Help! How do I clean my sump?

[LakeEd]

uhoh... is that the same as commercial grade plastic? are those trash cans safe?

Most plastic will have the Recycle symbol on the bottom, and I believe in those symbols, if the number is 1 or 2, it is "food grade". I have been known to be wrong in the past, so hopefully others will join in here with some better information on this for you. I do know that the Brutes are "Food Safe", but I'm just not positive about the identifying number system thangy... sorry.

 

[miNiChher]

Alright I got a BRUTE rubbermaid trash can... it has a 4 in the recylce thing and will use that tonight... thanks for your help!

 

[miNiChher]

Hello I've finally got some pics of my tank up. Hopefully you can point me in the right direction going forward. Last night a changed out about 15 gallons but this morning my Nitrates were still pretty high (between 5-10) the actual reading is kind of hard for me to decipher... the yellows look very similar to me.... Either that, or I don't want to admit that my Nitrate is getting close to 20. =( *sigh... I don't believe my anemone's or soft corals will make it.

This is my lesson learned though... NO MORE inhabitants until I can normalize my tank....

here is my BTA 4 days ago... now it has totally disappeared... actually it's behind a big rock... but i don't like it back there

pics of my nitrate factory hopefully gone soon...

and here are some pics of my tank setup

to the left of the sump

 

[miNiChher]

By the way, does anyone know how long it should take Nitrates to go down when all the right things are being done?

Well any help is greatly appreciated... for now I'll keep reading for clues... thanks a lot guys... wish I knew of you a lot earlier :\

 

[chris&barb]

it looks like you do have a filter sock in the last pic you posted. right where the water comes out of the pipe and go's into the sump. if you have an extra one just replace that one and clean it every day, keep swapping them out every day.

 

[chris&barb]

what and how many fish do you have in there? how much and how often are you feeding them? how long have you had the anemone's? if there new, within a few weeks its not uncommon for them to wonder around a bit untill they get used to the lighting and find a spot they like

 

[miNiChher]

chris&barb,

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!

lol, I was just reading on your "real bonehead move" post.... I haven't laughed in the past 48 hours since I've realized I might've just murdered my inhabitants. Not that I was laughing at your misfortune. But, I'm trying really hard to keep things alive, I'm even wondering if I should return some of my inhabitants to keep them in a better tank... Any thoughts ?

 

[miNiChher]

chris&barb

I got the long tentacle anemone mid December, but the BTA I believe I bought about two weeks ago...

as for the fish, I have the following:

1 Blue-Green Chromis
1 Maroon Clownfish (Gold Band)
1 Clarkiii Clown
1 Six Line Wrasse
1 Orange Spotted Goby
1 Purple Tilefish

ooooh, please don't hate me for being a murderer...

 

[chris&barb]

its fine to laugh at me it was a bonehead move. you should have seen me with my tail between my legs when i told Barb i had to spend $100 on new impellers

I do have access to RO water... when I run the tests on that all of it is at 0 so I don't feel so bad using it to do a water change.... it's just that it's hard to replace my water when it's SG is at 1.025.

what do you mean "it hard to replace my water when the sg is at 1.025"?

ooooh, please don't hate me for being a murderer...

im rereading the thread and i dont see that anything has died. has anything died?

IMO your nitrates levels aren't that high. it would help to have them lower(and thats what we will try to do) but those levels aren't critical. at these levels the corals may just brown out some. i wouldn't get too worked up over it yet.

cleaning out the filter sock, slowly removing the bio balls, regulating your food inputs, and more frequent water changes should take care of it, but it wont happen over night.

 

[miNiChher]

ok feeling just a bit better... but i don't think i'm out of it just yet...

what do you mean "it hard to replace my water when the sg is at 1.025"?

I wanted to keep my SG at 1.022 so when I mix my salt water I think I'm being retarded...

as for my fish, I had 3 bangai cardinals that I bought on Jan 6th and they died. Other than that, I had a total of 3 green chromises, but I had 2 at first living in perfect harmony then one day I decided to add the 3 bangai's and an extra chromis cuz i wanted to see them school.... BAD Mistake! The chromis began to pick on one another and in the end, two died. The bangai's just looked like they had seizures and fell to the sand bed. One per day... they only lasted a total of 5 days

 

[chris&barb]

natural sea water levels for Sg are 1.026. why do you want it at 1.022?

what do you replace you evaporated water with?

the fish deaths may not have been your fault

 

[LakeEd]

I agree with Chris on this one... you should attempt to keep your water quality at as near NSW (Natural Sea Water) levels as possible, and this includes your Specific Gravity. While having a fish-only system, many people can, and do, sucessfully run with a slightly lower Specific Gravity, the corals we enjoy in our tanks don't do well at those lower levels. Safest to just keep things as close to NSW as you are able.

