What is the best way to keep my tank running? -.-?

Question

I have a salt water tank and i admit i am a noob at this. I have a couple of questions to ask. One is should i keep sea slugs in my tank? Another is my hermit crabs attacked my scooter blenny, then the algae went wacked up... How do i keep the balance right? Lastly, are corals OK for beginners?

Answer 1

Most sea slugs don't last very long because they have specialized diets (sponges and other odd things). The only exception I'd make are for some that eat algae, but you need to have the right type, and once this is gone, they'll probably die. You're really better to use snails and hermit crabs for algae control. Also, most of the sea slugs (properly called nudibranchs) are have chemicals within them to make other at best distateful (if not outright toxic) to anything that tries to eat them - that's the reason for their bright coloration.

Hermits are generally though of as algae control, but most are omnivores, and will eat "animal" prey if given the chance. There are numerous species that you'll see for sale, so you almost need to be able to know the feeding habits of each type. Even so, if a hermit is hungry, none are completely safe. I think that the blue-legged and scarlet hermits are the safest, and they tend to be smaller in size than some, so it would be less likely for these to do much harm to a larger fish.

You don't mention what type of algae you're having trouble with, but the keys to controling it are low nutrients and light levels. Algae needs light for photosynthesis, so if you reduce the amount of light it gets, it won't be able to grow as well. Of course, you can only do this if you don't have other photosynthetic organisms in your tank (corals, anemones, clams). You may also want to look at how long the lights are on during the day and just cut back on the number of hours. As far as nutrients, do you monitor the nitrate level in your tank? Nitrate acts as a fertilizer for both plants and algae, so if you aren't doing water changes to keep the level low (preferably below 20), you'll be feeding the algae. If you're using tapwater to mix your saltwater, there may be nitrate and phosphate (another fertilizer) in your tapwater - it may benefit you to get a copy of the chemical analysis of your water supply to make sure you aren't supporting your algae when you do a water change. If either of these are present, you may need to switch to reverse osmosis water (you can buy a reverse osmosis unit for home use and make your own, or buy the RO water - Super WalMarts sell it for around $0.33 per gallon, once you buy the refillable container - look for it at the Culligan self-serve water dispensers in the stores). You can also buy phosphate removal pads that you can cut to fit your filter. See this for more: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/algaeconMar.htm

What you have may be cyanobacteria ("red slime algae", although it is a bacteria, not an algae) - you can see a photo for comparison and get info on the control from this link: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/bluegralgae.htm . Much of the control is the same as for green algae, but this also doesn't like areas of high water flow, so using a few powerheads aimed at the spots where it's the worst may help out. You can also use macroalgae to compete with cycanobacteria for the nutrients in the tank. But be careful and trim the macroalgae back regularly if you use it - otherwise, it can overgrow your tank.

You might be able to keep corals, but this will depend a great deal on your lighting. Almost all are photosynthetic, and the standard fluorescent tubes aren't bright enough to keep them alive. You would need to use at the very minimum a compact fluorescent or a T-5 system, or for deeper tanks, a metal halide by itself or in combination with a compact fluorescent. Some of the easier ones to start with are mushrooms, zooanthids (sea mat), clove polyps, and leathers. Before you try these, you should first get you algae under control - if you have a problem with high nutrients, corals won't do very well. You should also do a little reading on the different types of corals to get an understanding of their lighting needs, water movement, placement in the tank, and coral aggression, since these will produce chemicals to prevent other corals from growing too close. Some need to be fed in addition to what food they are able to obtain from their photosynthetic algae.

You can get more information on corals from these websitee: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/
http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?cls=16&cat=1990&articleid=2954
http://www.peteducation.com/category_summary.cfm?cls=16&cat=1927

You can also find biological controls for your algae from this website: http://saltcorner.com/sections/guest/algaepage/algaepage.htm _ you'll need to identify it first, then use the number next to the algae name to find a fish or invertebrate that eats that type (at the bottom of the page).

Answer 2

earlier you attempt to restoration something, bypass to the plumbing branch on your community ironmongery save and ask for the blue dye pills for attempting out for bathing room leaks. maximum hardware shops gives you you a pair loose. Drop a sort of interior the bathroom tank and don't flush for a on a similar time as. Watch what happens interior the bowl, if blue shade looks interior the bowl you have a leak. that's a outstanding quantity and might placed your water invoice up fairly lots. From what you assert, my suitable wager is that the elect the flow needs adjusted. have a seem interior the tank - you will see an open pipe sticking up, usually some million" in diameter. There could be a small tube pointing down this pipe. If the water point interior the tank is greater than the right of the pipe it is your problem. in case you have the kind with a extensive ball on the tip of a rod floating interior the tank - unscrew the ball from the rod a splash or unscrew the rod from the tower a splash of the two - which will decrease the elect the flow interior the water. If there is not adequate thread on the rod to unscrew the climate a procedures adequate to clean up the problem then bend the rod down in straight forward terms a tad. in case you have the kind without ball, the the elect the flow is often that fat gentle gray area around the tower. Take the lid of and flush - watch for the area that drops with the water point then regulate it so it sits decrease. In the two case - having made an adjustment, flush the bathroom and notice the place the hot point is. the main suitable point while tank is done is a few quarter of an inch below the right of the open pipe i discussed on the commencing up. digital mail me if this does not paintings or you opt for extra.

Answer 3

for the most part sea slugs have a difficult diet and thus have a short life span.hermit crabs are opportunistic feeders and that blenny just sitting there all the time is just asking for trouble.
corals are a whole different ball game and often require a whole bunch of additional (read expensive) equipment. they are so attractive and worth it but are usually not for beginners.

Answer 4

Well I know that the sea slug or snails usually die fast. The crabs should keep the algae level low.. but if they don't then you could get snails, slugs, another fish or crab.