Help with Solana 35gal nano reef - Beginner

stackett82 · 06/10/2009, 03:14 PM

Hi all, I'm hoping to get some help here. My husband brought home a Solana 35gal nanoreef tank and has seemed to lose interest. Lately the water seems cloudy, is full of micro-bubbles, and now has green algae growing on the rocks and the glass. We used the pre-bought salt water that was sold to us at the fish store and was told it would be virtually maintainence free, but it appears not to be.

My question is, how often should I be cleaning the tank and more importantly, how would I go about cleaning this type of tank? It has the protein skimmer and a few other series of filters. Maybe if you could tell me the basics of keeping a tank of this nature up and running, it would be greatly appreciated...

terrinstevereef · 06/10/2009, 03:21 PM

You should clean it as much as needed to keep the glass clean, also from the sounds of it there have been no water changes. Water changes are pretty much needed, and even more so in a nano reef. The less water in the tank the less dilution is possible. You might want to do a 10 gallon water change on the tank soon and then change water every week or two from here on out.

Also what have you been using to top off the tank? Have you been using RO-DI water? If not I would highly recommend it.

stackett82 · 06/10/2009, 03:25 PM

We really haven't been keeping up on the water change.

We have been using RO water to top off the tank, but that last 25% water change was a few weeks back. Should I go ahead and remove the protein skimmer and other filters and clean those as well?

terrinstevereef · 06/10/2009, 03:35 PM

I would if I were you, the protein skimmer will need to be cleaned pretty often, I am not sure how big the cup is on that thing. As for the algae on the glass, do you have a magfloat to clean it with?

Bud Reeferman · 06/10/2009, 08:18 PM

RO top off water does NOT accomplish thesame thing as a gallon per gallon water exchange.

The RO top off doesn't remove the bad components created from fish digestion and degredation of uneaten food.

You're water is becomming more and more poision to thoe inhabitatants.

Take a sample of your water to a salt-water LFS and have them run a full battery of tests.

My guess is that Phos, Nitrates, Calcium and pH and more are way out of wack.

You need to actually remove water from the tank and replace it with fresh salt water from the LFS. Do a 25% exchange each week for four weeks to get back to what was normal.

06/10/2009, 03:14 PM	#1
stackett82 Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Phoenix, Az Posts: 2	Help with Solana 35gal nano reef - Beginner Hi all, I'm hoping to get some help here. My husband brought home a Solana 35gal nanoreef tank and has seemed to lose interest. Lately the water seems cloudy, is full of micro-bubbles, and now has green algae growing on the rocks and the glass. We used the pre-bought salt water that was sold to us at the fish store and was told it would be virtually maintainence free, but it appears not to be. My question is, how often should I be cleaning the tank and more importantly, how would I go about cleaning this type of tank? It has the protein skimmer and a few other series of filters. Maybe if you could tell me the basics of keeping a tank of this nature up and running, it would be greatly appreciated...

06/10/2009, 03:21 PM	#2
terrinstevereef Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Broken Arrow, Oklahoma Posts: 108	You should clean it as much as needed to keep the glass clean, also from the sounds of it there have been no water changes. Water changes are pretty much needed, and even more so in a nano reef. The less water in the tank the less dilution is possible. You might want to do a 10 gallon water change on the tank soon and then change water every week or two from here on out. Also what have you been using to top off the tank? Have you been using RO-DI water? If not I would highly recommend it. __________________ Weeeeeeeee! Current Tank Info: 75 Gallon Oceanic w/95lbs of Fiji/Tonga/Marshall Live rock, 120lbs of live sand. 33Gallon sump, AMS G1X skimmer, Current Outer Orbit T5HO 2x250 14K MH + 4x54 T5

06/10/2009, 03:35 PM	#4
terrinstevereef Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Broken Arrow, Oklahoma Posts: 108	I would if I were you, the protein skimmer will need to be cleaned pretty often, I am not sure how big the cup is on that thing. As for the algae on the glass, do you have a magfloat to clean it with? __________________ Weeeeeeeee! Current Tank Info: 75 Gallon Oceanic w/95lbs of Fiji/Tonga/Marshall Live rock, 120lbs of live sand. 33Gallon sump, AMS G1X skimmer, Current Outer Orbit T5HO 2x250 14K MH + 4x54 T5

06/10/2009, 08:18 PM	#5
Bud Reeferman Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Midlothian, VA Posts: 408	RO top off water does NOT accomplish thesame thing as a gallon per gallon water exchange. The RO top off doesn't remove the bad components created from fish digestion and degredation of uneaten food. You're water is becomming more and more poision to thoe inhabitatants. Take a sample of your water to a salt-water LFS and have them run a full battery of tests. My guess is that Phos, Nitrates, Calcium and pH and more are way out of wack. You need to actually remove water from the tank and replace it with fresh salt water from the LFS. Do a 25% exchange each week for four weeks to get back to what was normal. __________________ Bud Reeferman _________________________ Current Tank Info: 225g with refugium, Starfire, three 450W MH, two 5' VHO Actinic, moon lights, Octopus skimmer, auto top-off, C02 reactor, chiller, two Little Fishies reactors, ghosts of hundreds of dead fish and coral

06/10/2009, 03:25 PM	#3
stackett82 Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Phoenix, Az Posts: 2	We really haven't been keeping up on the water change. We have been using RO water to top off the tank, but that last 25% water change was a few weeks back. Should I go ahead and remove the protein skimmer and other filters and clean those as well?