im wanting to learn more... but dont get straight answers

[dummyterminal]

I am very new to SW still and sitting at home i dont alway know what it is people are talking about on msg boards. there is such a diverse amount of fish, and they live under so many types of conditions the answers are never direct.
lighting for instance... most people swear up and down its the wattage your lights consume that makes them better.. i know this isnt so but its things like this that really make it difficult to learn the propper ways of SW tank keeping. fish shops are usually no better at giving good advise...
I took samples to 3 fish shops this weekend.. all of them tested out the same +/- 1ppm for the most part... but got totally confilcting answers for my questions.

all my algea stopped growing on the live rocks and my 2 turbo snails and 6 hermits cleaned the tank spotless... i want to get more algea growth on the live rocks (only 20lbs in a 55gal tank). even the algea that was growing on the tank walls and crushed coral has stopped... what can i do to fix this?

these are my readings at home with my test kits.

0 ppm nitrates
0 ppm nitrites
0 ppm amonia
8.1 ph
1.021 salinity

the fish shops got the same readings basically...
these where my answers...

1. the water is TOO clean, you need to slow down your filters a little bit because there is no nitrates.... this could kill all your fish.

2. excellent water. but should dose with some calcium and vitamins/amino acids.

3. everything is ok with water, but for algea need to get pH up to 8.4 and get 50lbs more live rock.


i went with answer from shop #2... it seemed to be the most honest... what do you think?

[OscarBeast]

Hello!

I am pretty new as well but I will help you out was much as I can.

One thing that you have to remember is that much of this hobby is based only on speculation. There is a lot of the mentality that if it seems to work, then it must work then it tends to be accepted as fact. What you end up with is a lot of personal opinions and examples that have worked for people in their experience. Also, there is usually a few ways to go about doing something. These ways also usually tend to change over time as well. Many times, very few things are really tested. These are usually the reasons that you get conflicting information.

First of all, what kind of tank do you want to have? Do you want a reef tank or a fish only tank with live rock (FOWLR)?

If you want to do a reef tank then you are a little short on the live rock. You will want at least around 50 lbs or so and probably around 75 lbs would be ideal.

As far as your readings, well it really depends on what you want in the tank and what you have right now, and how long the tank has been up. What are all the critters that you have in your tank right now? What will you put in the tank later?

Just offhand, the pH would probably be a little better at 8.2 or so and the SG around 1.024.

As far as adding anything yet (calcium, supplements, etc.), there probably is no need unless you have something in the tank that needs it.

Most people don't want many of the smaller nasty algae. The algae that is really more desirable is macro algae which is more like plants than what you would typically think of as being algae.

If there is no food for the algae, you won't have any though. You need to be putting enough food in the tank for algae to grow. Once again, this really depends on what you want to do with your tank before anyone can really help you out and tell you want to feed your tank.

If all you have is LR and a clean-up crew, and you aren't really feeding them anything, then you don't really have anything feeding the tank the nutrients that algae needs to grow. Until you really have some livestock to feed, and them creating waste, then you probably won’t have much algae anymore.

As far as lighting goes, you are correct. Watts really don't matter; it is the amount of light that is actually produced. The problem is that many people don't really know what everything needs in terms of lumens, spectrums, and at what exact levels. The other problem is that average hobbyist doesn't have a light meter that can show them how bright their light needs to be.

We do know that most reef live needs a lot of blue light. We know that many things need a lot of light and others do not. The best way to think of the wattages is as a reference. It is a good way to "guess" at how much lights you need. The best thing to do is to try to find out what people with successful tanks are using on the same size tank as yours. Look for the people that keep the kinds of things that you would like to keep and go from there.

As I said, I am pretty new, so hopefully someone else will come along that can give you a little more insight into the issues at hand.

[Don Davis]

Hello DummyTerminal,

You are right, this hobby is extremely diverse. There are as many ways to do things as there are reefers. There is also very little known about the right way to do things so you get a lot of opinions rather then facts. Every reefer has their own opinions and they love to share them. :D

I would agree a little bit with each store. Water can be too clean, algaes feed off of nutrients in the water, and if it's a recently cycled tank, there may not be enough nutrients built up yet. Instead of cutting back your filtration though you might consider feeding a little more. If you are trying to grow coraline algae you will want a high calcium level and lots of current. I'd stay away from other additives like vitamins and amino acids. Your tank should be getting all the additives it needs (except for calcium) from your regular feedings. I would also recommend raising your ph a little and also raising your salinity to 1.025 or 1.026. Adding more live rock won't help anyone except the fish store. :D

Sorry for the vague answers but I would need a few more details about the tank and the type of algae you are wishing to grow to be helpful. Age and size of tank, temp, lighting, circulation, sump/skimmer, amount and type of food, amount and type of additives.

Feel free to send me a private message and I'll give you my phone number. It might be faster to answer all the questions on the phone rather then typing back and forth.:D

Later,

Don

[OscarBeast]

My post is bigger! Hehe

:P

Don knows more though! Listen to him. :P

[Colin]

Hi DT,

Out of curiosity, could you e-mail me with the names of the shops that gave each answer? This would be a great party game. "Guess the LFS". :D


--Colin

[dummyterminal]

55gal tank
age of tank is about 4 months now...

contents of tank
2 percula's
2 damsels
6-7 blue legged hermits
2 turbo snails
20 lbs live rocks w/ various corals/sponges growing on them
1 atlantic star fish

temp is at 78*, water flow is about 1100gph...
330gph penguin
400gph emperor
300gph powerhead

goals for tank... lots of color, mainly from corals and rocks. i know i need more lights.. i will have soon... not to many fish, the ones i do add will be smaller types.

feed the fish omega one flakes 3-4 times a week, also make plankton for some of the corals to feed on everyother day

[Don Davis]

Hey Oscar, my wife assures me that it's not the size of your post but rather the content. ;) I knew I married her for a reason. :D

I noticed that you didn't even comment about posting 1 minute faster then me. :eek: :D

Later,

Don

[Kyle McClain]

Don, Oscar

This is a family site now.....

Dummyterminal

When I first got into the hobby a few years ago I felt the same way. Unfortunatly for us the people who own the shops don't stay current on the new research and developments in the hobby. RC has been a geat resource. The best way for you to get a good bearing on the hobby is to read. This link will take you to books recomended by RC. I reccomend these to everyone.

Aquarium Corals~ Eric Borneman( know as Eric Hugo on RC)
Reef Fishes ~Scott Michael
Conscientious Marine Aquarist~ Robbert Fenner ( great book to get first)

Kyle McClain

[snow2000]

Hello, Everyone having a good April Fools???

Dummyterminal,

Sounds like Don, Kyle and Oscar have this one covered, I would just like to add that in addition to what was already mentioned for the coraline growth you also need to watch your Alkalinity preferably keeping it up around 10-12 dkh... Besides that it sounds like you are coming right along! The normal cycle of a new tank includes the growth and retraction of the undesirables such as hair algae, diatoms (cyno) etc... the fact that yours are disappearing is a good thing!!!

The information you find here from RC will have you shaking your head at what most of the LFS have to tell you!

Take care,
Mark

[dummyterminal]

where in the world can i see what all these algea's look like... whats good/whats bad?