|
Home | Marine Aquariums |
Freshwater Aquariums |
Planted Aquariums |
Brackish Systems |
Ponds,
lakes & fountains |
Turtles & Amphibians |
Aquatic Business |
Aquatic Science |
Ask the WWM Crew a Question |
Please visit our Sponsors | ||||
Keep your hands out of my tank Marine System and
Maintenance. 6/5/2009 Re: frustrated... SW op., much reading...
04/27/09 Re: stocking - nitrates - feeding 05/24/09 Re: stocking - nitrates - feeding -ScottV's reply
05/24/09 Thanks, marine set-up reading
4/2/09 Two questions about a 60 gallon setup, 3/22/09 Re: two questions about a 60 gallon setup
3/23/09 Re: Two questions about a 60 gallon setup,
3/23/09 Re: Two questions about a 60 gallon setup,
3/23/09 max number of starfish Protein Skimmer... new tank op. 3/19/09 Re: Suggestions... skimmer sel., AquaC... pump for... gen. mar. maint. 2/26/09 Thank you Scott V. for your reply. <Very welcome.> Just found out about this site about a month ago, there is a ton of information on here. Thanks for referring to the other links. After more research, i agree with you and will go with Remora #2. Will put # 1, which has Maxi-Jet 1200 pump, on 55 gallon, and go with a Remora with a Rio 1400 or Mag-Drive 3 pump. One better than the other? <The Mag for my taste.> With being unable to install a sump right now, the Emperor 400 filter, should it stay or go. Would good canister filter be better? <Not really in this case, with the live rock you will basically just be using the filter for running a bit of carbon. You already have the Emperor and it is just easier to replace the carbon IMO.> I figure with the fishes, i need some kind of filtration besides skimmer? <With the liver rock and a bit of carbon, no, not necessary.> Didn't know that about sand sifting star. He, or she, is one of tanks first inhabitants. It is about twice the size as when first put in. Because of rock, it stays in about 1/3 of tank, in front. But if it is sucking the life out of sand, it will go. Will take to LFS and trade or give to. <The real issue is it will deplete the live in the sand until it has nothing left to live on itself.> What are other critters good at keeping sand clean? <Nassarius snails and the microfauna that will populate the sand from the live rock. See: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/dsbbiomakeup.htm for other options.> I test for salt, try to keep at 1.024, Ammonia, pH, Nitrites, Nitrates, Calcium, try to keep about 400. Anything else i should be testing for? <Definitely carbonate hardness, I would test for magnesium too though. And I would raise your spg to 1.025 too.> The Bubble Tip has been in tank about 5 months. It attached near bottom on rock, about half under a ledge over sand bed. It has never moved from this spot. The 2 Maroons have been in about a year. They were both about the same size at time. One has grown very little, about 2 inches. The other is now about 3 times it's size, female i figure, it now wants to keep all the sand blown away. Down to the glass. Like a bowl. I push sand back in and in short order, swishing and with mouth, she has her bowl again. Should i leave her alone? <Yes, not much you can do if the fish wants to dig, other than remove the fish.> The Anemone, it stays open for the most part, sometimes it gets in a ball, but it isn't filled out like at first. I hand feed it, once a week, a piece of raw shrimp about the size of a nickle. I was thinking of maybe feeding twice a week and soaking shrimp in some Zoe? <You can, yes.> Now to the 55 gallon. The rock i put in last week is doing good. No spikes at all. I've got some hitchhikers. After putting rock in i started hearing this clicking sound. I thought, oh no, sure enough, 2 Mantis Shrimp, that i know of. My first time to deal with these bad boys. I see now why Mr Fenner says with any size these would be the T-Rex of the ocean. They are bad to the bone! <!> Will have to get these out before adding any livestock. Just a comment here. I think i have come a long way in this so far, but have so much more to learn, i thank you for your help. <I am happy we have been able to help out.> I have gotten a lot of compliments on my tank. Have had people come by, they see the tank, say, what's that, grab up a chair, sit in front of tank, they are just amazed, ask 400 questions, what's that, wow, look at that, is that alive. Now i have people come by asking, how's the tank? As always, thank you for any suggestions. <Welcome.> Larry Software review? 2/26/09 Hi there people, some time back I submitted an article to you entitled "Mbu for you?" and I am still very grateful for your inclusion of it on this great site. I am contacting you know to see if a review of an aquarium management software is something you would be interested in. I am part of the admin team on a forum, www.fishkeepingforum.co.uk<http://www.fishkeepingforum.co.uk/> and the site creator and the development team is in the finishing stages of version 2 of Aquatrax. What he would like to know is whether a review of the software would be something that you would support on your site? He is very keen to send you a free copy of it for you to have a play with in the hope that you will give it some coverage on your site and get global exposure. Here is a link to the site http://www.aquatrax.co.uk/ Many thanks for your time on this as I appreciate you are very busy. Stuart Morse <Mmm, will see if NealeM has interest or referral. Thanks Stu. BobF> Marine aquarium program 2/26/2009 Hello all, A software publisher is looking to have a marine aquarium management program reviewed in the pages of our august journal. If someone would care to have a free copy of the program to play with, on the understanding that a review would be forthcoming within, say, 4 weeks, please step forward! The application is called Aqua Trax and can be seen here: http://www.aquatrax.co.uk/ I do notice that it works on Windows only, and whilst sold in the UK, it has the option to run using non-metric measurements. Cheers, Neale <Neale, I for one would be up for that, writing it up for CMA. Scott V.