Problem Tank

[ifusayso]

I started my tank again about a year ago and have had one problem after another. I am new to this site and think I probably woundn't be in this situation if I had known of it sooner. Today, I was able to identify three major issues that had developed to severe cases: bristle worms, aiptasia, and bubble algae. The latter two covered everything that woudn't swim away. I decided to visit the fish store that I have gone to for over 10 years(started as fish only, now expanded). I trust only two people there essentially the owner and the guy I dealt with again today. The guy I spoke with after much thought reccommended I move my four fish, five peppermint shrimp, and two anenome to a separate tank using my saltwater(which was tested as normal except for slightly elevated nitrates possible due to bristle worms??). He said I should then add fresh water to the pre-existing tank and clean the LR to get rid of the worms and other bad residents of the tank. Once I got the step of cleaning the LR, I realized that the problems on the rocks was so extensive. I decided to start over with those and trash them. Was this a bad idea? What advice can anyone offer to me starting this tank back up from this point? I am really wishing I had not started this tank up right about now. :help:

 

[hot883]

Welcome. Sorry for your frustrations. I don't know if I would have approached it that way, but it might work out. I personally would have just taken the LR (1 piece at a time)out of the tank and set it outside for like a couple of days or so. Alot of it would have died off and then you scrub it and then rinse in sw then replace in tank.
When did you start this tank? I guess that should be the first question to get answered and then lets go from there. Ok!? Please list the size of tank and method of filtration amount of live rock etc. Barry

 

[1journeyman]

Welcome to the boards!
My first suggestion would be to go buy a good book. I'd suggest Fenner's "A Conscientious Marine Aquarist". That will give you a broad picture of what is going on in a marine tank.
Bristle worms are not a problem. They are just symptoms. Usually a large presence of them means you have too many nutrients (overfeeding) in your tank.
Are you using tap water? RO/DI water is the only way to go for marine tanks.
What kind of substrate do you have? How often are you doing water changes?

 

[ifusayso]

Originally Posted by hot883
Welcome. Sorry for your frustrations. I don't know if I would have approached it that way, but it might work out. I personally would have just taken the LR (1 piece at a time)out of the tank and set it outside for like a couple of days or so. Alot of it would have died off and then you scrub it and then rinse in sw then replace in tank.
When did you start this tank? I guess that should be the first question to get answered and then lets go from there. Ok!? Please list the size of tank and method of filtration amount of live rock etc. Barry

This is a 55 gal started up about a year ago. I actually left all the live rock in a bucket outside so maybe it is still salvageable. Without sounding dumb, I will try to explain the filtration. I use an emperor 400 and the whisper type the tank came with. I have/had as much as 20lbs of live rock including artificial coral pieces.

 

[ifusayso]

Originally Posted by 1journeyman
Welcome to the boards!
My first suggestion would be to go buy a good book. I'd suggest Fenner's "A Conscientious Marine Aquarist". That will give you a broad picture of what is going on in a marine tank.
Bristle worms are not a problem. They are just symptoms. Usually a large presence of them means you have too many nutrients (overfeeding) in your tank.
Are you using tap water? RO/DI water is the only way to go for marine tanks.
What kind of substrate do you have? How often are you doing water changes?

I will definitely get that book. Overfeeding my tank is possible, I use an automatic feeder(feeds 2 times a day) and I give them frozen shrimp also.
I am using tap water that I treat and I am not sure what RO/DI water is, sorry. I do plan in the future to buy water from the fish store as it come exactly how it should be, Good idea?
Water changes include no more than 5-10 gallons a week. I am not sure about the substrate, what kind might I have, examples?

 

[hot883]

Depending on what you want to do with the tank reef or fish only with live rock (fowlr) . The recommended amount of lr is 1-2 lbs. PER gallon. I have 70 lbs. in my 55 gal and another 40 lbs. on the way. I have crushed coral/sand mix as substrate (bad, bad, bad) and I will be changing all of it out when I recieve all my purchases in the mail. As stated above only use reverse osmosis R/O water or distilled. NEVER use tap water even if you treat it. Your specific gravity S.G. should be around 1.024-26 and temp. should be around 78-80 never moving more than 2 degrees during the course of the day.
I do a 7 gal. water change every Thurs. just my way to do it. On Tues. I mix up my new salt water in a dedicated rubbermaid container and let it churn and aerate (with a power head)for 24 hours at least to stabilize it. It needs to be exactly the same s.g. and temp. when you do your changes.
I have a 1,100 gph turn over in my 55 gal. tank because I am keeping simple corals and I have 260w of power compact (PC's) lights.

