newbie starting sw, will have questions as I progress!

**sheamurai** · 01-23-2010, 01:07 PM

Oh my, what a silly goose I am. I was playing around with MOAs fish sheet, and I found out that the tank I thought was a 40gal, and was sold to me as such, is actually only a 30! Maybe even a 29, I'm never sure where to measure, at the top of the sand level to the bottom of the frame (water volume) is what I do.
So, I have 50lbs of LR in my 29 gal tank, lol.
My water changes have been 30%, when most people say to do 10 to 20! No wonder my corals aren't happy the day I do a wc!

day 26
salinity now at 1.026, a touch high...
nitrate - finally not measurable on my API card!

gtg shopping for a new fish today, lol!

**ILuvMyGoldBarb** · 01-23-2010, 01:13 PM

sheamurai, don't bother using MOA's sheet for this tank. That sheet is designed for FW only and is not meant for use with a SW tank. Calculating your water volume is fine but that's where it's usefulness for SW ends.

**sheamurai** · 01-23-2010, 01:54 PM

yah, thats all I did do with it...I just like playing around with species and things and see what pops up in it...

I had tentatively planned on getting a hippo tang for my tank, but now I don't think I can cuz my tank is too small for it....?

**ILuvMyGoldBarb** · 01-23-2010, 03:35 PM

definitely too small. Your tank is too small for any of the tangs. You need to stick to Gobies, certain wrasses, 1 or 2 of the blennies, damsels and clowns. There's not much outside those groups that is appropriate for your tank.

**sheamurai** · 01-23-2010, 05:27 PM

thanks Addict, what I thought, lol.
Ended up getting a dwarf flame angel.

Any suggestions for a small, blue coloured fish for my 30gal tank?

**sheamurai** · 01-23-2010, 11:25 PM

Another question too in addition to above which I hope someone will respond to as well...
I currently have a nerite snail in a FW tank, and I'm thinking of moving it to my reef. I'm worried that it will reproduce like mad and overpopulate my tank - will nerites do that in a saltwater setting?

**sheamurai** · 02-03-2010, 03:03 AM

Well, its day 36 in my tank, and I have some corals and fish in it now. I also have crazy algae! Every kind is growing! I have hair algae, that is being eaten by my flame angel, diatoms which seem to be mostly gone now, and coralline growing where I don't want it! Its growing on the tank walls, which I know usually is a good thing, but my tank is beside my desk, so I look at it from both sides, and when looking for a particular object, I look in thru the ends too.
Oy!
What fun, tho, love this tank. I stare at it far more than I do my fw tanks, which I occasionally feel guilty about, as I do have my favourites in the other tanks, and now they only get attention basically at feeding time.
So many tanks, so little time!

**Rue** · 02-03-2010, 02:53 PM

I like all my tanks...the SW needs the most work, but I can't say it's my favourite...

No advice for you about the algae...I'm still dealing with my own...seems to come and go without rhyme or reason...I've checked all my levels...everything seems okay...

Maybe more water changes?

**labnjab** · 02-03-2010, 06:28 PM

Your algae is just your tank going through the normal algae stages and it will come and go over the next year or so. I highly recomend running a phosphate remover in any sw tank. Gfo in a reactor works best but any remover will help. It will really help reduce the amount of algae.

**sheamurai** · 02-03-2010, 11:27 PM

I've put a phosphate pad in the filter, and it does seem to help a bit. Until it gets clogged, then it just encourages the algae. I think using coral food has also increased the algae growth. I rinse the pad every other day now, and while I still have a lot of algae, at least I'm not cleaning the glass every single night.
Now its just every other night, lol.