Re: System trouble-tank specs

[Teeb]

Normal Output, yes it's what you have.. not good enough for a reef but
depends on what you want to keep. (I have an actinic, got it yesterday, and
a 10Kk also).. I have sort of an *accidental* wannabe reef.. things came in
on live rock and a misguided hubby bought me a polyp colony.. while they are
doing ok from what I can tell over the past several months, it is NOT
anywhere near adequate for a reef. If you upgrade your lighting, and add
corals, the aiptasia (the bad *weeds*) need to go.. I think they sting and
can damage or kill some corals.. yeah they look kind of neat though and the
ones I had for awhile, came in on the live rock.. it was interesting to
watch them feed.. got rid of them with peppermint shrimp. I know someone
else will step in and help you better than I can.

Teeb

"Lone6Wolfpack" > wrote in message
link.net...
> alright, this may stupid to myself when i read this back, but what does NO
> stand for, probably what i have, anyway, i have two 48" 40w 50/50's, one
> pure actinic and one 10,000k daylight, total is 160 on a 55 gal or 60 gal
> tank. ais this sufficient for a budding reef? im into sprouting my own
> with the help of live sand and the cheaper live rock that has been picked
> thru alrea>

[Patrick]

WOW! Where to start...

Some random things -

- 160 Watts on a 60 gallon tank is not so hot for a reef tank - double
would be better.

- You say that you test for Nitrate, but don't say what the results
are.. Hair algae like you have can be caused by high Nitrate and
Phosphate levels - you should really check for phosphates.

- Your lights are on for a long time - 13 hours is a pretty long
photoperiod.

- When is the last time you changed your bulbs??? Normal Output (NO)
bulbs that are on 13 hours per day have probably spectrum-shifted by
now if you haven't changed them in a long time. The spectrum shift
can cause algae to grow.

- You need to get a BUNCH more hermits - they help clean things up.

- Your wet-dry filter and prefilter sponges are probably a nitrate
factory, contributing to likely high nitrate levels. Most people here
seem to be in agreement that bio-balls/bio-wheels, etc should be
removed when you are creating a reef tank.

- You have high ARSENIC levels????? Are you actually testing for
this??? Arsenic does not come from any fish tank source that I know
of - it almost always come from contaminated source water. Please
consider having your county water department or extension office test
your well water for you - if you have high levels of toxic metals
and/or chemicals in your well, your fish tank is the least of your
problems...

Run any and all water tests that you have, and post the results here.
That will be a big help...




