NANO ???

[kydsexy]

Ok, thanks in advance to everyone who responds. Im a longtime researcher of saltwater and this is my 2nd time setting one up as Ive been in college the past few years. Onto my question. I just setup my nano a few weeks ago, 3-4 and my nitrates are a little high. I have 18 lbs of LR, 25 lbs of normal marine sand, 50/50 Coralife Power compact $90 if that helps, 30 inches and a sponge filter for bio filtration just for cycling purposes. My ammonia is 0, nitrites VERY low, almost untracable, and nitrates around 10 ppm.

Ive noticed that there is a brown algae starting to grow on the back of the tank but my sponges and xenia are doing just fine. should i add in a fish so my bacteria dont start dying off? is it my light creating this. ive done one water change so far. help please.

thanks

oh yeah, the emperor 400 will also be used, just not included right now. any suggestions on improving my tank. any and all help appreciated

 

[dnorton1978]

The brown algae is part of the cycling process. You should be nearing the end of it being you have had it setup for 3--4 weeks. If I read your post correctly, you already have xenia in your new tank??? Normally you want to start off very slow, and build up to corals. Help us out with answering a few more questions. Oh, btw, we love pics here, and you should get more responses if you include pics(just kidding). Post some pics and we will happily help you.


Couple of questions??

Are you running a protein skimmer?

How many gallons is the nano?

How long are you running your lights?

Do you have any other live stock?

 

[kydsexy]

The xenia came on some of the tonga LR i purchased. The tank is a 20 gallon long without a protein skimmer, not sure if i needed one, what do you think? there is no other stock other than a few blue legged hermits, and a starfish that came with the rock, he's imp;ossible to find now tho. brown with long legs like a brittle star. ill post some pics tomorrow after work!! thanks for the fast reply

 

[Anonymous]

Just to add that you don't need to add a fish to keep the bacteria going in the LR/sand. AFAIK, that's sometimes the case with freshwater, but with marine, you're better off waiting to add the fish until you're completely sure your levels are fine. You sound like you're nearly there anyway, so just wait to see your levels are stable before adding your first fish.

As dnorton said, the brown algae is part of the cycle (is it like a faint dusting on the glass? If so, sounds like diatoms, also part of the cycle), so don't be too worried. Ensuring you have good water circulation will help gett rid of diatoms and keep them gone. What powerheads do you have in the tank?

 

[reefman5511]

Also a clean up crew will eliminate it the diatoms. Diatoms could also be a result of high silicates.