Water Quality Opinions

[Alan Passmore]

I just did a water analysis on my marine aquarium, and would like your
opinion.

46 gallon bow front aquarium
Fluval 404 filter, with bio-balls
one power head for water movement
2 x 200 watt heaters
2 x fluorescent lights in the hood - these are marked GE F55BX/AR/FS on
their socket ends, and 700 on the glass tube
I had a 250 watt 14000K metal halide lamp in the hood as well, but it burned
out about 6 months ago and I haven't bothered replacing it

about 30 lbs. almost live rock... this rock was live a number of months
ago. I removed all the rock to experiment with just the crushed coral
bottom. We had 3 ocellaris (sp?) clowns for a couple months, then I added a
dragon sand sifter and a scopas tang. All seemed to be doing well. Then I
decided to add the rock back to the aquarium. That's when the trouble
began. Two of the three clowns went to their maker, as did the sand sifter
and tang. A quick water check indicated a rather large ammonia spike, which
I assume to be the cause of the fish's demise. The remaining clown, what a
trooper, survived the ammonia spike and seems to faring well. The rock is
showing some signs of life now - seeing some growth on it.

I did a water analysis today, and here are the readings I got:
ammonia: 0 mg/l
nitrate: < 5 mg/l
nitrite: < 0.1 mg/l
calcium: around 400 mg/l
iron: 0 mg/l
chelated iron: 0 mg/l
phosphate: 0 mg/l
KH carbonate hardness: 120 mg/l
GH general hardness: off the scale (no change from pink/red to violet after
over 60 drops of reagent)
pH: 8.2
SG: 1.021

At this point, I'm just looking for general comments on the set-up.


Thanks!

[Billy]

"Alan Passmore" > wrote in message
news:rhXgd.68711$nl.30617@pd7tw3no...
| about 30 lbs. almost live rock... this rock was live a number of
months
| ago. I removed all the rock to experiment with just the crushed
coral
| bottom. We had 3 ocellaris (sp?) clowns for a couple months, then
I added a
| dragon sand sifter and a scopas tang. All seemed to be doing well.
Then I
| decided to add the rock back to the aquarium. That's when the
trouble
| began. Two of the three clowns went to their maker, as did the
sand sifter
| and tang. A quick water check indicated a rather large ammonia
spike, which
| I assume to be the cause of the fish's demise. The remaining
clown, what a
| trooper, survived the ammonia spike and seems to faring well. The
rock is
| showing some signs of life now - seeing some growth on it.
|

I'm sure already know what happened, you added rock with a large
quantity of dead organic material on it, which then rotted in the
tank.


| At this point, I'm just looking for general comments on the set-up.
|
|

Your setup sounds fine for sustaining fish. If you want to really
pull the max critters out of the live rock, or keep any other
livestock, such as corals, you're going to need to upgrade that
lighting, and likely lose the wet\dry filter, they're notorious for
making nitrate spikes sneak up on you. Best bet is to let the live
rock tank care of the filtration. After a month at best, that old
rock will be good to go as a natural filter, provided you don't load
up the tank.

As for the KH and GH issues, I'd recommend posting at reefcentral, or
to rec.aquaria.marine.reefs as this group is pretty dead, and I'm
still not comfortable enough with the chemistry to offer any advice.

[Billy]

"Billy" > wrote in message
...
|
| Your setup sounds fine for sustaining fish. If you want to really
| pull the max critters out of the live rock, or keep any other


I shouold add, that you may want to get a few ounds of new LR from
the LFS to 'seed' the old stuff with all those great critters we love
to watch.

[Alan Passmore]

Thanks for your input. I'll post on alt.rec.marine.reefs as well.

What are your thoughts on replacing the burned out metal halide lamp with
the same thing? 250W 14000K


"Billy" > wrote in message
...
>
>
> "Billy" > wrote in message
> ...
> |
> | Your setup sounds fine for sustaining fish. If you want to really
> | pull the max critters out of the live rock, or keep any other
>
>
> I shouold add, that you may want to get a few ounds of new LR from
> the LFS to 'seed' the old stuff with all those great critters we love
> to watch.
>
>

[Billy]

"Alan Passmore" > wrote in message
news:DKehd.79318$Pl.39127@pd7tw1no...
|
| Thanks for your input. I'll post on alt.rec.marine.reefs as well.
|
| What are your thoughts on replacing the burned out metal halide
lamp with
| the same thing? 250W 14000K
|


No not alt. Just rec.aquaria.marine.reefs

Let me restate my suggestion to sign up on reefcentral.com. Not to
knock anyone on USENET, but there are some SERIOUSLY dedicated
reefers on there. I've gotten 3/4 of my knowledge by just browsing
the forums.

I've never used halides, so I'd best not comment too much. As far as
I understand, 250w is a minimum if you're into keeping softies. 400
is better. If you have no serious light-demanding corals, I'd skip
the halide altogether. Creates a huge amount of heat, takes up lots
of room, and make your power meter spin like a mad thing.

billy