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Rlwhite3

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I have wanted a saltwater aquarium for most of my life and after doing some diligent reading and finally being in a position to afford the hobby I took a leap at a tank I found on Craigslist. The tank is 75g, roughly 30g sump with a sock filter, reef octopus re-circulating skimmer, via-aqua 3600 powerhead, 3 hydro koralia smart wave makers and pump controller, 104w light, and 60lbs of LR. The tank came with two clowns and two bangai cardinals. We moved the tank with 5 gallon food grade buckets and changed the water and the sand as well as scrubbed the rock because the previous owner was using tap water and had an algae problem. I would have liked to have done a fishless cycle but I took the risk and put the fish in the aquarium due to lack of reasonable alternatives. I just had my water checked at the 3 week mark and the ammonia was a little elevated at .5, the nitrate was 0, and the nitrite was high. I would appreciate any guidance that can be given. I know that I have some red bubble algae and GFA and I have reduced the feedings to once every three days, reduced the photo period to 8 hours, and added the 3rd wave maker. I am being told by the LFS that I should look for my water to be ammonia free and have high nitrites again next week upon testing and that will mean the end of the cycle. At that time I plan to do a 15g water change and clean the algae from the rocks in a separate container with clean salt water. Here are some photos of the aquarium........https://goo.gl/7rsqTY.....thanks for the time and input.


Respectfully,

Richard
 
you can add bottled bacteria to help keep up with converting that ammonia. Then focus on nutrient export methods (lots of threads on that subject).

welcome to the forum and hobby
 
The ammonia is a problem. Probs you lost some of your bacteria populations in the move. It's normal for nitrates to be high now and nothing to worry about.

I would add a water conditioner that targets ammonia asap. It will render the ammonia non-toxic until your bacteria can cycle it to the less harmful forms of nitrogen. Like giving the bacteria a chance to catch up to the waste production. Contrary to popular myth, nitrites and nitrates are not toxic to fish at levels that would be achievable in home aquaria. Seachem makes a conditioner named Prime, and Kordon makes one called Amquel or Amquel+. These are readily available at the local fish shop (lfs) and good to have on hand for nitrogen emergencies like ammonia spikes and also if you find yourself needing to use tap water in a pinch (because they also handle toxic chloramines, chlorine, and heavy metals in tap water). When not pinched, you need a proper water filter, if you don't have.

You don't have to wait to change your water, whatever reason your lfs has for thinking that is dumb and wrong. I wouldn't go scraping algae into the water until you start doing water changes. It's a wasted effort if the dead algae is left in the tank to compost and produce fertilizer for the next round.

Your fish are stressed, and therefore vulnerable to disease (especially since they weren't quarantined, so the tank is infected). I wouldn't underfed them. I feed 4 times a day, every third day sounds like way too little to me.

Is that a big rock in the center of the tank? It looks like a brain coral. If it's not alive, that will probs grow algae for the foreseeable future.

Hope that doesn't sound like too much bad news! On the upside your lights probably aren't strong enough to really grow algae :) welcome to the hobby, everybody starts someplace, and you're well ahead of many new tanks. Congrats on getting your feet wet and best luck going forward!
 
NS Mike D said:
you can add bottled bacteria to help keep up with converting that ammonia. Then focus on nutrient export methods (lots of threads on that subject).

welcome to the forum and hobby
Click to expand...

^^This^^ Biospira (bottled bacteria) will help ensure you don't have an ammonia spike that could harm the fish. BTW, congrats on getting your first saltwater tank.
 
CStrickland said:
The ammonia is a problem. Probs you lost some of your bacteria populations in the move. It's normal for nitrates to be high now and nothing to worry about.

I would add a water conditioner that targets ammonia asap. It will render the ammonia non-toxic until your bacteria can cycle it to the less harmful forms of nitrogen. Like giving the bacteria a chance to catch up to the waste production. Contrary to popular myth, nitrites and nitrates are not toxic to fish at levels that would be achievable in home aquaria. Seachem makes a conditioner named Prime, and Kordon makes one called Amquel or Amquel+. These are readily available at the local fish shop (lfs) and good to have on hand for nitrogen emergencies like ammonia spikes and also if you find yourself needing to use tap water in a pinch (because they also handle toxic chloramines, chlorine, and heavy metals in tap water). When not pinched, you need a proper water filter, if you don't have.

You don't have to wait to change your water, whatever reason your lfs has for thinking that is dumb and wrong. I wouldn't go scraping algae into the water until you start doing water changes. It's a wasted effort if the dead algae is left in the tank to compost and produce fertilizer for the next round.

Your fish are stressed, and therefore vulnerable to disease (especially since they weren't quarantined, so the tank is infected). I wouldn't underfed them. I feed 4 times a day, every third day sounds like way too little to me.

Is that a big rock in the center of the tank? It looks like a brain coral. If it's not alive, that will probs grow algae for the foreseeable future.

Hope that doesn't sound like too much bad news! On the upside your lights probably aren't strong enough to really grow algae :) welcome to the hobby, everybody starts someplace, and you're well ahead of many new tanks. Congrats on getting your feet wet and best luck going forward!
Click to expand...


It is a big brain coral in the center of the aquarium and it has grown the dark purple substance (corraline?) since being moved. I am adding cured live rock piece by piece as I can afford.

Any suggestions for dealing with the red bubble algae would be appreciated.

Thank you
 
The best way to deal with the bubble algae is nutrient export. Removing nutrients from the tank through water changes is best, then keeping the levels low by watching how much you are feeding. There are a few other things that will help too, such as an algae scrubber if you can spare the room in your stand. Emerald Crabs or their closely related red cousins are even better for red bubble algae, but they are also questionable with coral. Some are great forever, some will eventually eat coral. I had one that started shredding zoas and now I have two that are leaving everything alone. That being said, the two emeralds I have barely touched the bubble algae I had in my tank. It's gone now through nutrient export.
 
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