bad purchase???

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rudedogg

New Member
Hey Everyone....i am a newbie to reef keeping ( 4 days). i have had a few successful fish only marine tanks, and impulse bought a nano-reef on craigslist. I know,dangeroous move, but videos looked good and tank looked pretty healthy in person. ANYWAY....i brought it home and set it up somewhat the same as it was. I added some t5 ho lighting (6400kx2) because it was only running on 96 watts of pc. The tank is 45 gal, had a crazy homemade filter consisting of two ten gallon tanks underneath one a refugium and the a sump with sand, rock, and a skimmer. two powerheads in tank for circulation. This guy was DESPERATE for money so i bought it for almost nothing and like an idiot changed the filter to my hang on 3 gallon job with pre,sipporax( ceramic cylinders), and some of the rock from his sump. I kept his skimmer also, not sure what brand but does awesome!
My problem is this: The tank looks ok, some algea from the move, lots of inverts( urchins, crabs shrimp etc. all looking great) small corals, but vrey healthy looking, a few fish...wrasse, goby, cleaner wrasse, clown...but after testung for nitrates today for the first time, they are about 40 to 50ppm!!!
How the hell is it living? The tank must have been that way cause if i started a new cycle, then it would not be at that stage yet...right? What should i do? water changes, chemis? help is appreciated.
 
Tru2nr

Tru2nr

Well-Known Member
no chemi's absolutely no chemi's...now that we have that cleared up wait about 2 days and do a 30-40% water change wait a week and repeat, until it is settled down then monitor it very closely it probably is a direct result from the move stirring the sand up and any minimal die-off
 
chipmunkofdoom2

chipmunkofdoom2

Well-Known Member
No chemicals, agreed.


Welcome to RS.


First of all, the filtration system the guy had set up sounded pretty good... a refugium is great for nitrate export, and a sump is a great way to hide all your equipment. If you have high nitrates, water changes must be done. If you do 25% water change, you'll have a reduction around 25%, meaning about a 13 ppm reduction. You'll want to do one larger one, about 30-40%, then do smaller ones around 25% weekly until nitrates are in an acceptable range.

As for lighting, 6500k is not good for reef tanks. Remember, most reefs, even shallow ones, are at a good depth, meaning the colors (ROYGBIV, in that order) get filtered out. Reef spectrums are high, over 10,000K. 6500k includes a lot of reds that will promote algal growth.

So, in short, I recommend water changes weekly along with higher spectrum bulbs.
 
BigAl07

BigAl07

Administrator
RS STAFF
Hello :wave: and welcome to RS and the WONDERFUL world of Reefing!

SCORE on the system!! :)

I agree with what's already been said. GREAT advice!!

Job well done to both of you :thumber:
 
R

rudedogg

New Member
Thanx for the advice guys...ill do the water changes. The sump and refugium the previous owner had was a bit scary, one tank halfway stacked on the other, kind of flowing into one another. i thought of a power outage and disaster. Ill also get some better lighting. Wouldn't there have had to be some nitrates already present or could this have happened so suddenly(4 days)? Also...will the inverts survive?

Thanx
John
 
Rhodes19

Rhodes19

Active Member
rudedogg said:
Thanx for the advice guys...ill do the water changes. The sump and refugium the previous owner had was a bit scary, one tank halfway stacked on the other, kind of flowing into one another. i thought of a power outage and disaster. Ill also get some better lighting. Wouldn't there have had to be some nitrates already present or could this have happened so suddenly(4 days)? Also...will the inverts survive?

Thanx
John
Click to expand...

The nitrates could have been present before the move but chances are good they are high now because the move stirred things up and you are getting some die off as mentioned above. I picked up a 10g reef 2 months back and lost the 2 lps ( :( ) due to the move. The softies were fine. Do the water changes suggested above and you will get the nitrates down in quick order. As for the sump/fug, depending on how the previous owner had it set up there may not be any flooding issues. Do you have any pictures you can post?
 
BigAl07

BigAl07

Administrator
RS STAFF
Rhodes19 is correct. It could have been there but it could be new or BOTH!

Regardless the steps to rectify are the same and fairly simple. Water changes and testing are your new best friends for a while :) Let your test results guide you.