"Lone6Wolfpack" > wrote in message . net>...
> alright, this may stupid to myself when i read this back, but what does NO
> stand for, probably what i have, anyway, i have two 48" 40w 50/50's, one
> pure actinic and one 10,000k daylight, total is 160 on a 55 gal or 60 gal
> tank. ais this sufficient for a budding reef? im into sprouting my own
> with the help of live sand and the cheaper live rock that has been picked
> thru already with only micro stuff on it or stuff thats hidden away pretty
> good. alot of spreading going on with tube worms and feather duster looking
> thing, some are flourescent pink-orange and some are just maroon, theres a
> thing in there that i swear looks and acts like a pair of black armored
> scissors, was a clam it died, and alot pr puple calcification, lime green
> growth and pink colorations growing on the rocks. sound like its doing good?
> also some of the common(i believe) little anenomes that have been called a
> weed by some(dont know the names), i think its good, heck, its gotta filter
> the water. had some button polyps, they died... ugh, got my nitrates down
> to low low range....
> problem............
> i added these last two lite bulbs(one 50-50 and one daylite 10,000k) and
> built a new lid, now all the sudden i have hair algae growinig on some of
> the rocks and inbetween the anenomes, etc.. adjusted light down from 13 or
> 13.5 hrs a day to about 12.5 or 12 now, dont want to go much less. havent
> checked phosphate yet, anybody have a poor mans idea on how to check if its
> phosphate. we have well water, thast goes into tanks, then pumped to
> housed, think its untreated, i have been using this superbly clean water on
> my reef for a year now, erery drop of the reef water has been this but not
> sure if this is really bad... i dont treat the water at all, just use
> coralife salt and pour into the filter sump tank at about 79 degrees.
> question, the arsenic is slightly high, and ALL the starfish that have
> spawned in this tank, about 18 of them, are deformed. is this a problem
> with fiji rock or my water? dumb question. also, is this hair algae coming
> from anything in the water? i use kent products, dont test Calcium and
> Phosphate and Copper yet, only PH and Nitrate at teh present so far. please
> help with the best suggestion to get my system back on track and onto the
> right track at that.....
>
> I have a yellow tang, and a blenny, one hermit crab(3/4 inch) about 15-20
> starfish all pencil eraser size, and about 100-500 snail all smaller than
> eraser size. ive kept these snail in there purposely, think there an
> environmental reaction at one time when bad algaes were growing in there,
> now i hopw theyre taking good care of my tank instead of killing things...
> seem to just miss the delicate stuff all the time. lots of tube worms
> casting their nets (maybe 15-25) wierd sea urchin looking things that are
> soft and sticky looking with tentacles that allow for procreation and
> feeding, and of course the clear looking tube worms that i believe are
> another remnant of a dirty system, or are they good to be forming in the
> darker areas of my filter? ugh, thought not..... couldnt they be cleaning
> the water?
>
> I have a wet dry filter with 6gal sump on floor with siphon box in tank
> thats only about 3-5 inches deep, in that i have a 2 inch flex siphon hose
> and some live sand on bottom and some live plant in box so yellow tang
> doesnt eat, and to filter the water., in sump is a bag with carbon and post
> filter, and bio balls. theres a pre filter box on outside of tank too with
> pre filter, heater in siphon portion, with clear tube worms in this region,
> and pre filter, with few bio balls underneath that one too.

[Lone6Wolfpack]

Ya, hello there. i tested my nitrate and its down to about 2.5ppm. in the
low range, using a low range test that tests 10ppm and below.. haevnt tested
phosphate, someone asked me if i was using a protien skimmer. do you think
it could be the lack of a protien skimmer? i quit using it as soon as i put
the new light system on. the two older bulbs are about 8 years old. doesnt
look like the pure actinic hasnt shifted much, lol. lowered photo period to
about 12/1/2 hrs now. dang that kinda sucks, used to havin it on late, and
on early. anyway, with only 160 watts would a 14hr foto per. work? was
thinkin of removin the balls too, think i should? system seems well
established...
on the arsenic, already had the water company test my water, and got most of
my info from the water statement, its within human compatible ranges,
according to the epa standards, but the new standards will be from lower
than they are now, to none. sucks to have any in the water at all.......
thanks for all the good info.. wolfhedd



