Local reefer needs help

[NCNBilly]

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1762286

I'm going to try and get there this weekend to take a look and run some tests - anyone want to come along?

 

[2turtles]

Can't this weekend, but my 2 cents is that seems to be a lot of light. Also I did not read anything about RO/DI. What is the source of water? PH - Alk - Calicium - Phosphates nitrates - some results are listed some not.

 

[NCNBilly]

Can't this weekend, but my 2 cents is that seems to be a lot of light. Also I did not read anything about RO/DI. What is the source of water? PH - Alk - Calicium - Phosphates nitrates - some results are listed some not.

Agree that the light is overkill, but thats probably not the biggest of his worries. You are correct, I didn't notice RO/DI mentioned..

He's pretty new, so I'm not really assuming anything. I don't know if this weekend is going to work - forgot I have a party to go to on Saturday.

 

[lpkenneys]

Hey Bill, I might be able to swing down that way hit me up and let me know when you were thinking. Patrick..

 

[kone77]

thank you guys for trying to help me out i really appreciate it im new to this and i really enjoy reef aquariums . i do have a bunch of salifert kits that came in nitrate-nitrite-phosphate-copper-calcium-alk/dkh-and i just bought a pinpoint pH monitor from marine depot i calibrated it in 7.0 then 10.00 and hooked it up because the other one i had was a cheap one from china and broke on me.if my lighting is to much what would be worst case scenario cause i bought it awhile ago at that fish place so i doubt i can return it wounder if i can just get different bulbs??forgot to add for my top off water i have a aqua bright filter that another reefer gave me he said it worked for him.

 

[kone77]

OK iv been reading up a lot on ro/di systems.iv decided im going to order and ocean reef +1 five stage 75 gpd ro/di system with pressure gauge and tds meter from thefilterguys.biz.what do you guys think?? is this good enough for my 55 gal..i was going to use a y fitting and hook it up with my wash machine water then get a 42gal rubbermaid brute trash can put a float valve in it and mag pump to keep the water moving and i should be good to go for water changes and top offs:thumbsup:

 

[khusson1]

Billy, shoot me a text if you head over to his house. I may be able to join you. dont know if I'll have much to offer, but maybe I'll learn something ;-)

 

[NCNBilly]

How would Sunday afternoon work?

RO/DI is an almost must, especially since you are likely on city water. Does anyone know if they are using chloramine? I know some of the west shore is, but we don't have it on the south side of the 'burg. It makes a difference on the type of RO/DI you need, since you'll burn through carbon pretty fast you'll want a GAC prefilter and a solid Matrix type after that.

That is also unlikely to cause instant death, more likely to fuel nuisance algae from the nitrate and phosphate, but the copper in the pipes could be a factor.

 

[lpkenneys]

Kone, Bill is right, you need to find out what your filter needs are and like he said that shouldn't cause sudden death. That being said, That R/O unit is more than you would need for your size set up.(IMO).One more thing,feel free to ask any of us about equipment before you purchase it we have probably owned it at one time or another and can save you from buying things you don't need! This Hobby can bankrupt you if you let it,and that will definitely take all the enjoyment out of it. there are a lot of inexpensive alternatives that can be used to save money..

 

[kone77]

oh buy the way i have an ozoneator and a big calcium reactor you guys can have if you need they are to big for my little tank.Sunday not good for me because i have a birthday party to be at. weekends are probably the best for me i work for Pepsi my hours 8am 430 pm Mon-Fri.hopefull ill have my ro/di hooked up by the time you come buy that way you can let me know if i did it right.

 

[NCNBilly]

Ok, how does next Saturday work for everyone? I have something in the evening, but early afternoon is good - like 1PM ish?

 

[kone77]

yea that should work for me ill check with my wife but i think its good.heres some recent pics of my tank i took with my phone:worried:

 

[kone77]

question on water change

question on water change

ok my ro di is hooked up and i want to do a water change my rock and tank have algae all over should i take out the rocks and scrub them off in ro water then put back in??how much water should i change i have 55gal tank??i see big difference in the two waters i tested my tank water for nitrates and it was through the roof like 100ppm and tested ro water it was 0.ppm so i think that is my main problem was not use in ro water

 

[NCNBilly]

Sorry, the weekend got away from me. The other half had chores that I should've known about.

No, do not rinse in RO water - make up some fresh saltwater, do a water change and scrub the rocks in the waste water. You aren't going to win the algae battle until you get your nitrates down however.

Do you have anything alive in there? If not, I'd recommend you start over and cook the rock.

Not using RO/DI water and a huge nitrate reading confirms what's happening. The road to recovery is pretty clear.

 

[kone77]

thats ok hopefully i should be ok now i did take all my rocks out and scrubbed in waste water with brand new scrub brush then did about 90%water change i just added my salt to my holden container which is brute rubber maid trash can. i have a heater and mag pump in to keep flowing did i do it right???i have to get a good refractometer i just have a cheap instant ocean hydrometer.one of these weekends when you get a chance stop by and check my set up out let me know what you think i can do to improve my set up.my nitrates went down to about 20ppm when should i do another change and how much????????

 

[kone77]

need input please

need input please

ok i need some input please!my nitrates are down to 5ppm and iv been doing weekly water changes with ro/di water now.all my par.are good but this algae started growing back so i bought 10 turbos and 20 margarita snails they seem to be devouring all the algae up slowly should i just let it go and see if they can keep up with it or do a total tank break down and boil the rock????????????

 

[khusson1]

idk much, but I would have to say just slow down a little and take ur time. You dont boil rock to get rid of algae! You find the cause of the algae and remedy that! Also, you will get algae during the cycling process. So I say leave it go for a while and monitor your chemicals and make changes where you need to, but going drastic doesnt help anything

 

[NCNBilly]

And please don't buy any more marguerita snails. They are temperate creatures, and their lifespan in most of our systems is relatively short. Trochus, astrea, or ceriths are much better choices.

Yeah, boiling rock won't do anything for algae - you have to treat the source. In a death-tank, algae growth is probably good. Keep up on your water changes to remove the snail poo or it'll just fuel the algae.

 

[khusson1]

Snail poo! Lol

 

[kone77]

thanks bill i definitely not get any more margarita snails