My first saltwater tank.

[tyro]

So I finally found a tank! I picked up a used Redsea 130. I'm super excited and mistakes were probably made. Definitely made. The tank was running but covered in green hair algae. It had a few snails and crabs that may or may not be alive. 4 fish. 2 domino damsels, a chromis,and a clown. There are 2 bubble tip anemone. A few corals that were pretty small and unsure of the health of them. It was a pretty far move 3 hours on the road home.

The previous owner had a massive algae bloom caused by an auto feeder malfunctioning while on vacation. He lost a few fish from it. 1 of the damsels didn't make it on the trip.the chromis was looking pale too. Haven't been able to find him since I let him loose. The clown and o. Clown I'm pretty sure and the other damsel hid out under a rock as the water cleared up. Since then they are starting to move around more. The whole clean up crew is either in shock or no longer with the living. 1 anemone looks amazing already. The other a little less happy but hopefully doing good

Some of my mistakes include not scrubbing the hair algae off the live rock when I had it out. One of the rocks may be not the same side up. And I think it was the one that had a few small mushrooms. My anemone both ended up on the same rock and pretty low in the tank. And one of them may be right over the mushroom.

Tomorrow I plan on checking the water after giving it some time to mix and clear up. I think the back only has 1 filter sponge currently. Any recommendations for other media? Carbon maybe? The tank has maybe an inch of sand and some pretty angry algae covered rock. There is 1 pump and pwerhead I'm not sure if it's original or not. Looks like original protein skimmer.

He was keeping the tank at 82f. It was around 75 by the time I got it running again. Just over 78 now. I've pretty nervous about the coral and anemone and I also don't want to get the tank too hot so trying to stay up to keep an eye on things. Ill try to add some pics . He gave me a lot of equipment. Including spare bulbs. 10k and a 5050 I think 21 inch long. It's a 34 gal tank. Does that seem a little low? With the algae issue should I try to bolster the clean up crew tomorrow from the lfs? I don't want to add any fish or more bioload until I see if and how well this cycles with the move and all. I'd like to hear people's thoughts on how soon and how much of a water change should I do? I think I've heard not to mess with anemone for like a week, is that right. That includes not feeding them also? Let me know if you see something blatantly wrong or things to expect in the coming days/weeks.

 

[brmreefer]

First off, welcome to R2R and congratulations on your first tank.

I would recommend taking things slow if not already doing so. Let things settle. I would add some carbon. I would not get any new livestock additions yet.

I would highly recommend testing the system's parameters to get a baseline and to provide a little more insight of potential things to work on. If testing is done at home, that's great, but just research or call trusted local fish stores (LFS) that provide testing and can validate any test results if any are questionable.

Water change intervals is up to the owner and abilities. Folks do weekly, monthly, auto water changing setups, annually...etc, etc...so on. Bottom line...it is up to you.

Leave the anemones alone, they can move on their own and find a suitable place if available within the system.

As far as corals go, one might need to look into upgrading the light. Not sure what is on the system, but if the corals don't make, then I would hold off on adding any new corals until a little more experience is gained.

Time for some research and reading and one can find fellow reefers on here that are welcome to assist if needed. Just be sure to validate any info provided and research.

Finally, try and enjoy the hobby and have fun, but remember to take things slow.

 

[TnFishwater98]

Welcome to da Reef! I agree take things slow. Especially since the tank you got already had issues. Get the water clear and start testing/water changes. You could go ahead get more of a clean up crew to start getting the tank back to where it needs to be.

 

[tyro]

Did some testing.
pH 7.6
Ammonia 0
Nitrate 0
Nitrite 0
Salinity 38
Temp 79

I will take a sample to work tomorrow to verify these. Any recommendation? I'm thinking the pH is low and the salinity a little high.

 

[TnFishwater98]

Did some testing.
pH 7.6
Ammonia 0
Nitrate 0
Nitrite 0
Salinity 38
Temp 79

I will take a sample to work tomorrow to verify these. Any recommendation? I'm thinking the pH is low and the salinity a little high.

PH needs to come up a little. Just do water changes. Don’t dose anything.
Salinity is 1.035?

 

[tyro]

38 is in percentage I think would be 1.028 or so.

 

[NashobaTek]

1.028 is still a little high. 1.026 is the highest I would ever go.

 

[tyro]

Could that be from evaporation? I have a little room to add water. Should I just get some ro/di and add some slowly to bring the salinity down or mix my own batch not so high and do a smaller change.

 

[Dolphins18]

How long was the rock out of water? If more than 1 hour, you can expect a large ammonia spike coming soon, that will likely kill the bubbletip, when bubble tips die in small tanks it causes a mess. I would recommend getting some Seachem prime as soon as possible.

 

[tyro]

I have prime and will definitely be on the lookout for that. 1 rock was out of the water but wrapped in paper and wet. The other stayed in a bucket with water. Thanks for the heads up though.

 

[NashobaTek]

Could that be from evaporation? I have a little room to add water. Should I just get some ro/di and add some slowly to bring the salinity down or mix my own batch not so high and do a smaller change.

Probably, I would add fresh rodi and then check the sg again.

