complete novice needs advise

[jw]

Hello group,

My son has a reef tank. The son has now moved away to college and has left
this mess for ole dad to care for.

I don't believe it is set up right because he has fought algae (slimy,
hair-like and green) since shortly after he initialized the tank. His buddy,
"the expert" moved away shortly after he bought the live rock but before he
introduced the reef creatures into the tank.

Here's the layout, the best I can describe it. A 10 gallon tank above a 35
gallon tank. The smaller tank has been divided into two separate
compartments by siliconed glass at a 45 degree angle from one side to the
back and to within an inch or so from the tank's top. As water is pumped in
from the larger tank it goes into the smaller compartment and then overflows
into the larger compartment and from there is gravity feed back into the
larger tank below. The smaller compartment has nothing in it but the larger
compartment has approx five inches of sand in it along with a strong stand
of calpera (calpura?). I am not sure that I am either saying or spelling it
right but I was with him when he bought it and I think that is what they
called it. There are two pumps in the large tank one to pump the water up to
the smaller tank and another to circulate the water. All of the lights are
less than 6 months old.

He has a rather large brain coral (approx 3x5 inches) and 3 (once was seven)
other smaller ones that I an not sure what they are called. He also has one
fish that is doing quite well, it is black and white and likes sleeping on
the brain coral.

The moss is terrible. I just changed out five gallons of the tank with
filtered water that was properly salted and warmed to tank temperature. I
then took out each rock and picked away the moss before re-entering them
into the tank. It is clearing quickly and looks much better. The coral
didn't look too happy at first but they quickly came out of there unhappy
looking state.

How many hours, at minimum, do the lights have to be on? The lights in the
big tank are on about 8 hours per day and in the smaller tank about 12 hours
per day. The large tank has a protein skimmer that is running (not sure if
it is properly working and set right), and there is a recalculating charcoal
filter in the smaller tank. The skimmer needs to be re-primed every couple
of days or so.

I have never understood the purpose of the sand in the smaller tank. It
would seem that if the water were pumped under the sand, as it rose through
it to the discharge line into the larger tank, it would be filtered. How can
the sand be expected to filter anything as the water simply flows over it?

How quickly should the trace minerals be put into the tank after a partial
water change? I was told to give them half a cap full of each of the
minerals once per week. Also, does the recalculating charcoal filter in the
smaller tank rob the minerals that I put in to feed the coral? With a total
of 45 gallons how much water should be exchanged when changing the water?

I hate not researching something before going for help in a newsgroup first
but I don't really have the necessary time to learn on my own and I am not
too sure that the reef creatures can survive if I don't do something
quickly.

Any help would greatly be appreciated.

jw

[George Patterson]

jw wrote:

> I have never understood the purpose of the sand in the smaller tank. It
> would seem that if the water were pumped under the sand, as it rose through
> it to the discharge line into the larger tank, it would be filtered. How can
> the sand be expected to filter anything as the water simply flows over it?

The general idea is that nitrifying bacteria grows in the sand. The sand doesn't
serve as a filter in the sense that you mean it. The sand can also serve as a
basis for supporting filter plants such as mangroves.

> How quickly should the trace minerals be put into the tank after a partial
> water change?

Assuming you used a good marine salt mix (such as Red Sea, Instant Ocean, or
Tropic-Marin), the new water will contain the correct amount of trace elements.
Just stay on your usual schedule.

> Also, does the recalculating charcoal filter in the
> smaller tank rob the minerals that I put in to feed the coral? With a total
> of 45 gallons how much water should be exchanged when changing the water?

The filter should not do that. Usually people change about 1/4 of the water at a
time. Given that one common size for salt mixes is ten gallons, that's what I
would change in your case. Opinions vary as to how often you should change
water. Since my tank setup is different, I will not offer an opinion.

As for the algae, it sounds like you have hair algae. This usually feeds on
nitrates and/or phosphates. Nitrates are an end product of food decay. These
should be low or non-existent in a properly set up reef tank. Phosphates tend to
come in from outside, usually from the tap water. There are two things you can
do about this, and you probably should do both.

If you can find a source of clean water produced by running it through a
reverse-osmosis filter, use that for your water changes. Distilled water is
another option. A third option is to use bottled spring water; if you do this,
make sure the brand you buy contains no phosphates (fish stores sell test kits
for this).

The second thing to do is buy a few blue-leg hermit crabs. They eat algae.

Finally; make sure that protein skimmer is working correctly. This is very
important with your setup.

George Patterson
Give a person a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a person to
use the Internet and he won't bother you for weeks.