> Sold to the man at the back. May I send your e-mail address along to our correspondent and have him contact you with serial numbers and whatnot? Cheers, Neale <Yes, please do. Thanks, Scott V.> New To The Marine Hobby, Need Additional Guidance 2/20/09 Marine Set-Up/Maintenance Hi there everyone. <Hello Amy.> I am a real novice here and am on my 4th week of cycling my husbands new marine tank. This was his new hobby and since I am home more than him, I have kind of started picking up with the tank where he leaves off. We currently have a 75g tank with a Rena XP4 filter, Sea Clone protein skimmer (that's finally working), a Koralia #4 and #1 powerheads, all I know about the lights is that there are 3 kinds.( white or yellowish light, actinic and at night there are some little blue LED lights on) Sorry for being so nonspecific again more my hubby's thing, not mine and so far about 50lbs of LR and 2in bed of crushed coral and couple of inches live sand. We are slowly adding LR as we go along. We are planning on buying another 70lbs from an established tank that the owner wants to get rid of for lack of time to maintain it. We currently have no fish because it's not time yet, but do have a couple of hitch-hikers on some of our LR. 1 yellow polyp and 2 button polyps and a host of several snails and some bristle worms that were in/on our last LR purchase. My water has been looking great every time I test it. Nitrates 0ppm, Calcium 420, Ph 8.2, Salinity 1.024, KH 11dKH, now here is the kicker, my phosphates have been running high for the past week. Started out going up from 0 to .25 now today I am up to .5. I cannot figure out what in the heck is going on. I am running carbon in my Rena should I remove it? As I read today in an article by Joe Jaworski (http://joejaworski.wordpress.com/2008/05/09/does-a-reef-tank-need-carbon/) it states that not all carbon is made equal and that there is a Phosphate Free carbon available. <Yes, there are brands that are better than others in this regard.> I had no idea about such things. Live, read and learn. Is this accurate? <To my knowledge, phosphate is used <<Hi Amy, A correction here in my reply to you. "Phosphate is used in processing all or most carbons" was meant to read, phosphoric acid is used. Sorry for the typo. James (Salty Dog)>> in processing all or most activated carbon and the quality of post processing determines just how much phosphate could be leached back into the aquarium. Better grades of carbon made from coconut shells use steam for processing and should be phosphate free. An easy way to check the quality of your carbon as to it's leaching properties is to place a teaspoon of the carbon in a cup of distilled or RO water and let stand overnight. Then do a phosphate test on the water, if high levels are detected, look for a better brand of carbon. I use Chemi Pure for chemical media and have had no phosphate problems. This product also contains a mixed bed of scavenging resins that remove dissolved waste also.> Or should I just pull the carbon all together. <Carbon will do more good than harm and will aid your protein skimmer in removing waste.> I did have a diatom bloom the second week in the tank but it went away on its own <A normal event in new set-ups.> and the coralline is now spreading also. So I am really inexperienced here and am looking forward to being able to add fish in several weeks but worry about what to do about the phosphates in the interim. <Do read here, and especially related articles/FAQ's http://www.wetwebmedia.com/marineSetUp.htm An index to articles/FAQ's on our site can be found here. http://www.wetwebmedia.com/marine/index.htm> Thanks in advance for any answers and for your help. <You're welcome, Amy. James (Salty Dog)> Sincerely Amy E. Cox 2/19/2009 Substrate and blenders do not mix, Setup, Maint., Stkg., Reading. Hi, <Hi Ram> I have been looking up your site for any doubts I had about marine setups. I have a peculiar problem, that's why I had to trouble you guys with a question. <No problem, that is what we are here for.> First I'll give you a brief intro to my tank. I started it about 3 months ago. it started as a 10 gallon, now I have a 50 gallon display tank and a 20 gallon quarantine. I have 40lbs live rock, a Weipro skimmer connected to a 800gph fountain power head,150w 14000 metal halide lamp, 6w uv sterilizer, two 1000gph Wavemakers, heater and a hang-on filter. For livestock, I have a couple of Perculas, 2 blue damsels and a yellow tail Indian angel (Apolemichthys xanthurus) in quarantine right now. i also have 2 orange sponges,2 red sponges, one purple long tentacle anemone, mushroom coral, finger leather,2 brain coral, plate coral, sun coral. Ok sorry for the long intro but now I'll get to the point. I had a high nitrate problem which was not reducing no matter what so I looked up your website and read about DSBs. I tried to get fine sand at all the stores I knew but to no avail. Finally, one store sent me 25kgs of crushed corals saying it is the next best thing, but then my nitrate problem got really out of control(accumulated detritus i guess) and i had a really yucky looking outbreak of brown algae. Now at this point let me also mention that I am from India and around here marine tanks are not so popular and stuff is really expensive compared to what we earn. so as a last resort I made the really dumb decision of powdering my crushed coral substrate in my blender. <..Umm...