Newbie question, Live rock or not?

[lastduke]

20G Fish only Tank, 2 damsels, one clown fish, one fire fish and one cleaner shimp in there.

Aquaclear 150/30 filter, heater. That's all I put in the tank. And the sun light hits the tank direclty about 2 hours in the afternoon (i have no where to place the tank).

The tank was cycled and the brown algae is blooming up these days.

I went to LFS and asked them to fix the brown algae. They recommended me to purchase the live rock to prevent from the algae, they told me the my filter/filtration system is not good enough. Live rock will help me to filtrate the water. Brown algae will not be removed from the Fish Only tank because the filter/filter media I have is not good enough.

Are they correct? Because it is my first salt water tank, I tried to set it up as easy as I could.

[fishfinder08]

yes u should definiatly use live rock!

[StevieT]

I would get Live rock anyways. It is a great at biological filtration and I looks pretty cool too. The sunlight hitting the tank isn't helping the algae, but it should calm down. Your filter is fine, i have a 150 as well in my tank; 12 gallon. Try limiting the light you provide the aquarium, set your timer down a few hours. How long are you running it now?? Get some live rock, live sand. You will have to go through another cycle with those. I don't know how that will effect the fish you have now, shouldn't be too bad but did my cylce then bought fish. Pick up a blenny, they love algae, i think they are good on the brown stuff too.

 

Good luck!

[lastduke]

Thank you for your suggestion.

Okay, decision is made. I am going to buy some live rocks.

 

What's the live sand, I bought the sand which is claimed from ocean, is that okay?

 

I dont have the spare tank, the existing fishes have to go through the 2nd cycle process again. Say sorry to them.

 

i have four fishes in 20G already, do you think i can put one more plenny in there?

[willyboy]

You may want to get rid of the damsels. They can be bullies. Just take them back to the LFS you bought them from. Then you can get a blenny. I suggest you get a pal for your clownfish. Once you really get into this I don't know how long this tank will stay FO or FOWLR. Have fun!

[kkyyllee]

if you get cured liverock you will not have to go through a second cycle, the sand you have is fine

[lastduke]

It sounds good, the sand i have is covered by the brown algae (not very bad), Do I need to change all of them then put the rocks in? The LFS sells the cured rock, i am going to buy it tomorrow.

 

Anything need to buy? Do i need to buy the light bulb, I ask this becuase the tank is placed at the plenty light location, even sun light hits the tank directly 2 hours everyday.

[kkyyllee]

siphon off as much of the brown algea as you can then put the rock in, i suggest that you add alittle bit of lr at a time like a few pounds a week, in case there is some dieoff the bacteria could handle it, the liverock doesnt need light, but coraline etc. growing on it does, how many watts is the light you have?

[musho3210]

i dont believe in cured rock, if a rock is out of the water, it is uncured. At least put it in a rubbermaid tub of saltwater and let the ammonia and nitrite subside.

[kkyyllee]

yeah, thats the only way to prevent dieoff

[lastduke]

kkyyllee, I don't have any bulbs for the tank, only the sunlight is killing me by blooming the algae. Do I need to buy some 'specific bulbs' for coral in the future?

[lastduke]

I appreciate your advices. I am going to open another thread to ask about adding live rocks in cycled FO tank.