Hello from Kailua, HI!

Thanks for the concerns about the tsunami. The aquarium I work at was closed all day, and all staff were evacuated to a high point at 10am. It was supposed to hit between 11 and 11:30am, but nothing very big hit Oahu. I heard Hilo, on the Big Island, had a 3 ft surge, which isn't anything to scoff at, but not the big emergency the media made it out to be. Better safe than sorry though

To answer the other question:

My tank has been running since last May. I recently added about 10 more pounds of live rock to the tank. If that works, I don't think I will find out for at least another month. I'm very dissapointed in the denitrate product by Seachem and am trying not to use a product like Amquell, as I do not like adding too many chemicals to the tank. Do you think the tank is overstocked? The clownfish and damselfish are about 1 inch long each (4 in total), and the yellow tang and goby are about 2.5-3 inches long. I've been feeding the tang with a spinach clip.

I'll look into RO/DI, its high on my list to save for.

 

For those of you joining us that are new to the hobby - the best piece of advice you'll get around here as a saltwater newbie is 3Reef's slogan
"Go slow, let it grow."
And for those experianced hobbyists joining us - it's still good advice
good luck and post pics soon


I would suggest finding a small space in your sump for a ball of chateo and half a dozen mangroves, they are great at reducing nitrates, mine dropped from 20+ to less than 2.5 after just a month, the mangroves hadn't even sprouted leaves yet

 

good chance for sure.. Kauai is such a small island community. It seems like they all know each other somehow..

 

Welcome to 3 reef Jake

Steve

 

Welcome! I grew up on the Big Island. Still have a house there in Puna, maybe some day I'll return.

As for water - RO/DI is the way to go. Until then get water from work. Also, I bet someone there would be able to test your water for anything you could want.

And yeah - have a great time collecting. It's amazing what you can find in a simple tide pool.

-Doug

 

Hello Jake and welcome to 3reef.

 

I signed up just to answer this question.

Hawaii's tap water is whats causing your diatoms. If you work at waikiki aquarium and are already there on a normal basis my advice would be to start bring home water and water change until you've gotten most of the old water out. either that or i'd say get water from the saltwater spigot out in sand island, the ph is a little better from their source and its free you just have to find a way to get it home, plus no mixing and no need to buy salt.

i don't have a ro/di unit, i just fill up the 5 gallon jugs at times super market for my top off water, and the rest of my water comes from sand island. i used tap water before this and i had the exact same problem as you. i live in kaneohe so i figure our tap water is basically the same.

good luck homie.

 

well, now that your here....



For those of you joining us that are new to the hobby - the best piece of advice you'll get around here as a saltwater newbie is 3Reef's slogan
"Go slow, let it grow."
And for those experianced hobbyists joining us - it's still good advice
good luck and post pics soon

 

Are you using bio balls in your wet/dry? if you aren't cleaning them, they could be your nitrate problem. i have read that you should aerate tap water for a week before adding it to the tank. Maybe someone else can comment on this. i am also not sure if you should be vacuuming the sand bed. i have been told that this is not good for a live sand bed. perhaps someone can comment on this as well.

 

I've added some pictures to the opening post.

Thank you for the tip about Hawaii's tap water. I suspected that was where the diatom problem was coming from so now I have an even greater reason to save for an RO/DI machine!

The bioballs do not look dirty, but I'll rinse them while I do my next water change. Its worth a try. I aerate my water for as long as it takes to become clear, at this point I assume the water has been degassed from the dissolving process. I haven't heard a weeks aeration is necessary, but it would be interesting to get some more input on that question.