> I added this to my tank and i ended up with what looks like 50 gallons of milk in my tank and a broken blender. I waited 2 days, but the muck has not settled down. I took out all the water and am going to add new saltwater mix. All my equipment is now covered with a fine powder, and I had to move all the living creatures to a tub. I'm so frustrated at myself, I feel like killing myself. what i want to hear from you guys is that i am not the biggest idiot in the world and that the muck will settle down eventually and that I won't end up destroying two months of my salary. Have i really goofed up? Is there some hope left or shall I just give up the hobby(after 3 white spot attacks,3 electrical fires, numerous electrical shocks and now this. I'm literally on the verge of giving up. Please help!!! You guys are what kept me going for so long. I really need your support right now. <Ram, no, you are not the biggest idiot in the world, and this is certainly not worth killing yourself over. You are making the common mistake of having too many things going on at once and you are trying to move too fast. When it comes to marine tanks, nothing good comes quickly, so patience is important. With a 50 gallon tank, you are limited to what you can put in the tank. With the list you provided, your tank is overstocked, and that is the likely cause of your nitrate problem, so you will have to reduce what you have in your tank. You do not mention how much and how often are you feeding and doing water changes, but you should be doing 10 - 20% water changes on a weekly basis. As to the crushed coral powder, continued water changes will get everything to clear up in time. As a reminder, please do be careful with electricity. One electrical fire is too many, let alone three. Please review where your electrical equipment is located and that it is well protected from water contact. Please read here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/elecmar.htm for electrical questions, and here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/water.htm for information on water changes and substrate maintenance, and lastly here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/nitratesmar.htm for nitrate questions.> Thank You. <You're Welcome, MikeV> Acclimation, Filtering, And Food for Anthias 2/17/09 Hi Crew, <Hello Sam> I am a bit confused about acclimating fish specifically those coming by mail. Most etailers give acclimation instructions. My problem is if I want to do a dip how does that work. Acclimation is getting the fish used to your particular setup in regards to temp, salt, ph etc. A fresh water dip is definitely a shock so what good is the acclimation if right after that you dip the fish. <Sam, all this is available on our site, just Google.> Another question relates to mechanical filtering. I have an 24 gallon Aquapod which has one motor and the flow is through a sponge and it comes back to the tank as from a powerhead. If I add a hang on protein filter can I remove the sponge? <Do you mean protein skimmer? Sure, you can remove the sponge.> My last question (for today) is what to feed a Dispar Anthias. Is Cyclopeeze a good choice? Will it eat any other foods like flakes or freeze dried mysis? <Sam, your tank is much too small for keeping one of these, but to answer your question, Cyclopeeze is a good choice as they are plankton feeders in the wild. This is not an easy fish to acclimate to prepared foods. Do read FAQ's here <<James... Where? Dude, maybe you need a break? RMF>> on feeding. Do search before writing. Answers to all your questions are available by just using the Google toolbar.> Thanks <You're welcome. James (Salty Dog)> Re: 220 salt water fish... reading, using WWM - 02/08/09 Totally appreciate your feed back , I also have read alot <No such word> of the articles on the web media page and have been keeping salt water for over 25 years. I also have a 90 gallon with a 9 inch arowana 2 inch redtail shark , lima cat fish, turquoise Severum, red tail Chalceus and 6 inch yellow black stipe fish all doing fine. Also a 33 gallon reef that needs some help because my local water after it goes through my 6 stage ro cannot has a hard time keeping the alk high enough 3.5 and calcium up around 400. <See WWM re... use of RO, water treatment after... Alkalinity period> I make 3 times a week additions of the Kent a and b supplement ant Stron and mag. 40lbs of rock and a bunch of polyp rock and Kenya and colt all doing fine. The lighting is 4 65 watt pc I got on the internet 2 50/50 2 actinic still no coralline, lights on with 12 timer, and Seaclone skimmer <I'd replace this> and penguin 330 just with poly filter and bio wheel 4 small fish. The line fish in the 220 are small like the eels because I just got them . Will the bleached 100 lbs of live rock ever become active again?! <Possibly with some reinoculation with new LR> Will the bio ball be better in a trickle environment or keep submerged?! <Also covered over and over on WWM...