"Patrick" > wrote in message
m...
> WOW! Where to start...
>
> Some random things -
>
> - 160 Watts on a 60 gallon tank is not so hot for a reef tank - double
> would be better.
>
> - You say that you test for Nitrate, but don't say what the results
> are.. Hair algae like you have can be caused by high Nitrate and
> Phosphate levels - you should really check for phosphates.
>
> - Your lights are on for a long time - 13 hours is a pretty long
> photoperiod.
>
> - When is the last time you changed your bulbs??? Normal Output (NO)
> bulbs that are on 13 hours per day have probably spectrum-shifted by
> now if you haven't changed them in a long time. The spectrum shift
> can cause algae to grow.
>
> - You need to get a BUNCH more hermits - they help clean things up.
>
> - Your wet-dry filter and prefilter sponges are probably a nitrate
> factory, contributing to likely high nitrate levels. Most people here
> seem to be in agreement that bio-balls/bio-wheels, etc should be
> removed when you are creating a reef tank.
>
> - You have high ARSENIC levels????? Are you actually testing for
> this??? Arsenic does not come from any fish tank source that I know
> of - it almost always come from contaminated source water. Please
> consider having your county water department or extension office test
> your well water for you - if you have high levels of toxic metals
> and/or chemicals in your well, your fish tank is the least of your
> problems...
>
> Run any and all water tests that you have, and post the results here.
> That will be a big help...
>
>
>
>
> "Lone6Wolfpack" > wrote in message
. net>...
> > alright, this may stupid to myself when i read this back, but what does
NO
> > stand for, probably what i have, anyway, i have two 48" 40w 50/50's, one
> > pure actinic and one 10,000k daylight, total is 160 on a 55 gal or 60
gal
> > tank. ais this sufficient for a budding reef? im into sprouting my own
> > with the help of live sand and the cheaper live rock that has been
picked
> > thru already with only micro stuff on it or stuff thats hidden away
pretty
> > good. alot of spreading going on with tube worms and feather duster
looking
> > thing, some are flourescent pink-orange and some are just maroon, theres
a
> > thing in there that i swear looks and acts like a pair of black armored
> > scissors, was a clam it died, and alot pr puple calcification, lime
green
> > growth and pink colorations growing on the rocks. sound like its doing
good?
> > also some of the common(i believe) little anenomes that have been called
a
> > weed by some(dont know the names), i think its good, heck, its gotta
filter
> > the water. had some button polyps, they died... ugh, got my nitrates
down
> > to low low range....
> > problem............
> > i added these last two lite bulbs(one 50-50 and one daylite 10,000k) and
> > built a new lid, now all the sudden i have hair algae growinig on some
of
> > the rocks and inbetween the anenomes, etc.. adjusted light down from 13
or
> > 13.5 hrs a day to about 12.5 or 12 now, dont want to go much less.
havent
> > checked phosphate yet, anybody have a poor mans idea on how to check if
its
> > phosphate. we have well water, thast goes into tanks, then pumped to
> > housed, think its untreated, i have been using this superbly clean water
on
> > my reef for a year now, erery drop of the reef water has been this but
not
> > sure if this is really bad... i dont treat the water at all, just use
> > coralife salt and pour into the filter sump tank at about 79 degrees.
> > question, the arsenic is slightly high, and ALL the starfish that have
> > spawned in this tank, about 18 of them, are deformed. is this a problem
> > with fiji rock or my water? dumb question. also, is this hair algae
coming
> > from anything in the water? i use kent products, dont test Calcium and
> > Phosphate and Copper yet, only PH and Nitrate at teh present so far.
please
> > help with the best suggestion to get my system back on track and onto
the
> > right track at that.....
> >
> > I have a yellow tang, and a blenny, one hermit crab(3/4 inch) about
15-20
> > starfish all pencil eraser size, and about 100-500 snail all smaller
than
> > eraser size. ive kept these snail in there purposely, think there an
> > environmental reaction at one time when bad algaes were growing in
there,
> > now i hopw theyre taking good care of my tank instead of killing
things...
> > seem to just miss the delicate stuff all the time. lots of tube worms
> > casting their nets (maybe 15-25) wierd sea urchin looking things that
are
> > soft and sticky looking with tentacles that allow for procreation and
> > feeding, and of course the clear looking tube worms that i believe are
> > another remnant of a dirty system, or are they good to be forming in the
> > darker areas of my filter? ugh, thought not..... couldnt they be
cleaning
> > the water?
> >
> > I have a wet dry filter with 6gal sump on floor with siphon box in tank
> > thats only about 3-5 inches deep, in that i have a 2 inch flex siphon
hose
> > and some live sand on bottom and some live plant in box so yellow tang
> > doesnt eat, and to filter the water., in sump is a bag with carbon and
post
> > filter, and bio balls. theres a pre filter box on outside of tank too
with
> > pre filter, heater in siphon portion, with clear tube worms in this
region,
> > and pre filter, with few bio balls underneath that one too.
>