Please help

[chelbe00]

I am taking care for my neighbor's saltwater aquarium for an apparent indefinite period. (Originally this was for 2 weeks but now its 2 months going on 3). He basically left me with minimal instructions and I am not able to contact him while he is gone (long story.). Worse yet, his friends and family who know I am taking care of the tanks dont even have the decency to communicate with us as to what we're supposed to do.

I believe he has a 60 gallon tank with the following:

1 coral banded shrimp
3 snails
1 Kaudern cardinalfish
1 Hawaiian tang
1 Naso Blonde tang
1 shrimp (unidentified)
3 other fish I havent identified yet.
1 coral unidentified that now appears to be different then 2 months ago. I think it might be a white Pom Pom Xenia

He originally told me to feed them every 3 days but since its now been over 2 months I decided to feed them less but do it every day. His friend claimed that we should add new water every 2 weeks but didnt even tell me that it was saltwater (I had to figure this out for myself). However he left me with no care instructions for the saltwater or how much water to add. In the meantime I have bought some test kits to reveal the water quality:

Nitrate 20 ppm
PH 7.8
Ammonia - 0

At this point I am not sure if the water should be changed or how much? I been feeding the fish the same food that he had by the tank (fish flakes and some pellets.) The fish seem to be doing OK so far but naturally being a complete newbie I am concerned. I have bought some books which indicate that this PH level is too low. ONe more thing is that the coral seemed to be doing ok until last week. It now appears to be all shriveled up and discolored.
Any advice is appreciated.

Joe

[bobby]

Never add saltwater unless you remove saltwater during a water change or so. When the water evaporates replace that water with only fresh RO or RO/DI water. RO or RO/DI is basicly just filtered water. You can buy it at walmart for about .33 a gal if you fill it yourself at their machines, or you buy distilled water from walmart for .65 cant a gal. I would feed the fish once everyother day and not too much, but enough that they all get food. A good way to judge if there is enough food is add some so that they can eat all you have added within a minute or two.


PH should be 8.0 to 8.3 I believe, and the low PH could effedt the coral but I think it would only if it recently droped at a fast rate. When making your new saltwater if you PH is not up to par you can add additive to raise it. I belive you can add them to the tank too, but I would be very afriad because you can throw the coral and fish into shock if it is to big and change and too sudden.

The coral also need light to survive. Are you running the lights? They should run for about 8 to 12 hours a day. If your neighbor didn't say then I would run them for about 10 hours a day.

I hope this helps and if you need any more questions answered just ask away this place is very helpful.

Well good luck and keep us informed.
On the water change, you are supposed to do about 10% every week to every other week. Basicly 6 or 7 gallons every other week would be fine and easier on you. When making the saltwater you will need a pump bucket and hydrometer or refractometer. The pump will mix the water for atleast 24 hours in a buck and the hydrometer or refractometer will tell you how much salt is in the water. When making new water replace with about the amount of salinity in the water. 1.023 to 1.026 if good. An even easier way would be to buy it from a pet store already made atleast untill you fully understand how to make it so no animals are harmed.

[yote]

Talk about getting drafted into the hobby.
Bobbys got you pretty well covered.But I'll offer this,Either that friend would get one hell of bill when he returned,or I'd have his tank in my livingroom.

[RyanG]

Welcome to the Reef! Thats one hell of a predicament to be in. I would say you now own the tank and move it to your house. If you care enought to spend your own money on stuff. You should grab yourself a refractometer that will tell you when you have the salt mix correct. You should start by doing a 10% water change a week. I would say to do 5-10 gallons a week. If you are good with your local fish store or someone else that has a tank locally they can show you how. WE CAN TELL YOU HOW AS WELL.

The corals are probably stressed from the nitrates hence the shriveling. Do you have any idea about the filtration? Skimmer canister filter HOB filter?

Can you take some pics of the hardware so we know what we are dealing with.

[Piggy]

From your test results it looks like the tank needs a water change. The first thing I would do is look around and see what stuff you have available. Things like ,salt,buckets,pump,hydrometer,test kits and what else you can find. Try and post some pics so we can see what equipment there is. Doing a water change is easy if you have the stuff available. If you know anyone or a LFS that you trust explaine your situation and see if they can help. Keep us updated we'll be glad to give you step by step instructions if necessary.
Welcome to the reef.

[daugherty]

welcome looks like everyone has you covered for now.

[chelbe00]

Hi all

Thanks for your helpful comments. I really appreciate the quick response. I will try to post some pics of that coral sometime later this week. A few things. He apparently set the lights to run so I think that should be ok. I also was wondering about using the distilled water. I live in a town where the water isnt that good apparently. But I believe he has used the water. I had read about using distilled water and according to the latest issue of Aquarium magazine, they suggest that such water is too pure to use to change the tank, but is OK for topping off the tank. I have a reverse osmosis water system in the house and want to know if you think that this water is too pure. Also, before adding the water do you need to let is stand a bit?

Also I was able to identify another fish: Royal Gramma Basslet.

I also was wondering how fish normally react when they are fed. When we fee them, the fish seem to be very aggressive trying to get the food. I don't know if that is normal.

I will also get more info on the equipment such as the filtration and buy a device to measure the salinity.

Again thanks all for your quick response.

Joe

[yote]

Your RO water should be just about perfect for doing a water change.Thats what 90% of us use.Just mix in the salt at a 1/2 cup per gallon of fresh RO water.Drop a powerhead in it and let it mix overnight.Just make sure the salinity of the new water matches the tank.
As the aggressive feeding by the fish,thats pretty much normal when their healthy.

[Piggy]

Yote has you covered on how to make the saltwater. He should have a hydrometer already. Look to see if you can find it before you buy one. It could be hanging on the tank or under or where ever he stores his fish supplies.The RO water can be used to top off the tank also. It sounds like your still doing research on the fish. I would feed them at least everyday or every other day. If you need to buy food get frozen. Also the tangs should be given algae sheets. Once you do a water change it''ll help the tank a lot.

[Bifferwine]

RO water will be good for the tank. Like Bobby mentioned, when water from the tank evaporates, only the water evaporates and it leaves salt behind. So when you add water to compensate for evaporation, add fresh water (RO). When you do a water change and you remove salt water, you need to replace it with salt water. So unless you are doing water changes, you should only be adding fresh water.

Those water parameters are not too bad. pH is a little low, but not dangerous or anything.

I think it was a great suggestion that you take pics of whatever you can find. All the equipment, animals, etc. We can then ID every piece of equipment your neighbor has and tell you what you will need to do to maintain that equipment.

Tanks don't run themselves, I'm sorry you got thrown into this. Sounds like a crappy thing to do to someone who is doing you a huge favor.