The sump/fuge are an EXCELLENT idea of you can incorporate them into your existing set-up. They add water volume, equipment storage, and can aid in nutrient reduction. That's a Win-Win-WIN!

Invert survival is all dependent upon your actions and how severe and prolonged the conditions last. Some are sensitive to elevated NO3 levels more than others. Also it depends on if it was a slow build-up of NO3 or s a sudden spike due to the move.


Good luck and Happy Reefing :)
 
Cloudburst2000

Cloudburst2000

Member
Keep the sump/fuge if you can. The main way to prevent flooding is to ensure that you don't have too much water in the sump. Always make sure that if there is a poweroutage that you have adequate space left in your sump for the excess water that will flow out of the DT. If you have adequate room in the sump, there should not be a flood due to a pweroutage.
 
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rudedogg

New Member
did the water change today (about 30%) will do more in a week. I tried to add a pic but it said file too large! i already resized it down to 33% wth??
 
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elmafioso52988

Member
"t5 ho lighting (6400kx2) because it was only running on 96 watts of pc."
Correct me if I'm wrong but I thought this lighting was for plants only. Don't corals need 10k+? That might be Why your getting algae.
 
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rudedogg

New Member
elmafioso52988 said:
"t5 ho lighting (6400kx2) because it was only running on 96 watts of pc."
Correct me if I'm wrong but I thought this lighting was for plants only. Don't corals need 10k+? That might be Why your getting algae.
Click to expand...

Yea,i know, i know.... come on, im just a beginner!!!lol. I wonder if i can get 10,000k t5s??? if not, ill have to go halide i guess...
 
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BLAKEJOHN

Active Member
You can get T-5's in a variety of degrees. And 10K is one of the many. Before you go and get some bulbs list what type, size and how many bulbs you have in this fixture and also how you would like it to look and we can help you get the correct bulbs the first time (save a few bucks in trial and error).
 
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rudedogg

New Member
BLAKEJOHN said:
You can get T-5's in a variety of degrees. And 10K is one of the many. Before you go and get some bulbs list what type, size and how many bulbs you have in this fixture and also how you would like it to look and we can help you get the correct bulbs the first time (save a few bucks in trial and error).
Click to expand...

OK Thanx...right now the lighting consists of one fixture with a 36" 50x50 96watt twin actinic and a fixture with two 24watt 6400k ho t5s. What can i replace the existing bulbs with to improve things??? I had to remove a halequin fish as he was gettin his ass baet by a five line wrasse...he is in the hospital tank and seems to be doing ok in there... should i give him away or leave him in the little tank, i know if i reintroduce him he would get stomped again right/ No sign of any illness, just ragged from the abuse!
 
R

rudedogg

New Member
First off, thanx all who responded....the tank is improving as far as water quality goes. the nitrates are down to aroun 10-15 ppm now, one or two more changes ought to resolve that. i will order some 10,000k lights tomorrow. The algea is still present, but has turned from green hair to a reddish brown UGLY color ands appears to be dying out somewhat. will the lighting alone help this, or should i get some more janitors? Also the six line wrasse is being very aggressive to tankmates lately, should i feed more (been going a bit ligjht) or remove him???? Ive been adding a bit of iodide, Microvert, and Coralvite to the tank....is that ok?
 
Rhodes19

Rhodes19

Active Member
rudedogg said:
First off, thanx all who responded....the tank is improving as far as water quality goes. the nitrates are down to aroun 10-15 ppm now, one or two more changes ought to resolve that. i will order some 10,000k lights tomorrow. The algea is still present, but has turned from green hair to a reddish brown UGLY color ands appears to be dying out somewhat. will the lighting alone help this, or should i get some more janitors? Also the six line wrasse is being very aggressive to tankmates lately, should i feed more (been going a bit ligjht) or remove him???? Ive been adding a bit of iodide, Microvert, and Coralvite to the tank....is that ok?
Click to expand...

Better lighting and more CUC will help but, keeping nitrates and phos at 0 would be the best way to keep the nuisance algae down/away. I would try feeding a little more and if your 6 line wrasse is still aggressive you may have to remove him. Microvert, and Coralvite should be ok but follow the directions on the bottle. Don't over use them or you could cause your water parameters to rise. I would not dose with iodide unless you need to. The rule of thumb is dose only what you test for.
 
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