Running a fish tank without arms or legs

[Apyro4hire]

Cool tank I'd love to see it some time. I meet you at the PSAS Frag swap. I'm the one that lives in the Bonney Lake Area. I just got back into reef tanks in September of last year & am really excited about the hobby. Keep u the good work. Your tank looks amazing. Did you win any cool frags in the drawing? PS. And thank you for sharing your story... very inspirational.

 

[dexter]

Thanks for the kind words. Yes, I did win a few coral. kind of bummed that a couple of them didn't make it. I guess that my tank is still cycling. I would love to meet you. Anybody that makes it out to my house to check out my tank is cool in my book. You are welcome to anytime.

what size is your tank?

 

[Peppie]

Okay, it has been two weeks since I initially set it up. I will do my first water change either tonight or tomorrow to bring the calcium down and the ammonia. I did get some coral at the bob moore frag swap but unfortunately a few of them have already died. I need to let my tank cycle a little longer. My salinity level is .26. Some people say that I should keep my salinity around .23 but I have had bitter experience with a higher salinity. Any feedback would help. also I'm wondering about how high the water level should be to get the bubbles to run over the skimmer cup.

Do I understand this right.
Your tank has been set up for two weeks?
Did you run ANY tests on it yet?
How do you know if your water parm are within acceptable levels to add any livestock?
Was you advised you could add corals two weeks after your initial set up ?
IMO it is way to early to add anything to your tank!!
Have some patience. It will save you money

Why should you need to bring your Cal. down?? Your tank should not have a high cal level, unless you have been dosing. What brand salt mix did you use?

 

[Krish]

I agree with Peppie. The fact that you are reading ammonia means nothing should be in there let alone corals! Your initial cycle is nowhere near completed yet. That tank needs to cycle as well as you need to have your water chemistry in check and stable (ie calcium, alk, mag etc). When I setup my tank it took about 8 weeks or so to get rid of all traces of ammonia and nitrite, but it wasn't for 9 months after that that I was able to get rid of just 10ppm of nitrates so it basically took me a year to add my first coral. The tank needs time to cycle and mature as well as stabilize.

JMHO.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[dexter]

Thanks for reiterating what I already wrote krish.

If you want to answer the questions I asked. Feel free to do so.



Your tank has been set up for two weeks? 3 now
Did you run ANY tests on it yet? Yes
How do you know if your water parm are within acceptable levels to add any livestock? They aren't
Was you advised you could add corals two weeks after your initial set up ? The guys that hooked me up with the free coral

 

[Krish]

Thanks for reiterating what I already wrote krish.

You wrote what I posted as well as what Peppie posted?? Seems like you were lost to me because you had corals in a tank that had ammonia present and calcium not in check. Also, you posted this

Okay, it has been two weeks since I initially set it up. I will do my first water change either tonight or tomorrow to bring the calcium down and the ammonia. I did get some coral at the bob moore frag swap but unfortunately a few of them have already died. I need to let my tank cycle a little longer. My salinity level is .26. Some people say that I should keep my salinity around .23 but I have had bitter experience with a higher salinity. Any feedback would help..

If you want to answer the questions I asked. Feel free to do so.

Not really anymore...Kinda seems like you have an attitude issue here which is strange coming from someone who is looking for help and kinda dependant on others for it. Why would you need help when you said you already know the problem (that is... you said I reiterated what you already posted which would mean you knew the problem.)

Your tank has been set up for two weeks? 3 now
Did you run ANY tests on it yet? Yes
How do you know if your water parm are within acceptable levels to add any livestock? They aren't
Was you advised you could add corals two weeks after your initial set up ? The guys that hooked me up with the free coral

So you tested your water, saw it wasn't suitable to add livestock and you did why? Because the guys who hooked you up with the corals told you you could? . I'd go back to the basics of reefkeeping and start from there and learn all you can about it because you have a lot to learn if you are going to take the advice of putting corals in a tank with ammonia in it and not sure what to do from there...

Good luck with it

 

[Apyro4hire]

Working this weekend at a gold prospecting show in Monroe. Maybe Friday or Monday.

