Curious Of what this is and is it bad?

[jtbeezy]

New to saltwater. I have a 75gal been set up for a little over a month. I put 3 damsels and a snail in about a week ago.. all basic levels are good . Just switched to a better light today and doing a water change as we speak. But I wanted to know what the brown hairy stuff is it’s over my live rock . My snail seems to enjoy it witch I’ll show ..just what is it bad / good / part of it .. and how to react accordingly thanks 

[mcarroll]

In the picture, that's mulm/periphyton.  Normal in a system with no grazers.

 

Good start for a FOWLR or fish-only system, but if you intend on corals, I'd back off the fish and get some corals going and give it time to make sure you AND your CUC are up to the task.  Any chance your Damsels are Azures or Yellowtails?  (The rest tend to be uppity.)

 

What have you been using to read up on the hobby to get you started, BTW?  If you don't already have a book or two, I'd highly recommend fixing that.  🙂

 

Check out both of Martin Moe's books, John Tullock's, Dana Riddle's, Bob Fenner's....and even @Paul B's book is excellent, though it is more specialized than the others!  

 

Of course there are lots of others, but these are what I'd search out first, and then I'd branch out from there.

 

Check your library, used book stores as well as any new bookstores if there are still any left around you.

[jtbeezy]

Thank you, and yea at some point I’d like to be able to put corals in there but I’m going to make that a slow transition I want to get the fish any everything and just run it as a fowlr for a little bit to make sure I can keep with making sure all levels are good all the time and just give it time to mature more while saving for a better light .. do corals need to have UV light ... and yea I’m was planning on putting a shrimp or two in there  with few more snails any recommendation on that.. oh and yea the damsels are yellow tail 

[jtbeezy]

Ok just re read that so don’t get fish and get some easy coral? Sense I’m wanting to do that at some point.. idk if my current lightning will support them rgb + white 

[mcarroll]

Fish Focus

Going fowlr or even fish-only for a while while you learn is a fine strategy.

 

But if you light up a bunch of bare rock without the presence of coral and coraline algae, you and the CUC are going to have a constant battle to keep every square inch of tank space clear of pest algae.

 

It doesn't take a lot of light to encourage pest algae, either.

 

Coral Focus

If you think you're ready for lighting the tank up to reef levels (get a lux meter or PAR meter*) then adding some corals would also be a fine strategy.  If you take it slow, corals are actually a lot easier than fish IMO....plus they have a stabilizing effect on the tank that is VERY beneficial to fish...so in the end, they make keeping fish easier too.  Corals are not free to keep though.  🙂 

 

With stony corals you have to consider a system for replacing the minerals they use from the water to grow their skeletons.  Lots of ways exist, from high-end to low-end, from simple to complicated, so don't let this necessity be a turn-off.  Just do some googling on "alkalinity" and start reading some articles.....Craig Bingman and Randy Holmes-Farley wrote most of the stuff I learned from.

 

Dosing for corals is not really any more complicated than feeding is for fish, and there's almost no guesswork.  The amount of minerals you dose into the tank is directly related to consumption levels in the tank, which you track with some simple test kits.

 

Feeding fish is almost total guesswork and shotgunning...hard to know for sure that you're not over- or under-feeding without paying a lot of attention and some expertise.  Hard to know you're feeding the fish what they really need, too.

 

*You can start right now with a lux meter app on your smartphone...uses the cameras as "light sensors".  I'd highly recommend a handheld meter...I use a basic "LX-1010B" that you can find at almost any online vendor.  There are some handhelds that cost a little more than that and some that cost as little as $8. Obviously if you have access, a PAR meter will do the trick as well.  But use something mentioned here to take some measurements of your lights.  >10,000 lux  or >150 PAR is generally considered "plenty" for most corals.  >30,000 lux won't hurt most corals, and might be needed if you plan to keep something that can specifically benefit from "high light" such as a clam.

[jtbeezy]

Okay so it’s about the lux and par no so much the actually color of lighting? And what would I do to promote Coraline growth? 

[jtbeezy]

And just used the little app my current lighting is about 5000 lux so could buy and additional light ? 

[jtbeezy]

It’s 3000-25000 k if that makes a difference