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help...


dnelson24

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I was thrown into this hobby last Saturday. A friend moved out of town and left the fish tank at her old apartment. She knew I was interested in getting into salt water tanks so she called me and told me to go get it. No instructions, no help, nothing. With no knowledge I was able to break down the fish, corals, inverts and tank itself. Moved it an hour away and not kill anything. I have a Clarkii Clown, Yellow Tang, Manderin Goby, Blue Diamond Goby, and two ocellaris Clowns, and a serpent starfish. Mixed in are various corals (idk the names for them) and a decent clean up crew.



I checked the water perameters last night and this is what I am seeing:



PH- 7.4


Nitrite- .25


Nitrate- 5-10


Amonia- .25-.50



These look high except for the PH which looks low. Salinity is spot on.



I don't know what is a good number to be at for these, or how to fix them.



I have a biocube 29


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Markburns43

A good water change will put things back alittle into order. Have you mixed water yet? Have access to rodi water? And did she leave you any supplies? It would be good to match the parameters she was mixing at or of she was using pre made salt water. Ask her so you dont just through the tank way yo one direction its not used to yet. Ie calcium mag ph so on. Also get a kh checker. See where your at

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She said she was using distilled water with reef crystals. I don't have a rodi maker at home thats for sure. I mixed 7 gallons of new water when I did the move knowing I wouldnt be able to get all of her water back in the tank.

 

She doesn't know. It was her b/f tank, they are no longer speaking (reason for her moving)


I know just a little bit about saltwater tanks. Any help is very appreciated. I don't want to kill all this stuff.

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Markburns43

Also check the filter system on the back id suspect it needs a good cleaning. Pictures if you can and theres a bunch of biocube owners on here to assist in that and whats best to run in them. And you might get some crap about all the fish you have and the space in the tank. You might consider finding a nice lfs and seeing if you can trade some of them in. It will be be goo on the bio loa and overall maintenance.

Youll want ph up abit. Example i try and keep mine constant at 8.2 with a kh or called alk of 7to 8 higher is okay but this is what my salt mixes at 1.025 its all about keeping things stable. If she was using reef crystals use it up and then make a transition to a new brand take a look at some of the threads in the search to make the switch. Just read around in the forums as well and youll find alot of what youll need to find as well. Really is a great place of knowledge . Good luck

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Hopefully biocube owners respond to this. I can't help what is in the tank, its what I was left with. The Clarkii is an asshole to the twp occelaris clowns, he would be the first to go. LFS won't take outside fish, or fish sit until I get the tank right. I am the on;t person I know with a tank.....so Im kinda stuck.

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Markburns43

Damn. Well all you can do is try and lower the ammonia and nitrites and your nitrate good .things myst have gotten stirred up and you are haveing a mini cycle so best ypu can do is water changes probally about 5 gallons or so mak easy in a 5 gallon buckett.

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SeventyTimes7

Definitely get rid of the Tang if you ask me, not enough space. Also unless you can keep up a good amount of pods, or unless it accepts frozen food. As far as your parameters definitely get in a couple water changes. I have a 14 gallon biocube, I run purigen and a heater in chamber one. FiFilterfloss, chaeto algae, and chemipure in chamber 2. Chamber 3 just the return pump.

Try throwing up an ad on craigslist or a thread on a local reefing forum. The fish aren't going to be happy living together in such a small space like that

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Take the clarkii and the tang to an LFS for credit, they won't do well in that tank and reducing the bioload will help you stabilize everything faster. Plus the credit at the LFS will help you get supplies you need. I would also watch the mandarin and take him in as well if he seems to be losing weight. I am not sure what effect the move would have on the copepod population. If you don't want to get rid of him, you can also see if you have a local reef club and if someone can help you out with him.

 

Like others have said, definitely do a few water changes over the next week or two to bring the ammonia down, you can use purigen too to help and if none of that is working, seachem prime has always helped me in my quarantine tanks until I could make enough water for a water change.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Clarkii and Tang need to go for sure. The tang is way to big for that tank and the Clarkii is pushing it especially since you have two occy clowns. The mandarin might also cause you issues unless it is eating frozen or pellets. The ammonia spike was most likely due to the move and as others have said water changes should get you back to normal.

 

Distilled water can still have impurities, if you can get RODI water from your LFS I would use that. Mine barely uses water for top offs and if I don't want to supplement the tank I only have to do water changes every two weeks (my coral load is pretty light). I am also using LEDs which keeps it cooler and has less evaporation. You might want to try and post the fish on Craigslist or find another LFS that will give you credit on those fish.

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Check the forums for reefers and reef clubs close to you. You could put the extra fish for sale on this site. You could also put the extra fish on Craig's List.

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I know this isn't the best place for the fish, but you can donate anything you don't want to Petco and they will take it. You won't get anything for them but if your LFS won't take it and you can't sell them then that's another option. I have had fish in the past that were too aggressive and I had no other option since I live in a small town with no LFS, the nearest one is a couple hours away, so I donated them to Petco.

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