15 gallon Nano - new clownfish question.

[KLKelly]

We are getting our first corals for the tank today (aside from a tiny frag that keeps falling off - need glue).  We are planning on greenstar polyp and mushrooms.  Beginner stuff.
Can you guys recommend any changes before tonight - the rock setup or the way we have the flow set?
Also having a problem with algae on the live sand.

Pictures of algae and the tank at the end of the thread.

*****
The problem is I think green hair algae.  We will be cutting back on the lighting based on a site I read yesterday to 5 hours a day.  Can you guys confirm its hair algae?  How do we remove it.  We are using a small bottle brush but a rake of some sort I think would work better.  I hear hair algae loves the flow of a reef tank.
We started leaving the lights on more this past few weeks - I don't know why though.  I guess once we get shrooms etc the lights will need to be on anyways.

We may be overfeeding the crab in the tank - he eats mysis shrimp.  But my husband found out the scarlett hermits like mysis shrimp too so I think he is indulging them.

Here is the setup:
1. Coralife PC 96W
1. Maxijet 600. There was two but the flow was too much for the feather duster so we removed one.
1. AC110 for fuge with some rubble and lots of cheato
1. 15 lbs of various kinds of live rock
1. Tiny 1/2 inch crab, feather duster (fed phytoplankton 3 times a week), tiny frag of zoos and gsp, 6 scarlett hermits, and 12-14 snails.

Also - there are a hundred or more tiny flat worms on the glass.  I hear they feed on cyclops and there numbers will dwindle.  There are also a large number of amphipods crawling all over.  I hear they eat detrius so their numbers will dwindle as the food dwindles.

I'd love input and advice.








Thanks everyone.

Karrie

[KLKelly]

I've gotten some advice - thanks for those that helped : ).  Turns out we are seriously overfeeding 

We are going to mod our maxijets to disperse flow so we can add the second one in.

And we are going to cut the lights down.  Four hours, then out for two and then on for two.  Its experimental but its worth trying.

And if we stop feeding the clean up crew like we have been doing - we expect the snails will start doing their jobs along with the scarlett crabs.

I now have my heart set on a pincushion urchin.  The hubby is now trying to talk me out of it though.... "not enough room to move", it "limits" where he can put things.  I might have to wait for the 30 gallon to be set up before I can get my urchin 

[sniggir]

I would wait for the 30 or bigger as their sting is quite bad, and they can be buldosers in a small tank. what type of shrooms ya putting in? star polyps are always great. maybe get some xenia aswell.

[RoxyDog]

turn the lights off, completely for 3 days straight and do a decent waterchange after.  should help. and of course feed less. 

[groan]

I could give you a few stalks of Xenia (the EASIEST of all corals to frag!...SNIP) I have to do some thining soonn (after i get everyone into my 55) so if you are intrested let me know. Youll have to attach them yourself, but they attach really easily.

good luk with the algae, i had my share!

[KLKelly]

We have real fish!!!! Two small captive bred/raised occelaris clowns.  They are so adorable.

They are getting more comfortable in the tank. (The above pictures are outdated)

The funny thing is at night - they both go to the top maxijet (1" below the water").  The maxi jet is turned off as DH isn't sure if we have too much flow or not.  His favourite thing right now is mushrooms. 

I've read online that Clowns do odd things like sometimes host to powerheads.  Is this what they are doing - if so why only at night?  I'd rather they find the toadstool than host on top of a powerhead where I can't see them unless I"m right at the tank due to the tank rim.

[Sharbuckle]

cant wait till my nano is ready for fish lets see some pics!!

[Cheebs]

They are almost certainly hosting the powerhead.  They do it mostly at night because they like to feel safe while the sleep.  It can take a while for clowns to actally host a coral in your tank -  there are accounts of people keeping anemones or other corals in their tank for over a year before their clowns finally host them.  I wouldn't be worried about it though, once you figure out what you are doing with your powerhead they should move.. and if they don't, they'll be fine

[KLKelly]

I'm wishing we didn't get two thats for sure   They are pairing off it seems and one is being ULTRA mean.  I wish I could take him (ok probably her) out.   The other one is cowering and diving up at the surface to avoid her.  Its sad to watch.  I posted on nano-reef and the reply so far is this went on for over a year with his two.  How long did it take your guys to settle down after they started pairing off?

And they were hovering over the toadstool so maybe they will learn to host in it instead of at the top of the powerhead.  We are starting to see cyano for the very first time. Probably because we turned the back powerhead off.