Judging Water Quality (and "should I skim?")

[Cowman345]

I have a relatively young (~1 month old) pico reef set up in a 2gal Azoo (Red Sea) "melody" tank stocked as follows:

2 med hermits
1 small hermit
1 astrea snail
1 nassarius snail
1 1" long Red Headed Neon Goby
1 medium Coco Worm (feather duster)

1 small xenia
1 small clump zoos
4-7 Mushrooms (incl ricordea, all small-med)

A bunch of various macros growing in small amounts

QUESTION:

I'm feeding this tank once every other day with about 1/8 tsp Sweetwater brand Zooplankton OR some basic marine flakes (7-8 small flakes mixxed up and administered with eyedropper)

Water changes at LEAST once/week - 30oz (~15%)

I have some moderate algae problems, but all my parameters are great:

temp: 80F
sg: 1.025
pH: 8.2
Amm: 0
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: 5-10 and dropping
Phos: 0 or very close
Calcium: ~440

#1. Does this mean I have good water quality? I don't skim, and I'm wondering if I should since I feed so much? Should I feed less? When/how do I know if my water quality is "good"?

#2. Should I add more snails for the algae? (note: i have itsy bitsy hair algae patches, very minor cyano - brown and red, and some diatomatous growth on rocks, and a little fuzzy green...)

Thanks!

-dave-

[skipm]

Some of the algae growth is normal for a newly set up tank. You could add a couple more cleaners that target the specific algaes you have. For the cyano check for dead spots and add/move powerheads to get rid of all of your deadspots. You may also shorten your photo period to < 12 hours a day until the tank ages a bit more. You could also increase you water changes to either twice a week or raise them to 25% until things are more under control. I would start with a couple more cleaners and checking for deadspots and go from there. HTH, Skip

[Cowman345]

Thanks Skip... I've decided to get a couple snails, perhaps 2 nerite, 1 cerith.

I've shortened photoperiod to about 9 or 10 hrs already, and that's significantly slowed algae growth. I may add on a larger hang on filter to put some cheato and increase waterflow.

Questions remain though:

Am I feeding too much for a 2gal tank?

Just how much do I need to feed my little goby?

Should I skim? (is it better to skim and keep feeding, or cut down on feeding?)

-dave

[Clarkii3]

for a 2 gallon tank, it may be just a little too much. Fish in marine tanks don't feed to often, the same as in nature. Maybe every 3 days. Coco worms are difficult to maintain.I would have stuck with a hawaiian feather duster. Part of the problem is the feeding of the feather duster, algae is feeding off the nutrients from the food. So you should try feeding every 3 days and see how it works out. Also the power filter would help or maybe a small water pump such as the micro-jet from azoo, or the mini jet 404. In a nano this small with 10% water changes every week, would eliminate the need for a skimmer. You also might want to add a turbo snail. The eat all kinds of algae and can clean it up very fast. I have 2 of them in my 10g nano and almost every bit og hair algae is gone.

[Cowman345]

Thanks for the advice... my coco worm has been there about 2 weeks and seems as healthy as ever, even growing a bit. What makes them hard to care for? I guess I'll run a search.

As for the rest of your advice, thanks a lot... i'm cranking through a solution in my head. I'd like to slap an AC300 on there if i can get the flow low enough to have a mini fuge.

I guess most of my algae is neon-green which i've heard means it's coraline spores... we'll have to wait and see


-dave-

[Clarkii3]

i found some articles on tube worms if you are interested.............

http://www.dtplankton.com/feathers.htm

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issu...002/invert.htm

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/feather.htm

[Cowman345]

Thanks Clarkii, after reading those articles, I'm gonna start feeding my tank some DT's at least, to start.

Does anyone know if DT's contributes too badly to degradation of water quality? (i.e. how often can I feed my tank DT's? - 2gal)

-dave-

[Clarkii3]

All about DT's

http://www.dtplankton.com/frameset1.htm

HTH

[Cowman345]

Thanks! That answers just about all my questions

I've decided to add a 3rd Azoo Palm Filter to the tank and hope that will be enough flow to kick this little cyano invasion.

I've also aquired a bit of DT's... the guys at my LFS seemed a bit amused to hear about a 2gal tank; they spared me spending 20 bucks on a bottle of DT's that would last forever and spoil before I finish it, and gave me a little in a bag for free. Also picked up some Cyclopeeze while I was there.

So we'll see how my Coco Worm and new Porcelain crab do with a few drops of DT's daily...

-dave-