Rescued tank - lots of algae/high nitrates

[jwarcop]

Hello,
I picked up a tank off someone about a week ago. Everything included. The move was rather horrendous for the creatrues, splashing around in the bottom of the tank, and the tank temp dipped to about 60F before I was able to get it re-established and heaters going. But all is well, only lost 1 snail. The guy I got this stuff from has had the tank established for little over a year.

I'm trying to learn some of the tanks personality before I go dumping all kinds of things into it. Doing things slowly..

Inhabitants: Purple sea urchin, sea cucumber, brittle star, 1 shrimp, a few snails, and 4 small crabs (1red, 2blue). Everything seems happy right now, the brittle star has found a very comfortable hidden from view location under a rock. So it's been about 1 week, and here comes the algae and nitrate levels are spiking.

Think I should wait to see if the natural filtration gets back going or should I go ahead and do a large water change? I don't have very accurate testing gear, but I'm pretty sure the nitrate levels are well over 20ppm. And maybe some suggestions on the algae.

Other identified problems:
Real low flow in the tank - can be fixed later
Small skimmer - in tank job with 1/2 skimmate cup..
Lighting - I'll live with it for now, 2 PCs - tank gets a good dose of natural sun light in the later part of the day (probably reason for algae, i've never worried much about NSL though, I'll probably get hammered for that statement.

Thanks - and here are the pics.

thanks

 

[Fast Fred]

Looks like a good start. IMO, you should first upgrade your skimmer - get the best one you can afford.

Add some live rock - 1-2 pounds per gal is the rule of thumb.

Start doing 15%-20% water changes maybe twice a week until the nitrates and phosphates are down. Use RO/DI water to mix your salt, as some tap contains phosphate and other things to make algae grow.

 

[Brandon's Reef]

I would toss the sand and cook the rock MPO

 

[jwarcop]

Maybe I should also clarify that this tank is not a long-term tank. I got it just for the live stuff, eventually this tank may end up as a fuge on my larger system. I'd just like to maintain everything until I'm ready to begin transferring stuff over. I'd like everything existing to stick around for maybe 3 to 4 months when I'm ready for the move.
Just the typical water changes will probably keep everything churning for now.

 

[Fast Fred]

OK, now that's a different story. Just go with the water changes then. IMO, you need to get the nitrates lower (or at least no higher) for the sake of the inverts. This should help with the phosphates too.

Also, Vaccuum out the sand and go bare bottom. This will greatly reduce the phosphates.

 

[sunfish11]

You probably had a cycle after moving the tank. Do a big water change with ro/di (50%) to bring down nitrates and phosphates and get a bigger clean-up crew. a few turbos and about 10 more scarlet or blue-leg hermits should go through that hair in about a day and 1/2.

Lisa

 

[tkeracer619]

i like my sand bed, why would you remove it if its already there? Is something wrong with the sand. I must have missed something.


I think doing 2 waterchanges a week would be helpfull to clean up the water. Dillution is the solution :beer:.

There was a small die off from the 60deg move but all should be alright if the water is changed several times. Just test everyday and use RO water.

Vacuum any trash off of the sand when you do the waterchanges

 

[jwarcop]

Quick cycle after moving the tank, very very possible. Never thought of that. I'm sure there was some degree of die-off. Thanks for the suggestion on the turbos, I'll probably pick up a few and some blue-legged.

I'm not getting rid of the sand-bed, a more natural approach has always worked well for me.

Thanks.

 

[PatMayo]

I'm with u jwarcop. I think natural is always better.

Regards,

Pat

 

[jwarcop]

Natural sun light

Natural sun light

Yes, natural.. I also love natural sunlight! My freshwater tank has always thrived next to the window. This small tank also gets a good shot of sunlight every day, just a good balance of tank cleaners and it should be good.

One of the big no-no has always been about not putting the tank near sunlight, I think that is for the people who aren't prepared to balance out the water in the tank.

-Josh

 

[jwarcop]

I think the natual sunlight question is a good poll don't you think?

 

[jwarcop]

New poll up about NSL - if you've been following this thread, it looks like we will migrate to the new thread/poll on NSL.

 

[jwarcop]

By the way, I have some new crabs/snails on the way to deal with the hair. Should be cleaned up in about a week.

Thanks sunfush11 for the suggestion.