Hello

J

Jerrycobos

New Member
Good morning yall. I have had my 75 gallon saltwater tank for about 9 months, let it run for 6 months before I put a single fish in there. I am up to 6 fish, 3 clowns, a wrasse and 2 others not sure of their names off my head. I have 4 little frags for coral. I bought a eheim filter system, coral lighting, and just recently purchased a hob protien skimmer.
I have treated my tank 3 times now for red algae (because that's what I was told it was) and just by my own research on this forum learned I actually have brown algae that is common in new tanks. I hope my fish dont die from this treatment I did yesterday morning.
I want to learn all possible to have a salt water reef tank, and enjoy their beauty. I purchased a anemone that died this morning due to my lack of knowledge. I should not even consider one for a year, now I know after the poor thing perished.
Any advice would be great, like I said I'm new to all of this but willing to put in the work and effort to be able to have one of these amazing tanks. Thanks for everything guys

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
 
D

DaveK

Well-Known Member
Jerrycobos said:
...
I have treated my tank 3 times now for red algae ...
Click to expand...

I am assuming you used one of the various red slime removal products. Generally you never want to use such products. While they do kill red slime algae, unless you correct the source of the problem, all you end up with is getting a different problem algae to take it's place. After treatment it's often a good idea to do a large partial water change. That being said such treatments are usually not a direct problem to the fish in a system. You can still have a problem if a lot of algae dies off because that's all now a waist product the systems needs to deal with.
 
Uncle99

Uncle99

Well-Known Member
And welcome to the sanctuary

Any of the non calcarious algae’s can be attributed to excess nutrients in the form of phosphates and nitrates, as well as too intense, too long, or incorrect colour spectrum in light or lights that have colour shifted. The worse light is Sunlight!

You say you let the tank cycle for 6 months before fish, then you add fish. If the 6 you mentioned in your list went in kinda quickly, your current bacteria population was not enough to "filler" (process) the new fish load. If this was the case, nutrients rise, Alage comes........

Over time, by managing your parameters, this should correct itself but you can speed it up.

I would fix the source problem firstly, that is managing nutrients. Fix the source and once clean, stays that way.

Nitrates should be managed in the 2-5ppm range and phosphates in the 0.02 - 0.07 range ppm.

Nitrates
Nitrates are managed by the level of bacteria in your live rock, the more the rock, the more bacteria will be able to live on that rock,and thus lower nitrates. Any other filtration systems are not required and just make more work. And flow, different speeds in different areas, random is best, this helps complete the nitrogen cycle as the gas is expelled. daily carbon dosing over 6 months will lower nitrate thru more bacteria. as DaveK pointed out, water changes, made with 0 TDS water and a salt which closely matches your desired parameters. I do 10% every week, no miss.

Phosphates
These are introduced thru feedings, watch for cheap flakes. These are removed manually through either LC or GFO, phosphate binds to GFO and then changed out periodically, some say 1 week, some 2, depends on how much is in the column. Also, lower feedings, lowers both nitrates and phosphates. Also water changes lower phosphates, again manual removal.

To "clean" rocks
I would test 1 Mexican Turbo and keep placing it on the rocks. For me, the type of snail was an "amazing" consumer of my reddish brown Algae and 5 removed all in a couple of weeks, gone! Mine was tuff style, kinda short hair, impossible to brush off,if yours is the the same get Mexicans! In short, whether by snail, or brush, or hand, got to get if off the rocks.

At 9 months in, and you are keeping corals, your last step is keep all 8 parameters at the required levels. Track them on a worksheet. ALK is the most important one of all, PH is the least, but at least 7.8.

The nem....... it's not the amount of time, rather, the stability of the tank.
So I put my nem in when I could manage all 8 parameters consistently.

Things like ATO and dosers are great help in keeping levels consistent.

