Hitting the restart button.

Jackie Blue · 02/05/2009, 01:43 AM

I have had a custom tank for some time, I received it from my neighbor as a graduation gift because he wanted it out of his basement. The tank is custom made but is 48" long 18" high and 18" deep. The tank was doing ok not great (that is it was not an established reef tank) when I left for college. After college and a failed bid go join the Marines I was sitting down and looked at my disaster of a tank. It was in sad shape and after cleaning it, replacing a ballast, and giving it a water change (first in at-least 4 months) the tank is starting to look much better. Now that I am going to be home much more (assuming things don't go well with the Marines) I am looking to get it ready for me to start putting coral and fish in it. I don't want this to be like previous years where I just tossed poor critters into the tank with little or no research or with the tank in lousy shape. Here is the set up that I have

Tank which is about 67 gallons with overflow box
Return pump: Eheim 1260 (great pump btw, very quiet)
Skimmer: Berlin XL venturi powered by rio 3100 (got used from LFS shortened it to 28")
Magnum 350 with micron cartridge and activated carbon
Koralia #3 and #4 power heads (both too large for tank only using #3)
Wet dry filter/sump Sealife systems pro series 150
JBJ fermosa 48" DX with 2 10k bulbs and 2 antic bulbs
and a heater don't know what brand forgot to check

Livestock
1 yellow tailed damsel
1 yellow tang
2 clown fish
3 blue chromis's with a yellow belly
1 coral banded shrimp (large)
2 hermit crabs
1 small grey xenia which does not look too hot
plenty of freaking glass anemones which are very happy about the fixed light
and I would say easily 50lbs of live rock and 3 inch sand bed.

I found a few of my test kits and here's what I got.

Nitrites: .0 ppm
Ammonia: .25 ppm
Nitrate: 30ppm
P.H test kit card is missing

I will look at my calcium and alkalinity tom. and update. I also added iodine but I hear from my parents that the shrimp has molted 2 times so I guess it's not too bad. Obviously I have an ammonia and nitrate problem and who knows about the PH or other missing tests.

I have virtually no clean up crew minus the two crabs one of which is very very small and the other is getting large.

I am looking for tips, hints, ways, voodoo magic that can help me with my crappy water quality, will running activated carbon in the Magnum help with some of it, I have no RO/DI and last time I checked the tap water did have nitrates in it (I believe, it's been a while). I want to get this tank on the road to where I can start stocking it but I don't want to put much in it now until I get it in good order.

Thanks for reading this much and thank you for your suggestions.

Toddrtrex · 02/05/2009, 01:56 AM

To Reef Central

Some quick things -- since it is getting late --

Get rid of the wet/dry and make a sump --- the wet/dry mostly likely is part of the issue with nitrates.

Get an RO/DI unit --- starting off with clean/good water will go along way.

The magnum is okay for running carbon, but make sure to change/clean it often -- a reactor would be better.

Jackie Blue · 02/06/2009, 10:43 AM

Will be taking the bio balls out of the wet dry filter be enough for the time being or should building a dedicated sump be #2 on my priority list behind finding a RO/DI unit.

Here are the results from the other tests.

Calcium: 360 mg/L
Alkalinity: 4 mEq/L though I think I messed up testing this I will try again, have problems with the colors and deciding wether or not they have changed and what colors they are.

I cleaned my protein skimmer and got it back up and running, I have noticed that it is not producing any skimmate. It is producing bubbles but not a whole lot of them, enough to fill the first column and second, though I can see through the second column into the first and for how large it is there does not seem to be enough bubbles. I took the pump apart and saw that I had a impeller that is missing 2 blades. My question that I was looking for replacement impellers and saw a needle wheel so my thought was do I replaces the impeller with the needle wheel, making the simmer a turbo skimmer and not a venturi, and if so do I take the venturi piece out if I were to do that?

Jackie Blue · 02/06/2009, 01:59 PM

correction the alkalinity is 3 not four. Just retested.

Jackie Blue · 02/06/2009, 02:00 PM

Should I look into a clean up crew of some sort once the water quality is better?

Toddrtrex · 02/06/2009, 02:42 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Jackie Blue
Will be taking the bio balls out of the wet dry filter be enough for the time being or should building a dedicated sump be #2 on my priority list behind finding a RO/DI unit.

Here are the results from the other tests.

Calcium: 360 mg/L
Alkalinity: 4 mEq/L though I think I messed up testing this I will try again, have problems with the colors and deciding wether or not they have changed and what colors they are.

I cleaned my protein skimmer and got it back up and running, I have noticed that it is not producing any skimmate. It is producing bubbles but not a whole lot of them, enough to fill the first column and second, though I can see through the second column into the first and for how large it is there does not seem to be enough bubbles. I took the pump apart and saw that I had a impeller that is missing 2 blades. My question that I was looking for replacement impellers and saw a needle wheel so my thought was do I replaces the impeller with the needle wheel, making the simmer a turbo skimmer and not a venturi, and if so do I take the venturi piece out if I were to do that?

Taking the bio-balls out will help a lot. Think that getting an RO/DI unit should be #1 on your list -- since that is the starting point for everything -- if you have "bad" water nothing else will matter as much.
For your skimmer, mine is already a needle wheel, and has the venturi -- the needle wheel will chop the bubbles from the venturi even finer.