> Thank you <Keep reading. BobF> spiny puffer fish... gen. marine op. 1/30/09 I have had fresh water tanks forever, but i work in a office with a 125gal salt water tank that is taken care of by a aquarium contractor, he comes in approx once a month. For filters, he has 1 emperor 400 and 1 emperor 250. Never lost many fish in the 2.5 yrs i been here. We recently had the entire tank get wiped out (1 spiny puffer, 2 yellow tangs, 2 triggers, 2 damsels, 1 hawk fish, 1 clownfish). The fish guy had put some new fish in and 2 days later things started going bad. I thought he put a sick fish in (looked like ick to me), he told me the tank couldn't support that many fish? 125 gal tank? 9 fish? <Mmmm, maybe not psychologically... the two Triggers esp., and this filtration... inadequate> We got another puffer the other day and he started getting a pale white spot on his head about 10mm in size, which doubled it's size in a day, the it died 2 days later. what could this be? <Many possibilities... from injury to pathogenic> It has been about 2 mths since epidemic, and fish guy hasn't really did much but change filter cartridges and bring small fish to see if they make it. After i asked if he did anything to treat the tank, he said that the tank was "cycling" and this thing happens every so often, then he gave me some medicine called ich attack. <See WWM... not a fan> Our pt's liked our original puffer so we would like to keep 1 in the tank, any suggestions, I'm trying to learn more about salt tanks so I can be more pro active and not standing around watching fish die. thank you. <Best for you to borrow or buy a "complete" marine aquarium book... take the time to peruse it thoroughly... then use websites, conversations with other aquarists for fill in... Bob Fenner> New Marine Setup ~ 01/12/09 Hi there. <Kenny.> It has been exactly 1 month since I set up my 6ft x 2ft x 2ft marine aquarium, with pre cured Indonesian live rock. All the test readings seem to be fine, sg 1.024, ph 8.3, ammonia 0, nitrites 0, nitrates 0, phosphate 0, calcium 340, kH 9. the temperature fluctuates between 79 & 82F <I would raise the salinity just a bit, 1.025. The Ca is on the low side, but livable so long as the level is constant.> Lighting 2 x 250w metal halides + 2 x 9 blue led spots + 2 x 54w actinic florescent tubes that are not working at the moment. The lights are on for 12 hours per day. The glass and live sand is covered with copepods, <A good sign.> and the live rock is covered in green hair algae, <Not so good!> the algae seems to be dying as it is changing colour from dark green to light brown green, I have been pulling lots of it out of the tank. There does not seem to be any other creatures growing on or coming out of the rock, is it to soon yet for them to appear? <No, they are likely there and just not noticed through the algae. The amount of fauna on the rock is really dependant on where the rock came from and how it was cured. Some 'precured' rock is simply but in a bin to rot, killing much of the desired livestock in the process. Rock like this will still have many of the desired creatures, but it will take time for the populations to come back up.> Do you think it would be safe to put some fish in the tank? I was thinking about some clown fish, a Bi-colour Blenny or a Linear Blenny and a Eibl's Angelfish, or a Lemonpeel Angelfish. or could I put them all in? <You certainly could start to add some if you wish. The clown and a blenny would be fine, I'd hold off on an angel for a while. Give the fish a stable, mature tank.> These are the only fish that my local garden centre have in stock, the problem is, that I live on an Island, and there are no other pet shops here, and it is very expensive to get fish sent up from my nearest good aquatic shop which is about 300 miles from where I stay. The people that own the garden centre keep a lot of fresh water tropical fish, and have only had marines for about 6 months, they told me that they could take home any other marine fish for me that I want when they get there supplies of tropicals in. Do you think that these fish will be ok? or should I wait to see what happens with the algae and the rock. <Start with the smaller, hardier fish. Don't go too much too fast, your tank is still in the maturing process. Many of us go through this algae bloom with new tanks'¦.give it love and time.> Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Regards Kenny <Welcome, Scott V.> Water Movement for Debris -01/11/09 Hello Crew, Hope all is going well. I have read that a strong enough filter in an aquarium will provide proper water movement to keep the debris stirred up in the water column to be drawn in to the filter. But just as a backup, if I used 2 powerheads to do this how would I position them to get the max effect on the substrate? And in a 75 gallon tank would one powerhead be enough with a sand bottom. Thanks for all your help. James <For this I would suggest something that's come to be called "blasting." Every once in awhile you take a powerhead (in your hand) and "blast" the rocks (and to a lesser extent the surface of your sand bed). This will stir up debris much more effectively. I have done this many times myself and think it is a really good way to get debris into circulation. It will cloud up your water for about a day or so, but it is a good method for "cleaning" up the rock and everything. Best, Sara M.> Everything? Crypt... SW maint. 