I'm a 75 galloner Newbie. Addicted to reefing. Hates diatoms.

[tkreefer]

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to introduce myself. I've kept aquatic critters of one form or another for more than 2 decades, studied biology in college, and recently set up a 75 gallon saltwater tank about 3 weeks ago.

I don't have a sump and keep about 60-80 lbs of cured craigslist live rock in the tank. I run a reef-octopus BH2000 hob skimmer 24/7 with 1 unit of Chemi-Pure elite along with a small bag of Purigen in the extra skimmer compartment. Water circulation by 2 Hydor 850 GPH pumps. 1 Aquaclear 50 with carbon media only.

The tank is up and running for 3 weeks. Saltwater mixed with unfiltered tap water. I was impatient and added 5 green chromis on day 2. By day 11, I had a total of 10 fish with 1 loss. A green chromis was abused to death by his own kind. Otherwise, ammonia has been undetectable. Nitrite undetectable. Nitrates at 5 ppm. All of the fish are active and eating. The skimmer is producing dark skim-mate and the water is crystal clear. My only problem now is how much brown gunk (apparently diatoms) is covering every lit surface in the tank.

The clean-up crew consists of 9 Nassarius snails, 2 gigantic turbo snails, 6 margarita snails, and 6 hermits. I'm just cutting down the photo-period from 12 hrs to 8 hrs as well as decreasing the feeding. I hope it goes away soon because it looks awful.

[Sn8kbyt]

It will most likely go away soon but with tapwater you are in store for far worse!! Your phosphates are more than likely off the charts and if so the algae you will encounter in the coming weeks will look 10x as bad!!

[DragKnee]

+1 .. While some people do it successfully, it is unwise to use tap water. RO units are relatively cheap, and the assurance you get from them is well worth it.

You can be looking at cyano outbreaks with high phosphates, and that stuff is just dreadful.

Good luck! I highly recommend thinking about a sump if you can fit it. It will make your life and the aquariums life so much better. Water changes from a DT is terrible. If you have a sump, you'll never touch the DT (negatively).

[tkreefer]

+1 .. While some people do it successfully, it is unwise to use tap water. RO units are relatively cheap, and the assurance you get from them is well worth it.

You can be looking at cyano outbreaks with high phosphates, and that stuff is just dreadful.

Good luck! I highly recommend thinking about a sump if you can fit it. It will make your life and the aquariums life so much better. Water changes from a DT is terrible. If you have a sump, you'll never touch the DT (negatively).

I don't have room for a RO/DI unit in my small apartment. I would if I could. After setting up the tank, I've been going to the LFS to purchase their RO/DI saltwater. Since posting my introduction, the algae problem has abated. I used GFO and carbon and ran it for about a week. The algae is no longer growing as prolifically and the cleaning crew is doing a great job with the mess. I'm going to have to supplement their diet soon because they are plowing through the algae so quickly. My yellow tang seems happy with the algae though. He's constantly picking at the live rock and always has a full belly.

[tkreefer]

It will most likely go away soon but with tapwater you are in store for far worse!! Your phosphates are more than likely off the charts and if so the algae you will encounter in the coming weeks will look 10x as bad!!

I sure hope not. I have since added two fighting conch and they doing a great job on the sand. The turbo snails have cleared most of the brown stuff on the live rock. The tank actually looks cleaner now than ever. Nitrates are at zero! It does help that I'm running an oversized skimmer for my tank that is pulling a lot of dissolved stuff out. The skim-mate is very very dark.

[jimmylam2010]

Good job Tan