Introductions

K

kscotbarr

New member
Hey guys,

Keith from Harrisburg put me on to this group last weekend - I didn't know it existed. I'm in Mechanicsburg and have a 75 gallon tank. I've had it set up for 2 years now, but am just now getting up to speed on the things I need to know about keeping a successful reef tank. I look forward to meeting all of you sometime, hopefully at the gathering in October.

Cheers,

Kevin
 
Hey Kevin, welcome to the club. It is very informal, we just try to get together once a month at each others' home to check out everyone's set-ups and to talk shop. We are not having a Sept. meeting because of MACNA, some of us are going to that in Atlantic City. Hope to meet you sometime soon and learn a little more about your setup and the stuff you keep. Have a good holiday weekend.
Matt
 
hi kevin
if you need any chaeto let me know. I work in mechanicsburg and can easily drop it off.

Jim
 
hey kevin. glad to see u found this place. theres a lot a great advice and good people on here. i need to get back involved but my life is so busy. hope the things i dropped on u are surviving. the leather u gave me is doing great!
 
Hello all and thanks for the welcome.

@JDL Thanks for the cheato offer. I do have some in my sump in a pseudo-refugium. I added it a few months ago - not sure that it's doing so well. I've read that it should be "harvested" every so often. How do you do this, and could I simply trim a bit and put it in my tank for my Tangs to eat?

@Keith Thanks for the frags and for putting me on to this group. The zoos seem to be opening up a bit more each day, the Xenia's doing OK, and the others I'm doubtful about. I finally got the kits and equipment to test all of my water parameters and discovered that my Nitrates are way high. (Fortunately everything else is where it should be or at least close.) I imagine that is not helping the Monti and other SPS.
 
So I'm looking to solve my Nitrate problem. According to the test I did I'm somewhere around 70-80ppm. Here's my setup:

75 gallon mixed with about 5 gallons in the sump.
Fish: 1 med Yellow Tang, 1 med Purple Tang, 1 med Maroon Clown, 1 Flame Angel, 2 striped damsels, 2 blue damsels, 1 yellow damsel, 1 Mandarin
Inverts: Coral banded shrimp, cleaner shrimp
Corals: Mostly softies, few lps.

Obviously I think my bio-load is a bit high for this tank. I'd like to upgrade in the future, but probably not ready to do that for another 1-2 years.

I'm very good about doing 12% water changes every week, so that helps. I don't have a DSB - I have crushed coral as my substrate (about 3"). Tons of bristle worms in there helping. I just added about 15lbs of live rock to my sump last week, which should help some. I don't feel like my skimmer's all that great. It pulls out some skimmate but nothing too yucky and not a ton. I also have some cheato growing in my sump in a make-shift refugium, which I added a few months ago. Not sure that it's thriving, though.

So here are my possible solutions for my nitrate problem:

1. Add more live rock to the display tank.
2. Upgrade my skimmer.
3. Decrease my bio-load.
4. Increase the amount of water I change each week.
5. Somehow get some live sand into my tank and/or sump.
6. Some combination of the above.

Suggestions?
 
Hi Kevin. Can you list what equipment you have ie. skimmer, powerheads, lights (both on the DT and the fuge)? How much LR do you have total now?
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15683795#post15683795 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by kscotbarr
So here are my possible solutions for my nitrate problem:

1. Add more live rock to the display tank.
2. Upgrade my skimmer.
3. Decrease my bio-load.
4. Increase the amount of water I change each week.
5. Somehow get some live sand into my tank and/or sump.
6. Some combination of the above.

Suggestions?
Click to expand...

Sounds like you already know what needs to be done. I would do all of those things, except for #5(unless you are going to do a remote DSB). All those should help to bring it down some, might not get to 0-5ppm, but it will come down. Some of us have been using a DIY sulfur denitrator with mostly positive results for nitrate reduction/removal. Good luck, let us know how it is doing.
Matt
 
Where are you getting your makeup water from? RO/DI? Try to "vacuum"
your sand/substrate when you do your water changes to remove as much of that "grey matter" as you can, from the tank and the sump.
 
@svynx I have a Coralife 125? Skimmer - not sure exactly as it was given to me with the tank setup. PC lighting on the DT and simple flourescents over the fuge. 2 Koralia 4s in the DT. I'd say I have at least 60lbs of live rock already.

@trippkid I've actually been reading the remote DSB thread and am thinking this might be just the thing for me to do. I really wish, though, that I could replace the crushed coral with a DSB. Why do you think that's a bad idea? Do you know of anyone who has tried with a running tank?

@2turtles I don't have an RO/DI unit and am getting my water from Weis (a lot of carrying 5 gallon buckets). I tested the water for Nitrates and it showed 0.



I think my problem is the crushed coral substrate. I used to vacuum it but thought I read somewhere this was a bad idea (would be if it were a DSB). But now realizing that I have a lot of junk rotting away in there. So I will be vacuuming it heavily every time I do a water change from here on out.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15684867#post15684867 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by kscotbarr


@2turtles I don't have an RO/DI unit and am getting my water from Weis (a lot of carrying 5 gallon buckets). I tested the water for Nitrates and it showed 0.
Click to expand...

Buy this and stop running to Weis for water

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/RO/DI...andard-5-Stage-75-GPD-RO/DI/product_info.html

Personally I would reduce your substrate to an inch or less, vacuum it when you do water changes and and forget about the DSB. Kind of the BB approach but looks a little nicer. This is a simple method that will reduce your nitrates.

By the way welcome to the club.
 
Agree with Greg, I am only doing bare bottom from here on out, if I want some sand it will be in a RDSB, that I can take on or offline if I choose.

I don't know anyone that has completely switched out their sandbed on an established tank, and with that fish load, I would be hesitant to do it all at once. The big disadvantage to having the sand in the tank, IMO, is that if there is a problem with the SB(older tanks can start to have problems), it is a big pain to try and replace/fix. Kind of what the original is about. I have always run sand in my tanks up until now(tearing down my 120 to upgrade), I just think that over time too much stuff accumulates in there and can lead to problems.

I used to use that water too, it gets expensive, especially if you have a bigger tank, I was buying 50 gallons every two weeks, plus when the gas was almost $4 it really became a pain, I used a 30% off coupon at That Fish Place for a Spectrapure unit. I would definitely get your own system, for a hundred and fifty bucks or so, you can make your own and have it on hand all the time, JMO.
Matt
 
One more thing, I'm sure you have heard it before, with all those fish, how much and what kind of food are you feeding? Over feeding and poor quality foods are a big contributor to high nitrates....I know...Bla Bla Bla,,,lol
 
That is a good point Pat, I didn't think of it. Most of you know how much I love fish, LOL. Mine get fed every 2nd or 3rd day. Have a good weekend everyone.
Matt
 
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