Here is my 90 gal setup.

[ChemGuy]

Well both are pretty bad looks like it depends on the most ligh = most gha.

[Parrothead]

I don't believe we are gonna find a quick solution to this, I would continue to harvest as much as you can and increase the size of your clean-up crew, and give the lawnmower blenny a shot.

another option is, you had mentioned that you found some really disgusting dead stuff in the fiji rock, pull the fiji, and recycle it in a seperate container. Maybe the dead in the fiji is feeding the disease, I would hurl it out, just seperate it from the system.

Also check out the hang on the tank fuges that are available, if you set up a fuge with cheato in it, it would rob the gha of its food source and starve it off.

Just some ideas

Remember nothing good in this hobby happens fast.

[ChemGuy]

Just boiled some of the Tokra rock for 30 min.
Then cooled and tested the water.
PO4 = .25 mg/l NO3 = 10mg/l
Not sure if boiling is a fair test to see if it's leaching the PO4/NO3 however.

[Parrothead]

Gene, jump on in, love to have your help on this one

[zhenya]

Just boiled some of the Tokra rock for 30 min.
Then cooled and tested the water.
PO4 = .25 mg/l NO3 = 10mg/l
Not sure if boiling is a fair test to see if it's leaching the PO4/NO3 however.

Vin,

I didn't want to tell you this earlier, although I did mentioned shipping issues in my previous posts, but I think that your rock should never gone into the tank without curing it outside the tank for a few weeks after what happened to it with the shipping. You probably still can do this if you have large plastic container(like a trash can). Just fill it with enough salt water to cover the rock, put heater in there and hook up a skimmer and let it rip. You can cook rock this way for few weeks and see if most of the crud goes away.
I have a suspision that this rock wasn't exactly collected in a pristine waters, if you know what I mean. In the clear waters surrounding the reefs you wouldn't find rock that is filled with NO3 and PO4. Although, like you said, it could be fine rock but sitting in the box for 5 days or so most likely killed everything inside the rock, hence giving you higher readings of PO4 and NO3.

PS. If you don't have any livestock inside the tank at the moment, I would shut down your lights and raise Mg to about 1500 ppm and see if that helps to kill off this algae. I would say that it's worth the try.

[ChemGuy]

Well my tank has been set up with Live Rock and Sand for about 6 weeks now.
Some snails for a cuc.
Still fighting the algae problem.
Question : Should my skimmer look like this ALL the time ?
Takes 3-4 hours after cleaning to get like this.

[Parrothead]

Well my tank has been set up with Live Rock and Sand for about 6 weeks now.
Some snails for a cuc.
Still fighting the algae problem.
Question : Should my skimmer look like this ALL the time ?
Takes 3-4 hours after cleaning to get like this.

Try raising the collection cup all the way up.

[ChemGuy]

Putting the cup all the way up seems to have helped . Does that say anything about my water having to have the cup up so high??
Also last week I took all the Tokra rock out and put it all in another container of aged salt water with heater and some flow going. Today I tested the water in there and got a positive test for PO4.
Hoping this is the source for my PO4/algae problem.
The Fiji rock is still in the tank and the algae problem seems to be getting better.
Nothing in my tank except rock, sand, algae, and snails.
Going on week 7 how soon do you think before I can add a fish or 2?
Should I be adding anything else at this point?
Thanks All

[zhenya]

Hi Vin,

How much of that rock you took out? And are you planing on returning it back into the tank?
If you are, I would continue to "cook" it for a while longer until you are sure the rock is not leaching anything back. You can do water changes as needed so that the PO4 is not absorbed back into the rock.
If you can do without this rock for a while I would cook it for at least couple of month to see if it becomes useable again.

[ChemGuy]

I took all of it out should have been around 50 pounds worth, leaving 50 pounds of Fiji in the tank.
I'll do a few water changes to see if the PO4 goes away. If not I'll just junk it
What's the order of events for adding stuff to the tank ?
Do I need to add something like this :
Detritivore Products Page
or more rock? Considering the rock I have is questionable.
How soon for fish corals ?

Thanks All

[zhenya]

I took all of it out should have been around 50 pounds worth, leaving 50 pounds of Fiji in the tank.
I'll do a few water changes to see if the PO4 goes away. If not I'll just junk it
What's the order of events for adding stuff to the tank ?
Do I need to add something like this :
Detritivore Products Page
or more rock? Considering the rock I have is questionable.
How soon for fish corals ?

