Am I doing too much?

[Dub]

After 50 years I'm starting another saltwater aquarium. I would like to wind up with a mixed fish/reef unit. I have started with a used Red Sea Reefer 170 which is a 34g DT with 9g sump. It has been equipped with 1" fine white sand, and about 25# live rock made up with 10# old branching coral plus 15# live rock, AI Prime HQ and a H2PRO QP9 pump. In addition I have in the sump a 100 micron filter sock, a container of activated charcoal, a Nyos 120 skimmer, a block 3" X 7" X 7" bio material, a 10" X 10" X 4" area for refugium and finally a 2" wall of coarse foam to trap micro bubbles then the return pump. The system has been running 6 weeks and has 4 Chromis, 2 Clowns, flame shrimp, 2 Rodactus mushrooms, 4 RFA's, 1 sps frag and numerous snails and hermit crabs. Parameters have been steady and some brown stringy algae has formed on the floor and the rock. My only causalities have been 2 mollies that the power fan ate and one flame angle that died 4 days after adding to tank. I use 0 tds water with Fritz RPM salt (switching to Red Sea Coral ). I have also made 3 11% water changes one week apart but plan to let water parameters dictate water changes in the neat future.

My question : am I doing too much on the filtration side? Could I do with out some items OR do I need to add anything?

 

[King Turkey]

depends on parameters. what nitrate and phosphate are you reading. are you getting silica reading? what sorta turn over rate do you have in the tank?

 

[SPR1968]

It really depends on what your aiming for, but you don’t want filtration to a level whereby your drive nutrients to 0 (phosphate and nitrate) or you risk other unwanted issues. Good targets are maybe 5-10ppm nitrate but very low phosphate at around 0.03ppm or again you may have issues if phosphate is elevated like hair algae etc

It’s really a balancing act and as the system develops, and potentially your bioload increases, you may need to add additional methods in the form of either mechanical or biological filtration

Biological filtration is pretty much self regulating though.

 

[Scurvy]

I would say aside from the fairly aggressive speed of stocking that quickly you may run into trouble with low nutrients using that larger bio block. 6 fish in 6 weeks is more than most would recommend.

If you Do run into problems with Dino’s or constantly getting zero nitrate/phosphate readings you may need to remove it at some point or cut it in half if possible.

 

[Dub]

My nitrate is<5 and phosphates are <.5. My turn over is from a 530gph pump so I guess about 12.3 for entire system not allowing for rock. Never tested for silicates.

 

[King Turkey]

My nitrate is<5 and phosphates are <.5. My turn over is from a 530gph pump so I guess about 12.3 for entire system not allowing for rock. Never tested for silicates.

sounds like parameters are good then. in my experience the more things I changed the more problems occurred when I had no issues to begin with. I would keep things stable and call it good. if I were you personaly I would add a powerhead to get turn over up to 20x min but that's just me. I have 30x in my 40g with acros

 

[SPR1968]

My nitrate is<5 and phosphates are <.5. My turn over is from a 530gph pump so I guess about 12.3 for entire system not allowing for rock. Never tested for silicates.

I would take a look into reducing the phosphate level as if it’s <0.5 that’s very high. Should be around 0.03 or thereabouts.

You may need to look into additional methods such as GFO for example. The best single thing I ever did to my system is add rhowaphos in a reactor. If you do, and you have corals, use small amounts to start and bring the level down slowly so you don’t shock anything that’s been used to the raised levels. It may also need changing regularly to start out.

 

[Dub]

I would say aside from the fairly aggressive speed of stocking that quickly you may run into trouble with low nutrients using that larger bio block. 6 fish in 6 weeks is more than most would recommend.

If you Do run into problems with Dino’s or constantly getting zero nitrate/phosphate readings you may need to remove it at some point or cut it in half if possible.

Yes I know about the stocking, but I'm like a 5year old at Christmas.

 

[SPR1968]

Yes I know about the stocking, but I'm like a 5year old at Christmas.

As long as the system can handle the extra bioload in terms of nutrient export you are fine.

I’ve added many more fish than that in less time, but you have to keep on top of things and more importantly in control.

I have an addiction you see! Lol

 

[vetteguy53081]

For mixed reef, be sure to incorporate and use a high grade carbon and change at least bi-monthly. LPS and softies release chemicals that biologically stress acros and other SPS coral

 

[ReefGeezer]

New systems may lack the diversity of organisms that make maintaining higher nutrient levels possible in mature tanks. I would suggest that you try to keep nutrients on the low side while the tank matures. It sounds like you have the filtration required control N even with a pretty heavy bioload. You may need to do a little something to maintain lower levels on Phosphate on the future.

 

[Dub]

sounds like parameters are good then. in my experience the more things I changed the more problems occurred when I had no issues to begin with. I would keep things stable and call it good. if I were you personaly I would add a powerhead to get turn over up to 20x min but that's just me. I have 30x in my 40g with acros

Are you referring to a powerhead that circulates the water through the sump or one that circulates the water in the DT? Because I do have additional circulation in the DT that I have to keep turned down due to disturbing the substrate.

For mixed reef, be sure to incorporate and use a high grade carbon and change at least bi-monthly. LPS and softies release chemicals that biologically stress acros and other SPS coral

could that be what got my flame angel? He acted reclusive after I added the 4 RFA's and died the next day.