hi all just wondering what you think

[maitsoly]

k k my tank has been up so far three months, everything is good water parameters are all good (what i have been testing for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates) even took water to LFS to double check my results, and he was really suprised at how well my water looked, especially since i told him that i hadn't changed water in nearly two weeks due to girlfriend and i having a beautiful little girl. but anyway, here are the things living in, and the equipment on my tank:
two tomato clowns (the less dominate one, now the dominate one now that i put in a BTA)
one yellow watchman goby (not sure if that is the real name cuz i never read anything about them)
one fuzzy dwarf lion that i am trying to find a new home for (decided i really did want to put some smaller fish in there)
a blue green chromis
an emerald crab
an arrow crab (also needing to find a new home grew much faster than i realized they would)
a small colony of yellow button polyps? and orange polyps?
probably about 25 lbs of live rock
it is a 29 gal tank
i have a berlin airlift protein skimmer (works good i guess constantly fills cup with green stuff but is in tank dosn't look very nice)
two aquaclear 301 power heads sucking up through undergravel
approximatly 15 lbs cc for the substrate
and a penguin 1700 biowheeltrickle filter?
lighting is just a 50/50 coralife bulb (i try to leave on no more then 10 hours at a time but most of the time on longer)

question 1 : can i expect the CC and undergravel filter to be a long term filtration or should i be planning on doing something else if so what?

2: money is tight (baby more important = ) but if this was your tank what would you upgrade next?

3: with a tank this size would a sump or refugium be benificial, and if so would anyone please link me to info on these two subjects

4: is water current causing this brown hair/slime lookin algea to grow in this one spot?

i guess that is it for now still am new to hobby, probably been reading reef central and all the links for about 5-6 months now (did lots of reading on SW tanks before i even bought the 29 gal)
this is also my first tank period and so far have had no casualties (that is a lie, the lion is pretty funny to watch when he stalks my hermits, the other reason he needs to go) and two turbo snails (which smell horribly when removed from tank after dying) but i will let you go now thanks for any info tips and suggestions.
thanks all :D

[Dieselraver]

question 1 : can i expect the CC and undergravel filter to be a long term filtration or should i be planning on doing something else if so what?

2: money is tight (baby more important = ) but if this was your tank what would you upgrade next?

3: with a tank this size would a sump or refugium be benificial, and if so would anyone please link me to info on these two subjects

4: is water current causing this brown hair/slime lookin algea to grow in this one spot?


1 : can i expect the CC and undergravel filter to be a long term filtration or should i be planning on doing something else if so what?

CC can become a phosphate and nitrate trap capaturing all the sedement and debris inside it, when you stir it up you release all the stuff into the water column, (not gooD!!) an undergravel is GOOD if you reverse flow it, make the water go down below the gravel, then shoot the water back up towards the top of the tank this allows for trapped sediment to become airborne, and skimmed with your protein skimmer, a GOOD protein skimmer lots of Live Rock, some really good clean up crews like shrimp, snails, hermits, etc, they will all aid in your cleaning your tank, right now i have a 29g with strictly a clean up crew i dont even run a protein skimmer, just lots of Live rock, a clean up crew and a turkey baster every now and then (moves the stuff around so that organisms can eat it up)

2: money is tight (baby more important = ) but if this was your tank what would you upgrade next?

if you plan on doing polyps and stuff, a decent light is good, you may want to try getting something like a T5 lighting system, if your doing only polyps no need to go MH, for a 29g its just a bit much unless you plan on doing some of the harder light loving corals, if your looking for simplicity plus a bit of novice-look like lots of colorful fish, and polps all over, and softies, then the T5 or even power compacts will be fine :) id actually invest in a refugium to help reduce the bio-load and also to start building a macroalgae, pop population, they will be invaluable as your tank matures


3: with a tank this size would a sump or refugium be benificial, and if so would anyone please link me to info on these two subjects

absolutly!!!! trust me its well worth it, not only does it increase your tank volume, it also provides a place to put ugly equipment like that heater, or your protein skimmer heres a link http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=416066&highlight=DIY+refugium


4: is water current causing this brown hair/slime lookin algea to grow in this one spot? Yes!! find the cause of the problem, either high phosphates, nitrates etc, it could be from flake food, or from bad water, find the source of the problem and fix that, or continue fixing the problem at hand, cyano really isnt an algae but more of a bacteria, it gathers in "dead" zones or areas that dont have any water flow, add water flow to that area and it will not grow the cyano :) HTH!!

[maitsoly]

thanks for answering me so quick, i only have one spot of cyano. basically you are saying that the undergravel and CC is not a good idea? BOY FISHIN IS TOUGH :D you aren't the first to tell m that, but i have also seen a tank that is eight years runnin on an undergravel and CC he said it has faired pretty good and it looks very nice too. But on the other hand i have heard others tell me the same thing that you did aboutthings bulding up, but doesn't it do that too if you just have a regular sand bed? I guess there is still somethin that i am missing that eventually i am sure i will learn. What do you mean by t5? I was thinking about those lunarlight PC hoods with the moonlights in them, anyone use or heard good and bad things about? thanks so much for your time. Also i know where the algae problem comes from, my tap water, any measures other then an RO unit that i can take, such as maybe just going and getting 5 gal jugs fromt the grocery store when i need it?

[Jounior]

T-5's are what I am using. I just got my tank up and running. I purchased my T-5's from REEFGEEK.COM. You should check out the site and read up on them. I like mine so far so good. JMHO