Need some advice on cleaning up 600g tank

[xCry0x]

So we have this 600G FO tank at work: http://fishcam.com/

As you can see it has this fake coral crap that is covered in hair algae.

The setup of the tank is really bad IMO but I come from reef keeping not FO so I have a skewed concept of what a tank should look like and what kind of equipment is needed.

First off, the company that maintains the tank does nothing to really keep it clean aside from a water change and algae scraping. Fairly certain they use tap water.

Basically, the tank drains through a single 1" hose into a maybe 40-50G sump. Half the sump has bioballs (This half is completely filled with muck because I do not think they have ever cleaned it). Other half has return pump and a pump into a fluval 404 which is basically a media holder for some filter pads and carbon. The water goes from the 404 into a uv filter and then back into the sump.

So my thoughts on how to get the tank a little nicer looking are:

1) Find out why they do not use RO/DI
2) Ask the cleaner people to actually clean the sump
3) Add some sort of PO4 absorber to the fluval.


Questions:

Do cheap PO4 sponges like poly-floss pads actually do anything? I only have experience with GFO and do not feel like spending $100 on a bucket of GFO for the office tank.

If I were to use GFO can you run GFO in a fluval 404?

Do most people use tap water for FO tanks? Do they just live with algae?

 

[dave.m]

Devil's Advocate, here. Does anyone else at work who is not reef-savvy care about the state of the tank, or is this just your own personal obsession talking? (Speaking as a similarly obsessed reefer.)

Is the maintenance company contracted to do any more than they do now? i.e. You get what you pay for.

What is the state of the health of the fish? Some of the healthiest fish live in tanks that are poorest for viewing (dark, nasty, weedy looking places that are all natural and wonderfully healthful for fish).

I would suggest you make sure everyone at work agrees with you before attempting a crusade.

Dave.M

 

[xCry0x]

I am going to talk to the cleaning company and ask - I have a feeling that we pay them for more than they do but you never know.

Our co-founder who 'owns' the tank as well as the guy who feed the tank both dislike all the algae. They asked our cleaners about it and they brought in some quickfix algae treatment chemical which surprisingly did nothing.

This is what sparked the initial conversation a while ago - I commented on how getting rid of the algae is easy, you have to clean the tank correctly and not use tap water.

Fast forward to now, they just trashed the 3x250w halide fixture and replaced it with some 3w chinese led strips and re-newed interest in the algae.


The fish are fine as far as no fin rot or coloration issues. IMO their growth is bad but that probably has more to do with their diet of nothing but frozen mysis than anything else.

Personally I would love to drop a few grand and buy a full size sump/fuge to put under the tank with a nice skimmer and fill the tank with live rock and take out all the FO tank fish (puffer, triggers, formosa wrasse) and fill it with a more vibrant mix of anthias etc..

Since that isn't going to happen I at least want to see it not look like 600g of algae growth!

 

[KafudaFish]

This is an easy fix.

Ask the co-founder and the feeder guy what they pay the company.
Tell them if they are willing, that for the next 3 - 6 months you will take care of the tank for free under the following conditions:

They are willing to spend x amount of money to improve the tank (such as whatever they pay for the service now) plus a specific amount.
At the end of the time period if they feel like you have made improvements to the system you get paid to care for the tank.

If they agree set up a timeline and a plan of what you wish to do.

For example:
1. Buy test kits and see what areas you need to focus on. Now.
2. Buy RO/DI unit. Now
3. Buy a new clean up crew. After the water quality improves say 30 days.
4. Purchase a skimmer.

Take photographs each month to show the changes.

 

[xCry0x]

=) I do not have time to or want to do 50g+ water changes weekly.

If I were to set up the tank I would have put a 200-300g sump/fuge under it and made a gigantic refugium to handle all the excess nutrients.

Also a clean up crew wont work on the tank.. it is a FO tank for a reason.

We have a large emperor angel, a puffer, a clown trigger and a ~9" formosa wrasse. I put a hitchhiker crab from my tank in there and the thing got torn to pieces by the formosa and then for the next 2 hours the wrasse paraded around the tank with the pincher hanging out of its mouth.

I think I phrased this whole thread horribly, my question is more around how people setup their big tanks and if anyone with a large FO system actually uses RO/DI or if they live with algae? Or if you use tap how do you avoid algae?

I have a 25g tank with a lot of gadgets.. ato, gfo/carbon reactor, mp5, skimmer, ro/di under the sink etc so this 600g tank with basically a few filter pads and carbon for filtration is pretty far away from what my saltwater world looks like. I would never dream of dumping tap water in my tank but that is because it would murder my fragile system.. a fo could be different.

 

[dave.m]

A fish only tank with lots of meat eaters is going to produce a lot more waste than a reef tank. You could easily spend a lot more money on a sump with refugium and live-in clean-up crew, an ozone generator with air dryer on a skimmer, an RO/DI unit as suggested for all make-up water, tons more GAC and GFO in modern media reactors and get rid of the Fluval, etc. It comes down to whether or not the maintenance company has been given specific instructions in their contract such as no algae or are they just being paid to maintain status quo.

Things like shark tanks produce similar high volume wastes, so it is not an uncommon situation. The maintenance company needs to know what they're expected to be doing by contract and have a specific mandate in order to bring the tank up to your expectations, else you come off as being some sort of reef fanatic. I suggest you find out what they are "supposed" to be doing by contract before telling them they are doing it wrong.

Dave.M

 

[xCry0x]

Thanks for the advice, I asked and nobody seems to really know what is supposed to be done.