Please help!

Im a newby to having a saltwater tank. I recently went to the aquarium store after running the water in the tank (14 biocube) for a week. My water was tested and was given permission to buy a damsel and some live rock. I retested my water and everything was great. The store agent told me to buy some Seachem reef buffer and add a teaspoon to the water to get the Ph level higher. I actually only added 1/2 a teaspoon to the water after mixing it in a cup of the salt water and adding it back into the tank. I woke up the next morning to find that my live rock turned red and so did the top of my live sand! there is also little red pelets in on the sand. is this normal?? what do I do?? My damsel is still active and appears to be doing fine.

 

I sounds like cyano bacteria, a pic would help greatly.

 

What were your test readouts before and after you dosed the reef buffer? Also it sounds like the red stuff is cyano common in new tank pix always help out and also if you list your parameters PH, nitrate, nitrites and ammonia please.

Also welcome to 3reef

 

this is a picture of the tank.

 

Im not sure what all the test numbers were. the store attendant basically had a kit and she showed me the results of the water tests using a color chart.

 

I see it would benefit you greatly to have a kit cause you will be testing often with saltwater and its a pain to take it to the store every time lol That looks a little more brown then red to me in the picture and it is normal. What kind of light and filtration area you running?

 

hernans3

that looks like typical new tank diatom growth to me
diatoms are harmless and utilise silicates to contruct their skeletons
once all the silicates are used up - they fade away

takes between 4 - 6 weeks to completely dissapear IME

How large is that tank?

salt water set up for 1 week, will give great test results, simply because nothing has happened yet

conditions may get very unpleasant for that Damsel in a short while as the waste it produces cycles the tank for you, you will get ammonia and Nitrite
Damsels are tolerant fish and thats why they are often used in this process
but its not a method favoured by all people, due to the discomfort suffered by the fish during this process

not all Damsels do make it through the cycle

if it where my tank
I would ask the LFS to hold the Damsel for you, and in the mean time, just ghost feed the tank everyday with a few pellets to encourage bacterial activity and thus the cycle

get your own test kits for Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate at this stage - also PH would be good to have for now
in 2 or 3 weeks time, once you have seen the ammonia and nitrite increase and then 0 out, add a few snails and they will assist in clearing up the tank for you

Steve

 

Leighton & Steve,
Thanks for your responses!!!

My tank is 14 gallons. Im just using the filtration that is set up in the tank already. As for lighting, it has like 6 different settings. I usually just leave the white light on during the day, and the blue light at night.