Finally bringing my reef back from being a messy FOWLR. Questions..

[TomV]

After power outages and disasters related to them, I really got burned out and discouraged. It seemed I lost fish every time we had a power outage and they always happened in the middle of Winter!

So, after picking up some battery operated pumps and now that the Spring is here, I've been re-energized and thought I would give it another shot again.

The tanks (10g and 55g) had been just neglected and barely maintained by me. Yes, I'm guilty here for that! And they became Hair Algae forests. Well, I finally decided I was sick of looking at them like that and I owed it to my big Purple Tang (who, like a super fish, SURVIVED all the outages this winter while everyone expired around her--including crabs!!). So, I cleaned out nearly all the hair algae and the rest is dying off while the Feather Dusters (also brave survivors) are popping out all over the tank again.

I got hold of my good friend Dana (from Cramer's Caribbean Critters,algae cleaners) and she gave me another great deal on critters, gorgonians, etc. (believe it or not, I still have one Gorgonian I got from her in the 10g and the polyps are STILL extending!) . So, I'm getting my cleaning crews and some other stuff from her next week.

The target is to get back to where my tank was in 2004 (the golden days of my tanks!) where I had: Hairy Mushrooms, Ricordea, Normal Blue and Red Shrooms, Xenia, and Gorgonians, a Finger Leather or two, and maybe a Colt Coral or two. That's pretty much it.

I only have 1 fish in my 10g (Yellow Tail Blue Damsel) and he's gonna be my only fish in there unless I add an Oscellaris or something-- but right now I have no plans for that. The 55g has 2 Domino Damsels and the big Blue Tang. That will be my main coral tank. The 10g will have some corals, but won't be focused on as heavily as the 55g.

With me so far?

So, the questions are these:

1: With those above mentioned corals, what kind of additives should I focus on? Feeding them? Any other advice on them?

2: Water changes are a pain because I had a stroke in 2005. So, I can't haul water up and down the stairs at great volumes. What would be a good method of doing water changes?

-- What I was thinking about with the water changes is this: Get a 5-10 gallon bucket or container of some sort and keep it topped off and covered (up near the tanks on the 2nd floor). Keep it filled with salt water for the water changes. And when it comes time to do the changes, pull out the water via a syphon while emptying the 5-10 gallon container into the tank via a powerhead (or pump) with a tube attached. That way, I will always have aged + Pre-mixed Saltwater on-hand and not have to shut any filtration off or disturb anything greatly while doing the water change because it will be done at somewhat equal speeds.

Ideas? Questions? Queries? Comments?

[TomV]

Yeah, I know I said this before. I did try to bring the tanks back to life over the Winter... but the power outages killed off my fish and corals again...

[blue_eyes53813]

HI Tom, I remember you. Welcome back. Im sorry to hear about your stroke. The water change idea sounds good. I really dont have much to add. You seem to be on the right track.

As far as feeding the corals. They will catch or be fed when ever you feed the tank. They will catch some of the suspended food in the water column and even feed off of fish feces.

Once in awhile you may want to feed them DT or some form of liquid food, But it wont have to be very often...


Good luck and once again welcome back

[TomV]

Thanks for the welcome!

So, you're saying I don't have to feed the corals anything really? I still have some "Reef Chili" which has lots of vitamins, no phosphates or nitrates, and different kinds of coral foods within. I guess I'll use that. I used it before with good results. My filter feeders seem to like it.

So, what about additives? Like Reef Calcium, etc. I was thinking of using Coral Accel again (from Kent). I used it last time and everything seemed to do well with it: Ricordeas and Shrooms split and multiplied, and even GSP spread (which I had a hard time with for a long time--- I like GSP.)

Other than that?

I was thinking of building another Kalk Doser and using Woodstock's recipe again.

[Frankie]

Welcome back Tom!

[Varga]

Hi Tom,
you can always do very smal daily water changes

[TomV]

Hey Frankie! Thanks, bud!


Varga:

How small in a 55g?

Something like 2 gallons every other day or something?

That would be kind of odd, though because my saltwater evaporates nearly a gallon a day..... I guess I better buy extra RO/DI water till I get my own filter.

It's 68 cents a gallon where I buy it.

[naperenterprise]

You'll be spending over $100 bucks in like 3 months, check out The Filter Guys for a Nice RO/DI system.

Welcome back, look forward to seeing the tank come to life

[Varga]

[quote=TomV;449444]

Varga:

How small in a 55g?

QUOTE]

10% weekly = 0.8gallon daily

[Disciple882542]

As far as water changes and top off's go...if you have room for a 20 or 30 gallon tank downstairs you could buy a pump and a length of hose to pump the new saltwater from the mixing tank to the upstairs tank. If you could siphon the water out of a window or bathroom drain then pump the water from the downstairs mixing tank you wouldn't be taking any water upstairs.

You could hook up the pump to a vinyl hose (around $1/foot for some sizes) and not ever lift a bucket again. If you had 2 downstairs tanks you could put fresh in one and salt in the other and use the same pump for both depending on if you were toping off or changing water.

God bless,
Chris

[TomV]

Hi Chris, I have a Python that reaches downstairs. I could buy another length to get it to the bathroom sink, where I plan to hook up a RO/DI system when I eventually get one. So, I could probably send the RO/DI water upstairs from the Python via a pump to a holding tank. There, I could mix the Saltwater for the changes and pump that out to the tank while draining at the same time.

Is that pretty much what you're saying?

[Disciple882542]

Originally Posted by TomV

Hi Chris, I have a Python that reaches downstairs. I could buy another length to get it to the bathroom sink, where I plan to hook up a RO/DI system when I eventually get one. So, I could probably send the RO/DI water upstairs from the Python via a pump to a holding tank. There, I could mix the Saltwater for the changes and pump that out to the tank while draining at the same time.

Is that pretty much what you're saying?

Yep...that's it but I think you would need some type of resevoir close to the RODI unit. You could then pump from the downstairs resevoir to the upstairs resevoir via the python.

Would you be able to hide a 20 gallon high or some other smaller tank in the bathroom closet or something? That would keep it out of the way for the most part.

Thanks and God bless,
Chris

[blue_eyes53813]

Small water changes will also keep the additives in check. Alot of salt mixes have the needed additives already right in it. The right lighting and water changes should be all you need.

[TomV]

I think I may be able to manage 5 gallons a week for a water change. It may not be perfect. But, it's better than nothing. Right?

[rmlevasseur]

You can buy a portable generator for 2-300 hundred. I just got one myself. After spending thousands it seemed foolish not to have one.