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Amateur/New reefer in Palo Alto

jozyprabhu

jozyprabhu

Supporting Member
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Hello Everyone!
I'm Jozy, I'm here to connect with more people in the saltwater aquarium community, have some mentorship if possible, because I want to give my saltwater fish a good life.

My family and I have a 20 gallon reef tank, no corals, just live rocks and three fish (two clownfish and one Jennifer dottyback).
We've had this tank for about a year now, the fish seem to be doing okay, but I wish I could make the tank more full of life for them.
Our biggest problem has been algae, a green hair type of algae. We had corals previously, but all of them died due to the algae. The fish were fine, in fact they seem to like the algae, as it provides some sort of plant life for them to swim around in and sleep in.

The fish pet store: Aquatic Collection, told us to get some snake and crabs. But much to my surprise; all of them died. Our fish, however, were fine.

My brother + dad have been taking charge of the water changes, filling up water, filter changes, etc. I am in charge of feeding, which I give a pinch of fish flakes.
But I am not happy with the tank right now, I want to make it better for them.

If there is some sort of mentorship or events where I can meet fellow saltwater tank owners in the Bay Area, I'd like to learn from them. (Also if anyone knows any good YouTubers who teach how to manage saltwater/reef tanks well, please let me know).

Thank you for reading this if you've come this far, haha. Excited to finally learn from others and create a good home for my fish babies ❤️
 

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Welcome to the club and thanks for being a supporting member already!

I think snails and crabs are the right way to manage algae in general - but it's odd that yours all died. Did they die right away? Are you all changing water with RODI or tap water? Have you checked basic parameters like salinity?
 
jozyprabhu said:
Are sea hares okay with 20 gallon tanks? On Google it says they need 300?
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A Sea Hare will do perfectly fine, until it eats all of the hair algae, and then it needs to be rehomed quickly. However, they can be sensitive and could die right away if your parameters are off. You saying that your snails and crabs died is a concern.

A few good questions have been asked here already. Are you testing? If so, can you provide your parameters? (temp, salinity, alk, phosphates, etc). And where are you getting your saltwater and RODI from?
 
derek_SR said:
Welcome to the club and thanks for being a supporting member already!

I think snails and crabs are the right way to manage algae in general - but it's odd that yours all died. Did they die right away? Are you all changing water with RODI or tap water? Have you checked basic parameters like salinity?
Click to expand...
Thank you!! We're doing RODI water. I might have checked the basic parameters at the time, but I don't remember since it was almost 6 months ago I'm doing another parameters check this week to see where the tank is at.
 
Invictus said:
A Sea Hare will do perfectly fine, until it eats all of the hair algae, and then it needs to be rehomed quickly. However, they can be sensitive and could die right away if your parameters are off.

A few good questions have been asked here already. Are you testing? If so, can you provide your parameters? (temp, salinity, alk, phosphates, etc). And where are you getting your saltwater and RODI from?
Click to expand...
Ahh, okay that makes sense! I need to check parameters, I assumed my brother & dad had been doing it, but when I asked, they said they haven't. So I'm taking charge of parameters and tank health now. I'll send my results ASAP
 
Just FYI, I see you are using Kessil A80's and they are quite high above the sandbed. Any corals that you choose to put in the tank should be "Low light" corals. You could get away with things like mushrooms, zoas, acans, duncan, leathers. Anything requiring medium or high light will not be getting sufficient PAR to thrive in your tank.

I would get the hair algae under control first, and then you can try adding these.
 
Testing should be preformed very regular. Not implying daily by any means. I do once a week- 2 weeks and any time something looks off. I also agree with other statments crabs and snails dying right away is concerning.

Parameters to check would be.
Temperature, salinity.
*Alkalinity, calcium, magnesium typically for tanks with coral.
** p04 phosphate would also be one o would check yet being you have hair alage issues that test might not be super accurate as lots of it can be tied up into the alage itself.

I noticed you said you were feeding flake food, that often adds to alage issues especially if over feed (there maybe some flak foods that are better than others but I wouldn't personally know what to recommend). I would look at getting frozen mysis shrimp or brine shrimp as they tend to be less harsh on Parameters than your avg flakefood.

