55 Gallon Saltwater Aquarium Update

[Wiggles92]

Hello all, I'm posting an update on my dad's 55 gallon saltwater aquarium now that I'm on "spring" break to see what all still needs done. I previously had made the thread "Saltwater Aquarium N00b Needs Help," and we have made many of the changes that were suggested in that thread.

Here is the current set up and stock list:
Aquarium: 55 gallons
Filtration:

• Fluval U2 Underwater Filter (rated for 12-30 gallons)
• Aqueon QuietFlow 20 (rated for 20-30 gallons)

Heaters:

• Whisper Submersible Heater (rated for 10-30 gallons, 100 watts)
• All-Glass Aquariums Heater (rated for 15-40 gallons, 100 watts)

Lighting: 48" Coralife Lunar Aqualight T5 Lamp High Output Fixture

• 2x 10,000K lamps (on for 13 hours daily)
  • 7:00 A.M.- Turns on
  • 8:00 P.M.- Turns off
• 2x Actinic lamps (on for 14 hours daily)
  • 6:30 A.M.- Turns on
  • 8:30 P.M.- Turns off
• 4x LED Moonlights (on for 11 hours daily)
  • 8:00 P.M.- Turns on
  • 7:00 A.M.- Turns off

Skimmer: AquaC Remora Hang-On Protein Skimmer w/ Drain Fitting + Maxi-Jet 1200 Pump (rated for 20-75 gallons, drains into 5 gallon bucket)
Substrate: 30 lbs. aragonite sand
Live Rock:

• 35 lbs. cured live rock (mostly Fiji, 5lbs. added 12/22/2010, 30 lbs. added 12/31/2010)
• 10 lbs. dead coral rock (not sure if it's live yet, added 12/31/2010)

Invertebrates:

• 2x common sea star (added 11/27/2010)
• 4x Florida crown conch (added 11/27/2010)
• 1x pencil urchin (added 12/31/2010)

Fish:

• 1x shrimp (3.5", added 11/27/2010, was left over bait from fishing)
• 2x mosquitofish (1", added 11/27/2010, no idea why they were living in a saltwater canal when we caught them )
• 1x yellowtail damselfish (1", added 12/22/2010)
• 1x blue damselfish (1", added 12/22/2010)
• 1x three stripe damselfish (1", added 12/22/2010)
• 1x false percula clownfish (1", added 12/30/2010)

Water Parameters:

• Temperature: 78° F
• Specific Gravity: 1.023
• Nitrate: 0 ppm
• Nitrite: 0 ppm
• Ammonia: 0 ppm
• Phosphate: 1 ppm
• Calcium: 320 ppm
• KH: 268.5 ppm (15 °dKH)

Here are some pictures of the aquarium:

Here's a picture of the stand that it will go on when the next water change rolls around:

Now as you can tell, this aquarium has a major algae problem! My dad has dosed it with API Algaefix with little success, so we've been thinking about getting additional invertebrates and/or vertebrates for the cleaner crew. Any ideas on proper stocking levels of said cleaner crew?

Apparently my dad has also been dosing the aquarium with API Eco Calcium and API Eco Strontium, too. based on the water parameters, would it be possible to add some corals (hint, hint FLESHY ) and another anemone to this aquarium after the algae problem is solved?

The two common sea stars will be removed soon because they have eaten way too many of their tankmates (serpent sea star, anemone, two shrimp, and possibly one of the previous damselfish). There used to be another false percula clownfish, but my dad found it dead a few days after I returned to college from Christmas break. Might it be possible to add another false percula clownfish so that the remaining one has a mate? I'm not worried about determining the gender of the clownfish to ensure a pair because they can change their gender if necessary.

I have a quick underwater video tour of the aquarium that I will post once it finishes uploading to YouTube.

