Help to Setup Saltwater Aquarium with Beginner Corals

mvpttk

mvpttk

Member
Hello to Chicago Reefs

i did everything form building sump, setting up tank, buying equipment by following CHICAGOREEFS.COM

i am new to saltwater. had cichlids for 6 years. i want to do saltwater aquarium with fish and easy coral for beginners. i have 65 gallon Hexagon Acrylic tank and stand. my stand opening is really small.
so i build two small tank sump & refugium (one with filter sock and protein skimmer) ( one with miracle mud 10 lb with live sand on top)
everything work great (did not setup refugium yet but it is ready). Using Caribsea Ocean Direct Original Grade 60 lb Live Sand. 20 lb Live Rock with 40 lb Dry Caribbean Rock.

eshopps s-150 skimmer, Jebao DCT 6000 return pump, 2 Jebao RW8 Wireless Wavemaker. Aquatic Life edge 72 Watts LED (48 inch) + Current USA Orbit Marine Aquarium LED Light 46 Watts LED (48 inch)


I start my tank with RODI water, after 3 days when water gets clear i use Dr. tim's one and only live nitrifying bacteria with Ammonium Chloride Solution for Fishless Cycling.
Its been week now. my ammonia, nitrite, nitrate test all 0 ppm

But my live rock, dry rock, live sand all get dark brown color with green hair like algae.

so what should i do is it normal?

also

what kind of Refugium algae should i get and from where? what kind of Clean up crew should i get (How Many of each) (From where). what kind of fish? what kind of coral? (really easy to keep coral that don't need food)

Please Help

Sump Build

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Sump

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Refugium

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Live Sand Clearing up

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Tank Aquascape



Diatom Bloom with green hair like algae


Right Side Rock & Left Side Rock will to in to my Refugium



Thank you so much
Tarak
 
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Nice looking build, small stand opening will be a challenge, but doable. Many of your questions are fairly a personal preference, so they're on you. If it were mine, i'd looking for snails, hermit crabs and even emerald crab to start.
 
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yes diatoms and many other problems are expected with a new tank and occur during a cycle. Give it time and be paitent. Nothing good comes quickly in this hobby. Keep an eye on the cycle and you'll watch it change as the weeks progress.
 
I think it's coming along nicely :) ....but if I may, it may be beneficial for you to re-aquascape your rocks in more of a way that allows for more flow around and between your rocks....from what I can see, it appears most of your rocks are stacked tightly together which cause dead spots along the back and center of the tank.
Here are some examples I got off of Google just to give you an idea of what I am referring to if you're interest....

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post-35-0-06056800-1437650133.jpg


best of luck :)
 
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