would never shop at that store again. Any LFS that sells a clown and an anemone to someone that is still cycling a tank is not somewhere you want to turn to for help or livestock.

Absolutely!!!

Anemones need pristine water quality and high light, both of which you don't have right now (not your fault either).

Very true, I made a similar mistake with a Sebae Anemone and a Clarkii when I first started. Anemone died and Clarkii lives in my girlfriends 75gal now.

I had a Clarki and he was a jerk, killed a firefish and nipped at my blue assesor, took every piece of live rock out of the tank to catch him and give him to a fish store. So even if the clown lives you have to take that into consideration.

Girlfriend calls her Clarkii Gorilla because he is the tank bully. He killed one of her Firefish and bites your hand when its in the tank.

At least you mix your own water, major waterchanges is the only thing that will lower the ammonia. Use the distilled water from the market and it will help.

You could add something called Amquel Plus or Prime. These will turn the ammonia into a less harmful chemical. It might help keep your fish alive.

Try to find another local fish store, most pet stores have saltwater fish selections.
Good Luck

2nded BEST OF LUCK!!!!

[3fins]

thanx for ur quick responses, and thank your also for ur help. I will do my water changes and i will try to get rid of the fish. Any thing u can think of Anything do tell cus im learning and well..im learning from my mistakes, thanx again and i will do my water changes and look for that dislteled water and that amquel prim ur told me about. =)

[BiggySmalls]

yeah, for corals green star polyps are easier and bright in color