newer aquarium needing advice

[rokorus]

Well to start off forgive me i'm still alittle new to some of the terminology, right now i have a 125 gallon aquarium and its been running 7 months or so. And my first mistake was following the advice of my local fish store, and its caused quite a bit of problems. I'll start off with what i have, right now i'm running a wet/dry filter system designed for a 275 gallon tank using bio balls several filter pads,phosphate bag and carbon bag inside of it, a aqualife 125 gallon protein skimmer and two powerheads each that circulate 1200 gallons per hour. As for heating i'm using two 200 watt heaters that seem to work just fine at keeping the temp at 76 degrees. As for lighting i'm using two 40 watt 10k bulbs that run for roughly 6-8 hours a day. In my tank i currently have 85lbs of live rock and 40 lbs of live sand that gives me roughtly 1.5 inch coverage on the bottom. As far as fish and what not in my tank i know this is going to bring up some controversy but when i bought these fish i was following the recomendation of my local fish store.
1x clown trigger (juvenile)
1x niger trigger
1x bursa trigger
3x false percual clown fish
3x blue damsels (that will soon be leaving)
1x flounder
1x stars and stripes puffer
1x hermit crab
1x yellow tang
1x blue tang (believe its also called a hipo)
1x lunar wrasse
1x star gobby (believe that is its full name)
Some of the problems i'm running into that i'm having some difficulty in figuring out is that from what i can read since i'm no longer following the fish store advice is that most cleaner crews aren't compitable with my tank due to the puffer and triggers so i was wondering is there any particular snails,crabs fish etc. that can work as a clean up crew for this tank.
And my next problem is nitrates my ammonia is 0 and my nitrites are 0 but my nitrates seem to stay at 30ppm no matter on the frequency or amount of my water changes. And because of the higher nitrates i believe is causing the excess brownish algae growth on my glass that has been quite frustrating. I can clean my tank out then the following day or two i will have several algae growths on the glass.
any help with these problems will be greatly appreciated.

 

[markeo99]

I am not much help except maybe the nitrates do you use ro water or have you ever tested your water of a fresh batch my tapwater is about 20ppm nitrate and shows a touch of amonia

 

[jerryatrick]

Let me start off by saying that I am new at saltwater but I have read so much over the past few months and my brain is like a sponge.
I can't tell you how many tank descriptions I have seen that included triggers, puffers, snails, hermits etc. The problem is that I have no idea how long those tankmate combos have been working for each individual. On the flipside I have read that inverts are expensive snacks for puffers and triggers.
If it were me I would stay away from inverts unless someone here has another suggestion for a larger invert that can survive. Either way I think by you adding any invert is like betting on a Philadelphia Sports Team to win a championship. Your odds for success are slim.

 

[rokorus]

i've been buying the purified/filtered water from a local store. I've never used the water from the faucet due to rumors or truths about copper being present. As far as the triggers and puffers they are such sloppy eaters that they leave detrius material all over the bottom of the aquarium especially when i use krill to help wear down their teeth.

 

[litoallie]

I'm not quite sure about the nitrate and nitrite thing. But the brown algae can be taken care of if you use a phosphate remover in your filter.

 

[jacrmill]

honestly if that is your stock list after only 7 months and your biggest problem is nitrates of 30, you are in far better shape than you should be. So...
Step 1: Thank your lucky stars
Step 2: find a new LFS
Step 3: Spend a lot of time reading on this board.
Test your water frequently for awhile at this point, if you see any ammonia start to worry. if your tank starts to go bad, it will probably go really bad really fast. That said, a nitrate reading of 30 in a fish only tank is not a reason to over react at all. you will want to get your nitrates down, but that is not the biggest issue you have. right now your tank is maturing and your brown algae is almost certainly diatoms. This is not a big deal and it will disappear as your tank matures. you will eventually want to get your nitrates down to prevent hair algae, which you will probably have since a clean up crew will be tough to assemble due to your other fish (I will leave recommendations of a clean up crew to others since I have never faced that particular problem since I like peaceful fish).
Ok, now for some of the problems....your tank is over stocked. and even worse it is overstocked with big fish who are messy eaters so you are going to have a lot of mess in your tank and nitrates will probably be a constant battle. I would start with reducing your load. So quickly come to a decision on what fish you would like to have and what you can do without. As I said i keep peaceful fish, so I cant comment on most of these from experience but it doesnt take an experience aggressive fish keeper to see some problems on the horizon. So if I were you I would post a quick question about potential stock lists and post it in the aggressive forum so that people with experience can comment. Then take those fish back to the LFS where you bought them, get some store credit, spend it on something other than live fish and never return to that place again.
good luck, welcome to the hobby and take this as a learning experience....learn here before you buy next time.

 

[rokorus]

i did develope some green hair algae on one of my larger chunks of live rock when to the local pest store and talked to them in the beginning about this problem and they directed me to the yellow tang which suprisingly worked very well at clearing it off.

 

[jacrmill]

its good that it helped with the hair algae, but right now you need to be taking fish out instead of putting them in. Im just scared that right now you are set up for a potentially bad situation. I would really recommend taking a good amount of your fish back for store credit and starting much slower.

 

[neg427]

I am no expert, but what i have read on this forum, I have to agree w/ Jacrmill. I think that the tank is overstock. I know it's difficult to do but from what I have read here, the load has to go down. Also a clean up crew with the puffer might be a problem, again this info that I'm giving is just some of the thing I have read from here. Good Luck

 

[prime311]

30 nitrates is perfectly normal for an overstocked tank like that. I'd look into some other way to reduce the algae like reduced or better lighting and better flow in the areas of algae growth. Running a couple two listtle fishies phsoban reactors, one with phosban and the other with carbon will also help keep your water clear and algae free.
Right now I'm experimenting with Sugar to keep Nitrates down, but I wouldn't suggest it just yet. As for a clean up crew, you could try some different things like large hermits and mexican turbo snails and clams burieud in your substrate, but theres no guarantee any of them will be fine.
I would also recommend getting a beefier protein skimmer and adding a sump with some additional live rock.
IMO you can handle the bioload just fine in your tank. More bioload = more effort and more money. With an overstocked tank you need to keep up with maintenance and do larger and more frequent water changes. I personally would be more worried about aggression from the Triggers and the Lunare Wrasse who are likely to feel crowded in that tank as they grow up and start attacking each other as a territorial defense.

 

[nacl freak]

Too add to above advice you might consider removing bio-balls. Some suggest that bio balls can cause increase levels of nitrates.

 

[clownfish11]

1x niger trigger
2x false percual clown fish
1x yellow tang
1x lunar wrasse
1x star gobby (believe that is its full name)
30x hermit crab
or
30x assorted snails
also a good CUC
Thats what your Stock should be then take is slow get the trates down and then get a few more smaller fish..

 

[jacrmill]

regardless of whether or not people agree you are overstocked, i think everyone can agree that your tank is too immature at 7 months to handle that load. youre just in a position to have to take a couple steps back before you can take any steps forward.....good luck to you.