Any Suggestions?

[TankJr]

Hi, I am new to saltwater aquariums and already need serious help. I have inherited 2 tanks. Both are saltwater tanks one being 75 gallons and the other is 50 gallons. I have checked the water quality and have found that most of it is normal-to-acceptable except my nitrites seem a bit high. Temperature is normal and feeding is normal. The smaller of the two tanks is fishless now :( as I have lost my dottyback. The rocks were turning blackish, and the plant life well...lets just say there use to be things flourishing oone the rocks but thsat all stopped after my cleaning. I did a cleaning because there was a huge outbreak of bubble algae. (both tanks have this problem). My larger tank has 3 remainning fish, but seem a little stressed...by this i mean the clowns are nipping at the anematy ? sorry for the spelling> and the other fiish i believe is a royal granmal? (small guy) is hiding alot. not to mention the cleaner shrimp is as well. There is a large outbreak of green algae, both on the rocks and on the glass...so much the tank appears heavily green in tint. Hair algae is growing everywhere and by rocks are flourishing with both plants and green clumps of hairlike algae.
The bottom of the tank used to be covered in small white coral/rock mixture that has turned dk red to blackish in color.

I am running a fluval filtration unit and penguin 350 with two fresh filter packs. the smaller tank has a smaller fluval and penguin 330. There is also red algae on the rear glass of the smaller tank and i just recently added some reef buffer to try and stabilize things but man it is hard. All my turbo snails die within a 4-week period, and my fox face which was in my smaller tank died quickly as well.

Im not sure what to do but giving up is not my way. I have loked over several post and my phosphate levels are the only issue i have not tested. (I dont have the correct paper and color chart to test the water with.)

Anyways all help is appreciated and remember im new to all this...

 

[Bifferwine]

Hi and welcome. You've come to the right place! Lots of people will chime in and try to help.

First off, when you say your test results are "normal", please give us specific values. Ammonia and nitrite should be at zero. If you have nitrites, I'm guessing that may be why your animals are dying. Please give us your specific numbers for: temperature, salinity, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH and alkalinity.

How long have the tanks been up and running? How much do you feed and how often? What kind of lights do you have? How often and how much water do you change? What kind of water do you use for the water changes (tap water, RODI, etc.)? You have an anemone???? Please tell us all the animals you have in each tank. We will need more detailed information to help you better.

Once we get this info, you can start from there to get the tanks back into shape, it's not hopeless so don't give up yet!

 

[yote]

You inherited the tanks? Then im guessing you broke them down to move them to another location?
So im guessing that you used new water to set them back up with,and that all kinds of nasty crap got stirred up,so your probably going through a cycle.
Like Biff said,post specific values for your tests.And we'll do our best to get you back on the right track.
Oh,,welcome to the reef

 

[TankJr]

Inherited meaning, I assumed the task of taking care of them since the previous owner abandoned them. The tanks have been running for nearly 2-2.5 years.

Large tank specs:
Temp. 75-80 degrees.
Fluval 304
3 Maxi Jet 600's
Penguin 350 bio wheel
ABJ aqua lighting with daytime/nightime bulbs
---------------------
Animals:
2 clowns
1 royal granmal
1 anemone
---------------
Water test:
ph- 8.0
alkiline- low
NO3 Nitrate- 5.0ppm
NO2 Nitrite- 0.1 leaning towards .05
phosphate- untested
-------------------------------
feed every night just a pinch
they eat it all pretty much!
-------------------------------
recently did a 10-15% water change with saltwater
from an aquarium store.
-------------------------------

Small Tank Specs:
Temp. 75-80 Degrees
JBJ Aqua Lighting
Penguin 330
Whisper 30
2 Maxi Jet 600's
Fluval 204

Water Test:
ph 8..2
Alkilinity -Low
NO3 Nitrate - 5.0 ppm
NO2 Ntrite - .05 Headed to 0.1
Phosphate: Untested
----------------------------
Aniamls:
All perished...
---------------------------
Recently changed 10-15% water as well
same store bought saltwater by a company
well like by salt water enthusiast here in metro
area of northern virginia.
Biff thanks...
If it will help when tommorow i check the posted replies maybe i should take a snap shot or two?
ne-ways thnks for the quick replies.
~tankjr~

 

[jhnrb]

Welcome to the site. sorry to hear you are having troubles with your systems. 1st things 1st. from your description and information given, you have more than one problem going on. Your water parameters are not correct with low alkalinity you most likely have other parameters out. with the algae, problem and decay you described you do not have enough water circulation, your filters must be throughly cleaned at least every 10 days or more and do not reuse carbon or other filter media other than your sponges. If you are using carbon you may be getting the carbon dust back into the system, this will tend to coat everything with a dark to black color. In order to help you to get where you need to, you will need to understand a few parameters about the saltwater/marine system. I would recommend not to add any more animals into your systems at this time or until you are able to stablize the systems for at least 3 months. In the helpful articles there are some very good beginners articles that will give you a quick foundation of information to build from. once you start to understand what a marine system is and how it functions (the basics that is) we will be able to better help. so go to the helpfull articles and browse the articles on page one. concentrate on articles for setting up the systems and for beginners. once done there back here with your questions. You will need to reevaluate the two systems and where you want to go with it. Fresh salt water is caustic to animals and should be mixed for at least a couple days. We will need to know what you use for substrate, lights, what you feed and how much, salinity level, temp average (should not be over 2 degrees in 24 hours), ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, calcium, magnezium, copper, phosphates, silica, how you maintain your systems, what your maintenance procedures are, and anyother thing that might be of help. Others may try to help and weigh in here. just remember you 1st need to determine what the problem or problems are before you can correct them and to do that you need a little background in the general basics of marine systems. so do check out the helpful articles/saltwater article forum and let us know how we can help. Glad you found us keep us posted.

 

[55king]

have you thooght about adding a sump and skimmer sorry to hear about your loss just hang in there and well help as much as we can what kinda water dose you lfs use r.o? and how long you running your lights do you have any powerheads if so what kind?

 

[JellyMan]

First thing you want to do is stay calm this is going to happen when someone abandons there tank. Like you most likely have read your params are off now I would purchase prime it will detoxify the nitrites, trates and amonia that way your fish will live while you correct your issues. Your phosphates are most like a large contributing factor in the algae issue your going to want to small water changes often and clean your filter media and change your carbon, remember to rinse your new carbon well before placing it in the filter this will keep your aquarium form clouding. You need a protien skimmer bad. You want to make sure you have a powerhead moving the surface of the water this allows for better oxygenization. This is only the begining but its a good start.

 

[TankJr]

Thanks I have 3 power heads running now and I am almost certain from the readings and descriptive measures all have contributed on that phosphate levs are out of acceptable ranges. I will look for prime it to detox the tanks...
My previous animal description listed on the anemone was incorrect biff...it is a bubble coral...One other thing in the "Animals" category....there are small white things, not sure... but maybe very small snails growing out of control along the backside glass and are about a 1/16th of an inch in size maybe 10 all together. I will attempt to locate some with a digital image to show more whats going on here
thanks all whom contributed.

 

[JellyMan]

Not a problem get those pics up so we can determine what it may be. And congrats on picking up the new hobby careful though it is addictive :D

 

[yote]

Wish I could get my snails to get outta control. The snails depending on what kind they are will only help your algae problem.
Test the water your getting from your LFS to see it has phosphates in it.If it does,pick up some salt mix and some distilled or the RO water from wal-mart or other grocery store.Some times LFS will sale tap water mixed with salt.