Howdy

Hey guys, the name's Alex. I'm 20, and a junior at Hope College in Holland, MI. I am an animal care worker here. I realized our tanks (especially the saltwater ones, we have 2) need to be improved. They're not balanced, we have old cheap filters, and nobody really knows what to do with them. We've had problems with inverts just not wanting to live... sponges just die and get covered in algae, crabs just stop living, snails turn up dead, we needed help.

I decided to answer the call, and I decided to be the one who cares and does something about it. My job doesn't so much have a job description, so I can undertake projects like building a refugium. Please see my post in the Refugium section!

If anyone has advice, PLEASE feel free to comment. I need basic and advanced information on what algae and inverts to balance our aquaria, as they basically have fish right now and that's it (well probably bacteria too, we have live sand), and that creates Nitrogen compounds. So, I'll be posting all over.

 

Hi Decembermouse !!

Welcome to the Reef !

I too am new here !

Lady Z!!

 

Howdy and welcome to 3reef!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Before I can offer you any advice regarding invert, I need to know what types of fish you have! Do you have a protein skimmer? Have you checked your water parameters? You should make sure your water is in check before adding anything to it. You obviously have a problem with your water to succumb all the inverts to death or the wrong types of fish, though I believe it to be more of the first issue.
Let us know those things and we can better assist you and get your tanks looking like a pristine reef...

 

Hey Lady Z, nice to meet you. What've you got in your aquarium(s)?

No, we don't have a protein skimmer. We have a couple pumps that use activated carbon, and we have a under-gravel filter. The gravel/crushed shell stuff came with bacteria already on it.

As far as fish, in the big aquarium we have a pencil urchin, two purple sea urchins, a spiny boxfish, basically a pufferfish... Chilomycterus schoepfi. A red-legged and blue-legged hermit crab, both tiny. Also, a couple trochus snails.

There's a little algae, mostly on the gravel stuff, but the superiors think it's bad and unsightly and remove it, so we have basically nothing to remove Nitrogen compounds. There is a fluorescent tube light that's on from 7am to 7pm, on a timer. The water temp is about 23C, and the specific gravity is about 1.028. I'm trying to lower that by doing partial water changes with lower salinity.

We have a yellow ball sponge, about cow eyeball-sized. It's becoming overrun with algae, but is kind of hard to clean off and nobody wants to hurt it.


I've discovered that our physics workshop guy here on campus can build about anything, so I'm going to work with him on the refugium. Now, throw some ideas at me! Thanks!

Alex

 

IMO, i'd definitely invest in a protein skimmer!!! Next i'd add some live rock and live sand (roughly 4"deep) before adding a refugium.
I would also add more water movement and as for the sponge, increase water flow to it as it will help to rid the sponge of the microalgae. Also you can cut down on the lighting duration as you don't need to leave it on for such a long period of time, especially since you don't have coral and sponges don't require much light either. This will save you money in terms of electric bill and cut down on nuisance microalgae.
Astrea, turbo, and margaria snails are good complements for ridding tank of microalgae and keep the tank clean as well as red reef and blue legged hermits. Brittle and serpent stars are excellent for keeping detritus in check as well as your urchins. Urchins also will eat the algae and keep live rock under control with regards to microalgae.
Sponges are filter feeders, which play an important role in water quality. If they die, then it is a good indication that something is wrong with your water parameters!
You may want to try a Blenny such as a Red-Lipped or Bi-Color. They help to contain algae outbreaks and keep it under control, they are hardy, get along with most fishes and inverts and coral for that matter and are very interesting with regards to behavior and feeding patterns. Tangs(Zebrasoma sp.) are also very good additions to a salt tank. They feed on variuos frozen foods and algae as well, and graze daily on algae found on live rock and the tank glass. They are aslo very colorful to spice up your tank.
Just a few ideas for the future of your tank!!!!

 

Invest in a good protein skimmer and 1 pound per gallon live rock which will give you your biological filtration. Also increase your water flow to 15-20 gallons per hour per gallon of tank size as this will help with algae as well. You can easily do this with cheap power heads. A sump/refugium will increase your total tank volume and allow you to keep macro algae for nutrient export. You might want to invest in better lighting as well. Poor lighting will contribute to unwanted algae growth.
A few other tips-
Feed the fish sparingly and every other day.
Your snails are probably being eaten by your puffer.
Your sponges are probably not doing well because of high nitrates and poor water quality as they are very sensitive to this. They also prefer high water flow.
Hope this helps some. Good luck!

 

Hi Alex,

As of right now - I do not have any tanks set up -
I am working on setting up a 200 gal that has been setting on my Liv Room floor for about 2 yrs - Figured it was time to set it up

I need to build a stand for it first - then get it all plumbed out and add my sand - so it will be a lil while still

Lady Z !!

 

Lady Z- that is one massive aquarium. I kind of envy you! Do you plan on building/getting a refugium?

RAVEN- I've got feeding down, for the fish at least. Sponges, I'll try to give them some more water flow. Perhaps the refugium I plan to build would help.

So I should get a protein skimmer in addition to the refugium?

The snails are ok so far, not getting eaten. We had ghost shrimp and the puffer ate them, though. But that was a while ago and I wasn't the one who put them in.

As for live sand and rock, we have live sand in the bottom of the tank. It's got crushed shells and such, too.

And can you explain nutrient export, what the macroalgae do in terms of that?

Thanks

 

You need a skimmer regardless of any filter you decide to go with. Keep us posted on your progress!

It's kinda neat that you stepped up to the plate to make over the tanks, once you have finished, you will be getting a lot of pats on the back! ;D

 

Thanks rickzter, will do! This place is great.

What can you guys tell me about live rock? So far I know that they have bacteria and filter feeder microorganisms, and that I should get some. What else? Do they produce nitrite/nitrate/ammonia, or consume it? How many pounds should I get for two tanks for a total of about 100 gallons of water? I plan to put some in a refugium (see my thread on that please) and some in a main tank, hopefully.