Webster's Juwel Rio 240

[webster444]

Right since i have finally got internet back in the house i thought i'd post up a diary of my tank. This is my first marine tank and i have kept trops for about 10years. All comments and suggestions welcome as i still have loads to learn!

As the tank begun at the very beginning of this year....
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Hardware at this point is juwel high lite t5s - marine white and marine blue, juwel 250w heater, juwel internal filter, tetratec external filter, red sea prizm skimmer.

After the water was up to temperature salt was weighed and added. Tank was left for about 3 weeks like this until i bought some live rock which i underestimated how much i would need!!....
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So bought some more and spent a good few hours playing about with the scaping. I also added two 3000lph sun suns and a 6000lph sun sun which i later removed as it was too much! I removed the media from the internal filter and kept the pump to use as a powerhead and i added an eheim 300w heater.
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The tank was then left to cycle for 5 and a half weeks before i made a couple of additions. This was also the start of my ongoing algae problems!
Zoa..
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Algae blenny
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Some more pictures as the tank matured and more additions were made as i know you lot love pictures!
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More algae!
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Anyone any idea what these lumo green tubes are, seem to have them popping up all over the tank!

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Two perc clowns, one later died due to the eheim heater failing and raising the temp of the tank to 32degrees lucky that was the only casulty. I have since bought an interpet delta therm heater and a tc10 to help prevent this from happening again. I also got myself a cleartides phosphate reactor and run rowaphos in it to reduce my phosphates.
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Some more pictures!
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I then decided to upgrade my skimmer to a deltec MCE300 and i wanted to fit blue leds for moonlights and incorporate some pc cooling fans to help control the temperature so i decided to make myself a new lid. I know that a covered marine tank is not ideal but a few years ago my cat went fishing on one of my open top cichlid tanks and wiped most of the tank out so id rather keep it covered! I do have my skimmer air inlet coming from outside via airline to help with the ph.
The lid, im fairly chuffed with it as i am more used to mechanical things as appossed to wood
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And finally as it stands now, this picture was taken at 14.30 today when the main lights came on, its getting there but i still need to shift some of that algae!
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Thanks for reading! As i said before please comment and make suggestions as i am still learning!

[Tangman]

Hi looking good its a new tank so dont worry about the algae to much as it should clear up once your phosphates are reduced. There is a couple of things that you have done that i dont do one is warming the water up before adding the salt as i find salt mixes better in cold water then heat it to temp. The 2nd one is putting the sand in first and putting the rock on it as if you have a burrowing animal in the tank it will cause a rock fall as it digs the sand out other than that it is looking good.You also need to watch the nitrates as well as this will make the algae grow as well as the phosphates. As for the quanity of rock needed in a marine tank the norm is 1 kilo of rock for every 2 gallon or 10 litres of water, keep it well spaced out so that the water can flow through it and the flow needed is for soft corals around 20 times the tank volume. Twiggy

[reefergeek]

As eric said, I would depending on how long your lights are on for reduce them as well also get a good algae eating cuc in there, If your phosphates are up shove some rowa in. The new salt Royal nature can be mixed heated or none heated and clears within 10 -20 mins great stuff Christal waters sell the stuff

[cl0wn]

the green tubes are the beginnings of halimeda algae (http://www.reefcentral.co.uk/links/mangroves-and-algaes-19/halimeda-the-cactus-algae-by-kirby-adams-685/). the pics are a little small, but from what i can see looks like you have a lot of feather caulerpa. is your tank big enough for a grazer? if not a small bristletooth tang, then perhaps a reef safe centropyge? what's your ph levels?

[Marine Life Uk]

looks like you have halimeda to me too, this algea can spread pretty quick and best to keep it at bay by pulling lumps out.
If you look past the algea the tank looks very nice well done

[r60sgr]

Lookin good so far bud. Algae takes time and patience to conquer but you'll get there in due course. As said by the guys concentrate on Phosphate levels and as much flow as you can give it. That was what made the biggest impact for me when tank had settled through initial blooms etc. Also make sure feeding is right for number of fish as very easy to overfeed and algae loves that. Would be good if you posted params too bud. Stewart

[webster444]

Cheers for the comments, I am currently running with rowa in a reactor to reduce phosphates and so far the nitrates have stayed relatively low! I'll be doing the water tests tomorrow so I'll post up the results then! Tank is a 4footer do you think that is sufficient for a yellow tang or something?