Do you have a protein skimmer?
What do you use for filtration and how often do you swap it out?

Also welcome to the club. This is indeed a great place to socialize and learn about the hobby. We have many very experienced reefers here with dedcades of experience.
 
In addition to checking your tank parameters, I would suggest, since you don’t have coral on the rocks, just taking them out and scrubbing the heck out of them with a stiff brush. Easier in a bucket of salt water as you can see the algae better. You could even leave them out in the sun a day or two. Possibly just part of the rocks at a time, as there may be beneficial bacteria on them.
 
Welcome, Jozy! The one thing I would suggest, in addition to all the other great advice you are getting, is to check and make sure what you have is truly hair algae and not bryopsis. You can find pictures online, but bryopsis is ferny, and most clean up crew members won't touch it (including a sea hare). I'm a new reefer and misidentified my algae at first, which made the problem worse.
 
Welcome @jozyprabhu !

Thanks so much for supporting the club. One thing you'll see is that there's a ton of different ways to keeping a reef tank. The first year of the hobby has the highest attrition rate as bad information can lead to losses. Be careful taking advice from YouTubers or Instagram people since they often have a vested interest in selling you something (along with some poorly informed store employees that only know about your tank from a 2 minute interaction). Most reef books are great purchases for starting knowledge.

I highly recommend creating a tank journal so you can catalog your photos, equipment, livestock, and methodology. Coming here to ask questions is amazing as well and we'll support you. Go slow, don't buy things on emotion, and vet the information provided from all sources to make your informed decision in the end.

Good luck!
 
Welcome Jozy,,
On your next water change which should be done about everiy 7 to 10 days take out a few rocks and scrub scrub in the buck of water you just siphoned out! Just be careful trying not to disturb the sand alot otherwise may get super cloudy and not the best for the fish! If you can remove them without clouding the water alot then scrub them all off!! You should be changing bare minimum 5 gallons of water every seven to ten days maybe more based off your parameters bio load fish poo etc.. Some people change more some less!..Just get a routine and stick with it....cleaning/ testing etc..
What brand salt are you mixing or where you getting it?
Are the lights at 100% what percentage?
How long are the lights on a day?
With no corals your just growing algea !! Fish do not need high intensity and long hours of light..
Inside your HOB filter are you using sponges/ filter floss/ cartridges? And cleaning changing routinely?
Alot of great advise already said here and questions asked of you x2! You kinda now get a picture of BAR's generosity and willingness to help fish and coral lovers succeed in this hobby!
Best of luck!!
 
derek_SR said:
Welcome to the club and thanks for being a supporting member already!

I think snails and crabs are the right way to manage algae in general - but it's odd that yours all died. Did they die right away? Are you all changing water with RODI or tap water? Have you checked basic parameters like salinity?
Click to expand...

how long did they spend in the bag from AC to the tank is one thing to be asked as well. Sometimes its not the tanks issue that causes death, especially in snails and crabs.
 
MichaelB said:
Testing should be preformed very regular. Not implying daily by any means. I do once a week- 2 weeks and any time something looks off. I also agree with other statments crabs and snails dying right away is concerning.

Parameters to check would be.
Temperature, salinity.
*Alkalinity, calcium, magnesium typically for tanks with coral.
** p04 phosphate would also be one o would check yet being you have hair alage issues that test might not be super accurate as lots of it can be tied up into the alage itself.

I noticed you said you were feeding flake food, that often adds to alage issues especially if over feed (there maybe some flak foods that are better than others but I wouldn't personally know what to recommend). I would look at getting frozen mysis shrimp or brine shrimp as they tend to be less harsh on Parameters than your avg flakefood.

Do you have a protein skimmer?
What do you use for filtration and how often do you swap it out?

Also welcome to the club. This is indeed a great place to socialize and learn about the hobby. We have many very experienced reefers here with dedcades of experience.
Click to expand...
Thank you, this is helpful advice, I am thinking of changing the food type from flakes to either the frozen foods or something i can hand/tweezer feed
 
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