Rusty Algae?

[J-Money]

I'm expecting my tank to be covered in algae and now there is a bunch of rust colored crap covering everything. This is normal right? I'm using R/O water so I thought it wouldn't be so bad...

I took water readings today and I'm not sure if this kit works right... Anyone use the Red Sea Marine Lab? It says my ammonia is 0, and was 0 a week ago. I've only been cycling for 2 or 3 weeks now and I didn't expect that. The NitrIte and NitrAtes are hard to read, the colors don't really match the key card doh!

 

[Navarre]

HOw much liverockis in there?

and yes this is a natural stage of maturing. its called the diatom stage and its an algae that feeds on silicates in the sand and water. once this is used up it dissapears. The only way for it to continue is to add nutrients into the tank that conatain silicates hence why its important to continue using Ro water

 

[J-Money]

Thanks Navarre, I have about 120lbs of LR in there. I ordered 2-45lb boxes of fiji (cured) and 1-30lb box of Tonga (uncured), so how ever much rock there actually is in there is anyone's guess

 

[Navarre]

its quite possible that the cycle was that fast it happend over night If the water smells ok.. and more importantly the uncured rock smells ok and not like roten eggs then its probably cycled

 

[parker313]

With my diatoms, I woke up one morning and they were just pretty much GONE. I was very pleasantly surprised!

 

[J-Money]

Thanks parker, that's good to know. I was going to get a toothbrush and scrape it all off the glass and rocks.

I smelled the water Navarre and it doesn't smell bad. I haven't taken the uncured rock out yet to smell it though. I guess I'll order my cleaning crew this week or next sometime and hope that by the time they are in the tank for a few days it will be fully cycled...Then I'll put my first fish in Which would be best to put in first? Fuzzy Dwarf Lion, Dwarf Zebra lion, or Niger trigger. I figured it'd be the Fuzzy Dwarf

 

[Navarre]

NIgers are peaceful triggers (mostly) but they grow HUGE! I got rid of mine a few months ago and i saw it again only recently.. its grow quite fast too (i was told they were slow growers ). If you are aiming for fish only then have you considered a trigger that wont get as large?

The Fuzzy dwarf is ideal for a tank this size.

 

[J-Money]

I thought in captivity Nigers rarely got over 10-12"...and Maxxxxed out at 18" in the wild

 

[Navarre]

Ive seen em around 15" though it tooka while to get to that size im sure

 

[J-Money]

how big was yours when you got rid of it? Was it in the 100G? And how much bigger is 100g UK vs 120g US?

 

[Navarre]

A 100 gallon UK is 4x2x2. I think that is close to 120 US gallons.

Mine was about 7 inches across.. perhaps a little less. its wasnt overly huge for the tank to be honest but knowing how big they do get and what i wanted to do with the tank in the coming future I knew i could not keep it. I also felt it was easier to move it on now whilst it was still relatively small than when it grew into a monster and no one wanted it. The 15" Niger i have seen at my lfs has been there since i got rid of my smaller one and its still there to this day.

How about a male bluethroat Trigger? or perhaps a Pinktail? Both dont grow very large (about 7 inches max) and are very reef safe

 

[J-Money]

Thanks for the advice navarre. BUt i think i'm going to still go with the Niger. I like the general solid dark color and the fangs I'm planning on really just having the 3 fish in the tank, maybe 1 more so there will be plenty of room to swim around and i should have enough filtration ...

Although...my tank is only 18" wide (60" x 18" x 25.5"). I guess I'll just have to hope that he only stays around 12" like they generally do in captivity (from what i've heard/read anyway)

 

[Navarre]

No problem, they are lovely fish... But err.. they are not black for long.. they turn a grey/blue colour as they grow.

 

[J-Money]

yeah, i'm hopin' to get one that turns dark blue