random newbie questions (light, stocking, feeding)

[daskibum]

Have had the tank up and running since Feb 15th and have been pushing it (by not my choice). Its a reefer 170 (34 g display, 43g system). We haven't had any spikes in ammonia or nitrites, nitrates hold between 10-20 ppm which is of course not ideal. We have 2 small clowns, a lawnmower blenny, a tobacco basslet, 6 hermits, 6 margarita snails, 2 emerald crabs, a pom pom, a bubble tip nem. On the coral side a pulsing xenia, trumpet, zoas, a duncan and what I think is a frogspawn. So far the hardest part is getting the g/f to slow the hell down. She hasn't done much research and wants me to do it, but won't listen to anything I say. So... how can I get her under control? :|

Actually I think I got her to stop for a while. Everything seems happy enough so far. Crabs molt like crazy, fish beg for food constantly. So...

We have a diatom bloom. Not bad. I killed the lights for 3 days and it went mostly away, then once the lights were on over the weekend started coming back. Run a protein skimmer that rarely skims (bubble level fluctuates throughout the day) and a bag of carbon. How far back can I cut lighting before corals complain?

Lighting intensity. JBJ Orion LT-120. 120 watt LED. Can adjust blue and white. They slowly ramp up and get up to maybe around 55% blue, 40% white. I see lots of opinions on how much white or blue and intensities. Would things do better with more or less light?

Cleanup we don't have anything that does much in sand. Should we change what we have exchange/add shrimp or a sand dweller?

Most people talk about lots of life coming out after lights out. We don't have that. lol. We have one (what I assume is a) tiny bristle worm and one TINY (almost not visible) feather duster both in leftover shells. I see people talking about the benefits of worms, dusters or whatnot. Should I look into adding biodiversity so its not so sterile at night?

and lastly feeding. The basslet constantly wants food. Everything said coral safe with caution because they eat small critters (we have nothing small for him) but leaves corals alone. He took a chunk of trumpet a few weeks back when not fed for a few days. We are gone many weekends. Should I look at live shrimp to dump in on weekends for him to hunt? Otherwise we feed a tiny pinch of flakes or pellets for most critters and frozen shrimp for the basslet daily. Some people talk about feeding every 2 or 3 days is near starving a tank, others say fine. What say you?

 

[just_tim]

Well diatoms aren't really bad, just an eye sore. The fact that you're having a bloom means there are free silicates in the rock/sand. Let the diatoms eat them and they'll eat themselves out of food. Since you're still registering a good amount of traits it would be wise to hold off adding and coral or fish until the system has started to mature a bit more.

I like snails for clean up, they don't get too large and turn murderous like crabs. You could seed your tank with some jumbo pods for the tank hunters.

Well that's my .02. Good luck.

 

[rjl45]

I like nasarius snails for the sand bed, the burrow around and help keep the sand stirred and 'clean' (to a point). I agree with just_tim about crabs, hate the big hermits, they are nothing but trouble. Also definitely agree with you and tim, slow down on the fish for a bit. Let the system catch up and stabilize. Corals don't add a ton to the bioload, so if you must (which sometimes we must lol) add corals for the time being. Let the bacteria colonies catchup to help support the the number of fish you have.

I'm an addict too, love adding more and more. My wife keeps telling me to stop, so I understand the concept 'of wanting more'. With that said, you will be much happier in the long run, if you let things stabilize and add slowly over time.

Your tank is still young, so give it time for all the 'life' to take root. Worms, dusters, pods,etc...will all come along in time, likely hitchhiking on a coral frag.

Light... observe your corals and let them tell you if the light is too intense, or if they want more. They will lose color or brown out, if too intense. They won't grow or "reach" if the light is too low. In time you will come to recognize the signs.

 

[lee_is_007]

I would only run blues on 40 percent till the diatoms go away. Run for 8 hours a day tops. The whites will feed it big time and make it worse. I had diatoms when I set my new tank up and its taken about 2 1/2 to 3 months to get rid of them. They are a nightmare... It helps to suck as much of them out when you do water changes too. On feeding I would say you are fine feeding once a day. Just don't over feed and don't feed flakes. Meat foods only i.e. brine, mysis, .. Diatoms feed off lights mainly. They will go away just takes time. Like everything in this hobby...

 

[Miah2bzy]

How long has the tank had water in it? What flow do you have for the tank? What are you using for water top off (rodi?)/ are you using an ato (should help with the skimmer fluctuating)
I would second the nassarious snail, adding a sand dwelling wrasse wouldn't hurt as well.
It took my tank around 2 months before the rock started showing signs of life, I had added algae barns pods and phyto at the start.

 

[daskibum]

Thank you guys. We are 2.5 weeks into bloom. Its not a lot, mainly in the sand bed. Clean the glass every 3 days. But other than the occasional hermit on the sand bed, the only thing that cruises it is the blenny. Might go buy a nassarious snail or 2 in a few weeks. So far the hermits have been behaving. Only found one attacking an overturned snail. Otherwise they just walk around. We tossed in shells so they have upgrade room, and they switch shells weekly. Hopefully it keeps them friendly.

On light, so far everything is holding color very well. I figure I will know in a month if Zoas are growing. No idea how long it should take them to grow.

Miah, tank has had water since about Feb 15th so... month and a half. We run a Eheim 3000 set to a fairly high flow (goes to 792), a Ecodrift 4.0 (Adjustable Capacity: 528 - 1056 gph) running either 100 or 75% power most of the time on random flow patterns. Using RODI water in the built in ATO so the sump has a constant water level. The skimmer is a Icecap K2 50. I can't figure out why it fluctuates. In the mornings it won't even be to the neck, just fizzing tiny bubbles. By afternoon often it will be up to the neck or bottom of the cup. After feedings it works great. By bed sometimes its still skimming, sometimes its back to nothing. I tried looking into it but can't find much as I assumed it just is normal based on whats in the water? lol