not new ,not old, not helped!

[koranman]

I have a 125 that I have had for 6 months. I would like to do the right things with this tank but when I write a question it seems that very few will help. Is there anyone who will offer long term help to a guy who lives in Twin Falls Idaho and am probably the only one who has a salt tank for 100 miles? I would really like to get this tank up and running I just don't know how. My nitrates stay at 80ppm+. I have had a salt tank for a year and a fresh water tank for 10 years, but salt is way different. Please someone with some back ground help on a regular basis. I have lots of questions and dont want to wait 3-5 days for each answer. I will be a good student I promise!
Koran
125 gal walk around tank
Americal wet/dry 2 skimmers in sump
3 powerheads 75 lbs lr 4" ls
1 Coralbanded shrimp, 1 Arrowhead crab, 1 Maroon Clown, 1 damsel, 1 decorator crab, clean up crew for 125, 2 brittle stars.
2-36" 50/50 lights
1-48" 50/50 light

 

[clarkiiboi]

whats the questions and I am sure someone in here will help, you got to remember that patience is a virtue and the members that may know your answers to your questions are maybe not on every day. So what is the problem or your specific question? Because all are here to help and inform from their experiences.

 

[koranman]

Thanks for responding
I have high nitrates and want to know what I should do? Is 80 ppm too high to proceed? If I want to add things to become a reef tank what would you suggest? I still want to add some fish but would like to add at the appropriate rate. What are some things I can do to make this experience positive without a lot of loss. I do not want to just try things that will result in the death of the animals I put in. Do I need more light? Will the various corals help with the nitrate problem? Do I need more filtration? If I change 20 gal of water using tap water that is already high in nitrates will my problems continue? I have a hundred more questions but this in enough for now
Koran

 

[marty]

What else do you have in your tank? Any live rock? What substrate you using?

 

[steamboat1569]

Just a few questions:
How long has your tank been set up?
What do you have in it right now, including how much live rock, what kind and how much substate, what kind of creatures do you have right now. Please include the kind of filtration, skimmer equip., etc.
What type of nitrate tester are you using, brand name please.
You can also contact me at: steamboat1569@aol.com

 

[jonthefb]

And lights, what kinda lights do you have. Just throw together a list of all the basics, and we can all go from there. Sorry youve had bad luck previously, but we are all here to help!
jon

 

[koranman]

hello????
I posted all the questions you guys are asking in the first posting. Am I not writting things down right?
I have the "Americal" wet/dry filter with 2 basic skimmers in the sump.
4" deep sand bed of live sand
75-80 lbs of live rock
2- 36" standard lights with 50/50 bulbs
1-48" standard fishtank light with a 5050 bulb
all the animals are in the first post too.
I have actually had two tanks that I combined six months ago. I had a 75 gal tank that I took everything out of and added it right into the newly made 125 gal tank. I built a wall in my living room that you can walk around and see right through the tank.
Koran

 

[koranman]

Thank you for replying everyone, but are you all reading the first posting? I answered all your questions in the first thing I posted...Maybe I am not answering it in a correct way??
I have a 125 gal salt tank
4" deep live sand base
75-80 lbs live sand
"Americal" wet/dry filter with 2 standard skimmers in the sump.
3 basic power heads
all animals are listed in the first posting.
I have a fluvol 404 but have turned it off because of something someone said that it was a nitrate bed. It has been off for a couple of days.
hope this helps. I will answer anyones questions.
Koran

 

[steamboat1569]

how many watts does each light have. Most standard lights for aquariums are low wattage.
Also, what kind of test kit are you using for nitrate tests.
Tap water is the first thing that I spot. It is typical that tap water is high in many chemicals, including nitrates, phosphates, chlorine, silicates.
Your bio-load is very light, so I would start with the type of water you are using, and get Reverse Osmosis water to do changes with.

 

[cap'n pete]

We may ask you the same questions because this is a large site and we don't always remember previous questions or have time to do a search. Don't assume we know everything about your tank. I know it gets tiring typing the same stuff over and over, but be patient. 80 ppm is way too high nitrates, reef or fish only! My first suggestion to you is to do several 25% water changes. Say one water change per week for three weeks. The second is provide us with your bioload (how many fish, inverts, etc.). If your load is light I would suggest either pulling whatever filter media you have in the wet-dry and pitching it or at least replacing or cleaning it. If you have a large bioload, you may not have enough live rock and sand to be able to not have any filter media (which is what you should strive for). Filter media just become "nitrate factories" after a while. A reef with lots of LR and LS will break down waste without the need for filter media. I do recommend keeping the skimmers going. If you have more questions you can email me at thepainttroll@hotmail.com. HTH

 

[koranman]

