2months New 50g tank need help
 

Hi All,

Small intro -
I've been reading this forum for a while now and it got me from nothing to a 2 months old 50g tank containing -

20kg live rock
30kg DSB
2 2000 lph power head with sponge filter attached
5 Chromis
1 gobbie
1 peppermint
2 starfish
1 snail

I am completely new to this fascinating hobby and have so many questions.... and the newbie articles really helped a bunch.

Questions:
1.How do I know if I've got enough filtration? Because i really want to go rid of the sponges and just have power heads.

2. After i added salt recently to get the water back to 1.025spg the red stuff turn to orange colour.. is this good bad or what is it??

[IMG]http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/1/174360Image137.jpg[/IMG]

3. What is this? The red stuff in the middle, its starting to grow like a stick.
[IMG]http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/174360Image138.jpg[/IMG]

Adding salt dirrectly to the tank is very bad. You need to premix the batch let circulate and then add after drain. Salinty will fall during evaporation as salt dont evap only water does and this makes salinity go up.

You need to stop adding stock and get a water test kit. You need to know your readings before adding anymore stock.

Do you have a brand and model number for those powerheads as flow is very important.

Live rock is your best bio filter but not if there is not enough flow or rock then its usless,as well as the LS. You need to slow down and get the basics up to par. Your just looking for lots of problems and frustration. If you rush this hobby you will fail.
You need to take a few steps back and take care of the things like water readings , salinity , equipment ,ect, before you add anymore stock or go any further.

Probably can take out your filters now if you do it bit by bit so as not to shock the system. Although you should definately get a skimmer. Also look into gtting a sump to hide all yourheaters etc away and provideall the additional benifits that a sump brings.

The change in colour coud be growth or death of the coraline can be hard to tell, but I wouldn't worry about it.

I use the API test kit to test for ammonia nitrite and nitrate and have been doing so every 2 week since I got the tank. Stocks have been added in slowly 1 by 1 in the pass weeks.

power head are the Otto 2000lph ones.

tank condition

ammonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 10
ph 8.2
I use the floating device to check Salinity and was told to keep it at 1.025

here is how the tank looks atm all fish went hiding cause i suddenly turn on lights to take pictures.
[IMG]http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/174360Image139.jpg[/IMG]

How much live rock do you have in your tank?

[QUOTE][i]<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11496866#post11496866 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by JUNI0R [/i]
[B]How much live rock do you have in your tank? [/B][/QUOTE]

Right now around 20KG planing to slowing add to 30KG.

Usually, when the dark coralline turns to that pepto-bismol color, it's indicative of die-off. Happens when I take an overflow out of the water, clean power heads with coralline on them, or move a rock/frag that has been covering some coralline. It could have been caused by adding salt directly to the tank and having it settle in spots. You really should consider mixing your saltwater *outside* of the tank.

As for the dark purple things...I have a few in my nano and have no clue. I thought they may be some sort of sponge, but they are rather more hard than is typical of a sponge. Figured I would just let them be and observe. :)

Tracy