12/01/08 Greetings my fellow (albeit infinitely more knowledgeable) fishkeeping contemporaries, It's funny... When I first stumbled upon this sight, I quickly backed out of it to view the next Google result of whatever I was "researching". I immediately thought, "This site is all text. How... Uninformative. I want pictures!" This is the same instant-gratification mentality of buying a fish, running home and, while floating the bag, looking through some book from the late 1960's to see what exactly I was about to dump in my tank. In my defense, there was not quite so much information available when I started this hobby/obsession. So, twenty years ago when I converted my 20G to saltwater, complete with UG filter, crushed coral, HOT filter, never heard of a protein skimmer or biological filtration, etc... I thought my Panther Grouper, Picasso Trigger and Yellow Tang all did just fine. At least, as I recall. Then I upgraded to a whopping 40G Acrylic! High-tech... With UG filter and now a canister filter. And, to the best of my knowledge, my Panther Grouper, Picasso Trigger, Yellow Tang, Lionfish and Porcupine Puffer all did fine! "Bioload? Nonsense! Test for what? I have a hydrometer... Please don't show me those vials and color charts... Do I look like a marine biologist?" All was well. At least, until the 1994 Northridge quake launched the entire system across the room. I had retired. Now, after a fourteen year hiatus, I am back. Once again, unprepared... My girlfriend had a Betta in some sort of (maybe 16oz) solitary confinement, torture cup. The conversation of an "aquarium" came up and eventually morphed into a mutually agreeable decision to set up a 20-30G Freshwater aquarium... My heart has always been salty (May or may not be some pun there). Nonetheless, she is possibly going to kill me...I found an ad for a used 100G "complete set-up"... Only after retroactive research did I learn what I had acquired... My terminology may still be slightly off, but here goes: 100G acrylic (60x18x20) with center overflow, plumbed from bottom, standpipe, etc. Stand/cabinet with 30G sump, wet/dry with bioballs, Aqua C Remora skimmer, heater, Iwaki 40RLT(?) Pump, feeding the split returns on either end of the tank, Canopy with 2X 96w PC (6700K/420 actinic & 10,000K/460 actinic - These were new and I have pulled this info from the boxes - May not be correct/possible configurations as am losing my mind)... There was also some nice pieces of dead/dried coral skeletons (I believe that is what we call them). Also about 100 pounds of, at one point, very likely nice live rock - now quite dead (system had been broken down for many months). Anyway, $200 for the entire deal worked for me. That was two months ago. Over those two months, I have realistically spent a good, cumulative 150-200 hours logged on WWM. And although I am no longer capable of doing my job (internet at work) and am destroying my relationship with my girlfriend, I cannot thank you enough! I read, re-read and read again... I could write a book on all that I have learned... I could write a bigger book on all that still confuses me. But, hey, it's a process, right? <Yes> After everything I have manage to absorb, I decided that the best compliment I could pay you (Random WWM person) is to not write, at all... Just find the answers in the FAQ's... But, now... I just need some very specific straight answers... Or maybe just a little critiquing. Now that I have prefaced this with my (dis)qualifications, I will get to the point (in a very rushed and random order, as my girlfriend is asking me about something entirely different)I set up my tank with the base rock (100 lbs) and added about 25 lbs of nice, quality (allegedly cured) Fiji live rock from LFS. I built it up nice and stable with minimal pieces touching the bottom of the tank. Will this be enough Biological filtration for now? <Yes> Will this seed the base rock and increase nitrifying bacteria as fish grow? <Also yes> I added about 50 lbs of reef/ aragonite/whatever dry sand and another 50 lbs of live sand (fine) on top, for an over depth of about 3 inches. How do I increase depth? <A few ways... most easily by simply blending in more washed/rinsed new material when you can, want to> Just add another inch or two of Live Sand? <"Non" live would be fine> On top of the existing sand? <Mixed in is better> I have lots of caves and open spaces between the rock... Do I need more flow? <Would be better> Would a 1,200 GPH flow power head do the trick? <One approach> After a very small Ammonia, then Nitrite spike, all has been stable. Even after adding livestock, I have not had any change in parameters. Stable 0 across the board for Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate. PH 8.2. I introduced a 4" Foxface Lo and a 3" Louti/Skunk/Lyretail/Coronation Grouper thirty days ago. I must now admit that I may be overfeeding the Louti as he is almost 5" now. Is this normal growth rate in a month? <Mmm, this is very quick!> Two weeks ago, I added my staple favorites: 3" Panther Grouper and 2" Humu/Picasso Trigger. There, I said it... I know! I need a bigger tank! I'm crazy! The information on the Louti is somewhat minimal, as far as I can tell... The closest thing I can find for FAQ's and entertaining anecdotes is about the Miniatus. <Mmm, no... t/here's an article on this species alone: http://wetwebmedia.com/variola.htm and linked above, a specific FAQs file> There seems to be a slight discrepancy in my comparison: Adult size... Is my little skunk, whom is capable of opening his mouth bigger than his head, going to grow to 3 feet? <Not this big... perhaps a foot in this setting> What does one really do with such an animal after the guilt shifts to acceptance that I should never have bought him? Really? <Most folks trade in to their store, with another hobbyist via a club, Craig's list...