On Sat, 10 Dec 2005 15:38:56 GMT, Wayne Sallee
wrote:

The brown you are seeing is diatoms. It will disapear, and
as it does, in will probably come cyanobacteria (slimy
stringy dark red or dark green) It's a little more
resiliant. The tank will go throug cycling. You will reach
prime in about 1 year. You can add fish after having your
tank set up for one week. Add only a small amount on a
weekly basis, testing your water to make sure its safe to
add more.

Hello Wayne,

I must take issue with you here. To be adding fishes like this is a
recipe for a complete disaster. All additions should be quarantined
for at least a month, and the quarantine period recommences from the
latest date of any addition to the Q-tank.

Regards, Fishnut.

I like to start out with the least agressive
damels, like the green chromis damsel. They are schooling
fish, so I like to add 2 or 3 of them. Then the other
damsels, a one of each. By the time you get to the most
agressive damsels you will have a nice looking tank with a
nice mix of prity fish without having spent a lot of
money. After you have had your fish for a month, or better
yet 3 months, you can start adding the more expensive
fish. Keep it slow. Don't go too fast.

What size tank do you have, and what kind of lighting do
you have? What's your watts per gallon?

For corals and stuff, mushrooms are the best start, moving
on to polyps, like star pollyps, and buttom polyps, then
moving on to corals.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets



Ishmael wrote on 12/9/2005 10:20 PM:
Hello everyone,
Always loved them, always wanted one, never knew anything about them
except they were cool.
My lovely wife and I went on honeymoon in the Tahitian islands for 3
weeks and snorkeled everyday. When we got back to Atlanta we missed
the underwater views we saw everyday. So much that we had to get a
marine mini reef set up. The tank is my first, but I think after
reading most of the book I bought along with everything I needed minus
fish, the dealer hooked me up with the right stuff. Live rocks, live
sand, protien skimmer ect. The water has been in the tank for one week.
The specific gravity is perfect, the temp is 73 f and Im starting to
get a layer of brown splotches on everything? The book didn't mention
the brown algae? whatever it is doesn't look great. How long do I have
to wait to introduce specimens? When do I know it has cycled? Please
help.......