Need some advice asap

[machine646]

Hey i have a reef tank thats about 3months old,its a 20g long with a 160gph ph and a cascade 400 mini filter (just untill friday when i get anouther ph) i have a fluval c5 filter (120gph) t5 light 2x24,api reef test kit,27lbs of lr no live sand its been cycles for 2mo 1 week,does this sound like a ok system for soft corals,i also have a small clown fish and a cuc of 7 blue leg hermits 3 bumblebee snails,any pointers? i would like anouther clown and a gobie of some sort,would that be to much for my size tank,this is my first sw tank,in march ill be upgrading to a 75 gallon.JUst any advice would be great,im still learning and reading up on everything,Also my nitrates keep going up,i do a weekly wc and scooping any left over food out.

 

[noobaquariumust]

yes your tank should be fine for softies, but to be sure what are your parameters? what lights do you have over your tank? pictures are worth a thousand words

 

[Skimmy]

hola and WELCOME TO RF!!!
well i might think about getting a hang on protein skimmer for the tank...
for that size you could pick up a used CPR bakpak skimmer for not too much money...
keep your eyes peeled in the classifieds here or CL.

also, i would get bigger powerheads, like the koralia or tunze wide flow powerheads. in my 20g, there is 1400gph from a single tunze 6045.

 

[Krish]

Welcome to RF!! :welcome:

To add to what was already posted, what do you have in your canister filter (the fluval)? They are usually a primary source of nitrate production if not taken care of properly. Sponges and so forth need to be cleaned or changed every 3 days or so otherwise the waste it traps will rott which will degrade your water quality shooting up nitrate levels. Simply trapping waste doesn't do anything for a tank, but rather removing it from the tank is where it becomes beneficial. Let us know though what you are using in your fluval.

 

[machine646]

The fluval filter I'm using is a hang on back.how often should I replace the media,I'm running a sponge carbon and bio pellets,it said its a wet dry trickle filter.should that be enough.

 

[Krish]

The fluval filter I'm using is a hang on back.how often should I replace the media,I'm running a sponge carbon and bio pellets,it said its a wet dry trickle filter.should that be enough.

Anything in a "wet/dry" environment will have an end product of nitrates. The reason why is because it is a highly oxygenated environment designed for aerobic bacteria which are those that are responsible for converting ammonia into nitrite and then nitrite into nitrate, but it stops there. No anaerobic zones are present there and so what you end up with is an accumilation of nitrates over time. These are good for fish only systems as fish can tolerate quite a bit of nitrates (most corals usually don't), but then you have to contend with algae as it will consume the tank as it feeds on the excess nutrients (nitrates, phosphates etc) in the water. Best piece of advice would be to remove the bio-media, sponge and just use the fluval to run carbon. Biological filtration will be provided by your liverock and sand if you use any... Enough to completely biologically filter your tank.

Just a personal opinion, but you will notice the majority here will agree with me. This has been covered many many times here and unfortunately if you continue to use the bio-media and sponge, you will probably have a never ending battle with nitrates and nuicance algae. You can continue to use the sponge if you like to as it can be beneficial in removing particles/waste/detritus from the water column, but you will have to clean the sponge or change it atleast every few days as I mentioned. I didn't even use sponges on my pumps because of this. They can trap waste and if it sits in the tank too long then it will just degrade water quality. Something we try to get away from. Also, as suggested a nice skimmer will be very beneficial to your system.

 

[machine646]

Welcome to RF!! :welcome:To add to what was already posted, what do you have in your canister filter (the fluval)? They are usually a primary source of nitrate production if not taken care of properly. Sponges and so forth need to be cleaned or changed every 3 days or so otherwise the waste it traps will rott which will degrade your water quality shooting up nitrate levels. Simply trapping waste doesn't do anything for a tank, but rather removing it from the tank is where it becomes beneficial. Let us know though what you are using in your fluval.

Thank you very much for the info,I will remove the bio media and sponge tonite after work.should I be ok without a skimmer for a bit,I don't have to much money I'm gonna start saving though,is there one you would recmend,also I want to have 2 small clowns and a sort of gobie or is that too much for my bio load,when I remove the media should I do a wc.I'm trying to learn as much as I can but the web confuses me with a hundred different opions,I'm gonna be upgrading to a 75g with a 40g sump 2x250watt mh in march,idk right now I'm focused as learning as much as I possible can so thank you very much for looking out for me

 

[Krish]

Thank you very much for the info,I will remove the bio media and sponge tonite after work.should I be ok without a skimmer for a bit,I don't have to much money I'm gonna start saving though,is there one you would recmend,also I want to have 2 small clowns and a sort of gobie or is that too much for my bio load,when I remove the media should I do a wc.I'm trying to learn as much as I can but the web confuses me with a hundred different opions,I'm gonna be upgrading to a 75g with a 40g sump 2x250watt mh in march,idk right now I'm focused as learning as much as I possible can so thank you very much for looking out for me