> Also, would like to add a Dogface Puffer. Just so you know. And finally... No. I did not QT any of these fishes. I will spare you the standard excuses. ICH on the Rabbit... ICH on the Trigger. And it looks like possible ICH on the Louti's fins... Nothing on Panther (yet). If I set up a separate hospital tank for these four fish... And also use it as a future QT tank... How big for four aggressive, messy eaters? How long? Copper? Freshwater dip? What exactly do I need in this? How long must my display tank remain fallow to eliminate the, um... Ich? <... all posted on WWM... at least forty gallons, copper could be used... dipping/baths en-route, protocol and caveats again are archived... and at least a month for the system to go fallow/sans hosts...> I have (for now) many Button Polyps and one Mushroom coral that appeared on some live rock, as well as feather dusters and other hitchhikers... I ALMOST went for a "Reef/Invert-Safe" Ich medication until I read that it does not exist in practical application. Also have enough diatom algae to choke a horse (figuratively and probably literally). I have many, many other questions and concerns... Mind slipping... Systems failing... Apparently, saving the fish will have to wait until I finish my lengthy discussion with my better half about the various pros and cons of different water temperatures in the WASHING MACHINE! (screams). To think this could have been longer... Love, Jonny. <Less livestock purchasing, more reading, contemplation... Be chatting, Bob Fenner> Questions on my 55 Gallon Marine Tank. Need to read en toto, esp. CCS's 11/17/08 I am overwhelmed with information. I was able to get a 55 Gallon Glass Marine tank. I have it equipped with two power heads, a Magnum 350 Canister Filter and a Supreme 400 skimmer/filter that hangs on the back. I have followed all tips on setting up and cycling the tank. I have 2 false Percula Clowns, a Fire Fish, a Bar Goby, Peppermint Banded shrimp, a chocolate chip star <This can be trouble with the small fish: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ccstarcompfaqs.htm .> , and a black sea urchin. In addition I have a few bumble bee snails, 2 larger snails, and a handful of small hermit crabs. My tank has been up since January. My Hydrometer consistently reads 1.020 <Do raise this to a more natural level, 1.025.> Temperature runs 79-80 degrees. I consistently have brown algae on the back and bottom of the tank. I assume it is algae as looks like it is slightly dingy and dirty and brushes off. It is not stringy. I don't know if it is normal or what to do. <Normal, but not desirable. Sounds like diatoms/BGA.> Now my Chocolate chip star has stopped moving around and been in one place for 3 days. Please help me what I need to do to improve or make my tank better and how to clean it up and help my starfish. <First, I would flat out get rid of the starfish. CC stars are trouble, predacious. For the algae, regular water changes with frequent cleaning of the canister and controlled feeding will help you win out. More information here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/algaeconMar.htm . As you advance in the hobby, do consider adding a sump/refugium and a better skimmer.> Any suggestions would be appreciated. <Welcome, Scott V.> Changing tanks, reading 8/30/08 Hello, <Julian> I currently have a 90 gallon tank. Inhabitants include a Desjardin Sailfin Tang 4", Yellow Tang 5", Blue Tang 3", Queen Angel 4", <Mmm... too crowded and this volume is too small for this Holacanthus sp.> Dwarf Lionfish 4", Porcupine Puffer 4", <Ditto> 2 Scott Damsels 1", 1 Redspot Damsel 2", and Lawnmower Blenny 3", and a snowflake eel about 12". <Way too over-crowded... psycho- and physio-logically> I also have an assortment of Hermits and Snails. They all get along well, but do get irritated at times because of the lack of space for all of them. I have 120lbs of live Rock and 100 lbs of live sand. I know this is very overstocked, and I am in the process of buying a 300 Gallon Aquarium. I was wondering the best way to change tanks. I don't want any fatalities as I love all my fish! Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Thank you, Julian <Posted: http://wetwebmedia.com/marine/maintenance/maintindex.htm Look for the pink tray... Bob Fenner> New Setup, SW maint. 8/11/08 Hi, <Hello> You guys have been very helpful with my new set up which I really appreciate. I have had my tank for about 6 months now and would like to ask you a couple of questions. <Ok> My system: * 150G acrylic display tank with ~200 pounds of Fiji live rock and a small amount of live sand; Calfo style 60" overflow; return manifold with 12 outlets, * 90G upper refugium with ~100 pounds of live rock (rubble, small pieces) with spaghetti algae, with 2 Lights of America lights * 90G lower refugium with ~ 10 inches of live sand and spaghetti algae with 2 Lights of America lights 50G sump pump * Octopus 200 protein skimmer * Dart pump * 3x250W 10,000K MH lights with IceCap ballasts * RO/DI water <Nice> Water parameters: * SG 1.024 * pH 8 <A little low.> * Alkalinity 1.7-2.8 * NH3 0ppm * NO2 0.05 ppm * NO3 5 ppm * Ca 440ppm Fish: * Yellow tang * Powder blue tang * Foxface rabbitfish * cleaner crew (crabs, snails) * I am planning on adding corals as soon as I resolve the two problems mentioned below. <Sounds very nice.