Help

[bethrojust]

Hi
I have obtained a saltwater aquarium and am now lost. I will tell you what I know then maybe you can tell me what you know :o I have a 90 gallon glass aquarium. I have live rock and live sand. I do know that there is a sea serpents, 1 brittle starfish, 1 tomato clown fish, 2 cardinals, 3-4 turbo snails, 30-40 hermit crabs and that's about it for my knowledge on the live things in my tank. I have a filter (working) that has a skimmer that is not working, this filter uses bio balls. Don't know what kind of filter it is. I have tested my water and the results are this PH 8.3ppm- Ammonia 0 - Nitrites 0 - And here is the bad news Nitrates are at 100 and Calcium is at 700. I am having trouble figuring out why both are so high and how to get them down. Any help? Also I am enclosing a few pictures of my tank and would appreciate any fish ID. Thanks and sorry about the long post

1.I am assuming this is some sort of clown fish?

2.Not sure what this one is

3.What is this and is it bad?

4.???? Dont know the fish but do not like them, I have 2 of them, has blue coloring with yellow stripe down back

5.Was told the ball thing is sponge, do not know what the white tube is. Anyone know?

6. My whole tank

7. Some sort of starfish.

8. Another mystery.. Good or bad (the white stuff), anyone know what it is????


OK that's it for now. Any help will be appreciated. Thanks again
:tumble:

 

[Bifferwine]

Hi and welcome! The white tube things are also sponges.

The purple fish is a pseudochromis, the orange one is a clown (like you thought), and the other two "mystery" fish are damsels.

Your nitrate levels are problematic (as you know). Water changes, water changes, water changes. Be sure to not use tap water. You should use RODI water, which you can buy at a fish store, Walmart or grocery store. Do you have salt and a hydrometer or refractometer? You need to mix up saltwater to the correct salinity. To get those nitrates down, start doing one to two water changes a week, of 10 to 20% of the tank's volume. Maybe even more frequently and larger in the beginning until your nitrates come down.

You should also look into getting a protein skimmer. It will be a much better type of filtration than any of your current equipment. For a good value, I recommend the Octopus brand.

The bioballs could be contributing to the nitrates, and you should think about removing them. It can be very hard to keep a clean tank if you're using bioballs. If you do remove them, take them out a little at a time.

 

[bethrojust]

What would you replace the bio balls with? and Thanks with the fish ID

 

[RyanG]

A good skimmer would be the best replacement for the bioballs.

 

[Sasquatch]

What would you replace the bio balls with? and Thanks with the fish ID

your live rock is the replacement for the bioballs, a good skimmer is the heart of your system

 

[BigH55]

Also, Read,, read, read, and ask a lot of questions. Thats a nice tank and reacking out here is a great step to keep it beautiful. Ditch the bio balls. A chaeto box may help.

 

[yote]

Thats a sand sifting starfish.
And that white on the rock looks like coralline thats bleached.
All the above have the nitrates and filtration covered.

 

[parrotchute]

Get a good book on salt water aquariums too - it will help supplement the knowledge you get from this forum!

 

[BigH55]

The contientious marine aquarist is the best.

 

[parrotchute]

yeah - I can also recommend saltwater aquariums for dummies - a little basic, but it provided me with enough vocabulary and background to really understand what people were talking about here.

 

[Sharkie]

+1 parrotchute.
saltwater aquariums for dummies is an awesome books for beginners...

And I believe the clownfish you have is a clarks...

theres tons of books out there that are great for referances too :) i always keep a couple handy in my car so when i go somewhere i can compare/find what the LFS is talking about since some call things different

 

[Awol]

Good for you for asking for help! You're lucky to have stumbled across this forum. The people here have held the hand of many newbies over the years and they do so with more patience than most of them deserve!!

There are lots of articles out there on the web for information. I personally have never touched a book on the subject. I've learned most of what I know via forums. Like Sharkie said though, a book is handy for traveling info.

PATIENCE is key.

 

[WarmSoda]

+1 parrotchute.
saltwater aquariums for dummies is an awesome books for beginners...

And I believe the clownfish you have is a clarks...

theres tons of books out there that are great for referances too :) i always keep a couple handy in my car so when i go somewhere i can compare/find what the LFS is talking about since some call things different

The clown looks like a blue-stripe, to me. I could be wrong.

Everyone has given great advice

 

[wontonflip]

Definitely use ro/di water (or distilled water). Otherwise all the water changes you do will not lower the nitrates. Hopefully, too, that you got a new test kit, and aren't using an old test kit. Old test kits can give false results. When mine start to constantly show 20+ppm of nitrates, i know it's time to get a new one.

i think everyone else has you covered. Definitely ask away!!