Steamboat,
I am not sure of the lights. I just got them from the lfs. He said it was sufficient. He said it was a 50/50??? I use "saltwater Master Liquid Test kit" Aquarium pharmaceuticals.
K

 

[koranman]

Cap'n Pete,
The information was not in an earlier question it was the top of these series of posts. I guess I figured that if it was in the original question everyone had the information but to get answers I am happy to rewrite it all.
I do not think the bioload is too heavy. It is very light for a 125.
1 coral banded shrimp
1 Arrow crab
2 brittle stars
1 Maroon Clown
1 damsel
1 decorator crab
2 horshoe crabs
clean up crew for 100 gal. I recieved from here.
75-80 lbs live rock
4" deep sand live sand bed
I have been running the wet/dry with only bioballs no other filter media.
Koranman

 

[steamboat1569]

You don't seem to have anything that needs intense lighting, so I think you are ok there.
jwtrojan44 is right when he said to do water changes, but, you said you are using tap water.
I would not recomend you use this until you are sure your tap water is ok. Go to the grocery store and buy Reverse osmosis water until you check it out. Chances are your tap water contains things that you do not want in your tank.

 

[koranman]

jwtrojan44,
I am sorry if I seem on the rough side. I live in an area where no one really does saltwater. I will try and be a little more patient. In the mean time I will do what you are suggesting and do the water changes for the next couple of weeks and see how things go. I am also wondering if I add more live rock to the tank do I want to get just the basic live rock? When do you add the other stuff if your tank is full of the plane live rock with nothing really growing on it except the little unseen critters? How much more should I add at this point?
Koran

 

[koranman]

Is this a dumb question, but is ro water the same as distilled water?

 

[koranman]

Thank you so much jwtrojan44,
Is it inappropriate for me to ask where is a great place to get live rock? Here in Twin Falls I will not be able to find it.
K

 

[broomer5]

With a 4" DSB and 75-80 lbs of live rock AND a wet/dry with bioballs and a canister filter - I would say you have more than enough biofiltration capacity for 2 small fish in a 125 gallon tank.
I read where you removed the biomedia from the canister - good idea in my opinion.
The only ways I see that you could have elevated nitrates from this set up is basically from the following:
1) Your tap water contains nitrates - and MUST be tested.
2) You are grossly overfeeding this tank, and the waste is eventually being converted to nitrates.
3) You're adding some supplements/additives that contain nitrate.
4) Your test kit is not giving you accurate readings, or you are not interpretting the kit correctly.
5) Your DSB has not kicked in yet, and no denitrification has occured.
Are you seeing "any" small gas bubbles produced in the sandbed ?
6) Your canister filter media was not periodically cleaned over the first 6 months, and accumulated wasted collected there.
If I was in your shoes, here's what I would do.
The next time I mixed up some saltwater for a water change - I'd test this new batch for nitrates. I'd have a lfs test it too - but only if they use a different brand of test kit than what I was using.
If my new batch of saltwater contains ANY nitrates - then I'd stop using this tap water - period.
I'd either purchase an RO or RO/DI unit, or start using store bought RO water for all top offs and saltwater mixes.
I would insure that I was not overfeeding this tank.
Regarding water changes - if you have 80 ppm of nitrate and you do a 10% water change - you've only reduced the nitrate by 10% as well.
After a 10% water change you'll still have a level of 72 ppm.
Another 10% water change would then leave you with 64.8 ppm.
I'll let you do the math - but basically larger water changes of say 25% are better at lowering elevated nitrate levels, than a bunch of small ones. Of course larger water changes can lead to a larger risk of stress to your fish and tank mates.
I'd be all over that tap water. Test a batch of new saltwater for nitrates 24 hours after mixing it and see what happens.
My gut tells me that you're adding nitrates in the form of top off water - considering your tank size and bioload.

 

[ruaround]

Originally posted by Koranman:
<strong>Is this a dumb question, but is ro water the same as distilled water?</strong><hr></blockquote>
I cant seem to find if anyone answered this Que for you...
No they are not even close. Distilled water is basically water that has been boiled, the steam is then collected. This kills bacteria, and is supposed to leave behind heavy metals.
RO (reverse osmosis) is just about the closest you can come to pure water. It is run through several filters...a sediment filter, a carbon filter, an RO membrane, and sometimes UV steralized all through one unit. The water that passes through the RO membrane is pretty much free of all the bad that comes from tap water i.e...chlorine, phosphate, copper, lead, bacterias, insectasides, etc., etc.... HTH
Good to see another Idahoan on here!!!

 

[ruaround]

Forgot to add...you can find RO water at Wal - Mart for .29(is there one in TF yet?)...not sure if your Albertson's has an RO machine...I know the one they closed by I-84 did, perhaps they moved it downtown...