 

[ifusayso]

I want a fish only and live rock, although I am a bit unsure about the rock now. I never knew to check when I get it for possible worms etc. I will be very careful in the future. The substrate, well it came in a bag in saltwater with live bacteria and such. I am not sure what type of media it resemble what much of the pictures of tanks on here have. Do you recommend purchasing the water from my fish store? It is the water they use in there tanks...it would be treated and ready to pour in. The tank temp. is 80 and the specific gravity was at 1.023, before I removed all the water. Did you think the pump/filtration was enough? (emperor does 400gph and the whisper probably not much just use for extra help). BTW thank you so much for helping.

 

[exile415]

for the bubble algae, I would get a emerald crab, He'll eat it. You migh twant to do a few water changes and maybe add some powerheads. how big is the tank ? you can get boilded water and just squirt it on the aiptasia and it will kill it, or you can go out and buy a peppermint shrimp and it will eat it. both ways work well. your decisoion, I hope this helps you. good luck and have fun.
-Eric

 

[daytonaree]

Anyone Think That Maybe He Needs To Test For Phosphates And Silacates That With Nitrates Is Sure To Cause Alage.

 

[hot883]

Originally Posted by daytonaree
Anyone Think That Maybe He Needs To Test For Phosphates And Silacates That With Nitrates Is Sure To Cause Alage.
Yes I agree. I think he needs to take a sample of tank water to the local fish store (LFS) to have them test it. It's usually free and they will do it until you can buy a good testing kit. Salifert sells a good test kit.

 

[ifusayso]

Originally Posted by exile415
for the bubble algae, I would get a emerald crab, He'll eat it. You migh twant to do a few water changes and maybe add some powerheads. how big is the tank ? you can get boilded water and just squirt it on the aiptasia and it will kill it, or you can go out and buy a peppermint shrimp and it will eat it. both ways work well. your decisoion, I hope this helps you. good luck and have fun.
-Eric

Unfortunately, I was never aware until yesterday while visiting this site I should have what you all call a maintanence crew. Once I get my tank going again, I am planning to keep an emerald crab, six line wrasse, and the 5 peppermint shrimp I have.
My tank is a 55 gal and established for 1 year. I bought a total of five shrimp about 2-3 weeks ago and they seem like the aiptasia was not of their interest. Plus I had probably a good 75-100 that were 2+ inches tall. I should have taken pictures, between that and the bubble algae, and bristle worms my tank was completely a mess.
The powerheads is an avenue I have not gone yet and may do so when I get my tank set back up.
Thanks for your advice.

 

[ifusayso]

Originally Posted by daytonaree
Anyone Think That Maybe He Needs To Test For Phosphates And Silacates That With Nitrates Is Sure To Cause Alage.

The tester kit I have is a very simple one. It does test Nitrates but not specifically phosphates and silacates.

 

[ifusayso]

Originally Posted by hot883
Yes I agree. I think he needs to take a sample of tank water to the local fish store (LFS) to have them test it. It's usually free and they will do it until you can buy a good testing kit. Salifert sells a good test kit.

The interesting thing about this is when I took my sample of my "problems" to the fish store in water, they tested my water for me. They actually use the same tester I use, a dipstick that you just compare to the color blocks on the bottle. But just as mine read at home, everything was fine...except for a slightly elevated nitrate level. According to the fish store this perhaps is because of my large amount of bristle worms. Does this make sense to you? I wasn't sure why they would do this but, I was at a loss for figuring out what/when it all went wrong.

 

[ifusayso]

Originally Posted by hot883
Salifert sells a good test kit.

I found this brand, but can you tell me which kit I need? Available are several multi-testing kits and a bunch of individual ones. Thanks, again.

