It's been 1 year...what do I do?

[makofury]

Hey everyone, I haven't been on these boards in over a year...anyways..I setup my 65 gallon tank August 2002. I initially bought a six line, two clownfish, and a royal gramma, all from ***********.com. I also had a clean-up crew and 50 lbs of live rock too.
The royal gramma never seemed normal when it arrived, it disappeared into the live rock and I never saw it again...the two clowns look to have been eaten somehow, one day they were fine, next day i found them at the bottom being eaten by my hermit crabs. The six-line is the only one who survived. He's been doing great for the past year, eating, swimming. I've been super busy the past year and had no time to really maintain the tank, therefore, I haven't done a water change in a year. Most of the snails died but the majority of the crabs survived.
I want to start taking care of my tank now that I can, I tested the water and the results were:
ph - 8.2
salinity - 1.018
ammonia - 0
nitrite - 0
nitrate 2.5-5
I was surprised to see that nothing had really changed in terms of water parameters, except for the fact that my salinity probably needs to be boosted.
My question is, where should I start? 25% water change? 50% water change. Also, the growth on the rocks is good, lots of purple coraline algae, feather dusters...etc...but there is also a lot of this brown kelp/algae looking stuff growing out of the rock, i've removed a lot of it on two separate occassions. I really want to add some nice fish to this tank so Im open to all suggestions on where I should go from here. Thanks!
Mako

 

[buzz]

As you remove the algae, you may find your nitrate/phosphate readings jumping, as those consume it. That may be why your readings are low. Given that it has been so long since you did a change, I would do smaller changes, to gradually adjust the tank to fresher water - use RO water with your salt mix. You don't want to shock anything. Just do the changes often for a while.
Yes, your salinity is low. I would bring it up to around 1.023, again gradually.
As to your clowns, they probably died, and the hermits were scavenging.

 

[cope787]

why did you start up something you couldnt really take care of until a year later?
anyways do a 50% water change. the salinity is too low. should be between 1.021-1.025. add iodine to the water. inverts need it which includes snails and crabs. get some more snails to clean up the unwanted algae. as for fish, get something hardy to start with, maybe a tomatoe clown or firefish goby or a flame angel.
syphon the sand or crushed coral in the tank or whatever you are using for the bed. if you havent cleaned it in over a year it probably has a lot of unwanted stuff in it. after a month or so and you really got the hang of it then you shoulkd start adding some nice fish.
oh yeah, when you put your first fish in, how long was the tank up before you put them in?

 

[makofury]

Oops, I should tell you my setup. I have an overflow, wet/dry, DSB, two powerheads.
cope787 - it was an unforseen circumstance that prevented me from caring for the tank. It wasn't anything I could really prevent, had I known it was going to happen, I of course would not have setup my tank.
Mako

 

[steelchromis]

A Flame Angel isn't the best fish to start with, the tank should have perfect water peramiters and then you can add the the angel. Start with clowns as your first fish. But only once you get your salinity up.

 

[jumpfrog]

Never too late to fix it and I'm glad to see you're going forward instead of just giving up on it. Frequent "small" water changes to get your water back up to specs. As for raising your salinity...the best way is to use salt water as your top off instead of fresh. Top off frequently and watch your numbers. When you hit your goal, go back to fresh top offs. Good luck in your reconstruction.

 

[toddpolish]

keep an eye on the 6line when adding the fish. if he's been in there for a year without any other fish, he's probably very content that way. he may not like intruders

 

[makofury]

Hey everyone, thx for the replies
I think I'll do a small water change this weekend, maybe 10-15%, see how that goes. And for my top offs I'll use saltwater to boost my salinity up to 1.023. Maybe wait 2 weeks after that and see if I can add a few fish.
I'm sort of concerned that the six-line might be used to being by himself so that's why I think I should introduce maybe 2 or 3 fish at the same time.
Is adding a flame angel, yellow tang, and some other small fish aquarium suicide?
Im considering it but being that I've been doing saltwater on/off for the past 8 years, I know that patience is important.
Mako