New with problems

[haakon]

Great board. I just started five weeks ago a 85 gallon salt water tank which I thought I would use for a fish only tank. This is my first salt water tank and I have run into a couple of issues. I have a Berlin protein skimmer that I have not used much. I am having a tough problem with finding a water pump that would run quiet enough to have in a peaceful setting. I am running a Mag drive 9.5 that is fairly quiet for the main sump pump however the Mag 7 is noticeably louder. I tried a couple of Quiet One pumps however they were louder than the Mag 7 so I had to send them back. Any ideas?
My water parameters are 0 ammonia, 25 nitrate, 0 nitrite and 3 PPM phosphate which I know is high. These tests are taken with Salifert test kits. The water that I have used has been RO water with a few 1/2 gallon top offs with tap water. I tested the tap water and their is virtually no nitrates and no phosphate detectable with my tests. I am under a constant algae attack having to clean my tank every two days with 5% water changes every 4 days. Lights are on about 10 hours a day with 110 watts of white light. I have 20 pounds of live rock, two clowns, a damsel, seven snails and two small hermit crabs. Any assistance it getting this tank under control so that I can enjoy it would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Haakon

 

[thirty6]

few questions: what do you mean by not using the skimmer that much, and what are using if anything as substrate and most would suggest more live rock, if you have ro water available to you why use the tap water to top off, and what is water temp, sg?

 

[haakon]

Hi Thirty6,
Thanks for the reply. I have not been using the protein skimmer because the pump for it is too loud. It is on now making an undesireable noise. It is just difficult to enjoy a tank with a constaint buzzing sound.
The tap water top offs have been done when the RO water was out and I did not have time to drive to the pet shop.
The water temp is 76, sg 1.021 with a white crushed coral substrate. The algae forms a brownish coating on the sand after only two days after cleanings. Your help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Haakon

 

[tthemadd1]

If you are talking about a brownish coating you might be talking about diatoms not hair algae. It is part of a natural cycle process. I would recommend not adding anything else to you tank for a while. You need to do higher water changes every month. Get that protein skimmer hooked up and accept the fact that there will be some noise. You can get some hermits crabs, they MIGHT help with the diatoms, also some snails astrea and or turbos. You also want to bring your salt level up to around 1.025 that will help with stressing your fish out. Also when you do start adding corals that is a minimum level. The diatom bloom should end as the tank reaches maturity. What type of lighting is 110w white light. Are they plain flourescent bulbs. (SP?) or are they HO, VHO, PC. If they came with the tank from a local store they are probrably regular output bulbs. Not too bad with fish only but you might run into algae blooms because of the spectrum of light they put off.
Good Luck,
Themadd1

 

[thirty6]

i would think the first thing you should do is find a pump that will not bother you and keep the skimmer going. your using a reputable brand skimmer, someone on these boards is sure to suggest a pump for you. from reading these boards the sg could be a tad higher but im not sure if that would cause the bloom your talking about. you may also try keeping the lights on less may help ouit a bit too.

 

[tthemadd1]

One more thing. with the Water top offs thing. As water evaporates all of the minerals/chemicals stay behind. It concentrates the amount of chemicals in the water slowly raising levels to lethal levels. SO every time you add (just a little Tap water) you are really slowly raising these levels of undesirable minerals/chemicals. If you have a small amount of copper in your water you are adding it to an environment that does not do well with heavy metals. If you are adding a small amount of PHOS you are over time adding alot. Just remember that you should as a rule of thumb REPLACE 10 to 20 pecent of your tank volume every month. I do more by changing our 10 gallons per week on my 80 gal tank. You have to remember that this is an ecosystem we are trying to create and maintain. YOu should be ok for now but keep researching and you will do just fine in this hobby.
Good luck,
Themadd1

 

[haakon]

Thanks for the replies guys. The bulbs I have are hamilton compact flourescent bulbs. I also have a two 55 watt blue light type bulbs that I don't tuen on. I hear they are for corals. I have the protein skimmeron but it is hard to disregard the humming noise of the Mag 7. I hear an Eheim might be quieter? I will stay off the tap for the mineral consentration point that was well stated. Thanks again for the reply,s and any help with the pump selection would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Haakon

 

[haakon]

One area that I don't completely understand is how the high Phosphate levels propogated themselves. The RO water did not have Phosphates and even the tap water here doesn't have measurable Phosphates. Do you know how they got so high. Are they dangerous to fish or do they just help with the algae bloom? Will additional live rock help control Phosphates? Do you guys use these Phosphate buffers? Can't you lower the Phosphates by other means given that the initial water does not contain them? I know a lot of Phosphate questions. Your help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Haakon

 

[saltyguy]

Are you using some kind of carbon in any of your filters? Carbon can contain phosphate. I have also heard that certain foods such as frozen shrimp can contain them also. You can get whats called phosphate sponge and put it in a high flow area of tank and that will lower it, but you really need to find the source.