New here, and to reef tanks

[Mango]

Hi, my name is Laurie. My daughter and son-in-law just purchased a house that has a mature 220 gallon reef tank. Salt water is new to me. As a life long aquarium enthusiast, I currently have a 40 gallon fresh water with my three healthy, beautiful 'carnival' goldfish. Finn, Mango and Sushi have defied the odds and have surprised us with their long tails and incredible colors. Unfortunately I'm realizing how little of my knowledge translates over to a marine tank.

At first, we were all less than impressed with the reef tank. The lights were out, the one fish we saw was a dull, unremarkable gray, algae had taken over the glass, and the tank just looked bland. And brown.
Then the lights came on. WOW! We are all amazed by this underwater world.

The tank has some coral, a few snails, a crab, a starfish that we've seen so far. There were little to no instructions from the previous owner, except telling us he removed the fish. After calling the store maintaining the tank several times (the person who we were told to ask for had left. Nobody bothered to tell us...)we finally were able to set up an appointment for tomorrow. We have been the stewards of this magnificent tank for just over two weeks now, and have noticed that some of what started out as 'something', have turned into piles of white dust. My daughter is concerned about the coral to the left in the photo of the tank. Should we be feeding any of these creatures?

Apparently the set up is a good one, ( I will photograph it later and post).

I'm sure I will have a lot of questions as we go along learning, but for now, can anybody identify what we've got? Eventually we would like to add fish, most certainly clownfish (Nemo) for my grandson, who loves watching my goldies and is thrilled to have such a large, beautiful tank in his own home.
Thanks so much!
Laurie

 

[Mandrew]

Looking forward to seeing pictures of this Giant tank!

 

[Mango]

Photos

 

[Mandrew]

Can you get close ups of the other coral as well?

 

[Mango]

Photos

 

[Mango]

 

[Mango]

Here are some additional photos.

 

[Frop]

Welcome to R2R! Wow looks like a complete setup. RO/DI, ATO, Apex, UV, skimmer.

Curious with your lights. Could you take a photo please. The white lights will side with the algae. How long do you run them for each day?

 

[Frop]

Also is that the pH at 9.06? That seems really high.

 

[4FordFamily]

Welcome home, you will love it here!

Neat purchase (combo) with the house!

Keep us posted!

 

[Frop]

There were little to no instructions from the previous owner, except telling us he removed the fish.

Ya so basically this photo looks like you have a hydrometer. Use this to check the salinity. It should be between 1.024 - 1.026

ThIs is your ATO (auto top off). It should automatically add freshwater into your tank. Remember when the water is low from evaporation only add freshwater. Use the hydrometer to check how salty the water is. You may have to manually fill the ATO resavour or the RO/DI unit may do that automatically with a float switch. It looks like the fresh water is stored in the brute trash can.

On the far right is the RODI water filter. Now you'll need to keep an eye on this. About every 6 months change the pre filters. The one filter you can't see last longer. The last one in the series will be the DI resin which is probably not black or white in color. You'd need a TDS meter to check the outgoing water to know when to replace that. Not replacing it will lead to pourer water which makes it easier to get algae.

The tall thing in back is your skimmer. It should bubble up garbage into the top tray. You'll need to empty that out when it's dirty. I don't have one running but it looks like a really wet skim. Ask someone who has one for more advice.

Infront of the tank is a black tube. To me that is the UV filter. It just kills stuff with UV.. I don't have one. They didn't seem to important imo. Just more power usage lol

This is the Apex which is basically a computer system for the fish tank. I don't have this either but it is a luxiery item. You'd need to ask someone that has one but I know they can control certain things in your tank.

You have different types of algae in your tank also. I'd try to remove some of that with a tooth brush and get it out. Then you need to look for causes so it doesn't come back.

Also you'll need to find some test kits. He may have taken them if he still has fish.

This could check nitrate, nitrite, ammonia. Of course usually pet stores will test those for you for free (like petco or petsmart). Check the Phosphates or nitrates for algae cause.
https://www.amazon.com/API-Saltwate...8&qid=1487039282&sr=8-2&keywords=API+test+kit

There are other kits for calcium/magnesium but I wouldn't worry about that in the beginning.

You asked about feeding. To me it looks like light will feed the corals. The inverts can probably handle themselves.

 

[Mango]

Lights seem to be LED. Sun and clouds come on at about 9am to about 8 pm. Then the lights go blue until about 10, then turns off.

I will go downstairs and look closer at the monitor for pH.
Thanks so much!

 

[Saltriver]

Following along.By the way,I think every h0me purchase should come with one of these setups.lol.

 

[Mango]

Also is that the pH at 9.06? That seems really high.

What range should the pH be?

 

[MaiReef]

Welcome to R2R! The pH should slowly rollback to 8.4 at least.

 

[Mango]

OK, thanks.
Do you think this is why the coral seems to be struggling?

 

[MaiReef]

Yes, That is a very high pH. Optimal is said to be between 8.1-8.4. There are other parameters that can effect coral, but start with stablizing Salinity to 1.024-1.026 and pH.

 

[Mango]

Thanks for all of the great responses!
The maintenance guy was here today. He said the pH was 8.4, and the salinity perfect. He thought that the light cycle was too long and cut it back to 6 hours. He thought the coral was bleached due to too much light and thinks some of it might recover. He thinks the probe for the pH was dirty and not working properly. He did a 30 gallon water change, cleaned up the salt creep and the sand. The tank is looking good!
One thing though, the smart level has not stopped beeping since he left! Does anybody have ideas on getting it to stop?
I'm starting to see how addictive this can be...

 

[Rick.45cal]

Thanks for all of the great responses!
The maintenance guy was here today. He said the pH was 8.4, and the salinity perfect. He thought that the light cycle was too long and cut it back to 6 hours. He thought the coral was bleached due to too much light and thinks some of it might recover. He thinks the probe for the pH was dirty and not working properly. He did a 30 gallon water change, cleaned up the salt creep and the sand. The tank is looking good!
One thing though, the smart level has not stopped beeping since he left! Does anybody have ideas on getting it to stop?
I'm starting to see how addictive this can be...

Your aquarium guy is right, the pH probe is most likely dirty and in desperate need of calibration. Did the previous owner leave you their sign in information for the Neptune Apex system that they left behind?

The ATO high level sensor may be tripped causing the alarm. Follow the cord from the controller that leads to the sump and see where the sensor is in the water, if it is underwater that is likely why the alarm is going off. (Your best course of action may be to call him and get him to come figure out why it is going off). I would also very politely ask him when he comes over if he would be willing too teach you what/why/how he is doing things just so you start to get an understanding of some of the more routine tasks that a reef tank requires. Somethings are best taught in person.

I hesitate to tell you to mess with the ATO sensor because I don't know why the alarm is sounding or the consequences of me telling you to move something

 

[Rick.45cal]

I'm guessing he filled the sump up a little too high and submerged the sensor, hence why the MAX light is on and the ALARM light.