[dobz55]

Hi all once again, Dobz here with another newbe question,

I have had my Tank cycling over now for 3 weeks currently waiting on a further 20 kg live rock to arrive but can some one pls help me, I am starting to get a reddish/brown algie growth over the top of my marble sub straight, is this good or bad (DUH) i know

[leebca]

It is normal for a new aquarium to go through many stages of microbial life form blooms and die-off. At the start-up a new aquarium usually has quite a few different sources of contaminants and water quality issues. What often shows up first are micro alga's and microbes.

What you see is what hobbyists often refer to as "brown algae." But it isn't an algae at all. They are a micro organism that finds your water quality so to their liking that they are very pleased to live and reproduce in the aquarium.

Although your aquarium may never totally be rid of these organisms, the water quality will improve with your attention to it, the tank will mature (See: The Mature Aquarium) to the point where these organisims will give way to others, and will become almost unnoticeable.

A variety of snails and clean up crew members can get at them (eat them) where you can't reach. Keep the brown off the sides of the aquarium; watch water quality closely, correcting it with changes and modifications to the system; and be patient.

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by dobz55

I am starting to get a reddish/brown algie growth over the top of my marble sub straight,...

Dobz,

What are you using for a substrate? Crushed marble?

While it's possible to use crushed marble in a marine aquarium, it certainly isn't the best choice.

[dobz55]

Hi again and thank you for your advise, another question , what are pods , I have read the articule you recommended and am unsure what to look for,
could you aslo help me with some advise on my skimmer again I am unsure what to look for to see if it is running correctly, should the collection cup just have a slimy film forming on it or should it actually over flow it,s bubbles into the collection chamber

[leebca]

"Pods" are what most hobbyists call the small crustaceans that live on live rock and spread to the substrate. The small ones are copepods and the larger ones are amphipods. If you could enlarge them, they will look a lot like shrimp. For more technical information and diagrams/photos on both, you may wish to search the Internet. Some copepods are as large as a BB and as small as a tiny insect (smaller than a flea).

Skimmers can run at different rates to produce a variety of different 'skimmates.' The skimmate can be 'thin' or just yellowish, or it can be thick and very dark brown or almost black. It can be anywhere in between. Most hobbyists will run their skimmer to produce a thick skimmate that is brown. The foam moves up the skimmer tube and overflows into the collection area (collection cup). That foam is the skimmate, which often eventually breaks down to the dark liquid skimmate. The skimmate may contain particulates including, but not limited to fine carbon (released from a carbon filter), bits of debris, and even micro algae.

The foam movement is usually slow (over a period of hours) but that depends on how loaded the aquarium water is with organics. After a couple of days, you clean out the skimmer and clean out the collection cup, then start the skimmer again.

You haven't responded to Ninong's question about the marble. Is your substrate really marble? What are you using for your substrate. I read the "marble" in your post, but forgot about it when I replied to your post. Marble has some characteristics which are not good (for the most part) for a marine aquarium.

[dobz55]

Yes my substrate is marble very white marble and very fine what substrate would be better to use

[dobz55]

I bought my substrat from the LFS it was as he reccommended he stocks hundreds of bags of it in different grades

[leebca]

Some info/discussion of substrate can be found in this short thread: Question about rock

There are different grades of crushed coral available, silica-based sand (being sure not to get sand that has impurities in it), and a variety of carbonates you might find on the Internet or at other LFSs.

Marble has some risk of contaminants with it, as Ninong will (hopefully) further explain.

[dobz55]

That is very usefull information in regards to the skimmer I have had mine just bouncing foam up the tube/ I thought that was the collection cup and the chamber that it sometimes flows into was just an over flow (DUH), so the foam has to go into this and the plastic tube at the top of this chamber (air line stuff) is what allows the water to return to the skimmer?????????

[dobz55]

Oh I have some live rock in my tank so far I have seen one small live crab and it has shells embedded in it I have also noticed some dead shrimpy type things appearing on the floor of my tank,I put 1 only snail in 3 days ago it appears to be fine at this stage I am concidering putting another or a cleaner shrimp in as well

[leebca]

You can think of the skimmer as another route the water of your system goes through. While it is in the chamber, it is mixed with air to foam. Water keeps flowing in and out of the skimmer as the foam is climbs the tube and spills into the collection cup.

Some skimmers have an overflow holder which is attached to the collection cup to hold more foam/liquid than the collection cup will hold. Since I don't know the skimmer you have, you have to be aware of that configuration,too.

The foam going into the collection cup (up and out of the tube) should be thick and slow moving.

[dobz55]

thanks Leebca it is a Red sea prizm skimmer