lighting

[martindavid4460]

so i have a 75 gallon tank that is about 3 yrs old my mother and her bf were trying to do a coral tank and its all screwed up i believe. So im trying to save whats in the tank and i must be doing something rite cause almost all the algae is gone and the coral is trying to come back i see new sprouts daily. But im not sure what kind of lights to us currently im running 3x 10k 54 watt bulbs and 1 actinic blue bulb also 54 watts. I want to buy new lights but not sure what to get. One person says 10k lights only another says to run all actinic light I have 2 t5ho lamps for the tank they take 2x54 wat bulbs but i have also been looking at leds but i notcie while i can find them 48 inches long like my tank is they are only 3-5 inches wide is that all i need on a standard tank or would i need 2-3 to cover the whole top also how many powerheads should i have in a 75 gallon tank i need a good protien skimmer the one i have is a hang on style i dont have a sump and i dont want to cut into the glass tank to use one im so frustrated at this point im about to put it outside to the road and let someone have it please help

 

[ericarenee]

WOW

First TAKE A deep breath and count to 1000 then read the sticky threads at the top of the New TO hobby forum Yea right above where you made this post.

OK .
Now. In order to fully address your issue and concerns it would be very helpful for you to provide the community with the following
1.Images of your system and equipment with as much info about the stuff as you know or have.
2. Your Stocking List .. Live rock amounts Fish Corals and so on
3. Water Quality Test
Nitrate
Phosphate
PH
Calcium
Alkalinity.
Also your Maintenance routine including water source ...

Patience is what wins the Game

Good Luck Erica Renee

 

[bjwoody15]

There are plenty of good hang on back skimmers. And it seems like you are doing somethings right. As for lighting, a mixture of T5 Bulbs will work. Do a search and you will find plenty of information on the type of bulbs others are running and the mixture.
Slow down and do some research.

 

[martindavid4460]

thanks i have been trying to do research and every time i think i know what to do someone else says to do something different. Since my mother started this tank they have had 3 complete losses of the tank. Including a octopus that disappeared, the loss of two dog faced puffers that lasted about a year each. One escaped and one died. As well as a whole crap load of fish that seamed to be doing great and when we got up one morning everything was dead. I will take photos tomorrow when the lights come on since i cant reach the timer. But what i know i have is a 75 gal tank that had 150 lbs of live rock down to 75 now around 2-3 inches of live sand my salinity is at 1.026 the temp im unsure of i just ordered a digital thermo the filter is a canister with 4 trays and a uv light the pump on it says 530gph in my filter i just refilled i put ceramic bellow the first tray for a defuse the inlet and catch crap then i did 4 sponges in the botom most tray porous to fine then my biorocks (bio home mini ultra) in the next two trays then i mixed phosphate seeping medium and active charcoal in the upper most tray. currently there is one power head n the tank and one heater (i question) just ordered 2x150watt heaters. For living things in the tank i know there are 2 huge brittle stars/1 chocolate chip star(who eats coral)/2 pajama fish/1 lawnmower blemy/and 2 smaller fish i havent ided yet as well as a condy anemone and a few hermit crabs. I will test the water and take photos in the morning i know i dont have a calcium checker thats on order as well. Thanks in advance

 

[martindavid4460]

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_vtPlSyI02cMXdPNHRmeWszajA/view?usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_vtPlSyI02cOFR5d3R5N0hHTGc/view?usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_vtPlSyI02ccmxNZEVwNHBTVW8/view?usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_vtPlSyI02ccjd3emhRUF9ZSW8/view?usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_vtPlSyI02cSnZCUUFlRU5ZZG8/view?usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_vtPlSyI02cM19oa3hBUjU3VW8/view?usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_vtPlSyI02cdlhuRmxVM2h5R2s/view?usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_vtPlSyI02cWGgtbndGR2JQNG8/view?usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_vtPlSyI02cUVVramZnWG5PckU/view?usp=sharing
the photos took abit longer to get im running the tests on the tank as i type

 

[teddyzaper]

I'd ditch the canister filter in favor of a good skimmer. Unless you're cleaning the canister very often, it tends to not do much good. There are a ton of lighting options, my best advice is find a reputable reefer that is running a similar setup and emulate their lighting.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

 

[martindavid4460]

when i first took over i rebuilt the canisters filtration for the first moth i was pulling and cleaning the manual filters while leaving the bio in a bucket of aquarium water now that the tanks alot cleaner i made a schedule to clean the manual filters once every three months i also ran the test i have on the tank today the ph is 8.2 n02 and no3 came back as 0s but i could get the amon test to change colors for me i waited and waited it started with a milky color and when i let it sit it just seperated half the test vial was milky and half was extremely clear any ideas what i did wrong

 

[martindavid4460]

so i picked a new ammonia test and im at .25-.50 ppm with 8.2 ph how do i lower the ammonia lol

 

[GoVols]

Ammonia means your tank is still cycling out the Bio Process. Let it come down on it's own. If you do water changes you'll just make the "nitrogen cycle" process take longer to complete. Put in something like Seachem Matix and Purigen. Below is the best HOB skimmer I've ever owned. Read the reviews.

http://www.marinedepot.com/AquaMaxx...rotein_Skimmer-AquaMaxx-UJ1151-FIPSNS-vi.html