help with water levels please...

[jweed9379]

Im not exactly a newb but its been about 4 years since ive had a marine aquarium...the one i have now which is a 65 gallon oceanic and i have an eheim canister filter set up...i inherited all of this from a friend because he is moving a couple hundred miles away, now i know how to test all my water parameters so testing is not the issue. He said it is due for a water change which i am going to do this weekend, can yall please help me by explaining what i need to do to get my water levels perfect? (I will list them below) i plan on doing a 15 gallon water change bi-weekly...will that be sufficient? And how can i raise my ph balance and lower my nitrates and nitrites?

Nitrate-is at 20
Nitrite is at .5
Alkalinity is between 180 and 300
Ph is at 7.8
Ammonia is at 0
And salt level salinity is at 36, specific gravity is 1.027

 

[marine2463]

get rid of the canister filter!!!!! that is your worst enemy in a saltwater tank. If you cant purchase a sump right away then cleaning the canister every week should help maintain better water quality

 

[fishroomlady]

I would up your water change schedule and as advised, clean your canister very regularly. I advise the water change schedule increase especially until you have no nitrites - not sure why you have them right now?

 

[jweed9379]

How much should i up my water change too? And as far as cleaning my filter regularly should i do a carbon and cloth change?

 

[marine2463]

Carbon should be good for a couple of months the cloth needs good cleaning though ..... When you take the canister apart you will notice a lot of waste at the bottom that is your nitrate and nitrite problem.... There is a thread in here about people with success using canister filters I'll try to find it for you

 

[jweed9379]

Ok thanks, because the tank has been running for a year and a half and it has never had any problems like this...im honestly puzzled because i have never had any filter problems it is a 90g filter and my tank is a 65

 

[fishroomlady]

I'd probably do about 10 gallons every 3-4 days until you see no nitrites and then bi-weekly should be ok. If you're wanting to get on a good schedule given your current situation, I'd suggest 10% weekly and then clean your canister on water change day. One thing that helped me on my quest to lower nitrates when I switched from a FOWLR to a reef was the percentage of water change should reduce nitrates by that much - example, a 20% water change should reduce your nitrates by 20% or take the current reading of 20 to 16. I think I did that math right lol Something to consider in terms of the canister is to put some live rock rubble in it. If you reduce the things that can catch debris - you're less likely to have build-up.

 

[jweed9379]

The problem i have is that i work nights 430pm to 400am and my wife doesnt know how to maintain the water levels she only knows how to test them...i currently dont have any corals or anemones only live rock, live sand, 10 fish, a handful of snails and about 20 tiny cleaner stars so the water levels are not immediate danger to them being at the current levels but in the next couple of weeks i will be adding more rock and start adding corals and and anemones so i want my water levels perfect before i do so because i dont want to spend all the money on making this a reef tank to just lose it when things start to die

 

[fishroomlady]

another option to bring parameters into line would be to up the percentage of water change - you could try doing a 50% water change (I know that's a lot) but it should bring your nitrates down to 10. There has been kind of a shift in thinking in terms of having perfect water parameters as well - people really no longer opt for 0 phosphate and nitrate for corals and such. A small amount of phosphate and nitrate are ok. One thing that may make it difficult for you to keep water levels in line is the number of fish that you have. What types of corals are you wanting to keep? You may want to explore vinegar/vodka dosing or running biopellets as an option to continual water changes as a method to keep your nutrients down.

 

[Up2no6ood]

Do yourself and your wife a favor and purchase/build a ato auto topoff unit. That will help with daily water maintenance and stabilize salinity levels. How long have you had the tank and how long has it been since the filter has been cleaned? What brand of test kits are you using? I agree with ditching the canister filter. They are a pain to clean, tend to be nitrate factories and I always spilt water everywhere. If that's not an option I would take all the filter media out, run some carbon and maybe a bag of gfo in it. I also don't like chasing ph around. Seems to me every tank has its natural ph and you can keep adding buffers to fix it but it will fight you all the way. You can help raise ph with surface agitation to some extent but at night my tanks ph is 7.8 as well. Nitrates and nittrites will go down with water changes just make sure your tanks salanity and temp matches that of the new water and you should be good to go.

 

[jweed9379]

How can i build an auto top off unit?

 

[marine2463]

The cheapest is with a float valve some hose and a container for the water.... Amazon has the valve for about 10 bucks... Put he float valve on your tank or sump and when the water gets lows it will open the valve allowing water to fill the tank... When the water rises it will lift the float and close the valve..... Kind of like the float valve on the back of the toilet ..It is gravity fed so the container needs to be higher than what it is filling.

 

[jweed9379]

Seems simple enough...my grandpa works for amazon so i can probably get the parts even cheaper lol so honestly should i get rid of the filter i have and go with a sump setup with protien skimmer?

 

[marine2463]

Yes if you can,a sump will be much better than than a canister IMO..

 

[jweed9379]

Because i am making it a reef tank and i dont want to put the money into it and then have to constantly fight to maintain it on a daily basis

 

[marine2463]

Yeah so you would want a sump/refugium IMO, that works best for a reef tank it will keep you water more stable ounce you get it going

 

[jweed9379]

What all will i need for a sump? Ive always had predatory tanks in the past so i never used them

 

[marine2463]

The sump of coarse lol a return pump,light,hoses,and an overflow box

 

[jweed9379]

So what am i looking at price wise to set it up for a 65 gallon and where can i find everything

 

[marine2463]

Amazon is pretty good. The sump is about 200. The pump you can get a good ehiem return pump for about 100. Light with fixture about another 100. Over flow box I think is about 60 so your looking at about 460+... Everything here is on choice they're something's you can spend less