> My first question is regarding the upper refugium: currently it contains small pieces of live rock (~100 pounds) and spaghetti algae however due to low flow rate of water I think that it became a detritus trap (the lower refugium and the display tank have a much higher water flow and are perfectly clean). When I shake the spaghetti algae and move the live rock, there are tons of small particles of detritus and dirty stuff. The refugium is full of all kinds of living creatures, such as small star fish, all kinds of warms, etc. However, I am concerned that the accumulation of detritus in the upper refugium will negatively affect the quality of water. What are my options? I am thinking about either getting rid of the upper refugium, or adding a powerhead pump to increase the circulation. But I am concerned that this always will be a dirt trap so I am not sure what to do. <I would try the powerhead, keep the detritus in suspension until the skimmer can pull it out.> Also, if I were to get rid of it, what can I do with the small pieces of live rock? Throw it away? <Could, or just set it aside somewhere for a while till you find a use for it.> Or should I turn off the lights above the upper refugium and just keep live rock and some filter media to allow growth of zooplankton? <Could, but I think you will still have the detritus problem.> Are there any benefits of having the upper refugium in addition to the lower one with deep sand bed (the idea was to have a second upper refugium which would produce food for my livestock and would feed directly into the main display tank without the pump chopping up all the plankton etc)? <Different environment will encourage different things to grow, definitely not a bad thing, but probably not a huge difference from the lower refugium. Also for what it is worth, I would not worry too much the pump killing the plankton, most pass through no problem.> If the lower refugium contains live sand and spaghetti algae what purpose should the upper refugium have and what should it house? <More water volume is always a good thing, will tend to produce larger amphipods with the LR rubble. Some people will house shrimp to produce eggs and feed the tank, although be aware that they will hunt much of the little critters produce in the refugium.> I am planning on keeping a garden type of coral reef with several fish. Please advice. My second question is about the nasty brown microalgae problem. <Cyano? Diatoms?> If I keep at least on of my MH lights on, the brown algae starts to cover all surfaces in my tank, such as live rock, sand, the walls of my tank. If I turn the MH off and keep a very low level of light, all the brown algae disappears. What may be causing this problem and how can I get rid of it? <have you tested for phosphate? Silicates?> I use DI/RO water but as long as keep the MH on the problem persists. The brown algae starts to form large air bubbles and keeps growing. <Cyanobacteria is my guess.> One thing that I have not done yet are water changes. <Ah, start.> Should I start changing water in small portions weekly? <Yes, definitely.> I have about 300G of water in the system. <If you could do 10% weekly I think you will be in good shape.> Thank you for your help, John <I would not do anything drastic until you start water changes, see if this alone does not improve your condition over a few weeks/months. Part of what is going on is just normal establishment of the tank, simpler, hardier life forms (Cyano) take hold first, usually outcompeted by more complex life over time.> <Chris> High KH level, using WWM 7/11/08 Hello again Bob. First of all I wanted to give you an update on my lionfish. He is eating great and constantly begs for food when he sees me in the room. <Good, keep semi-hungry> He will only eat freeze-dried right now, so I am soaking one small piece per night in Selcon and just got him to eat from the feeding stick. Now I am hoping he will eat other foods if offered in this way. But I come to you with yet another question and possibly a problem. I just picked up a KH test kit the other day and my test cane out to be 500 ppm! <Mmmm> All other levels tested good, PH is 8.0. Is this a problem and if so how do I go about lowering the KH? All tank inhabitants are great, all are eating and getting along just fine. Any feedback to this situation is much appreciated. Thanks again for all your help, Shea <... please learn to/use the search tool and indices... I don't have time to do for others: Here: http://wetwebmedia.com/marine/maintenance/index.htm scroll down to Alkalinity... BobF> Help! please! -Ants and Tanks! 5/10/08 Hey, <Hello Sarah.> I have an ant problem on my 20 gallon fish tank. The ants are laying their eggs under my filter and next to my light. <Uh oh.> I know that if we spray, we could harm the fish. We started vacuuming them up but more came back. We even threw the vacuum bag away outside. Is there anything that I can do to get rid of the ants? <You will need to find the source, where they are coming in and seal it off. A good ant bait placed both inside where they enter and ideally outside where they are coming from will keep them from getting as far as your tank. I am personally fond of the Terro product line, very quick and effective. Couple this with your vacuum technique and your tank should be ant free within a few hours. If all else fails do not hesitate to call a professional exterminator.