I changed my lighting from a Coralife 260W 4 bulb PC fixture to an Odysea 260 W 4 bulb PC fixture. The latter fixture includes 8 blue LED bulbs to simulate moonlight. However, the reason I replaced the fixture was price and color. The Coralife fixture cost $299 from Petco. The new fixture cost $125 after shipping on eBay. Since I bought the Coralife fixture less than 30 days ago Petco took it back no questions asked. Also the Coralife fixture was silver and the new one is black which matches the tank and stand better.
The brown diatom algae has been completely gone for about a week now. I noticed yesterday that I am starting to get some red stringy algae on the sand bed. In the morning after the lights have been out the algae seems to subside. However, by the end of the day the red algae is stringy again. I'm not concerned since I understand this is the natural progression of tank cycling. Below is a picture of the red stringy algae growing on the sand bed.
Yesterday, on the way home from work I stopped at Beyond the Reef and picked up a fragment of tongue coral. This is a long polyp stony (LPS) coral but it is supposed to be very hardy and a good starter coral. At $20 the price was right so I bought it. It took about an hour or two for the polyps to fully extend after adding it to the tank. I put it on the sand bed which is the recommended place for this type of coral. I just love watching the polyps waiving in the current. I wasn't aware of the red algae when I bought the coral since I noticed the algae for the first time. I'll have to be careful to make sure the red algae doesn't get out of hand and overgrow the coral. Here is a photo of my tongue coral fragment.
Today I picked up a cleaner shrimp. It is supposed to be a good idea to keep one or two of these in a tank. Fish will come to it to have any parasites picked off of them by the shrimp. The shrimp gets a tast meal.
