High phosphates and nitrates

Get plenty off Nassaurius Snails as they will really keep your sand bed stirred. Cerith snails are great for cleaning the glass next to the sand line. Turbos are good for the glass and rocks. Bumble Bee snails are stellar rock cleaners. Scarlet Hermits are fabulous algeavores and don't become overly aggressive carnivores. Blue Leg Hermits are fabulous algeavores when small but become carnivorous as they get larger. Cleaner Shrimp are a must in my book, two pairs for your tank size. A couple of Conchs are also good.

 

No problem Cindy thiers always a way to work through things. Doing waters changes is a good plan for righ now, this should help both your nitrate and phosphate problems along with getting a more balanced chemistry.
Your right in that the sand should have been new with just a bit of the old sand to liven it up. But that is old news, now. The bioload in the tank is very heavy but as I mentioned above it can be done, I dont think runing a fine sand bed is the route on this tank, it will not be able to keep up with the bioload you have. I would suggest removing the old sand, then place the the rock on the bare bottom of the tank, from thie I would place a heaveir media (like a crushed coral) on the exposed areas of the floor of the tank. What this will do is to allow you to vacuum out the excessive waste/organics that will accumulate in the tank. Now you can set up a maintence schedlue on how often you do it, probibly once a week. Buying sanils and such is ok but in reality all they are goig to do it make big detritus small, not really eliminate it. By syphoning the substriaght you are actually physically removing it from the tank and that is what you need to do to keep that many fish and corals in good condition.

I think if you stick to this method you have a good chance at turning things around, keep your chin up thiers more then one way to approach it.


Mike

 

I think Mike is exactly right.

Is there any chance that using a larger refugium might help handle the bioload after figuring out the sandbed problems?

The maintenance is going to be pretty time consuming because the bio-load is at least double, or more, than what the tank should actually be able to easily handle.

Wish I could help you unload some fish, but I don't know anyone close there in Tyler.

Like Mike said hang in there and do a little at a time, change the water get the phosphates and nitrates down, and then start chipping away at the sand bed problems

 

I dontthink thier is a way to make this sytem total biologically filtered. its just not big enough. I would say some good old fashioned syphoning will remove enough waste and organics to make it work. Just when syphoning toss the water and do a change at the same time.

mike

 

How about me just giving up while everything looks good and healthy and sell it all? I'm just about to that point. I don't know maybe I am already. :-/

I have a question for you. My tank is placed a few inches in front of an airconditioning air return. Small living room and it was really the only place to put it. My air flow should be fine because directly around the corner is another large air return. I noticed the other day that the air vent is starting to rust. More of a concern was when my air conditioner plugged up and started leaking. I took the panel off of the air handler inside the house and cleaned out the crud. It was almost mud like. I don't know what you call them but behind the panel I took off are some coils of some sort I think. I've had to do this before and I don't remember them being rusted looking. Is this because of my tank? Please tell me it isn't because I am already so discouraged. Have any of you had any problems with rust with in the house? I have an airconditiong man coming out next week for my yearly inspection. I'll see what he says. The air conditioner is only about 3 years old. :'( Maybe I just wasn't intended to have a tank, its been nothing but trouble since I bought it, and I'm tired of worrying about it. I can't seem to keep from worring, especially after the power went out the other day.


Cindy

 

[quote author=beamer link=board=Newbie;num=1086480105;start=45#54 date=06/10/04 at 21:18:26]How about me just giving up while everything looks good and healthy and sell it all?  I'm just about to that point.  I don't know maybe I am already. :-/Cindy[/quote]

Oh my! Cindy don't do that!

I looked at the pics of your tank and you have something good going there! Sure some numbers are high, but nothing is dying right?

I wouldn't knock yourself out doing water changes every day, nothing will stabilize then. But doing a little something maybe weekly and something over time is a good course.

As for the air conditioner, yeah, that certainly may have been from all of the tank humidity. I have my open top tank right next to my computer! I may have trouble ahead too!

But the air conditioner can be replaced for a lot cheaper than that nice tank you have.

Many people, including me at the moment ;D , don't have something as nice as you. I think you should ride this out.

Matt

 

Hang in there Cindy!

 

Thanks for your encouragement. !

