Hello everyone,
I've had my aquarium for a few months now (since july 2019), I've had a few major issues over that time (salinity drop, salinity hike, algae bloom, diatom bloom) as i learn the craft. Most of the issues I experienced could have been prevented by talking to people more knowledgable than me and preventing rather than fixing!
So here's my questions - are there any serious issues or flaws in my setup? I want to make sure my setup is a healthy environment for all my livestock!
Things I'm worried about:
- the water flow seems bad, i have a few areas around the rocks that seem to accumulate diatoms.
- is the placement of the equipment correct?
- Should I scrub the rocks from all this disgusting algae or should i leave it as is ? will it die off once the tank is matured?
- my clownfish are always chilling in the left back corner of the aquarium, is there a reason for that? Usually behind skimmer, sometimes next to the rock in front of the skimmer and close to the red macroalgae.
- what do i need to do to make this setup viable for corals? I'm thinking about toadstool leather coral for my clownfish
Photos of the setup can be found here:
Below are my aquarium specs:
Aquarium Details:
- Aquarium - Ciano Aqua 80 - 80 x 30 x 41,5 cm, 71Litres - https://ciano.pt/en/produto/aqua-80/
- around 9kg of live rock
- Light - Vipar Spectra 165W www.amazon.com/VIPARSPECTRA-Control-Dimmable-Aquarium-Spectrum/dp/B07SHR6HW1
- photo period - 12 hours of blue lights (80%) and during that 6.5 hours of white lights (30%)
- external filter - EHEIM classic 250 (2213)
Livestock:
- Bicolor blenny
- jawfish
- 2x clownfish
- 2x turbo snails
- 1x bumblebee snail
- 2x spiny shell snail
- 1x banded trochus snail
- 3/4x blue legged hermit crabs
- 1x Black Leg Hermit Crab
-1x macroalgae - red bamboo/Solieria spp
Filter media:
- coarse foam
- JBL BionitratEx
- JBL Micromec
- JBL PhosEx
- JBL Symec Filter wool
- (will add seachem renew today as i have no carbon filtering right now)
Maintenance:
daily
- scrub the algae from the glass with the magnet scrub
- remove the skimmate (usually every other day)
Every couple days:
- scoop up any poop, uneaten food and diatoms
weekly
- dose of Fauna Marine Bacto Blend
- 20-30% water change with RO water+red sea salt
- remove and clean from the algae - wavemakers, heater and the filter pipes
- thoroughly clean the skimmer cup (Tunze Comline® DOC Skimmer 9004)
every 4~6weeks:
- clean the canister filter - remove media (keep in water), rinse with RO water
I've had my aquarium for a few months now (since july 2019), I've had a few major issues over that time (salinity drop, salinity hike, algae bloom, diatom bloom) as i learn the craft. Most of the issues I experienced could have been prevented by talking to people more knowledgable than me and preventing rather than fixing!
So here's my questions - are there any serious issues or flaws in my setup? I want to make sure my setup is a healthy environment for all my livestock!
Things I'm worried about:
- the water flow seems bad, i have a few areas around the rocks that seem to accumulate diatoms.
- is the placement of the equipment correct?
- Should I scrub the rocks from all this disgusting algae or should i leave it as is ? will it die off once the tank is matured?
- my clownfish are always chilling in the left back corner of the aquarium, is there a reason for that? Usually behind skimmer, sometimes next to the rock in front of the skimmer and close to the red macroalgae.
- what do i need to do to make this setup viable for corals? I'm thinking about toadstool leather coral for my clownfish
Photos of the setup can be found here:
Below are my aquarium specs:
Aquarium Details:
- Aquarium - Ciano Aqua 80 - 80 x 30 x 41,5 cm, 71Litres - https://ciano.pt/en/produto/aqua-80/
- around 9kg of live rock
- Light - Vipar Spectra 165W www.amazon.com/VIPARSPECTRA-Control-Dimmable-Aquarium-Spectrum/dp/B07SHR6HW1
- photo period - 12 hours of blue lights (80%) and during that 6.5 hours of white lights (30%)
- external filter - EHEIM classic 250 (2213)
Livestock:
- Bicolor blenny
- jawfish
- 2x clownfish
- 2x turbo snails
- 1x bumblebee snail
- 2x spiny shell snail
- 1x banded trochus snail
- 3/4x blue legged hermit crabs
- 1x Black Leg Hermit Crab
-1x macroalgae - red bamboo/Solieria spp
Filter media:
- coarse foam
- JBL BionitratEx
- JBL Micromec
- JBL PhosEx
- JBL Symec Filter wool
- (will add seachem renew today as i have no carbon filtering right now)
Maintenance:
daily
- scrub the algae from the glass with the magnet scrub
- remove the skimmate (usually every other day)
Every couple days:
- scoop up any poop, uneaten food and diatoms
weekly
- dose of Fauna Marine Bacto Blend
- 20-30% water change with RO water+red sea salt
- remove and clean from the algae - wavemakers, heater and the filter pipes
- thoroughly clean the skimmer cup (Tunze Comline® DOC Skimmer 9004)
every 4~6weeks:
- clean the canister filter - remove media (keep in water), rinse with RO water