Jackie Blue · 02/06/2009, 04:52 PM

On my skimmer the venturi will be behind the skimmer wheel.

02/06/2009, 02:00 PM	#5
Jackie Blue Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Elgin, IL Posts: 333	Should I look into a clean up crew of some sort once the water quality is better? __________________ How am I doing? Well I got ten fingers and toes. Current Tank Info: 120 Gallon. Custom made refugium sump 30 gallons.

02/06/2009, 04:52 PM	#7
Jackie Blue Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Elgin, IL Posts: 333	On my skimmer the venturi will be behind the skimmer wheel. __________________ How am I doing? Well I got ten fingers and toes. Current Tank Info: 120 Gallon. Custom made refugium sump 30 gallons.

02/05/2009, 01:43 AM	#1
Jackie Blue Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Elgin, IL Posts: 333	Hitting the restart button. I have had a custom tank for some time, I received it from my neighbor as a graduation gift because he wanted it out of his basement. The tank is custom made but is 48" long 18" high and 18" deep. The tank was doing ok not great (that is it was not an established reef tank) when I left for college. After college and a failed bid go join the Marines I was sitting down and looked at my disaster of a tank. It was in sad shape and after cleaning it, replacing a ballast, and giving it a water change (first in at-least 4 months) the tank is starting to look much better. Now that I am going to be home much more (assuming things don't go well with the Marines) I am looking to get it ready for me to start putting coral and fish in it. I don't want this to be like previous years where I just tossed poor critters into the tank with little or no research or with the tank in lousy shape. Here is the set up that I have Tank which is about 67 gallons with overflow box Return pump: Eheim 1260 (great pump btw, very quiet) Skimmer: Berlin XL venturi powered by rio 3100 (got used from LFS shortened it to 28") Magnum 350 with micron cartridge and activated carbon Koralia #3 and #4 power heads (both too large for tank only using #3) Wet dry filter/sump Sealife systems pro series 150 JBJ fermosa 48" DX with 2 10k bulbs and 2 antic bulbs and a heater don't know what brand forgot to check Livestock 1 yellow tailed damsel 1 yellow tang 2 clown fish 3 blue chromis's with a yellow belly 1 coral banded shrimp (large) 2 hermit crabs 1 small grey xenia which does not look too hot plenty of freaking glass anemones which are very happy about the fixed light and I would say easily 50lbs of live rock and 3 inch sand bed. I found a few of my test kits and here's what I got. Nitrites: .0 ppm Ammonia: .25 ppm Nitrate: 30ppm P.H test kit card is missing I will look at my calcium and alkalinity tom. and update. I also added iodine but I hear from my parents that the shrimp has molted 2 times so I guess it's not too bad. Obviously I have an ammonia and nitrate problem and who knows about the PH or other missing tests. I have virtually no clean up crew minus the two crabs one of which is very very small and the other is getting large. I am looking for tips, hints, ways, voodoo magic that can help me with my crappy water quality, will running activated carbon in the Magnum help with some of it, I have no RO/DI and last time I checked the tap water did have nitrates in it (I believe, it's been a while). I want to get this tank on the road to where I can start stocking it but I don't want to put much in it now until I get it in good order. Thanks for reading this much and thank you for your suggestions.

02/05/2009, 01:56 AM	#2
Toddrtrex Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Carol Stream, IL Posts: 23,162	*To Reef Central* Some quick things -- since it is getting late -- Get rid of the wet/dry and make a sump --- the wet/dry mostly likely is part of the issue with nitrates. Get an RO/DI unit --- starting off with clean/good water will go along way. The magnum is okay for running carbon, but make sure to change/clean it often -- a reactor would be better. __________________ Click my name and then "visit toddrtrex's homepage" for tank pictures Current Tank Info: 210g reef and 65g reef

02/06/2009, 10:43 AM	#3
Jackie Blue Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Elgin, IL Posts: 333	Will be taking the bio balls out of the wet dry filter be enough for the time being or should building a dedicated sump be #2 on my priority list behind finding a RO/DI unit. Here are the results from the other tests. Calcium: 360 mg/L Alkalinity: 4 mEq/L though I think I messed up testing this I will try again, have problems with the colors and deciding wether or not they have changed and what colors they are. I cleaned my protein skimmer and got it back up and running, I have noticed that it is not producing any skimmate. It is producing bubbles but not a whole lot of them, enough to fill the first column and second, though I can see through the second column into the first and for how large it is there does not seem to be enough bubbles. I took the pump apart and saw that I had a impeller that is missing 2 blades. My question that I was looking for replacement impellers and saw a needle wheel so my thought was do I replaces the impeller with the needle wheel, making the simmer a turbo skimmer and not a venturi, and if so do I take the venturi piece out if I were to do that? __________________ How am I doing? Well I got ten fingers and toes. Current Tank Info: 120 Gallon. Custom made refugium sump 30 gallons.

02/06/2009, 01:59 PM	#4
Jackie Blue Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Elgin, IL Posts: 333	correction the alkalinity is 3 not four. Just retested.