 

[daytonaree]

Yes thats the best brand just buy the phosphate test for now if you have extra money switch all your tests to salifert other test kit may not read right in ph mostly but don't ask your lfs that is the dubest thing i ever heard how can worms cause high nitrates in less there dieing then every other test would be high also nitrate takes time to go away get critters that help move the sand a bit like horse shoe crabs and some snails. sand helps remove the nitrates. Also make sure you have a big enough skimmer asm g-3 or bigger.

 

[ifusayso]

Originally Posted by daytonaree
Yes thats the best brand just buy the phosphate test for now if you have extra money switch all your tests to salifert other test kit may not read right in ph mostly but don't ask your lfs that is the dubest thing i ever heard how can worms cause high nitrates in less there dieing then every other test would be high also nitrate takes time to go away get critters that help move the sand a bit like horse shoe crabs and some snails. sand helps remove the nitrates. Also make sure you have a big enough skimmer asm g-3 or bigger.

I wasn't buying the bristle worm theory either. They were definitely alive and very well populated. Hmm...I don't have a skimmer at all! Although I am hearing much about them...never had been reccomended by my good ole lfs. Another thing I need to add to my re-starting list. Thanks for your help.

 

[puffer32]

Make sure you get afew power heads to move water around. I had those 5 test strips and they kept reading high nitrates in my tank! i switched to aquurium pharmaciticals and found my nitrates were almost 0! So don't trust those test strips even if your lfs uses them, they probably use them cause they are easier, but they are not reliable. Also, double your LR, use what you have, but get at least that much more, it is a good natural filter for your tank. You can use your live sand, also good filtration. I would get some hermit crabs and snails to finish your clean up crew. Do a good water change, (RO is cheaper then LFS, and you can buy it at walmart) clean your LR of algae, and you are set to go! Good luck

 

[robert dri]

Originally Posted by puffer32
Make sure you get afew power heads to move water around. I had those 5 test strips and they kept reading high nitrates in my tank! i switched to aquurium pharmaciticals and found my nitrates were almost 0! So don't trust those test strips even if your lfs uses them, they probably use them cause they are easier, but they are not reliable. Also, double your LR, use what you have, but get at least that much more, it is a good natural filter for your tank. You can use your live sand, also good filtration. I would get some hermit crabs and snails to finish your clean up crew. Do a good water change, (RO is cheaper then LFS, and you can buy it at walmart) clean your LR of algae, and you are set to go! Good luck

Puffer - Would your recommend cleaning the live rock with a turkey baster?

 

[puffer32]

Not sure that will be enough :notsure: I would have to look at your rock first, which i can't lol. But if its still covered with bristle worms, and you want to get rid of them you will need more vigerous scrubbing, but then you might kill somr good stuff to :notsure: Bristle worms are actually good for your tank, so i would keep them, just get a good cleanup crew to eat them and the algae, the RO water will prevent more algae from growing once it goes back in your tank. A good example of what a good cleanup crew will dois this past weekend i purchased a 3 lb worm rock with a ton of algae on it. I put it in my tank and my cleanup crew devoured it by the next morning! Let me know how it goes.

 

[ifusayso]

Originally Posted by puffer32
Not sure that will be enough :notsure: I would have to look at your rock first, which i can't lol. But if its still covered with bristle worms, and you want to get rid of them you will need more vigerous scrubbing, but then you might kill somr good stuff to :notsure: Bristle worms are actually good for your tank, so i would keep them, just get a good cleanup crew to eat them and the algae, the RO water will prevent more algae from growing once it goes back in your tank. A good example of what a good cleanup crew will dois this past weekend i purchased a 3 lb worm rock with a ton of algae on it. I put it in my tank and my cleanup crew devoured it by the next morning! Let me know how it goes.

So bristle worm are good? I was working hard to kill them. I got confused(which seems to not be too hard on the saltwater subject). I thought they were bad. So keeping rock with them all in and on it is fine? Just to be sure. I had drained my tank to get rid of several problems aforementioned and was about to dispose of the rock, because of the large and abundant bristle worms. Please advise specifically so I get this right. :notsure: