11 weeks young

So we have been up and running for 11 weeks now. There have been a few hiccups along the way, but for the most, the tank has been going well. There was the little issue of a dead cleaner shrimp and the goby that wanted to commit suicide, but he is alive and happy now.

I am still struggling with algae and seem to be going through a nitrate explosion at the moment. I am not sure what the problem is but am trying to do mass water changes (3 x 25l changes in 5 days) as well as using some chemicals ( Red Sea's NO3 and PO3 remover). Before the water changes, my nitrates measured at a whopping 50ppm, but the ammonia and Nitrites were zero. Before the latest 25l change, the nitrates came down to 20, but still way to high. My phosphates were on the high side, but that is expected as i never used any phosphate remover from the start. They are gradually coming down. All this explains my algae bloom.

We also seem to have an unhappy tang. Le-Mon has a few red blotches on his skin. I am not exactly sure what has caused this - some forums say it could be ph issues, others a disease. My ph is fine and i have treated for general diseases, but the blotches are still there. They haven't got worse, but they haven't improved either :(

We do have 2 new additions. A royal gamma and a cherub angel which i got for Father's Day. They both seem to have found their place in the tank and doing well. These are the last of my purchases as i believe i may be at my limit. The angel is really pretty and is a very active swimmer, something i like in fish. The gamma is a contender for the hide and go seek championship - the mrs and I have spent a few hours searching for him in the evening. You wouldn't believe where we have found him some times!

Week 2: End of the first nitrogen cycle

It's nearly the end of week 2 and there have been some developments since the new arrivals.

Firstly, the clowns have a new Tank mate: a yellow tang. I picked him up from Birchwood aquatics, which has a very nice range of fish and healthy looking as well. I know it's a bit early for him as there won't be a lot of green algae for him to graze on, but I am supplementing that with some algae circles that I can hang in the tank.

Then there was the invasion of the brown algae! After getting freaked out and doing some research, found out this is normal for a new tank. It signals the end of the first nitrogen cycle. This algae is actually called diatoms. This algae feeds off the nitrate that is in the water. They will go away and turn into the healthy green algae as the tank continues to mature. That doesn't mean that it should be left unchecked.

The pros of having this algae is that it helps keep your nitrates in check. If you checked your tanks nitrates at this stage, it should result in a zero reading. Therefore, if you removed all this algae in one foul swoop, your nitrate readings will shoot up. It would also result in a major overall of the tank and therefore you will start the cycle again. That's one thing that I am learning very quickly, this hobby is about balance and patience. 2 things I struggle with!

So what to do? Some people suggest that you can do a light siphon of your gravel to pick up these guys. You could also do a fanning of the gravel to lift them up so they get picked up by your filter. If your rocks are getting really bad, a light rub remove this from the rocks as well.

I decided to leave my rocks as they were as I want to get some green algae there for my tang. I also did a light siphon of the sand. This is 2 part as I wanted to remove some water and add RO water to the system as my salinity was to high.