cstacks
Non-member
Hey all, I am new to keeping a reef tank and this group wondering if anyone has some suggestions to help improve my 32 gallon led biocube. I have been really enjoying it and have seem to be doing an ok job with keeping up with maintenance and keeping levels decently in check.
An issue I've been battling since I have started 4 months ago pretty much is I put a dry brain coral and a sea dollar that I found in the woods by a beach on my honeymoon in St. John BVI. I really wanted to put it in my tank and did with out cleaning it etc dumb I know but I am a noobie and thought the tank would naturally balance out and I really wanted it in my tank (St. John was such a nice place to snorkel so wanted to have the tank be sort of based around that).
Another issue I just recently figured out was a red light was coming into the tank 24/7. The result was a bad red cyno outbreak that covered the brain coral and sand dollar and spread to the live rock and my trumpet coral died and others started to look stressed. So what I did 2 weeks ago was removed the brain coral and sea dollar and put some red slime remover https://www.amazon.com/Ultralife-Products-Slime-Stain-Remover/dp/B0002DKB6S This product tbh really sketched me out especially how I think it is an antiboitic but they say nothing about the ingredients. It did however do a great job killing the red slime and nothing died/stressed it seemed, I did 2 applications followed by 2, 5 gallon water changes to try to clean it out after a few days in between applications. I now have this green/blueish stuff left over that isn't as bad as the red. I am conflicted should I try to kill it with the other kind that is blue green remover stuff? I've been snorkeling and see the rocks are definitely not white/pristine and are often covered in algae so I'm pretty conflicted. I got a frag on white tiles and could see a few days later the tile was starting to turn green I would imagine the corals would not like this etc. I do have some clean up crew big and small snails hermits and peppermint shrimp none seem to be eating the green or slowing it down.
Another issue is I saw yesterday what looks like a 3-6in bristle worm. Should I leave it as part of the ecosystem or try to get it out somehow?
I also feel like I have been running the white lights on the biocube led for too long. Right now I have it from 2pm to 10pm and the whites are on from like 4-8. I think what I might try is to cut the white out entirely and just run the blue and the other light anyone try this? I feel the white is way too bright and blasts the coral too much and possible creates the green algea but I could be wrong I am saving to upgrade to the steves led version so hopefully that will help too.
Thanks all looking forward to the next meet up
An issue I've been battling since I have started 4 months ago pretty much is I put a dry brain coral and a sea dollar that I found in the woods by a beach on my honeymoon in St. John BVI. I really wanted to put it in my tank and did with out cleaning it etc dumb I know but I am a noobie and thought the tank would naturally balance out and I really wanted it in my tank (St. John was such a nice place to snorkel so wanted to have the tank be sort of based around that).
Another issue I just recently figured out was a red light was coming into the tank 24/7. The result was a bad red cyno outbreak that covered the brain coral and sand dollar and spread to the live rock and my trumpet coral died and others started to look stressed. So what I did 2 weeks ago was removed the brain coral and sea dollar and put some red slime remover https://www.amazon.com/Ultralife-Products-Slime-Stain-Remover/dp/B0002DKB6S This product tbh really sketched me out especially how I think it is an antiboitic but they say nothing about the ingredients. It did however do a great job killing the red slime and nothing died/stressed it seemed, I did 2 applications followed by 2, 5 gallon water changes to try to clean it out after a few days in between applications. I now have this green/blueish stuff left over that isn't as bad as the red. I am conflicted should I try to kill it with the other kind that is blue green remover stuff? I've been snorkeling and see the rocks are definitely not white/pristine and are often covered in algae so I'm pretty conflicted. I got a frag on white tiles and could see a few days later the tile was starting to turn green I would imagine the corals would not like this etc. I do have some clean up crew big and small snails hermits and peppermint shrimp none seem to be eating the green or slowing it down.
Another issue is I saw yesterday what looks like a 3-6in bristle worm. Should I leave it as part of the ecosystem or try to get it out somehow?
I also feel like I have been running the white lights on the biocube led for too long. Right now I have it from 2pm to 10pm and the whites are on from like 4-8. I think what I might try is to cut the white out entirely and just run the blue and the other light anyone try this? I feel the white is way too bright and blasts the coral too much and possible creates the green algea but I could be wrong I am saving to upgrade to the steves led version so hopefully that will help too.
Thanks all looking forward to the next meet up
