I have put prime only twice about 3 days ago but i have not used it anymore. I Have not done any water changes i dont want to risk prolonging the cycle. Now the diatom has got worse all over the glass of the tank as well. I can even see diatom spots on the penguin filter
New Tank Please HELP!
- Thread starter BigBoss88
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Not to be rude but... Again, penquin filter, brand new tank with zero real nutrient export and 61 replies to " how come my tank is so bad?". Put in Prime a couple times? What does that even mean. Get yourself geared up before going further.
Well i posted the forum seeking help from individuals with more experience as i was misguided in the wrong directions. Im sure you took a learning curve when you first began as well. My question is when you state nutrient export what are you referring to?. I only added prime twice is what i mean 2 doses for my tanks based on the instructions on the back only to try and save the fish that where in the tank as i saw my clown and pilot died didint seem to find any necessity into adding prime as the damsels seem perfectly fine and havent shown any behavior changes.
Also why do they sell penguin filters what are the purposes of them if they do nothing? why is their several different people on youtube running their tank fine with nothing but a penguin filter what are they doing to achieve their success?
The simple issue here is they sold me fish with a tank that possibly has not even entered a cycle is what i have learned. And i do appreciate everyone who has replied with information just trying to get things on track
Penguin HOB filters are used often in freshwater tanks, and can work pretty well in a quarantine tank. I suspect their limitations are discovered in a marine tank with a heavy bioload, or with delicate inverts and corals.
~Bruce
~Bruce
Friday24
Active Member
Penguin or any Hang On Back filters and canister filters aren’t the best type of water filtering for long term success for saltwater tanks, especially if you plan to keep coral. While they do filter you will need to replace the filters quite often as you progress with increasing your bio-load. Also if I’m not mistaken the penguins have bio balls which can become nitrate traps. They aren’t the ideal way for nutrient export, meaning getting rid of excess nitrate and phosphate that can cause bacterial and algae blooms. Also if you go the coral route you will need to be able to easily maintain nitrates and phosphates at appropriate levels which may prove difficult with your current filter. As far as the diatoms you have, get some snails, Nerite and Turbo’s work well for diatoms and algae, Turbo’s get fairly large though.
Glad to see you're taking steps to get your tank on the right track! It's unfortunate that the store that set you up really gave you bad advice, from the sound of it, for a quick sale.
Hopefully you have other options in your area that you can visit and get some real help going forward.
For long term success of your tank you will likely have to upgrade your equipment and a reputable shop can help you get there!
Good luck and keep on reefin on!
Hopefully you have other options in your area that you can visit and get some real help going forward.
For long term success of your tank you will likely have to upgrade your equipment and a reputable shop can help you get there!
Good luck and keep on reefin on!
Thank you for your reply, i dont plan on putting corals just live rock and fish would i still be okay with the penguin?. im a bit worried about even putting turbo snails should i wait a few weeks to make sure the water stays stable?
Friday24
Active Member
The Penguin might get you by for a little while if you keep your bioload low enough. You’ll probably get to a point, as you add more fish, that you’ll be changing that filter every couple days, and they aren’t as efficient for gas exchange to keep O2 levels where they need to be as tanks set up with sumps. Most people that run sock filters in their sumps change them out once a week if not more. Benefit to sock filters are that they’re washable. Ultimately as someone previously said, the filter you have is geared toward freshwater and quarantine tanks.
You could look into different HOB options since adding a true sump at this point would be a bigger project.
There are HOB refugiums and skimmers.
Maybe put some rock rubble in your penguin and just use filter floss and a bag of carbon instead of the carbon filled filters.
April 1st my tank had nitrates. its been 2 weeks so far i tested april 7th everything went back to 0. i also tested today and also everything went back to 0. Im assuming the tank has cycled?
Friday24
Active Member
Great. The only thing that is concerning is that you have 0 nitrates. Nitrates don’t just go away, you would have to remove them via water changes. You may look in to getting a more accurate test kit than API and recheck to be safe. Nitrates could be there just too low for the API kit to register possibly. If the readings are correct then you should be good to go.
Friday24
Active Member
They look identical to me, which is good. I would say you’re good to go, just add fish 1-2 at most at a time. Give the tank a week or so then add 1 or 2 more. Do research on the fish you want to add before purchasing, even if it’s a search while at the store. I’d recommend purchasing from reputable online vendors to limit your risk of introducing disease since you don’t have a QT. Pacific Island Aquatics will condition and quarantine fish for you sometimes if you don’t mind paying them a little more, Liveaquarias Divers Den fish are also supposed to be conditioned and quarantined.
I did do a 10 gallon water change. As for the equipment what did was put tap water in a bucket i added a decholorinator and dipped the equipment in and rinsed it off is this a safe way to clean the equipment?. All i added was a diamond goby is it true they are good to clean the sand?. Also i had another question as for evaporized water i usually only refill it with distilled water i heard and correct me if im wrong that with water that evaporates the salt remains so not to replace it with saltwater is this true?
The sand im having a hard time siphoning as its siphoning the sand into the bucket. Not a large portion but it is siphoning it even hoover over the top. Im using a siphon called terra pump not sure if their may be a better siphon for sand or if i even need to be vacuuming the sand?
Friday24
Active Member
As long as your using dechlorinator you should be ok. I would recommend buying RODI water from a somewhere local, or setting up your own. Tap water contains a lot of other dissolved solids that will eventually cause you to have high nitrate and phosphate levels that will in turn give you more algae problems.
Diamond Gobies are very good at cleaning sand only because they are sifting through it looking for food, not actually getting rid of diatoms or algae. Without a mature sand bed he won’t be getting any nutrition from the sand you’ll need to feed him like your other fish.
For topping off water yes, use freshwater not salt because the salt doesn’t evaporate.
Diamond Gobies are very good at cleaning sand only because they are sifting through it looking for food, not actually getting rid of diatoms or algae. Without a mature sand bed he won’t be getting any nutrition from the sand you’ll need to feed him like your other fish.
For topping off water yes, use freshwater not salt because the salt doesn’t evaporate.