> Thanks! -Sarah <Welcome, best of luck, Scott V.> Dead Fish Removal, 5/1/08 Dear Wet Web Media, <Hello> My husband has a 40 gal salt water tank. He's traveling until Monday (4 days from now) and one of his fish has died. It's sort of under a piece of coral and I have no idea how to get to it nor do I really want to. Is it ok to leave it in the tank until he gets home? Thanks for your response! -Gina Keller <Would be best if you could remove it, perhaps blow the body out with a turkey baster until it is in area where it can be easily removed. However if you do not feel comfortable doing this most likely the tank will be fine.> <Chris> New Marine Setup... gen. op. 4/23/08 Hi WWM, I have a new 50 gal tank that I'm setting up. I'm currently using a remora protein skimmer and an aqua clear filter with reverse osmosis water & instant ocean sea salt. I'm using live gravel/sand and live rock... Its been running over night and this morning the tank is still not clear yet. What do you guys think is the problem? <Suspended sand particles most likely, will clear in a few days.> The protein skimmer does create a lot of tiny bubbles, would that be it? <Could be contributing to it.> Or should I wait it out? <Patience> Help with your knowledge would be greatly appreciated. as you already know I'm new to this hobby. thanks -Khoa <Welcome> <Chris> Overcoming the Overstocking Urge! 3/12/08 Hi, <Hey there! Scott F. in tonight!> Great Site! <Glad you enjoy it...We have some great people who do a fantastic service to fellow hobbyists worldwide!> I've had my Oceanic 175 gallon bow-front tank up for 10 months now. I have about 150 lbs. of LR and 100 lbs. of sand in the main tank also, a 55 gallon refugium with 6" DSB with Chaeto and 50 gallon sump. I ultimately want to stock it full of corals. I have 3 - 250 w metal halide installed but only using the center one. I have two Tunze Stream 6101 circulating the tank. I'm currently using a Corallife Super Skimmer Needle Wheel rated at 220 gal. Is this efficient or should I get something else? <If the skimmer is regularly producing skimmate, I would have no issues with it. If the skimmer is not producing, either tweak it until it does or replace it with a more efficient unit.> Also, I'm having trouble keeping the nitrate low around 40ppm, I feed Nori about 4 sheets, 3 times a week and feed about 3-4 cubes of frozen mysis once a day. <Continued good water management (including regular water changes, chemical filtration media, such as carbon, PolyFilter, etc) and careful feeding should do the trick. I assume that you utilize RO/DI water for source water.> My other parameters, Temp: 78-80, Ammonia: 0, Nitrite:0, Ph: 8.2, SG: 1.025, Ca: 380 I do about 32 gallon water change every three weeks with RO water. Right now my tanks has the following livestock: (2) 1" Percula Clowns (2) 2.5" Bartlett Anthias (3) 3" Yellow Tang, (1) 3.5" Orange Shoulder tang (1) 5" Sailfin Tang <That's a LOT of Tangs in almost any aquarium, especially a 175 gallon one! These fish eat heavily, produce copious amounts of metabolic waste, and need large amounts of physical space and water volume to live anything close to a natural life span. You will definitely need to find larger/other quarters for this collection, or you will continue to have rising nitrates and very unhappy fish!> (1) 3" Midas Blenny (2) 3" Diamond Goby (1) 4.5" Magnificent Foxface <Another nice fish, but gets quite large and my comments for the Tangs apply here, too.> (1) 3" Hawaiian Flame Wrasse (1) 2.5" Blue Hippo Tang <Stop it with the Tangs, man. You're KILLING me!> (1) 3" Rhomboid Wrasse (2) Cleaner Shrimps (1) Fire Shrimp I have a feeling I'm overstocked and feeding too much. <Ding! Ding Ding! We have a winner! Yes- you are WAAAY overstocked. All is not lost, however- I commend you on the first step to solving the issue- recognition that the aquarium is overstocked!> I want to get my parameter down so I can start stocking the tank with corals. <Good...Do rethink your stocking plan, and pare down (way down) your fish population. Keep in mind the large size that your Tangs will reach, and environment that they require to be healthy and happy. I would trade/return/find new homes for all of the Tangs and Foxface, with the exception of the Yellow Tangs. Although 3 of them in this sized aquarium is not ideal, it is a workable arrangement-in the short run.> Recently the coralline just started to grow on a few rocks. <Always a good sign.> Also another quick question in my fuge the Chaeto just sit there, I've read that it's better to have it roll up into a ball and spinning. I'm a little hesitant to throw a powerhead it might fall and kick up the sand and be to hectic for the pods to reproduce. Currently I have baffles setup and water just flows over the stop of the Chaeto. I've notices some detritus on top of the sandbed. Should I be alarmed? <The detritus is not in and of itself bad, but if allowed to accumulate, it could result in deteriorated water quality. Do siphon it regularly, and utilize some detritivorous animals (such as Starfish) to help "work" the accumulating detritus.> I think the Chaeto is growing really well, I pull about half a 5 gal bucket once every month. Yet my nitrates aren't at 0. Thanks. <Well, you will see a decline in your nitrate levels with continued good husbandry, and a SUBSTANTIALLY reduced bioload. Make some stocking concessions and adjustments, and I'm certain that things will trend in your favor! Good luck! Regards, Scott F.> |
|
Features: |
|
Featured Sponsors: |