No problem at all!! . On the bio-media and sponge, I'm not sure how much bio-media is in there or how much your tank is relying on the bacteria on it so to be on the safe side so as not to shock your system, I'd maybe removethe bio-media first leaving the sponge in for a few days and then remove the sponge afterwards or vice versa. This way, it will allow your tank time to adjust and build up the necessary bacterial colonies you may have lost removing the media or sponge (whichever you move first). There is aerobic bacteria basically everywhere in your tank, but it's hard to say how much your system relies on each component (ie in your liverock, sand, bio-media, sponge etc) so it's just a safe route to take "just incase". I mean some people will just remove both one shot which you may be able to do and not have an issue at all and probably something I'd do depending on the amount of liverock I had in the tank vs how much bio-media I was running, but just giving you a safer alternative that prevents any issues. This method is what one would take if they had a wet/dry sump filled with bio-balls. They would remove so many bio-balls each day over the course of a few days until they had evenutally removed them all. With a wet/dry sump with bio-balls and them having so much surface area for bacteria to grow, removing them all one time usually shocks a system as you are removing a lot of beneficial aerobic bacteria one time, but in the case of a canister filter, I'd imagine it a much smaller scale you are dealing with so you may be fine to remove all one shot. I guess it's your call.

As for the skimmer, yea you can go without one for a while. Many people run aquariums without them and are successful, but in my opinion, it would mean more water changes to help remove some of the waste the skimmer would have picked up to help dilute things. The concept with any tank is to remove the waste before it has a chance to work against you so I'd say if you are skimmerless for a bit, just stay on top of your water changes. If you run a sandbed, I'd vacuum the top layer removing any waste/detritus that may have settled on it so you can get that nasty stuff out of your tank.

 

[Krish]

Oh, one thing I forgot to mention....The reason why people use liverock as their primary source of biological filtration over something like bio-balls, bio-media etc is because unlike anything in a wet/dry environment, liverock has an anaerobic zone which is an area deep within the rock void of oxygen. Thi is where anaerobic bacteria grows which are those responsible for dealing with nitrates. A wet/dry doesn't have areas void of oxygen so it is the reason why they are called nitrate factories because the nitrogen cycle basically stops there...With nitrates which will accumilate over time. As I mentioned earlier, fish can tolerate nitrates to a certain degree as it is not as toxic as ammonia or nitrites, but most coals don't do so well where nitrates are present and then of course, it's one of algae's number one food source. Those that plan to run a heavy bioload of fish and aren't concerned with nitrates should run a wet/dry. This is what most LFS' run on their tanks. They are very efficient at converting ammonia produced by waste into nitritie and then into nitrate is a very short amount of time so this is why people say they are good for fish only systems. I planning on going with a reef type setup, then typically they are avoided.

 

[machine646]

ok i took the sponge out,i tryed to clear the sand with a sipon made of airhose,i keep getting this redish brown carpet like stuff on my sand itdrives me nuts,i get rid of it a few days later its back,is that from nitrates being present,also i was planning on getting anouther clown this coming weekend or do you think i should wait till i take the bio media out and thing equal out.i tested for nitrates they were insanely off the charts prob due to the media in the filter,anything else i can do?

 

[Krish]

It will take time. The red stuff on your sand sounds like cynobacteria. Try increasing the flow to the areas you are getting it and it should stop growing there if that's what it is. Hard to tell without a picture, but going by your description it sounds like cyno which is common. I would definitely hold off on adding any more fish for now. Allow the tank time to adjust and balance out a bit.

Another thing to look at is water source. What type of water are you using or where are you getting it from. Depending on the water source, it is possible you could be adding nitrates with each water change. Let is know.


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[machine646]

ok ill give it more time before adding anymore live stock,im using ro water i got from a supermarket,as for making more flow toward the bottom of the tank ill get better powerhead today,how many gph would you suggest for a 20l,right now i have a 160gph,aloso how do i get it to blow towards the bottom without messsing up the sand,also ill figure out how to put pics up today since im off work.ill wait a few weeks to get a fish,but keep testing my water,since i took out the sponge should do a small wc?

 

[Krish]

http://www.reeffrontiers.com/showthread.php?t=59241. That should help you with uploading pictures. As for the flow, I'm the worst person to ask :lol:. I run a lot of flow in my tanks. I had about 4,000 gph in a 38 gal but it's because I don't use sand. Hopefully someone that uses sand can give you a better estimation because it has literally been years since I messed with sand. Also, on the water, you will want to use ro/di water rather than just ro.


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[DonW]

I'd get rid of the crabs and if I remember correctly bumble bee snails are predatory, someone correct me if im wrong.

Don