[Wayne Sallee]

Alo pet stores are a good sorce of good water. Many pet
stores sell RO water, and many also sell premixed ro salt
water. As pointed out,making regular water changes with
this low nutrient water will help with the hair algae
problem, as will the protine skimmer kept working, and
algae eaters. The nice thing about getting the water at
the pet store is that you don't have to worry about
whether it is a sutible source of water or not, and also
the option of the convienience of geting it already mixed.
But be sure to seak out a pet store that is reputable, as
many will sell you down the river.

Wayne Sallee

[erik]

I'd be interested in hearing exactly what kind of minerals you're
adding and how often. I'm guessing you have a general purpose trace
element additive. I'd consider reducing (or eliminating) that as it
could cause problems with excess algae if you're adding more than the
system can consume. If you're adding calcium, or some kind of buffer,
then I'd be very careful doing that without testing the system water
regularly.

To really be sure, I'd get a test kit for Nitrate and for Phosphate.
One or both of these is ultimately going to be your problem. Find out
which one and then you can work on removing it.


Good luck.



On Thu, 22 Sep 2005 01:12:13 -0500, "jw" > wrote:

>Hello group,
>
>My son has a reef tank. The son has now moved away to college and has left
>this mess for ole dad to care for.
>
>I don't believe it is set up right because he has fought algae (slimy,
>hair-like and green) since shortly after he initialized the tank. His buddy,
>"the expert" moved away shortly after he bought the live rock but before he
>introduced the reef creatures into the tank.
>
>Here's the layout, the best I can describe it. A 10 gallon tank above a 35
>gallon tank. The smaller tank has been divided into two separate
>compartments by siliconed glass at a 45 degree angle from one side to the
>back and to within an inch or so from the tank's top. As water is pumped in
>from the larger tank it goes into the smaller compartment and then overflows
>into the larger compartment and from there is gravity feed back into the
>larger tank below. The smaller compartment has nothing in it but the larger
>compartment has approx five inches of sand in it along with a strong stand
>of calpera (calpura?). I am not sure that I am either saying or spelling it
>right but I was with him when he bought it and I think that is what they
>called it. There are two pumps in the large tank one to pump the water up to
>the smaller tank and another to circulate the water. All of the lights are
>less than 6 months old.
>
>He has a rather large brain coral (approx 3x5 inches) and 3 (once was seven)
>other smaller ones that I an not sure what they are called. He also has one
>fish that is doing quite well, it is black and white and likes sleeping on
>the brain coral.
>
>The moss is terrible. I just changed out five gallons of the tank with
>filtered water that was properly salted and warmed to tank temperature. I
>then took out each rock and picked away the moss before re-entering them
>into the tank. It is clearing quickly and looks much better. The coral
>didn't look too happy at first but they quickly came out of there unhappy
>looking state.
>
>How many hours, at minimum, do the lights have to be on? The lights in the
>big tank are on about 8 hours per day and in the smaller tank about 12 hours
>per day. The large tank has a protein skimmer that is running (not sure if
>it is properly working and set right), and there is a recalculating charcoal
>filter in the smaller tank. The skimmer needs to be re-primed every couple
>of days or so.
>
>I have never understood the purpose of the sand in the smaller tank. It
>would seem that if the water were pumped under the sand, as it rose through
>it to the discharge line into the larger tank, it would be filtered. How can
>the sand be expected to filter anything as the water simply flows over it?
>
>How quickly should the trace minerals be put into the tank after a partial
>water change? I was told to give them half a cap full of each of the
>minerals once per week. Also, does the recalculating charcoal filter in the
>smaller tank rob the minerals that I put in to feed the coral? With a total
>of 45 gallons how much water should be exchanged when changing the water?
>
>I hate not researching something before going for help in a newsgroup first
>but I don't really have the necessary time to learn on my own and I am not
>too sure that the reef creatures can survive if I don't do something
>quickly.
>
>Any help would greatly be appreciated.
>
>jw
>
>

[the depressed wanderer]

"George Patterson" > wrote in message
news:%UAYe.10745$i86.6615@trndny01...
> jw wrote:
>
> Assuming you used a good marine salt mix (such as Red Sea, Instant Ocean,
> or Tropic-Marin), the new water will contain the correct amount of trace
> elements. Just stay on your usual schedule.


erm. gotta chime in about IO salt. IO salt contains less trace elements than
say... oceanic salt mix.

just sayin, cuz oceanic mix here is about 7$ cheaper than the IO salt mix.

[George Patterson]

the depressed wanderer wrote:

> erm. gotta chime in about IO salt. IO salt contains less trace elements than
> say... oceanic salt mix.

Good to know. I use Tropic Marin myself. Glad to have an excuse not to change.

George Patterson
Give a person a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a person to
use the Internet and he won't bother you for weeks.