Maybe there's something you can pull from this.image.jpeg
 
J

Jerrycobos

New Member
Thanks so much for all the help. I went last night and bought the api saltwater master kit that tests for ph which mine was 8.4, nitrate and nitrites which were both 0 and then ammonia which was actually 0.25. I then treated with a ammonia reducer to get that out. I also got the phosphorus reducer and am running it in the water now. I will be going back to the store this week to get the rest of the testing list to check for everything. I got 2 hermits and 3 turbo snails last night so hopefully everything will start leveling off. I will not add another fish until I get a stable tank. Thanks all!!!

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
 
J

Jerrycobos

New Member
This is my little tank so far :) still waiting for my testing supplies I ordered from Amazon to get here so I can check all 8 perimeters and get it stable. I have been doing my homework and learning as much as I can. I'm really excited!!
2458555ea1c0e739f1dc8bbaf02e0c59.jpg


Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
 
D

DaveK

Well-Known Member
After seeing a picture of the tank, how much live rock do you have in there? Offhand it looks like you have only about 1/3 to 1/2 of the amount of rock you should have.

Keep in mind that in a reef system, the live rock is the biological filtration system.
 
J

Jerrycobos

New Member
That will be what I purchase for my weekly trip to the fish store then :) how much of a gap should I keep between the tank and the rock? I want to get this right.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
 
Uncle99

Uncle99

Well-Known Member
image.jpeg You want to leave some space all around the glass including the back for cleaning and more importantly flow. Also some space between rocks, (not packed too tight, so again, keeping mind you want flow to get everywhere, around rocks, through rocks.....

Temp, salinity, nitrate, phosphate, and Ph are 5 of the 8 to be monitored and maintained now, the other 3, Alk, CA and Mg, you will need to maintain when regular water changes can't keep these ions up in the required range, thus occurs when you start to have a lot of stony corals who use those three.

Monitor, but do not chase PH. In many cases, a PH of 7.8 is the best you can get. If it's lower, don't use any of those buffers, try increasing flow at the top so the surface has a ripple, open a window to clear the room of CO2, using outside air in a skimmer.

For the other 4....as an example
Temp 78-80
Salinity 1.025-1.026
Nitrate 2-5 ppm
Phosphate 0.03-.0.07

Again Stability is everything.
A good heater will not flux mire than .05 of a degree.
An ATO will keep salinity on target.
Carbon dosing (NoPox) will help manage nitrate. (If required)
GFO will absorb and thus lower phosphate.

Good luck
 
Last edited:
J

Jerrycobos

New Member
I have added more rock with more to come. It's looking a little better. I bought a HOB protien skimmer and hoping it levels out soon, it just keeps running over so right now I have the drain hose going right back in the aquarium. Just going slow and easy :)

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
 
J

Jerrycobos

New Member
Uncle99 said:
View attachment 49020 You want to leave some space all around the glass including the back for cleaning and more importantly flow. Also some space between rocks, (not packed too tight, so again, keeping mind you want flow to get everywhere, around rocks, through rocks.....

Temp, salinity, nitrate, phosphate, and Ph are 5 of the 8 to be monitored and maintained now, the other 3, Alk, CA and Mg, you will need to maintain when regular water changes can't keep these ions up in the required range, thus occurs when you start to have a lot of stony corals who use those three.

Monitor, but do not chase PH. In many cases, a PH of 7.8 is the best you can get. If it's lower, don't use any of those buffers, try increasing flow at the top so the surface has a ripple, open a window to clear the room of CO2, using outside air in a skimmer.

For the other 4....as an example
Temp 78-80
Salinity 1.025-1.026
Nitrate 2-5 ppm
Phosphate 0.03-.0.07

Again Stability is everything.
A good heater will not flux mire than .05 of a degree.
An ATO will keep salinity on target.
Carbon dosing (NoPox) will help manage nitrate. (If required)
GFO will absorb and thus lower phosphate.

Good luck
Click to expand...
Your tank is AMAZING!!!!

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top