Thanks All

Since there is no predators in your tank at this time I would take this opportunity and add the detritivores now. You can do it with ease and let them settle in and start reproducing.
Fifty pounds of live rock in not nearly enough for a 90g tank, however, I wouldn't worry about it too much. If you wait a bit longer I'm pretty sure your other 50lbs rock would be ready to go back by the time your detritivore team hits it;s stride.
Do you know what species of fish you want to keep? Corals? Why not make a list of what you'd like to have and do some research? I'll be glad to help if you have questions and I am sure many others will chime in as well.

[blennydude]

I started VSV dosing (vodka, sugar, vinegar) about 3 wks ago and I have seen some improvement in my nitrates. It feeds your tanks bacteria causing them to multiply. Have you thought about anything like that? Your name is Chemguy.

[ChemGuy]

LOL Never heard of the VSV method. My nitrates are fine , was having a problem with PO4 due to polluted rock I think. But I will look into it sounds interesting.
Thanks blennydude

[ChemGuy]

Well as far as corals and fish I have been looking at all kinds of stuff waiting for the tank to settle in.
I think for corals I would like to start off with something easy Zoa's and Mushrooms are supposed to
be good for beginners. I like the look of some of the Zoa's and thought I would go in that direction.
I have had freshwater tank for years and have bred all kinds of freshwater fish. I would like to try
breeding some saltwater fish. Clowns come to mind as I am pretty sure you can raise them in a reef tank , and I have 5 grandchildren who want to see Nemo
After I get my feet wet doing that I really want to try and raise Mandarins . I am aware of the feeding problem with these . I have always liked a challenge.
Any thoughts on all this?

Thanks
Vin

[twisted]

my advice on mandarins is to have a good fuge that you restock at times. i add a jar of pods every 2 months. i just added my 2nd mandarin last week and havent seen them dent what i see on the glass. they i think the big thing though is getting them to eat with the other fish. i found both my target and psyc mandarin like mysis and bloodworms. they are such cool fish

[ChemGuy]

Awesome Pic. Thats exactely what I was planning.

[twisted]

Awesome Pic. Thats exactely what I was planning.

just make sure you give it at least 9 months to a year for your tank to be ready for one. i waited a good year but i promise you that they are worth the wait. i also have a pod pile in the back corner of my tank. i highly recommend them too. your mandarins will love you for it

[zhenya]

Well as far as corals and fish I have been looking at all kinds of stuff waiting for the tank to settle in.
I think for corals I would like to start off with something easy Zoa's and Mushrooms are supposed to
be good for beginners. I like the look of some of the Zoa's and thought I would go in that direction.
I have had freshwater tank for years and have bred all kinds of freshwater fish. I would like to try
breeding some saltwater fish. Clowns come to mind as I am pretty sure you can raise them in a reef tank , and I have 5 grandchildren who want to see Nemo
After I get my feet wet doing that I really want to try and raise Mandarins . I am aware of the feeding problem with these . I have always liked a challenge.
Any thoughts on all this?

Thanks
Vin

Vin,
Raising clownfish is pretty straight forward, however not without challenges. Most likely raising any fish from fry won;t be quite possible in the reef display due to the simple fact that other fish may eat them, and that fry has specific feeding regimen. Plus water movement alone will kill most of them, I think. Separate tanks are always best for this purpose. We had an old member here who rutinely raised few species of the clownfish, so I suggest looking him up or purchasing Joy Wilkerson's book on raising clownfish in captivity. It's available in Amazon.com if I remember correctly.
The name of the member who had good success in clownfish reproduction is Elmo18 (he's not 18 anymore... ).

As far Mandarins go, I stay away from them due to the difficulties in feeding. They prefer live food (copepods mostly) and one must have really large amount of them to sustain their nutritional requirements. And you most certainly will need alot more live rock to house all those copepods...

[ToddTT]

As far Mandarins go, I stay away from them due to the difficulties in feeding. They prefer live food (copepods mostly) and one must have really large amount of them to sustain their nutritional requirements. And you most certainly will need alot more live rock to house all those copepods...

Results may vary ;) :

http://www.melevsreef.com/video/diner4.wmv

[ChemGuy]

Thanks for the info guys.
What about Zoa's and Mushrooms good to start off with?
Do you advise buying corals and fish online and bite the bullet on shipping ?
Whats the death rate for shipping fish/corals ?
LFS are very limited and 40 min to 2 hours travel.
And have lots of idiots with dead fish working there.
Thanks