Inheareted Tank

[Bob Lagnese]

My Son-inlaw Very generously gave me his "abused" 75 gallon set-up. The reef tank came withchiller, skimmer and all kind of chemicals. It was an established tank overcome with hair algie. Anyhow I've been out of salt water for some 30 years so I have a lot of ground to make up quickly. I did move the water with the tank and cleaned up alot of the algie only killing 2 fish in crushing reef stone incidents. I've had the tank about 6 weeks now but I'm constantly using a tooth brush trying to clean off hair algie. I have about 30-40 snails and a lot of small crabs working their harts out. What else can I do? I also have the lights on an 8 hour per day schedule.

 

[Krish]

Welcome to RF!! Tell us a bit more about the system in terms of equipment being used, water parameters (ie nitrate levels etc) and also, what livestock you have. This will help us better help you

 

[NC2WA]

Bob,

I would agree with Krish75 that more info on your tank is needed. However, a few things come to mind. How old are your lights and what is your phosphate level. Normally, your lights should be changed every 9-12 months. Your phosphate level should be less than 1. Preferably 0.

I had a terrible case of hair algae to the point, I had to take all the rock of the system, scrub it really good with a bathroom scrubber. If you have plenty of time, you could place the rock in a tub of water with no lights for a couple of weeks. No light=no algae.

 

[Bob Lagnese]

Nitrates are close to zero, I have an ailing devils hand coral, Fether Duster, a brain coral, all kind of Mushrooms, two carpet anemoies, Clown fish, yellow tang, a Red Spotted blenny, Flame Angel, Clown Goby, A Clam and several other types of corals.

 

[Krish]

Reading close to zero nitrates, but still having algae can mean a few things...One can be a bad test kit and another could be that the nitrates are bound up in the algae (which is how it grows) and therefore needs to be exported/manually removed. Are you using ro/di water and also, what type of equipment are you using (skimmer, sump, wet/dry, canister filter etc)

 

[Bob Lagnese]

My phophates are less than 1 but I can't seem to get them to zero. And I did scrub the rocks that didn't have livestock, In fact I removed a couple last weekend and scrubbed them again. It just seems that every night I'm cleaning some part of the tank.

 

[Bob Lagnese]

Unfortunatly I'm just using filtered water from the tap for make-up.I can't seem to bring myself to investing $100.00 in a filtration unit. I have a dry sump with a large skimmer which seems to be removing a lot of nasty stuff.

 

[Krish]

For starters, if you are just using tap water that can be part of your problem there...Filtered or not. Sometimes it just doesn't get everything out Have you tested the water you use for nitrates and phosphates? If your make up water contains any of the two then you are basically just wasting your time with water changes as you will just be adding "food" for the algae to feed on rather than taking their fiood supply away with dilution. You don't necessarily have to invest in a unit, but you can buy your ro/di water by the gal which was what I did.

As for scrubbing the rocks, how do you go about the process? Do you take the rocks completely out of the water and scrub them in used tank water or regular fresh water? Let us know...There could be a problem there as well depending on how you go about it

 

[Brenden]

Def invest in a RO/DI or buy water. What kind of lights and how old are the bulbs?

 

[Bob Lagnese]

The lights are less than 3 months old.The fixture has 2 (I think) mercury vapor and 2 fluorescent and the night LED's. Do I buy regular bottled DI water (like from Walmart)?

 

[Bob Lagnese]

Now I'm just using a tooth brush in the tank and reaching what I can. Otherwise I take the rocks out and cleaned them in fresh water.

 

[Brenden]

Do you have a LFS close you can buy RO/DI water from? Test for PO4 IMO are not that accurate but if you get a reading of 1 you def have a problem. Test your fresh SW and see what PO4 reads. If it reads anything then check the water before you add salt. Something is fueling it. It is just a matter of finding the source.

 

[knowcrap]

I learned the hard way...RO/DI water is a MUST!

We used to buy our RO/DI water from the local grocery store for about .40¢ per gallon...Safeway out here. I think most grocery stores sell filtered RO/DI water by the gallon in a machine...Ohio would be Meijers or Kroger (trying to remember here) and I am 99% sure one of those has the water machine. We bought a couple of 5 gallon jugs to carry water but used old salt buckets before that...Home Depot bucket, cleaned out kitty litter bucket...anything with a lid!!!

My only advice if you go that route would be to test the water before you start buying by the bucket-full...just better safe than sorry.

We eventually invested in an RO/DI unit but lived on the water from the grocery store for about a year...we came to the conclusion that going to the grocery store 2 to 3 times per week, the cost of water, gas, etc. would make the RO/DI investment pay for itself in no time.

 

[returnofsid]

Mercury Vapor lighting could be your cause. Normally Mercury Vapor lighting isn't used on aquariums. It just doesn't put out the correct lighting.

 

[Krish]

Now I'm just using a tooth brush in the tank and reaching what I can. Otherwise I take the rocks out and cleaned them in fresh water.

Scrubbing algae off of rocks sitting in your tank is a good way to spread algae spores. That's probably one of the reasons why the algae is spreading. As for the ones cleaned isn freshwater, do you mean freshwater like no salt? If so, Then you could be killing off your live rock doing that which in turn will cause nitrate issues...

 

[Bob Lagnese]

Mercury Vapor lighting could be your cause. Normally Mercury Vapor lighting isn't used on aquariums. It just doesn't put out the correct lighting.

I checked with my Son inlaw. the lights are metal hylide.

 

[Brenden]

That sounds better

 

[Bob Lagnese]

OK so to straighten out this tank I need to get RO/Di waterand do a water change. I have a 75 gallon tank How much should I change? How often should I do a change out?

 

[NC2WA]

Bob,

It is better to do small frequent water changes (10-15%) than one big massive change (30-50%).

You may consider doing a 10 gallon water change weekly until you feel the problem is under control.

 

[Bob Lagnese]

Strore Water

OK, I went to the local Walmart and they have distilled and RO filtered water or I can get the drinking water which is RO filtered and carbon filteredbut not distilled. But I can't find any DeIonized and RO filtered water anywhere. Is Distilled water good enough?