 

[tyro]

Well I took a sample to test at work. The pH was actually 8.1 that's on a bench top meter that is calibrated daily. I trust it over the home kit. For home kits what brand or style is recommended? The one I had is api I think.

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

Welcome to R2R and congrats on your first reef tank.

Something I wish I had done when I took over my first established tank was take the time to thoroughly clean off the rocks from any settled nasties, pests, and algea. While you are getting going is still a good time to do it.

I would definitely leave the nems alone. Compounding stressors after a move could have adverse effects.

 

[tyro]

So I was pleasantly surprised to see the emerald crab is indeed alive. I thought he got crushed in shipping but hoped he was ok. 1 nem is thriving. The other dropped off the rock it was on and is sitting on the sand in between 3 rocks. It was still open this morning. I plan on keeping a close eye on it though. The few corals in there are starting to look better too. I wish I had cleaned the rock more. On the plus side the snails are hard at work on all but rock. It's pretty overgrown. My lfs lady told me to trim it down and let the turbos finish it off. I think the emerald crab was working on it this morning for me

 

[Rmckoy]

First .. welcome to the salty side .
Try not to over complicate things and give it time to settle . In the mean time . Research as much as possible about everything reef related .
from reef chemistry , water changes , testing ,filtration , flow , stocking and lighting requirements for different corals .

anemones do require higher par
They can be a little tricky to keep happy .

the best thing I can advise .. enjoy the hobby .

 

[tyro]

Thanks for all the warm welcomes. I have been reading non stop so far. I almost started into saltwater about 10 years ago. Lots of research but didn't have enough money to do what I wanted. Now I feel like in 10 years there are a lot of new things to learn. New products or approaches to solutions. PAR being one of those things. The nems are almost 2 years old so I know the lighting is capable. My worry with the one on the sand this morning is how little light is in that spot. I have a feeling it's on the move looking for better light. If it's closed up when I go home I'll worry then. If it's open or climbing a new rock I'll leave it alone.

 

[tyro]

Ok so my nem that looked great a few hours ago looks like this now. Any idea what happened? The other has bounced back and looks good. These pics are about 4 hours apart.

Ammonia,nitrites and nitrates all 0
pH 8.3 to 8.4

Salinity getting two readings 1.020 on a float and refractometer showing 1.029

 

[brmreefer]

If unsure of the last time the refractometer was calibrated, then I would work on getting that done. I check mine every two weeks or so to be sure it does not stray away from being the most accurate I can maintain it.

If possible, get the salinity tested to compare results maybe from an LFS or friend.

As far as home test kits go I have used API, Salifert, and Hanna. Hanna to me is by far the most reliable and accurate. Salifert is good as well. I only use API for Nitrates (NO3). I am not worried to much about my NO3 accuracy, but only to make sure I have some color to ensure I have not bottomed out that parameter. Bottom line comes down to what one wants to spend or can afford at the moment.

Be sure to compensate for daily evaporation so salinity does not get way out of control if that is the what is happening. At the same time, don't bring the salinity down too fast as to shock the tank's inhabitants. Slow and steady is best.

 

[tyro]

Thanks for the help. I learned how to and used RO/DI to set the zero. Checked again and salinity is 1.026. I'll get a calibration solution to calibrate as soon as I can find or order one. When I woke up this morning the nem still looked like that. But soon started perking up and filling. I will definitely be getting some new test reagents to verify my other readings. As is I think the tank is doing pretty good after the move. Once I get the algae cleaned up I think it will really be nice.

Being new to saltwater even if I had a rock solid tank I wouldn't buy nems, but these guys came with it and I just want to make sure I do everything I can to give them the best chance I can to survive. The fish all seem to be doing well. The chromis is almost all the way back to green. The other corals in the tank look great now. I think I just need let the nems adjust post move and keep my water parameters in check.

Thanks for all the advice so far.

 

[tyro]

I wanted to update this and thank everyone that's given advice so far. I did take the time to scrub the rock free of algae. I added a bag of carbon also. My parameters have been really solid. pH 8.4 salinity 1.026, ammonia nitrites and nitrates all 0 checking every day. My temp was out of control though. Rose almost a degree every day without the heater even in the tank. The guy didn't give me the power supply for the back fan. He may not have even had it. So I ordered a new one. Then I found out there are 2 fans in the hood too. They weren't working so I have 2 of them on the way. I got 1 today and installed it. Hopefully the other 2 come in soon so I can get the heat problem solved.

I did lose the chromis and 1 anemone. All the others look like they are doing just fine. The tank definitely had some issues that either he didn't know about or just didn't tell me. Oh and when I got into the light fixture it looks like he had 2 50/50 bulbs in there. Could there be a reason for that? I have new 50/50 and a 10k spare I was planning on putting in as I finish closing up the hood.

I have some Hanna testers on the way and a salinity calibration solution now. Made a batch of water 2 days ago in a bucket with a heater and power head. Ill probably do about a 10pct change this weekend. Once I get it rock solid I'd like to add an ATO. After that I might update to LED. And maybe replace the skimmer with a tunze especially if the pump on the stock one starts to fail.

All in all I think it's on the way to where I want it. I love watching it and even better I love when I catch my family just staring at it.

If anyone has any ATO recommendations especially looking for something reliable but prefer not to break the bank. I am just starting out.