Help get my 55gal. FOWLER reef ready pls?

[dufus]

Hi, this is the first time i've joined a reef forum.
First, a little background info on me.

I have been keeping freshwater aquariums for 3 or 4 years, i'm 16.
I have a 55 gallon african cichlid community, a 55 gal. high tech planted tank, a 2.5 gallon nano planted, and a 10 gallon low tech planted.

I have a 1200 gallon pond, many plants, a 10g terrarium with firebelly toads/newts and a 10g vivarium soon to home 3 Dendrobates auratus dart frogs.

The Tank:
My mom has a 55 gallon saltwater FOWLER tank.
Equiptment: Coralife protein skimmer(a big one, not sure which one)
Emperor 400 HOB
1 powerhead, not too strong.
Coralife deluxe compact flourescent lighting, 2 actinic 65w, and 2 10k 65w.

that's about it.


Stuff:
About 10lbs of crushed coral on the bottom, 40+lbs live sand on top.

~15 lbs of live rock, she's extremely picky about her rock.

for CUC, we have 7 dwarf hermits, about 8 snails, a green emerald crab that is MIA, and a snad sifting star.

Fish are-
3 green chromis
1 yellow tang
1 true perc
1 six line wrasse
1 lawnmower blenny, who is very dark colored
2 engineer gobies
1 blood red fire shrimp
i think that's all.

Ok, We are having mad cyanobacteria issues at the moment, can't conquer this.

We've tried chemiclean a million times.
R/O system is not hooked up yet, so i think that'll help alot.

what else do you guys reccomend for that?

As for filtration, can i get by with what i have for now, and upgrade to a sump later?

Obviously i need more LR right?


So, what else do i need to start getting some corals in there?

[Sk8r]

1 lb live rock per gallon. And I'd stop using Chemiclean at this point---it's killing your useful bacteria along with the cyanobacteria, imho, if you've used it more than once---it's actually lowering your tank's ability to process waste. There's a trick you can do with turning your lights out 3 days running, actinic only the 4th day---but you MUST test your water and skim a lot during that period, if you have dying cyano in your tank: you need to skim that bad stuff out [protein and waste] and be sure your water stays stable while you're doing the dark treatment.

[prugs]

Welcome to RC.

I know lots of reefers that have battled cyanobacteria. The fix for me was to use kalkwasser water for top-off. A low PH/alkalinity plays a major role in cyano. Also something along with a skimmer to export nutrients. I chose cheato in a sump/fuge area, but can also be grown in the aquarium.

I would also suck out as much of the cyano a possible during water changes.

Join the local Reef Club in your area. They are more than happy to give advise (good & bad). But look at their systems, & you will be able to tell the BS from the truth.

[Avi]

Yes, a good deal more of live rock would make, IME, a big difference. You'd also, from what you mention, want to increase the flow in the tank significantly. I'd recommend that you have a total of at least 1100gph in the tank from powerheads and any other kind of flow-source. Also, don't use any bio-medium in the Emperor because that very well may be generating nitrates that will serve as nutrition for the cyanobacteria that's proliferating in the tank. Use some high-grade carbon, maybe, and make sure you change that fairly often...like every two weeks. The crushed coral is also something to be concerned about since that often serves as a bio-medium, which will generate those nitrates that will sustain the cyano.

Okay...what to do now? Get that RO/DI water going as a water-source for your water changes and do more of those. Make sure you don't overfeed and also set up a phosphate reactor using an effective phosphate removing medium like Rowaphos.

Consider adding a refugium to the system, in which you'd grow some macro-algae with the lights over it in the 6500K range and the lights on when the tank's lights are on and vice versa.

The Chemiclean should work when you treat the tank...It's a short-term "fix," but it is effective and if it isn't cleaning up the cyano for a little while, anyway, then you have to address the problem in the ways mentioned and do that seriously. Keep us posted on the progress, dufus.

[Southern Boy]

To Reef Central
I think these guys hit it on the head for you.Great advice.

[dufus]

Thanks for the tips guys.
Apparently i didn't subscribe to the thread when i made it, or i wouldn've checked sooner.


We're adding live rock SLOWLY, like 1 5lb rock per month.

And my mom has been turning the lights on later, and off earlier.

I'll try the blackout method this week and see what happens.

the skimmer gets full fairly quickly, and is rated for WAY more than 55 gallons, i think it's like 220 gallons or something, not positive though.

We don't have a sump ATM, but i'm trying to find a cheaper one to start with, my parents aren't used to spending so much on aquariums, unlike me.

We've got an internal filter that my dad bought a while back. it's made by cascade and i think i can take the pump off for now and add somewhere around 200gph.

I'll see if i can get them to come with me to a place called alamo aquatics and get them to buy a pair of seios.

The emperor only has some phosphate reducing pads and carbon, along with the *biowheels*, which i know most reefers are against, as am i, but like i said, no sump yet.

I'll get that RO hooked up ASAP and look into some Phosreducers.

thanks a bunch guys/gals.