 

[TJL]

Hey Brendon, what people here are trying to teach you is that your system is not and will not be ready for the addition of any livestock for weeks to come. Then only a Clean Up Crew initially a few weeks before adding some hardy fish species followed by weeks before addition of hardy coral species. All the while doing tests on your water quality to see exactly where in Cycling your system is. Just because you can get things (livestock) for free doesn't make it OK to add to your system that you know is not ready to receive them. Alot of people are willing to help you out here self included if you are really willing to learn and follow advice. A beautiful living Reeftank is something to enjoy and be proud of but takes patience and also requires the desire educate oneself in being the best caretaker one can be. If your willing you could end up with a very stable, beautiful and entertaining lil Reeftank for years to come. With a small group of people willing to share thier time and experience in maintaning with you.

Cheers, Todd

 

[mojoreef]

At Reef Frontiers all we ask of folks is to try and help folks be successful with keeping a reef tank or marine tank. From that point its truly up to the person as to if they want to accept it or not. Sometimes they do and sometimes they dont, so lots of good advice has been given in this thread and it up to Dexter as to if he wants to take it or not. Lets not take it farther then it needs to be taken.


Mojo

 

[1guydude]

okay, so i havent been able to help out brendon (dexter) lately becuase ive been at my moms and the only time ive had on the comp. is at work.... ur skimmer bro should be easily fixed if u watch a couple videos on utube about skimmers and how they are supposed to work.

Also his tank was set up with cured LR and i dont think there was much of a spike....this idk because i wasnt their to do the testing....
The corals he lost im sure were some of the harder to keep corals like sps or a chalice or something...all he has is pc lighting! I dont think sps even belongs in a tank unless its been set up and established for a year or so imo.
Besides wouldnt a small piece of coral be less an impact on the water chemistry than lets say a fish that poos and pees! Sure a lil more touchy to the chemistry but deff not a neg impact i would think.

Theyre right though dexter, u should get a book and read it, read it, read it if ur serious about the whole reef tank!

 

[dexter]

u should get a book and read it, read it, read it if ur serious about the whole reef tank!

I can't read books. I'm not able to flip the pages because I don't have use of my hands or arms. Thank you for the kind words though.

 

[mojoreef]

If you get the amazon downloaded books you dont need to flip the pages, it would be the same as you do here on the forum Dexter. Have you taken a look at that??

Mike

 

[Apyro4hire]

I'm running a 65 gallon reef tank. It's doing good but as the owner of any tank there is tons of things I'd like to do to improve it. Aah if money grew on trees... It looks like I'm booked through this weekend but maybe I can stop by sometime next week. Is there some days that work better than others. Well keep in touch & I'll make it out soon.

 

[dexter]

To tell you the truth anyday works fine for me. I work from home so my schedule is completely open. please, stop by.

 

[dexter]

I'm running a 65 gallon reef tank. It's doing good but as the owner of any tank there is tons of things I'd like to do to improve it. Aah if money grew on trees... It looks like I'm booked through this weekend but maybe I can stop by sometime next week. Is there some days that work better than others. Well keep in touch & I'll make it out soon.

I tried to private message you but it doesn't go through. What days do you work? When would be the best time for you?

 

[dexter]

I picked up 10 gal of RO water. I'm going to heat it up and mix salt into it. Probably do a water change tomorrow.

 

[dexter]

did a water change last week and again in the middle of the week. checked my levels and I am currently at;

KH 10 drops
Nitrite 0ppm
ammonia 0
nitrates 0
PH 8.2
salinity .024
calcium ?
Aalk ?
magnesium ?
I dont have the test kits for those ones yet.

Im still having troubles with my protein skimmer. The collection cup has bubbles that flow over the top but it just fills the cup with water. No gunk! its called a bak pak. I had troubles with the tunze before so I took a recommendation and purchased this one. I had it for a couple of months before my entire tank crashed a year and a half ago.
Here are a couple of pictures I took of the tank and rock formation. Its not exactly what I want but Im going to play with it a little more. If I can get my skimmer going, I would be a happy clam and go back to red sea aquarium to pick up the coral they are watch for me as a big favor.

 

[dexter]

 

[Skimmy]

my best guess is that there is salt creep that has built up in the airline.
i bet if the skimmer were removed and cleaned in warm water it would be fine,
pay special attention to the air line though for salt clogging it. especially right at the pump where the hose attaches.
let me know if that doesnnt work, and we'll seewhat else we can do.

 

[1guydude]

Its the bac pak skimmer with the slant skimmy and I said to raise it up a bit cuz the o ring is at the bottom of the cup I believe. Like with some eggcrate or something.