 

[miNiChher]

wow! thanks for clearing that up for me... I wonder where I got the 1.022 number... ? well I just ran home and checked my SG which is 1.026. And I quickly checked my Nitrate again (I changed out about 15 gallons at about 2-3 am this morning) it's now 1:15pm and the Nitrate still reads between 5-10. So I'll take your advice and tonight after my class I'll clean out that sock you guys mentioned. Thanks a lot guys!

This is so fun when things start to look good.... however, considering the pickle I'm in I'm realizing I have to be careful too!

 

[LakeEd]

The most helpful thing that I have learned in this hobby... is do everything SLOWLY!!! I understand the desire to correct any problem as soon as possible, but in most cases changing anything quickly causes even more problems.

Don't rush here, if at all possible! Yes, there are always exceptions... but for the most part when you do something, sit back and watch for a while to see how what you just did ends up changing things (good and/or bad), befor going on to the next step.

Right now, resist the temptation to add anything new to your tank. Let your system mature, while you watch what you are working on now. Do another water change (another 15 gallon would be fine) about 2 days after your last one. Test. Watch for a couple more days... then take things from there.

It has been the HARDEST thing for me, not wanting an INSTANT stocked tank... looking beautiful right away. Been there, warn out the T-Shirt. Lost too much, and learned the hard way. Things that move slowly in this hobby tend to be more stable, and that makes our animals (fish, Anemonies, Inverts, Corals) much happier and healthier... and they then reward us with their beauty.

Okay... WAY TOO WORDY, sorry. Someone needs to SLAP me!!!

 

[Haole]

Nicely said Ed!

Don’t forget to keep that protein skimmer (the bubble maker thingy in your sump ) clean too! At least once a week (twice or more would be better)take the collection cup off, dump it out and wash off all the stuff that’s left clinging to the insides of it. Also, periodically (once a week would be good) take a cup of RO water; nuke it in the microwave until boiling. Take the open end of the clear/whitish tubing that runs along the outside of the skimmer and is connected to the skimmer’s pump and stick it in the cup of hot water. With the skimmer running, let it suck up the entire contents of water in the cup. By doing this you’re dissolving the salt creep that builds up in this tubing which slowly decreases the efficiency of your skimmer.

BTW... Welcome to RF!
Good for you for taking the time to research about your new found hobby/lifestyle and coming on here to ask your questions. You’re going to learn a lot from this site!
It looks like you’re starting out with a pretty good set up so good luck to you!

 

[c0yote]

It has been the HARDEST thing for me, not wanting an INSTANT stocked tank... looking beautiful right away. Been there, warn out the T-Shirt. Lost too much, and learned the hard way. Things that move slowly in this hobby tend to be more stable, and that makes our animals (fish, Anemonies, Inverts, Corals) much happier and healthier... and they then reward us with their beauty.

Having a quarantine tank helps with this - you can't buy a new fish if your QT tank(s) already have livestock.

 

[miNiChher]

Nicely said Ed!

Also, periodically (once a week would be good) take a cup of RO water; nuke it in the microwave until boiling. Take the open end of the clear/whitish tubing that runs along the outside of the skimmer and is connected to the skimmer’s pump and stick it in the cup of hot water. With the skimmer running, let it suck up the entire contents of water in the cup. By doing this you’re dissolving the salt creep that builds up in this tubing which slowly decreases the efficiency of your skimmer.

ummm... this might be a dumb question but this won't burn my fish will it???:doubt:

 

[miNiChher]

and what about all the other tubes, ie the ones connected to the jets... (those black things) do those need cleaning?

 

[theJ]

About the 2nd pic posted way early inthis thread, does that heater (one with the blue head) in there matter if the 'waterline' on it is below the water? I noticed it looks like mine, and I had to do some pain in the ass wiring to make sure it didnt drop below the surface in my fuge. Does it matter on these heaters if they are fully submerged like that?

 

[chris&barb]

and what about all the other tubes, ie the ones connected to the jets... (those black things) do those need cleaning?

dont know exactly what your talking about but everything should be periodically cleaned