New to the hobby

jenni

Reefing newb
Hello I am new to the hobby. A friend of mine recently gave me her 30 gallon saltwater tank, it has a DSB some live rock two clown fish, 4 hermit crabs, a pink leather coral, and two nassarius snails. The tank also has a metal halide lite, a filter and a protein skimmer. I have had the tank for about a month. and have finally gotten all the water levels under control except for the nitrates which are around 20. Just to clarify that the tank came with all these inhabitants the tank has been establishes for 3 years before I got it. My question is I would like to make this into a small reef tank and keep only the existing clowns as fish but I am uncertain as to what would be compatible in a small tank such as this. Also how do I get the nitrates to come down so I can add new inhabitants. The tank was sorely neglected when I got it and it has not been easy getting the nitrites under control but I finally have.
 
Water changes are going to be your best weapon against high nutrient levels. A good clean up crew will also help control waste and help fight the unwanted levels as well. Another route would be through the use of bio-pellets , but I still think that the water changes will be the better option.
 
I have been doing 20% water changes every week since I got the tank and it has helped but i was concerned about adding more critters to help with clean up for fear of killing them with high nitrates. Should I wait until the nitrates are lower or can I start adding them now There is a fair bit for them to eat as it was a well established tank.
 
Hello and Welcome!

I would wait until you get the nitrates down before you add more CUC or corals, but my concern is that with the DSB you might always have a nitrate problem. But you could also have some equipment that is also causing the problem.

Can you post some pictures of your tank and list all the equipment you have? Also what are you feeding, and how much are you feeding?

However, once you get that under control, you can very easily set up a reef if you have enough lights. The clowns are reef safe, so you dont need to worry about them.

And there are many better ways to deal with nitrates than vodka dosing, you run a very serious risk of crashing the tank when you do that.
 
sorry I cant load any pics right now but I will try to get some up soon. As for equipment well here is my whole tank and what I have done since I got it. Okay It is a 30 gallon tank with a elite hush 55 filter and a metal halide light not sure what wattage although it has a brand new bulb in it a protein skimmer not sure what brand and a heater 5 pieces of live rock about 4 inches deep of sand. When I got the tank it had been neglected for a while and the leather coral was in poor shape it was all curled up and had very few polyps when it did open. When I got the tank I was told not to take out the sand as it would cause too many problems. I kept most of the water as well. What a mess lol. After setting it up again I went and got test kits and found that it was not great. So I did 20%water changes everyday for about a week until the nitrites and such were normal then 20% changes every week following I have had a bloom in algae growth with a wide variety of algae. as well I siphoned the sand with every water change just the top to remove the build up. I did buy the hermit crabs about a week after setting up the tank and they have done well but I got snails too and they died. now my tank has been up about a month and the fish are doing well the crabs are doing well the nassarius snails that came with the tank are doing well and the leather coral seams to be doing much better it stays open most of the day and seems to have grown more polyps. I still have alot of algae some that looks like hair algae, some that looks like feathers with the clown fish really like and some that looks like grass also there are some aptasia. I would really like to get this tank in excellent shape and I have been doing alot of reading but I have not seen many articles on haw to take a bad tank and fix it without stating all over again. Well I know its alot but can you help with any suggestions? Thank-you
 
I would get rid of the mechanical filter, it wont be much help unless you are cleaning it out every 3-4 days. I would also keep sucking out sand until you are at 1-2 inches deep. At the depth its currently at it will only collect crap, to rot and release nitrates. I would also increase the amount of rock you have until you have 30-50 lbs, you can add dry rock. It will become live in no time, and help with the filtration.

+1 waddi about the water
 
I was told I could use tap water and I also tested the tap water for nitrates and phos and they came back 0 so I just used tap water and conditioner
 
Just keep sucking out the top layer every time you do a water change, but tap water can contain all sorts of nasty stuff and is probably contributing to your water issues. Those tests dont work on freshwater, so I wouldnt trust those results. I would switch over to RO/DI water right away.
 
great thanks so if I remove the mechanical filter I do not need to get something else to replace it right? Just making sure. I will make sure to get some RO/DI. Also this algae that I have that looks like little feathers the clowns that I have really like to play in it, is it okay to keep it around it kinda looks cool too.
 
Nope, having enough rock, a skimmer and regular water changes are all you need!

And if you have feather cauplera, looks like the pic below:
medium


I would get on the offensive and try and irradicate (sp?) it. It can easily overgrow tanks, choking out corals.
 
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