 

[TMartinez]

No problems with algae nuisance algae? I was told but to only rin the lights for about 8 hours-ish. I was running my like 12 hours and was getting algae issues

 

[Wiggles92]

No problems with algae nuisance algae? I was told but to only rin the lights for about 8 hours-ish. I was running my like 12 hours and was getting algae issues

There is definitely a good bit of nuisance algae in there. I never thought to have my dad decrease the amount of light that the aquarium got per day to try to control the algae.

 

[lockball]

Maybe an algae scrubber to refocus the location and motivation of algae ?

 

[thebase#1]

throw a salarius sp. in there, alot of places sell them as lawnmower blennies, great at algae control, they make pleco's look small time.

 

[FLESHY]

Hmm.

Strange to have an algae problem like this when water quality is so good.

How frequently are you doing h2o changes?

It looks to me as if there are powerheads in the aquarium, however I cant really tell...what are you doing for h2o circulation?

I would get about 10 or 15 astrea snails, and keep h2o quality where it is. A little more flow and you should be all better with this algae problem.

 

[TMartinez]

Definitely cut the lighting back. I run two 4 hour cycles during the days (morning and evening when I'm home). I have Astreas snails and hermits for the algae. Look at liveaquaria.com at their clean up crew packages. Even if you don't buy it from them you have an idea what to have in there.

Also watch the food excess. Anything left in the tank after about 2 min will provide excess nutrients for algae. Cutting back on excess nutrients and lighting should help.

My whole tank was green with nuisance algae last week. All good now

 

[Wiggles92]

Maybe an algae scrubber to refocus the location and motivation of algae ?

That could work, but the majority of the algae on the glass is on the back wall which is not the easiest to access...

throw a salarius sp. in there, alot of places sell them as lawnmower blennies, great at algae control, they make pleco's look small time.

I'll look into getting one of those fish. I feel like the aquarium is a bit empty, and the description I found of them makes me want to get one because they're supposed to have a lot of personality.

Hmm.

Strange to have an algae problem like this when water quality is so good.

How frequently are you doing h2o changes?

It looks to me as if there are powerheads in the aquarium, however I cant really tell...what are you doing for h2o circulation?

I would get about 10 or 15 astrea snails, and keep h2o quality where it is. A little more flow and you should be all better with this algae problem.

I don't know how frequently my dad changes the water; I'll ask him ASAP, though. I've been gone at college since early January, so I have no idea as to what water change schedule he's been keeping. I do know that the water quality is as good as I posted because I was testing it with an API Reef Master Test Kit then posting the water parameters on this thread, so these numbers are about as recent as they can get.

The only powerhead in there serves as the intake for the protein skimmer, so it doesn't really do anything for water circulation. The Fluval filter creates a decent amount of current for a third of the aquarium, but the rest of the aquarium remains fairly calm except for where the HOB filter is.

I'll look into getting those snails ASAP.

Do you think that my dad will be able to add corals once the algae is taken care of?

Definitely cut the lighting back. I run two 4 hour cycles during the days (morning and evening when I'm home). I have Astreas snails and hermits for the algae. Look at liveaquaria.com at their clean up crew packages. Even if you don't buy it from them you have an idea what to have in there.

Also watch the food excess. Anything left in the tank after about 2 min will provide excess nutrients for algae. Cutting back on excess nutrients and lighting should help.

My whole tank was green with nuisance algae last week. All good now

I don't want to cut back on the lighting; I want to keep this aquarium on a fairly natural light cycle hence the attempt at simulating a sunrise and sunset.

Astrea snails seem like a great idea but will the hermits get along with the other inhabitants and potentially coral in the future? I've looked at the cleaner packs on that website, and the one that my dad and I wanted to order is out of stock.

Originally excess food was a problem, but my dad has been careful to watch how much he feeds the inhabitants of his aquarium more recently after I explained that the leftover food would degrade the water quality and necessitate more frequent water changes.

 

[TMartinez]

Crabs shouldn't be an issue. I'd be more worried about your star eating them then them eating everything else lol

 

[FLESHY]

Although I dont know wattage's on your bulbs, I am tempted to say that you could at least do soft corals in your tank.