Water parameters out of Spec !

[Submaweiner]

I have a 65 gallon tank with a aquatics wet/dry filter a aquamarine skimmer in sump, uv sterilizer and good circulation in tank (5 powerheads). I recently rinsed off the bio-balls off in saltwater and removed a ton of grunge that had been there for a while, I also did a 20% water change about a week ago and change my filters often. I think I have red slime on my rocks, It lifts off pretty easily with a powerhead in some spots. How do I get rid of it and what is causing it to grow? The red slime on the rocks has been there for a while, I thought it was coralline but after recent reading Im afraid it may be red slime. My salinity is 1.025, amonia is 0, NO2 and N03 are low and temp is 79-81 degrees. I installed my new Halide lights w/ acitinics and it seems to be disapearing. I want to get my water within safe/good parameters but need help figuring out what's going on and what's causing my problems? A month ago I neglected my tank while I was on travel due to friends not knowing how to keep up. But since then I have been struggling to get everything back in order. What should I do?

 

[brandonberry]

Ditch the bio-balls and do 30% water changes from now on. Depending on the age of your tank, you may just have to wait for it to run its course. I'm not familiar with Aquamarine protein skimmers. It may or may not be doing the job. I usually recommend that people stick to the proven brands of skimmers like Euro-reef, ASM, ETSS, Aqua-C, etc.

 

[Submaweiner]

ok, I plan on doing a 30% water change this Saturday. I get my water from the Waikiki aquarium and I use R/O water for my fresh water. Recently my Nitrates were high at 40 PPM and Nitrites at zero. Is it because of the Bio-balls? You mentioned before to remove them. Do I remove them all at once or slowly? The rest of my parameters are in spec. All my fish are accounted for and I havent noticed any missing inverts. Please help me if you can! I was also wondering if maybe Im over feeding my fish. I feed them daily with the frozen cubes of brine/ about half of a cube each day. Im not sure if that is too much! My livestock includes: 1 yellow tang, 1 sailfin tang, 2 chromis, and 2 small clowns. Is my 65 gallon overstocked? There is about 75 lbs of liverock also.

 

[Anonymous]

ok, I plan on doing a 30% water change this Saturday. I get my water from the Waikiki aquarium and I use R/O water for my fresh water. Recently my Nitrates were high at 40 PPM and Nitrites at zero. Is it because of the Bio-balls? You mentioned before to remove them. Do I remove them all at once or slowly?

Remove them all at once, and vacuum the gunk out of the space they used to occupy. That detrius only rots and adds to your problems. In this thread I link to some other good thread on the subject and articles:

http://www.reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.p ... ht=nitrate

The rest of my parameters are in spec. All my fish are accounted for and I havent noticed any missing inverts. Please help me if you can! I was also wondering if maybe Im over feeding my fish. I feed them daily with the frozen cubes of brine/ about half of a cube each day. Im not sure if that is too much! My livestock includes: 1 yellow tang, 1 sailfin tang, 2 chromis, and 2 small clowns. Is my 65 gallon overstocked? There is about 75 lbs of liverock also.

First, how you feed the drozen food greatly effects the tank. If you just thaw it and dump the slurry into the tank you are putting the nutrient filled junk water into the tank along with the food. Which means excess nitrate produced at the end of the cycle=bad. So, the best way is to get a fine mesh net, thaw the food in it and rinse it with tank water before you feed it. That way you don't add excess nutrients.

As far as stockng levels IMhhO yes you have too many fish for that size tank, I'd get rid of one of the tangs, common thinking is that one in a 65 is pushing it in terms of the fish's overall health. If it was my choice, I'd get rid of the sailfin as they really require a much larger tank. Now, the Tangs you have need more than brine shrimp in terms of nutrition, they also like veggies/greens so you should consider a more complete diet for the one you keep, either a frozen veggie mix or by putting Nori (dried chinese veggie) into the tank using a clip (your LFS has them, they are a common item).

 

[Submaweiner]

Ok, thanks...now that you mention there is alot of crap that goes in the water once I dump in the Brine! I'll definetly strain it prior too letting it go into my tank... I do feed them nori on a clip about once a week. Do you feed your fish daily or feed them once every two days or so on?

I will remove my bio balls all at once when I change out my water on Saturday. Thanks for the advice. I plan on giving away my Sailfin Tang to someone if they want it! He is getting pretty big and once he is out I can definetly cut back on the feeding.

 

[Anonymous]

FWIW...

But still consider the other yellow tang is primarily an herbavore and to be truly healthy needs more than just frozen BS. Brine shrimp (unless you soak it in a product like Selcon-a food additive that adds nutrition) has very little in the way of nutrition-kinda like popcorn. Your LFS should sell other more complete frozen foods you might want to consider.