Marimo Moss Balls in Saltwater Reef Tank?

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Q

quicklynx

Plecostomus
MFK Member
Apr 10, 2009
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Maryland
Hey guys, I've started a JBJ 24g nano reef setup. I have roughly 35 lbs of live rock and about a 2 inch bed of sand. The live rock has started growing some Coraline algae on it. Since the tank is still cycling, for a few weeks now, the Nitrates are pretty high. Everything else is in good range but the Nitrates seem to stick around 40 ppm despite water changes, etc.. I do have some hermit crabs, snails, starfish, etc. that all came with the live rock and sand so I'd like to keep the Nitrates down as best I can while the tank continues to cycle in order to keep them alive. I also have 2 Percula Clowns in the tank as well because I figured they would be hardy enough to handle the cycling. So far so good.

Getting to the point, I'm curious if the Marimo Moss Balls would survive in Saltwater? I have a bunch in my FW tank and was thinking of throwing some of them them in the reef tank in order to help lower the Nitrates. I will probably get some clams in the future to help out as well, but for now, they probably wouldn't last, plus my tank is power compact lighting.

My other worry is if they would inhibit the Coraline algae growth. Once I put them in my freshwater tank I have never seen any other algae growth anywhere in it. I'm guessing they are big nutrient hoarders. is the Coraline Algae needed, or is it more of a checkpoint on whether or not your tank is at the correct parameters?

Thanks,
Martin

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I forgot to mention, the clowns get fed every 2 days, about 1/8th of the small frozen blocks of mysis, and about 1/8 of the small frozen blocks of bloodworms. Sometimes other stuff but for the most part, about 1/4 of the frozen blocks, so there is very minimal food waste. They are pigs so they down it.

I'm also thinking about picking up some of Tetras Nitraban. If it can bring it all down to my sandbed, which I am thinking about making deeper, then it might actually help a good amount.

Any suggestions there?

Thanks
 
dmopar74;5150386; said:
dont know man, but i noticed the stealth heater you got. those are on recall due to exploding.
Click to expand...

Really? Thanks for the warning! I will get that taken care of ASAP!
 
so I went to my LFS and bought some saltwater algae grass stuff. They said it should be a great nitrate reducer. I went ahead and threw a marimo ball in their anyways to see how it would last. It's covered in salt and the hermit crabs swarmed it.
 
Also wanted to mention, I have replaced my water heater. I took the Stealth one into petsmart and they gave me $25 towards a new one. I went ahead and bought an Aqueon 55g heater.
 
Your coraline grows off of calcium and alkalinity, so no worries there. The macro algae you got from the lfs is a great start to reducing the nitrates, but will not help completely. More than likely your nitrates are high, because you are cycling with live fish, they are producing ammonia quicker than your tank can take care of it... I have always cycled my tanks with pieces of dead shrimp and had great results, after adding fish, my nitrates never rose above 20ppm, and that's with heavy feeding. What are your ammonia and nitites levels? Not trying to bust on you, just trying to help....
 
Huladad;5152404; said:
Your coraline grows off of calcium and alkalinity, so no worries there. The macro algae you got from the lfs is a great start to reducing the nitrates, but will not help completely. More than likely your nitrates are high, because you are cycling with live fish, they are producing ammonia quicker than your tank can take care of it... I have always cycled my tanks with pieces of dead shrimp and had great results, after adding fish, my nitrates never rose above 20ppm, and that's with heavy feeding. What are your ammonia and nitites levels? Not trying to bust on you, just trying to help....
Click to expand...

According to my API test kit, my Ammonia is in between the 0ppm and 0.25ppm. It was a yellowish green, closer to yellow. My nitrite was as sky blue as it could get, so 0ppm according to the chart. My pH is in between the 8.0-8.4 range the past week worth of testing.

I put the macro algae at the top so it can get the most light. Hopefully it helps a decent amount. I was going to do a 10-12gallon water change today but I forgot to grab some of the DI MilliQ water from my work. I'll grab some tomorrow and do a big change.

When I exchanged my heater I bought Seachem Prime. Supposedly detoxifies the Nitrates/Nitrites so hopefully it can hold them off from going higher until tomorrow. I'm going to go do a quick test now to see where it is it.
 
Nitrite = 0 is great. Untill you get your ammonia gets to 0 though, your nitrate will not drop. Just keep doing your water changes and all should be good. Just in the future, please cycle fishless. The ammonia is not good on the fish.
 
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