Free Tank & Equipment..What's Next?

[babblingbrooke]

Well, I lucked out and got a 58gal. tank for free with some equipment. I ended up replacing the Emperor 400 with a new one because the propeller seemed to be a problem and we needed to get filters anyways so it seemed better to just replace it...I am thinking about replacing the propeller if it's a good idea to have two of them on this tank, otherwise, I'll wait till I'm ready to set up another tank.

Would it be a good idea to have 2 Emperor 400s filtering my tank or is that overkill?

I have a canister filter, but I'm not sure if its something I need to use on this tank or not.

Finally that last free piece of equipment is a Protein Skimmer. I would love to have more info on this bad boy but I haven't had much luck looking it up. Is it something I should set up soon, or wait on it? Is it just for a sump?

I'm still learning the lingo and I've got my tank running, it's almost being going for a month, possibly a tad longer, my only survivors thus far are 3 Bangghai Cardinals,3 Dwarf Blue Legged Hermits, and a Sand Sifting Starfish. My plan (for now) is to keep this tank FOWLR until I am fluent and familiar with salt water aquariums and then move into having a reef tank!

I'm new to this forum and haven't figured out how to post pictures yet, hopefully this document with pictures on it is sufficient I look forward to y'alls answers and suggestions!

 

[jay0705]

Hmmm, whats in the tank? Live rock? Whats your salinity/specific gravity? Do u test ur water?

 

[babblingbrooke]

Hmmm, whats in the tank? Live rock? Whats your salinity/specific gravity? Do u test ur water?

I do test my water, so far my PH has been perfect and salinity started off perfect but has gotten worse, I think it might be related to the live rock i've added.

I rushed the process even though I know you shouldn't, but I had done at water test before adding stock that resulted in:
PH = 8.2-8.4
Nitrite = 0ppm
Ammonia = 0ppm
Nitrate = 5ppm

The above results were 2.5 weeks after I got the tank up and running with LRO and crushed coral for use instead of sand.

Recently my salinity has spiked and my water test results are:
PH =8.2-8.4
Nitrite = .025ppm
Ammonia = .50ppm
Nitrate = 5-10ppm

A couple days later after the test my Coral Beauty died I was very saddened, he was my favorite. But this is a learning process for me.

Casualties so far have been:
coral bandid shrimp (died 2 days after being added to the tank)
camel shrimp to replace coral bandid (died after a week and 2 days)
coral beauty (died in a week)

^^ Thats one of the dwarf eating like a champ on the biggest live rock I have, does anything look like it could be a potential problem to my fish friends??

Or is it just the simple fact that my tank is probably still cycling itself and it's going to take some time?

 

[babblingbrooke]

I'm going to take a water sample to Aquarium World today to get better and more accurate results. I try to test my water every week.

I have a plastic instant ocean hydrometer, but I noticed that it's not very accurate...any recommendations on what would be best for testing my water salinity and specificity?

 

[jay0705]

Refractometer is best for testing salinity. Seachem makes a good water test kit. Some of your issue could actually be the crushed coral. People have said w it its difficult to keep water chemistry. Idk why

 

[silverado61]

Crushed coral traps garbage in it and rots. Not on it like sand where the cuc can get to it.
The sand sifting star is just that, a sand sifter. It can't get into the crushed coral and will eventually starve to death.
I would say your tank is still trying to cycle and with all your fish stock (which you shouldn't have in there anyway if your still cycling) your tank can't keep up with the bioload so it can't balance itself.
Your tank could be headed for a meltdown.

 

[bang guy]

salinity started off perfect but has gotten worse, I think it might be related to the live rock i've added.
....
Recently my salinity has spiked

Warm water tends to evaporate at an increased rate. Especially if you have an air conditioner drying out the air. As your saltwater evaporates it's only the water that leaves. So, as more water evaporates the salinity increases. This is normal.

The solution for this is to replace evaporated water with just plain water. Replacing evaporated water with saltwater is a common mistake.

For now, take a gallon of saltwater out of your tank every day and replace it with plain water (preferably purified water) until your salinity is back to where you want it.

Also - heed Silverado's advice. See if you can take all of the fish back or find them new homes until your tank is under control. At that point only add one fish every couple of months.