[r60sgr]

I certainly kept tangs in my 4 foot tank, always had a YT. I'm sure Eric (Tangman) will keep you right. I guess the only hesitation I would have at this stage of your tank would be Tang's eat constantly and s**t like horses so the algae might get worse. Catch 22 cause Tangs eat algae! As said before it's striking the right balance. Stewart

[Tangman]

Hi if you get the algae under control you should be ok with a smallish YT as 4 ft is ok, i have a small runty YT in my 28 inch cube i have had him 3 years and he has not grown any plus he swims funny so i think he has a disability of some form. YT do like a lot of flow as mine swims in front of my Tunze stream for hours at a time so he must be fit. Twiggy

[reefergeek]

I put a very small yellow tang in my rio 190 3ft3 but i knew i was going to upgrade in the future, It also ate some of the algae the cuc took care of the rest, As quick as it came it will go when the tank starts to mature and the levels stabilize

[Tangman]

If you are adding a YT make sure its the last fish you put in as they are very terretarial and will fight any other fish that is added after them. As reefergeek says he had one in his tank that ate the algae, if you are stocked up except for a YT add one now and he will help with removing the algae. Twiggy

[webster444]

I did read in my book that they are territorial so was thinking of adding it last, how are they with smaller fish? I still have a couple more fish I'd like to add so I'll leave it a few months before getting a YT

[Tangman]

I did read in my book that they are territorial so was thinking of adding it last, how are they with smaller fish? I still have a couple more fish I'd like to add so I'll leave it a few months before getting a YT
There fine with other fish if they go in last i have a copperband in with mine but he was in the tank for about 4 months before i dded 4 YT and they never bothered him, now the other way around they woulld have killed the copperband. Twiggy

[michael.]

I just had a look through your photos, lovely tank and the aquascaping is well set out too, as well as the advice you had from the guys about the algae, I thought I'd mention you need to keep an eye on the light from the window by the tank as well, although eventually when it is stable you may appreciate it, at the moment it may be trouble with the algae issue you have. you may also long term be better off with an open top and the lights above the tank by several inches to allow the gases to escape, since I removed my lights off the tank and went totally open top my tank has completely moved up a gear with water quality.

[r60sgr]

Hi Mike,

Don't want to hijack the thread but you've got me intrigued by the open top theory and water quality improvement. What did you find changed? My tanks have always been covered but that's more through habit than thought.

Cheers
Stewart

[michael.]

The ph was far more stable and actually rose slightly, I have gone from a solid 7.9 to 8.1 since I completely removed the top and all Jewel lights, the cyano I get from time to time has completely disappeared and the water just looks pure quality and the tank clean, really clean, and the only thing that has changed has been complete removal of anything on the tank stewart, can't be just coincidence.

[webster444]

Yea good spot with the window although I have the blinds angled so that direct sunlight doesn't shine onto the tank. So it made a significant difference going open top then, I will keep that in mind but I would have to get a new light unit before I can do that!

[webster444]

Well well update time i think!

I have now added another perc clown to keep the other one company and also a coral beauty along with a red scallop. I have also added another double t5 controller with two 39watt tubes one 14k white and one antinic the tank looks alot brighter although its abit purple looking now! My algae problem seems to be dying down now thankfully although i seem to be getting a fair bit of what looks like brown seaweed growing from some of the rock! Any way enough of me yabbering on and on to what we all love on here, pictures!!
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one of the clowns playing hide and seek in one of the mushy colonys
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I managed to catch this mantis shrimp a few weeks back, no idea how it managed to sneak into my tank though, still hear clicking after the lights go out but im hoping its a well behaved pistol shrimp!
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Also can anyone tell me what these things circled in red are on my GSP??
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As always thanks for reading and any comments/advice welcome!

[cl0wn]

some great pics mate, that pic of the clown is one of the cutest i've seen.