Help me get started right this time. Please!!

potter

potter

New Member
Ok, my 72 gallon tank (canister filter, two powerheads, 80 lbs live rock) has been without fish for four weeks now and has a ton of red and green algae in it. Previously, I changed about 12 gallons of water, vacuumed the CC and rearranged all of our live rock and killed everything.
Tank has been up and running for around four months and we haven't had great luck with keeping fish alive, so I would really appreciate some advice on what to do next.
Even though the rock is covered in algae, do I leave it and just buy a cleaner crew next? What would you suggest for a cleaner crew?? Eventually, we would like to have around five chromis, maroon clown, valenti puffer, fox face , royal gramma, and a humu humu trigger. Is this too much and in what order would you add and time line (two months, etc).
We are in the process of buying a protein skimmer. It looks as though a Aqua Remora Pro/Mag 3 would do the best job??/
Also, can you add Amquel to the water without precisely measuring each time? Will too much kill the fish?

Thanks for the advice!!
 
usinkit

usinkit

Member
Did you recycle the tank?
I think the puffer and trigger will take out most of the other fish you want and definately any clean-up crew.
 
potter

potter

New Member
Sorry, not sure what you mean by this. Tank cycled with live rock three months ago.... :notsure:
 
usinkit

usinkit

Member
How long has the tank been sitting without fish in it? If it sat for 3 months without any livestock you will have to recycle it.
 
alyssia

alyssia

Active Member
I think usinkit meant you probably kicked up a cycle when you vacuumed the cc and rearranged the LR. That stirs up nitrates.
 
usinkit

usinkit

Member
I would put a pinch of fish food in the tank every other day and test for ammonia and nitrites and see if they stay at 0. If they do for a week then add 1 small fish.
 
Y

yeffre kix

Guest
Absolutely...Puffers love shrimp, and Triggers will eat anything you put in the tank with them.
I would lose the canister filter too. When you remove it to clean it out you'll be destroying a large part of your biological filtration. This will cause toxic levels of amonia, nitites, and nitrates as the tank recycles every time. You can keep it to run carbon or phos remover when necessary.
Good filtration would be a deep sand bed and 150-200 lbs of live rock. Those messy eaters will require a strong protien skimmer. ( rated for 200 gallon ) If you keep the lighting level down and perform regular water changes hair algae won't become a problem. You'll have to clean the tank first however. About the only thing I know of that will really clean the hair algae off is a sea hare. It's a big ugly cucumber but worth they're weight in gold for clean-up. You'll have to remove it before adding a trigger though, they will kill it in short order. I would actually recomend starting over and cleaning all the rock for base and getting good quality live rock to fill in the rest.
A sump is also very helpful for filtration. A turnover rate from one pump of 1000 to 1500 gph would keep the waste suspended where it can be removed from the water column by filtration in the sump. You can also hide all you components like the skimmer, and heater and make the tank look much more natural.
BTW The huma is one of my favorite fish but really limit your choices for tankmates. That would be the way to get started "right".
 
potter

potter

New Member
Do I really need to take all the rock out and start with new live rock??? There is only algae on it. I am sure it is not junk. Also, why would I add food to the aquarium when there is nothing in it to eat the food????
 
cain420

cain420

Active Member
the food will create an increase in ammonia, just like fish waste does.. if your tank is going to kick into another cycle, this is a great way for u to find out.. without killing or stressing a fish..if it kicks into cycle, sit back and relax....
 
tinydove

tinydove

Member
Cain is right. if you have never fully cycled yor tank you must do that 1st. In order for a tank to cycle properly you need some kind of waste. As Cain said you can feed your tank with fish food or better yet use a piece of uncooked "RAW" shrimp from you local Food market. You can put it in a "new" pantyhose or a Knee High (makes it easy to remove. ) Just hang it in your tank and as it starts to rot it will turn in to the good bacteria that you need for a healthy tank and when all your water levels are down to 0 you are good to go.
You can leave your rock in.
 
danedodger

danedodger

Member
I agree with doing ghost feedings then testing to see if the tank still has the necessary bacteria or not. It's better safe than sorry, after all! If you add food to the tank and the ammonia stays at 0, great and no harm done but if the tank DOES need to cycle again and you add fish before finding out for sure and letting it cycle you could harm or kill your fish!
(canister filter, two powerheads, 80 lbs live rock)
I think you can be successful using a cannister filter as long as you know where your bacteria is and take care not to lose it. I.e., you could take that tray out of the cannister monthly when you do a water change and gently rinse it with water taken from the tank so that you get rid of at least some of the debris without losing your bacteria.
Even though the rock is covered in algae, do I leave it and just buy a cleaner crew next?
First do the ghost feeding then, after the cycle if it does cycle again, you can add cleanup crew. If the algae is too awful for cleanup crew to take care of it you can always wipe and scrub algae to help your crew get on top of it or go to more drastic measures if needed. I feel that going with gentle, more natural approaches first to see if it solves a problem and moving on to the "next step up" later if that doesnt' work is better than going straight for the big guns like chemical algae killers. After all, the algae won't hurt the fish, it would only be a danger to corals and such which could be smothered.
What would you suggest for a cleaner crew??
Everyone has their personal favorites. Hermit crabs and turbo snails are good choices.
Eventually, we would like to have around five chromis, maroon clown, valenti puffer, fox face , royal gramma, and a humu humu trigger. Is this too much and in what order would you add and time line (two months, etc).
I agree with the others, nix the trigger. As for what order to put them in just add the more shy/peaceful of the bunch first which I'd say would be the chromis then gramma. You can wait a few weeks between fish to both let the fish get comfy and the bacteria grow to compensate for the bigger bioload then add your next fish.
Also, can you add Amquel to the water without precisely measuring each time? Will too much kill the fish?
I don't THINK accidently getting a little extra in would hurt anything but I'm not positive. I know at work I've accidently dosed too much Amquel and AquaPlus (on fish only tanks!!!) before with no ill affects but I'd advise anyone to err on the side of caution. Routinely adding too much of anything is BOUND to not be good for them!
 
danedodger

danedodger

Member
Is amquel okay to use in a reef tank with inverts?
The reason I bold faced and underlined the "fish only" part of my reply was because I'm not at work, don't have a bottle of Amquel to look at, have never accidently overdosed it with inverts, and do NOT want anyone accidently harming their tank inhabitants because of anything I said here. That being said, I THINK (I'm even fairly sure) Amquel is invert safe but I'm not positive in any way, shape or form.
I err on the side of OVER cautious sometimes
 
alyssia

alyssia

Active Member
Originally Posted by DaneDodger
The reason I bold faced and underlined the "fish only" part of my reply was because I'm not at work, don't have a bottle of Amquel to look at, have never accidently overdosed it with inverts, and do NOT want anyone accidently harming their tank inhabitants because of anything I said here. That being said, I THINK (I'm even fairly sure) Amquel is invert safe but I'm not positive in any way, shape or form.
I err on the side of OVER cautious sometimes


Thanks! Better safe than sorry.
 
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