Tank Revamp

[Kaden S]

      Hi all! This will be my thread for the revamp of my 26 gallon bow front reef. Long story short, I had to move the tank to a new house about 3 months ago, and ever since then it has been very neglected. It seems to be doing decent, as it is currently lightly stocked (IMO). The reason it has been neglected these past few months is that it is in a room full of other stuff, and I haven't been wanting to get all the other stuff in the room soaked. But, now as I have lived here for a while, stuff has slowly moved out of the room and I can now focus my attention to the tank. 

 

Here is what I have stocked in the tank ATM:

- 2x ocellaris clowns

- 1x yellow watchman goby

- 1x Emerald crab

- 15 or so snails of different variants

- 15 or so blue leg hermit crabs

- 1x Shrimp

Coral: 

- 1x acan frag that has 2 heads, has been at a standstill for the past couple months, due to the lack of water changes

 

I have a aquaclear 50 and a koralia nano 425 for filtration in the tank. Inside of the AC50 I have some chemipure and polyfilter pad, along with a stock sponge that came with the filter. I just ordered some more chemipure and polyfilter pads to replace the ones I am currently using. 

 

I came here for some help on what I can do  that will help me out with:

  A: Getting these small, hard dots of algae that cover all of my glass off

  B: Getting rid of some bubble algae that I have attached to my acan frags plug

  C: Increasing the overall health and growth out of my acan

 

What I had in mind was buying about 6 gallons of distilled water(I know, rodi is the way to go, but we don't have a spot for the rodi filter in the new house yet, and I have been topping off with distilled this whole time and highly doubt that is my problem, as I have seen many other nano reefers use it successfully) from the store tomorrow and changing out 6 gallons once a week for the 3-4 weeks and see how it progresses. Also, any recommendations on a reef salt mix to use? I am currently using the generic instant ocean and feel a reef mix will be the way to go when I run out of the mix I currently have. 

 

Any recommendations for a water change schedule and salt mix will be greatly appreciated! 

 

Thanks!

[Kaden S]

Just did a quick water test for Nitrite, Nitrate, Ph, and Ammonia

 

Here are the results:

Ph: 8.3

Ammonia: 0ppm

Nitrate:0ppm

Nitrite: 0ppm

 

I think the problem I am having with my coral is the lack of calcium, alk, etc. I don't have a kit ATM for testing those, but will have one soon, hopefully. 

Thoughts?

[Kaden S]

Here is a pic

[Clown79]

Everyone has their own preference  for salt because everyone's experience is different.

 

Some like reef crystals- I didn't, inconsistent numbers all the time 

 

Red sea coral pro is good but often causes high alk which some don't like

 

Aquaforest is good- some have had issues with it

 

Red sea blue bucket- has a good reputation with good numbers.

 

Distilled water is fine to use. It's pure water. It's the same as using ro/di.

 

If you haven't been doing waterchanges for mnths, your alk and ca may be off. With corals those need weekly testing.

 

Weekly water changes of 15-20% is best and topping up evap everyday is very important.

 

With waterchanges:

 

Blast rocks with a turkey baster( new and dedicated to tank use)

Scrap algae off glass (I love the flipper magnet works for soft and hard algaes)

Vacuum sand bed (if you Don't start with small sections at a time until it becomes a regular routine)

 

Maintain filter at this time by changing filter floss and rinsing media bags.

 

 

Filteration: sponges are not good to use. They trap nutrients. They are used for biological filtration in freshwater but in sw your rocks do that.

 

Using filter floss is best. Buy in bulk, cut to size. Change out on waterchange day and 1 other day between waterchanges.

 

I use carbon in a media bag which I switch out every 2-3 weeks.

 

Once you get back on track with maintenance and testing you will have better results with the coral.

[Kaden S]

9 hours ago, Clown79 said:

Everyone has their own preference  for salt because everyone's experience is different.

 

Some like reef crystals- I didn't, inconsistent numbers all the time 

 

Red sea coral pro is good but often causes high alk which some don't like

 

Aquaforest is good- some have had issues with it

 

Red sea blue bucket- has a good reputation with good numbers.

 

Distilled water is fine to use. It's pure water. It's the same as using ro/di.

 

If you haven't been doing waterchanges for mnths, your alk and ca may be off. With corals those need weekly testing.

 

Weekly water changes of 15-20% is best and topping up evap everyday is very important.

 

With waterchanges:

 

Blast rocks with a turkey baster( new and dedicated to tank use)

Scrap algae off glass (I love the flipper magnet works for soft and hard algaes)

Vacuum sand bed (if you Don't start with small sections at a time until it becomes a regular routine)

 

Maintain filter at this time by changing filter floss and rinsing media bags.

 

 

Filteration: sponges are not good to use. They trap nutrients. They are used for biological filtration in freshwater but in sw your rocks do that.

 

Using filter floss is best. Buy in bulk, cut to size. Change out on waterchange day and 1 other day between waterchanges.

 

I use carbon in a media bag which I switch out every 2-3 weeks.

 

Once you get back on track with maintenance and testing you will have better results with the coral.

Sounds good! Thanks! I will try to keep this thread updated with the progress.

[Clown79]

Also what lighting do you have on the tank?

 

It looks like a pretty high tank and the lighting looks fairly low. That is another issue to consider for corals

[Nart]

I used Red Sea Coral Pro Salt(black/purple bucket) and like Clown79 said, you do get high values when mixing at 1.026/35ppt. My dKH was at 12-13 which was my biggest concern.

I then switched to the Red Sea Coral Salt (blue bucket) and it did give me lower values, but a little too low, specifically with my calcium levels.

 

So, since I had both the salt... in a 5 gallon bucket i'll do 4 x 1/2 cups of RSC (blue bucket) and 1 x 1/2 cup of RSCP(black/purple bucket) and that gave me better values. dKH was in the 9-10 and Calcium in the 450ppm.

[Lugmos12]

13 minutes ago, Nart said:

I used Red Sea Coral Pro Salt(black/purple bucket) and like Clown79 said, you do get high values when mixing at 1.026/35ppt. My dKH was at 12-13 which was my biggest concern.

I then switched to the Red Sea Coral Salt (blue bucket) and it did give me lower values, but a little too low, specifically with my calcium levels.

 

So, since I had both the salt... in a 5 gallon bucket i'll do 4 x 1/2 cups of RSC (blue bucket) and 1 x 1/2 cup of RSCP(black/purple bucket) and that gave me better values. dKH was in the 9-10 and Calcium in the 450ppm.

is it safe to mix salts?

[Kaden S]

1 hour ago, Clown79 said:

Also what lighting do you have on the tank?

 

It looks like a pretty high tank and the lighting looks fairly low. That is another issue to consider for corals

The lighting I have is a MarsAqua 165w LED light. I currently have it set to 65% or so, I will turn it up and see what happens though.  

 

 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B017GWDF7E/ref=asc_df_B017GWDF7E5081323/?tag=hyprod-20&creative=395033&creativeASIN=B017GWDF7E&linkCode=df0&hvadid=167149786275&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=15183337167758414840&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9018250&hvtargid=pla-306799712858 

[Clown79]

I wouldn't turn it up for only 1 coral.

 

How far up is the light?

[Kaden S]

3 minutes ago, Clown79 said:

I wouldn't turn it up for only 1 coral.

 

How far up is the light?

That coral is the only one in my tank atm, as I haven't trusted my abilities to keep other ones alive and it was my "test" so to speak. The light is just sitting on top of the tank right now, when I moved in I just set it on there temporarily. I will be hanging it from the ceiling soon, about 10" up. That is how I had it set up at the old place. Temporarily it is just right on top of the tank.