Protein Skimmer/ hermit Question

[AshevilleReefer]

Im thinking abou getting this protein skimmer for my tank. I know its not the best but for the money it seems like a good deal to me. Will ya check out the link and tell me what ya think. and can anyone tell me why my hermits keep dying? http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=380282742852&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT
90 gal reef tank
1 yellow tang
coral banded shrimp
400w 20k MH
snails.
zoo's
xenia
30gal sump/refuge

 

[Anonymous]

You've given too little information for anyone to guess why your hermits might be dying. Parameters, please.

 

[AshevilleReefer]

I've been testing my water pretty regularly and everything seems fine. Ammonia is 0ppm as well as nitrite. The only thing that might be elevated is the nitrate cause I don't do water changes as regular as I should. But it's not that high. Snails are fine. I bought a bunch of those little brown leggers off of eBay.

 

[Anonymous]

"Fine" is not a parameter. 0ppm NH3/4 as well as 0ppm NO2 are good, but incomplete. What about specific gravity? Water changes (and with what)? Topping off? Actual nitrate levels? I don't know what a 'brown-legger' is. If they're smaller than the CB shrimp, could it be killing them? Do you have extra shells for when they need a new home?

 

[AshevilleReefer]

Tiny brown leg hermits from eBay. You think the shrimp could be eating them?

 

[AshevilleReefer]

Ok just did 10 gal water change. Readings are as follows:
1.021 salt
Am .25ppm
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
Still have no skimmer but my levels seem to be down. Gonna do another 10gal change to get the ammonia down but other than that I think things are ok. Cyno starting to pop up but I think its cause I've been topping off with city water. Gonna stop that! I hVe an ro machine but theres to much discard and I'm on city water paying for it. Any ideas?

 

[Nemo2007]

To me, the salinity is lower than preferred for invertebrates. How long has this tank been set up because I would imagine ammonia levels should be very low to zero unless its a newer tank. (- or overfed, or under filtered, or something just died)

Anyway, in my own experience, when I first started out with a 30G Eclipse tank, it was impossible to keep hermit crabs or other for very long without a protein skimmer. Interestingly, the cleaner shrimp lived a lot longer, but also met their eventual demise at my hands, usually just after or during molting. The two main reasons were: 1. at the time I knew very little about maintaining a marine aquarium. 2. More so, I didn't fully realize the importance of frequent water changes ( I also was using city water as my source). My parameters tended to look "fine" using those cheap test strips from Petco (What are you using?). However, the lush algae growth that eventually engulfed the tank was a clear indication something was wrong, not to mention the cyanobacteria. I ended up rigging up a $200 protein skimmer/trickle tray solution to tank to make it decent and there still were problems, but I could keep crustaceans long term.

--Still, I could have saved my money. The tank was so small, all I had to do was regular water changes, probably weekly for that system with its limited filtration. IMO, a 90G tank will be hard pressed to be successful without a protein skimmer.

PS If you can't use your own RO water, buying high quality water at the LFS is the next best option. Many times they sell premixed water as well as regular RO water.

I hope this is helpful.

 

[AshevilleReefer]

Yeah that helps alot. I just put in a protein skimmer about 4 days ago. Not really getting that much skimmate. Maybe it just needs time. What level do you recommend salinity be? I use the needle gauges that you get in the LFS and it's in the general zone on the salinity tester. The skimmer is made by Current and is rated for a 250 gal tank. The red cyno is gone but now I'm getting brown hair algae. Maybe I should just do some water changes. But right now I'm wondering why the skimmer isn't skimming. I've gotten a little collection but it's only slighty brown(you can see threw it). And before I get reprimanded, I know Current isn't a great skimmer but it was only $50 on eBay.

 

[Nemo2007]

A high quality protein skimmer is always preferred but it may be too early to tell if the one you have is working yet. I believe skimmers take at least a week or so to break in properly. it took me at least that long to do it with my Euroreef skimmer. You may have a better idea of how its going to work now since its been a while. Concerning salinity and inverts, normal sea water can range anywhere from 1.020 to 1.030. Still, my preference would be from 1.023 to 1.025 for inverts. At 1.021, your are very close to the lower edge of normal and have little room for error.

Concerning the brown hair algae (if the tank is already cycled), my personal belief is its presence may indicate a problem with phosphates more than nitrogen cycle products. When the issue is green hair algae, I believe the nitrogen cycle is more likely to be more out of balance. Testing the water may be helpful but if you are using these extra nutrients up as fast as they are produced, the test kit may yield normal or near normal results. Take a sample to your LFS and see what it shows.

For a similar problem I had with brown hair algae, the solution was a fluidized bed filter with GFO (granular ferric oxide). I use a price efficient model from Two Little Fishes.