My air conditioner was $6000. So it certainly wasn't cheap and its only 3 years old and I've only had the tank 2 mos. I'll see what the airconditioning man says. He's a friend of mine. After I had already bought the tank (not delivered) he told me he wouldn't have a SW tank any where in the house that it would only cause problems. He said it can cause problems no matter where you put it. He said that people on the coast have to have their air conditioners replaced every few years. I wonder if they have airconditioners that are SW proof? Well- I had already bought the tank and really didn't have anyplace else to put it, that is if we wanted to be able to see it, and isn't that the whole purpose of having the tank?

I need something to cover my sump to keep the bubbles from popping out and onto the air return. I don't see it popping but I see the residue around the top of the sump . I really don't know what to use to cover it up with and then I'm afraid it will just increase the temp. ANY SUGGESTIONS HERE?

My temp wants to stay a little high ,about 80 and by the time the lights come on we are lookin at 82-83. And that worries me with the hot weather coming on. Our living room has vaulted ceilings and air doesn't circulate as well. My husband's talking about getting a chiller for the tank, but with me feeling like I want to get rid of of the tank, I hate to spend the money. I don't know if my pumps are running a little warm or not, I'm sure they are. I have folded up a couple of hand towels under the lid of the canopy so that maybe it can air out a little.

WHAT IS A GOOD PH to have in the tank that doesn't give off heat? I don't know what kind of heat it produces but several people have recommended Tunze PH. Also what's the best external pump that doesn't give off heat? I have the GEn-X mak 4 at this time. I would like to have another on hand. My biggest fears have been the elctricity going out (which it did last week and I had to run out and buy a generator) and also the pump going out on me. There are no stores in this area that carry much of anything and it would have to be ordered on line. And they aren't very quick. One of the companys I paid for overnight and it took it a week or a little more to get here. So , I would like to have an extra on hand. I probably need an extra mak 7 PH for my skimmer. DO THESE TEND TO THROW OFF HEAT? It was one of the ones the skimmer people recommended. It ws their 2nd choice, I think a dolphin was their first choice. The temp in my house stays around 73 degrees. ANd I do have a 6 in fan on my sump. And I keep my cabinet doors open.

I know I need to take the sand bed out and my husband feels we should break down everything so that we can get the sand that is under the rock and back behind. I guess then we'd have to take the tank outside and rinse it. My fear here is that there is a crack in the upper right hand corner of the tank. Looks kind of like when a rock hits the windshield. It appears to be only on the outside. If it is on the inside I can't see it cause it's covered by the seal. So I worry that the crack will go all the way through and cause a big disaster.

Now my Ro/Di unit is making some kind of strange noise. Don't know what its problem is. I just saw one of the tubings from a canister jump hitting the sink and making the noise. I moved it around a little. I don't know why its doing it. It's also so the metal tubing doing the same thing. I thought one of the cats had gotten inside the cabinet making noise with my pots and pans. I have a booster pump on my ro/di, I don't know if it has anything to do with it or not. It purrs from time to time which is normal, but until now that was about it.

Anybody know what my problem is here?


Nothing is dying. My blenny and xenia died within about a week of each other a couple of weeks or so ago, but that's about it. I'm wondering if the fish started eating on the xenia. That's when the fish were fasting trying to get the phosphates down.

All I wanted was a nice tank where we could sit back and relax. That's one reason why we went on ahead and bought a pre existing tank. Boy!! was I ever wrong!! All I do is worry about it.

I know--I'm on my pitty pot today. I guess its about time to get off the pot!


Thanks,
Pretty discouraged in Tyler :'(
Cindy

 

You have had a rough time of it, Cindy... :-/
I agree with Matt...little by little...the fish seem to be alright..so just take it slow. I'm still in my planning stages, so I have not hit the panic mode yet, I'm sure that time will come.
I think Mojo had a good idea with siphoning the sand a little at a time and changing it.

I f you tear down, you know the routine. Aereate the rocks and coral. As Mojo said you can reuse the water along with some new water. I don't really know what that will do to the status of the anerobics in the whole system because I've never done it. I know a recycle can be stressful on everything. I would guess that if you use new sand and reseed it with some of your live sand that it will come together pretty quickly.

Mostly, just try not to worry!!!

 

O.K.   :-[

Cindy