Rejuvenating a tank

[Coderabit2]

My relatives have a tank that has been neglected for a little bit. One major problem is that it didn't have any lights for probably a month. I just installed a new halide and have done some water changes. It is a 46 gallon bow front with a DSB, live rock and a carbon filter for filtration. The corals do not look happy and was wondering what else I could do to jump start the tank back? Could there be a build up of nitrates and phosphates? The test kits I have for those don't tell much.

Thanks for any help

 

[Aquarist007]

you did the right thing with the water changes but you need to measure for ammonia and nitrates because there will be definetly some new cycling occuring.

What are the readings those test kits are giving you

I would also check the salinity--it could be really off do to evaportaion etc of the water if the tank has been neglected.

The corals should also be introduced gradually to a new halide.

 

[Coderabit2]

I'll have to go and check again with the test kits, but the nitrates is the salifert one and hardly ever measures any nitrates whenever I have tested and the other is the seachem phosphate test kit and shows a slight color change from yellow to green. Any suggestions on better test kits?

I told them to gradually introduce the corals to the halide and that they'll need a refresher on a clean up crew.

Thats a good point on salinity. However, the water changes should help make it go back in track. I'll go this week with my test kit box and do a full range of tests.

 

[brtfreud]

You are on the right track.

I would Hook up a phosphate reactor and fill it with some GFO from two part solutions. You will need to replace the media often in the beggining, but this will get your phosphates down.

Make sure you watch the pH and alkalinty while you do this.

 

[Coderabit2]

How long do you think the phosban rxt needs to be running?

 

[Coderabit2]

The water tested 35ppt salinity and 11dkH. I still would rather have a better test for nitrate and phosphate than a color scale.

 

[Aquarist007]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11121643#post11121643 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by brtfreud
You are on the right track.

I would Hook up a phosphate reactor and fill it with some GFO from two part solutions. You will need to replace the media often in the beggining, but this will get your phosphates down.

Make sure you watch the pH and alkalinty while you do this.

this cost around 70 bucks and does a fantastic job at water clarity and quality