Hello,

I have a two week old BC29 with about 35lbs of live rock. I have the stock equipment that came with the tank and I added a heater and an Aquaclear 20 that's hung on the opposite side of the air pump return. I put in a blue damsel and a small clownfish. Both seem to be doing well. The levels of NH3, NO2, NO3 are undetectable after two weeks.

I use water that has been deionized/dechlorinated and then put through an RO system. I am having a massive brown algae(diatom??) outbreak that started about a week ago. Since I added the aquaclear 20, the brown algae has started to go away, but not that much.

Is this normal? How do I get rid of the brown, hairy algae? I can hardly see into the tank as it's starting to cover the front glass. I put in a couple of turbo snails but they either died or haven't moved in days.

Can someone offer a word of advice??

Oh, this weekend I'm going to add a skimmer and modify the the BC29 to add more flow. Can someone recommend a better pump?

Thanks in advance!

Jeff

sounds like you added the live stock a bit early, but yes the brown stuff is a diatom bloom, and is totally normal for a newly cycling tank

there are a few people here with this same setup, so i will turn to them for further recommendations

I would like to ask what temp you keep the tank at?

A lot of the turbos you see in the stores are cold water creatures. (74-78) While some will live a long life in normal reef temps (80-81) most will pass after time or a short time.

I also agree with Rob :)

Welcome to TR Jeff.

I keep the tank around 77-78. What is the best temp to keep the tank?

Well it all depends on what you want to keep. Most of my stuff are warmer water critters so i keep mine at 80-81. Most tanks are between 77-79.

I'm not really sure what I want to keep just yet. I'm brand new to this. I would like to have corals...

You might not be seeing the turbo snails 'cause there nocternal. I don't usually see mine during they day, they go into the rocks and hide there.

Putting the skimmer on might help a bit with the brown fuzz. Best way to get rid of crap on the glass is to direct a powerhead on the place you want to clear off.

I've seen the brown algae start to go away once I put in the AquaClear 20. One thing though, the brown hairy algae covers my entire tank! The heater, the substrate, live rock, the glass. I'm starting to see spots of very vibrant, bright green algae and spots of purple as well.

Can anyone recommend a good reference book? This site has great information, and I love the podcast, but I also like to thumb through a reference manual occasionally.

welcome to TR bud, hope you enjoy your stay. tanks in a pickle with the start up, kinda alittle surprissed you have fish already, but its a rookie mistake we've all done at some point. best bet is to keep up with your water changes in order to stabilse conditions to the tune of the natral beat. you'll be ok.
in your change-out water you can attack your messy rocks with a clean brush or toothbrush if its getting to you. just dont do something silly like leave the rock on the bench for a few hours or wash it under tap water, then being green will take on a whole new meaning..lol
As for the books, theres some great one around, i'd wait for someone to pipe up with a current day book personally, so new ways of thinking & technoligies ae included. been a while since i bought a book so i can help you in this regard, other will though.

Youv'e got the question part down pat, keep up the good work.

Whats controlling your flow, & how much is the total turnover within the tank?
just out of interest sake, could explain a few things.

Thanks for your replies. I wish I didn't listen to the folks at my LFS b/c they said it would be OK to put in livestock after 2-3 days. I made some modifications to my tank to increase flow. I've cut down the barrier between the 1st and 2nd chamber and I added a sapphire aquatic skimmer. I've also threw in a bag of Biochem zorb into the 2nd chamber next to the skimmer. In the 1st chamber I have my heater and a bag of purigen.

The brown algae is starting to dissipate, although it moved to the front glass. I'm not gonna do much for the next few weeks other than monitor my levels and make 10% H20 changes per week. In my home I have a whole house kinetico R/O system and a kinetico de-ionizer/de-chlorinator. We have really hard tap water in Arizona. Also they dump tons of chlorine in it. Needless to say, when we put in our water system, it made a huge difference for me and my family. I suspect that it is good for my aquarium as well.

Thanks all!!

Jeff

Hi jauerbach!

I think the others have already helped you out with most of your other questions but if you are still looking for a different pump then there are two that I could suggest to you. Although I'm still using the stock pump and I can't really tell you if one is better than the other......I've heard of many people using the maxijet 1200 and the rio 6hyperflow to increase the flow in their tank. Hope that helps!

I'm replacing the stock pump on my BC29 with a Rio 6HF this week, adding some 1/2" loc-line with two return heads, and using Eheim 16/22 tubing for the pump to bulkhead line.

I ditched the stock filters in my BC14 after my tank cleared. I then added as much LR rubble as I could in the second chamber. The diatoms should subside in a week or so if your whole house RO is working properly. The other thing to watch out for is overfeeding, dont do it.

Hello JauerbacH, I also Have a bio cube 29 and have been trying to find a way to add a skimmer to it, I've been hanging a prizim on the front of the tank and as you can imagin my wife isn't to happy about it. I would love to see pic's on how you added yours or if anyone else could give me some tips it would help me out of trouble at home! lol..

Just FYI you can get a skimmer that is designed for the biocubes. It goes into the chamber where the bio balls would be. Here is a link. I have heard good things about this skimmer so far.
29biocube Skimmer Click Here (http://wholesale.addictiveaquatics.com/products/Sapphire_Aquatics_Protein_Skimmer_for_Oceanic_BioC ube_Model_BC29-3-1.html)

Thanks so much! I've ordered one and can't wait to try it out. Thanks again :-)