need help & advice here

[a2xm]

Hi all,

I'm helping my boss here to fix his marine aquariums. He has some years of experiences of it. But I don't know why his tanks never successful. Everything will endup dies after a few months. We've notice the water parameters are not good.

We've start all over again since 2 months ago, this's the system:

Tank size: L120xH60xW50 cm = 360 liters.

Lamps: 1 Giesmann MH 150W 10.000K, 1 Giesmann MH 70W 10.000K, & 2 sera deep sea TLs (actinic blue marine) 30 watt each.

Trickle filter using Eheim ehvi substrat & no name bio balls media.

Pumps: Eheim 1260 for returning, 2 eheim 1250 for current.

Chiller Teco TR10 with UV powered by eheim 1250.

Skimmer Jebo (don't know the model) it's a small one. Height approx. 25cm. Put it in the filter on different chamber.

Fish:

1 angelfish blue-yellow color

1 clown wrasse

1 surgeonfish yellow

5 tangs (yellow, blue, grey)

4 clownfish

Corals:

Anemons clown fish

Open Brain Coral

Bubble Coral

Alveopora/Flower Pot Coral/Clove polyps (not sure which one)

Mushrooms

Feather Duster

Plate Coral Long Tentacle

Frogspawn

Sun Corals (never bloom)

Cynarina

Live Rocks about 30-40% of the tank volume.

and the water parameters today are:

Temp: 25-26C

Specific gravity: 1.021 cm3

pH: 8.5

Alkalinity: 5 dKH

Ca: 280-300 mg/l

PO4: 0.7 mg/l

Mg: 360 mg/l

NH3: 0 mg/l

NO3: 6 mg/l

Any advices and helps would be very appreciated. Thanks in advanced.

Cheers,

a2xm

[Lester]

it seems like the mg is veri low...... the kh is also low....

hmmm............................................................................

.........................................................

[Elune]

Just 2 months into restarting the tank and it already so populated?

Add live stocks slowly.

I dun think a small Jebo skimmer is sufficient for your tank. Got to get a better one.

[Sapp]

With the number of livestocks you have in the tank, you definitely need a bigger and better skimmer. Tangs do poo alot.

Also can try to install an FR to lower your PO4 if possible.

[fongster]

1.mg is extremely low, should be in the region of 1200-1500

you are better off doing a super big water change, somewhere in the region of 80-90% it will be more cost effective

to buff up the mg alone will cost at least $200, serious, using shelf type additives, like seachem and tropic marin

2.kh is low should be 8-14 dkh, and for that same reason your ph is high, a stable kh acts as a buffer to maintain your ph around 8.3, which is important, granted during light hours your ph may rise 0.1- 0.2, but generally speaking should be ard 8.3.

3. temp need not be 25-26, 27-28 is fine actually, corals seem to do better in that region(trial n error)

4. Ca should be in region of 380-450 ppm since you have a bubble, and brain which is a hard coral.

skimmer is certainly lacking, you should invest in a good one, jebo is far from sufficient, you could get a deltec or h&s they are good skimmers.

you should consider removing some of the livestock, selling or giving away at least 2-3 of the tangs; tangs are the cows of the sea.

your tank probably crash due to ammonia build up from the looks of it.

you should stock up the tank slowly, giving time for the biological filter to establish. not even sure the ANN cycle has even been completed though.

what kind of a routine do you keep for tank maintainence ?

water changes ? filter changes ? how often ?

[bawater]

Would you by any chance be using natural seawater or shop bought water?

If you are - do a serial water change with a saltmix (artificial saltwater)

10-20gal per change per week for 4 weeks.

If you are using saltmix? change brand & do a serial water change.

You will need to look into a bigger skimmer - something to skim at least 600ltrs volume(your fish load is heavy for a 4ft and need to compensate)

Optional- you can use additives to boost up the magnesium levels but if your test kits are correct, the jump is big (for 300mg/L cal you should be at around 1000mg/L magnesium) - Just this jump alone in magnesium buffer + the usage of the test kit to keep track will spill over $100+.

>Changing water is cheaper and will help calcium and KH values as well AND if your test kits are not accurate - water change won't harm anything, But overdosing on Mag by the thousand ppm's will.

Kalkwasser usage in top off freshwater will help buff up the calcium and KH values.

[a2xm]

Thanks all for your reply. as further info, i'm using sera test kits. is it good? we'll install a bigger skimmer asap

@fongster:

what kind of a routine do you keep for tank maintainence ?

water changes ? filter changes ? how often ?

we check water parameter 2 times a week. partially water changes only if there's a bad parameter. is it should be periodically? like every 2 weeks? and then clean the filter foam every 3 months.

@bawater:

Would you by any chance be using natural seawater or shop bought water?

i'm using natural seawater bought from sea world

cheers,

a2xm

[barnacle]

. partially water changes only if there's a bad parameter. is it should be periodically? like every 2 weeks? and then clean the filter foam every 3 months.

[cheers,

a2xm

dun wait until the water become bad then change,

but change the water to prevent it from becoming bad

every 2 weeks is ok. if can every week 5 - 10 %

filter wool change every week.

[fongster]

periodical water changes help to rectify any problems before they occur

you know the saying "prevention is better than cure"

do you test the water you put into the tank ? you should know what parameters the salt you input contain. seawater can be good or bad, so for best results use synthetic salt mixed with DI water, tropic marin and marine environment are some of the better brands. DI unit is expensive, tapwater is also alright i guess for those with a tighter budget, but algae growth may be apparent.

10% change weekly would be ideal

15% change fortnightly is also good

testkits wise i think that salifert is a good brand, sera not that sure about it.

foam must change more frequently, do not wait til it turns brown, its full of dirt already. fortnightly is ok, weekly if you have more time.

water parameters

ph: 8.0-8.5

kh: 8-14 dkh

no3: no more than 20ppm

Ca: 400-450

Mg:1200-1350ppm

NH3: strictly 0

po4: >0.025

if your parameters are not within these boundaries than its time to do something, bi weekly checks are necessary in the initial stages, however when you start to understand your tanks usage of elements then weekly checks are more cost effective.

for the MH bulbs change once every yr

[asg]

Hi all,

I'm helping my boss here to fix his marine aquariums. He has some years of experiences of it. But I don't know why his tanks never successful. Everything will endup dies after a few months. We've notice the water parameters are not good.

We've start all over again since 2 months ago, this's the system:

Tank size: L120xH60xW50 cm = 360 liters.

Lamps: 1 Giesmann MH 150W 10.000K, 1 Giesmann MH 70W 10.000K, & 2 sera deep sea TLs (actinic blue marine) 30 watt each.

Trickle filter using Eheim ehvi substrat & no name bio balls media.

Pumps: Eheim 1260 for returning, 2 eheim 1250 for current.

Chiller Teco TR10 with UV powered by eheim 1250.

Skimmer Jebo (don't know the model) it's a small one. Height approx. 25cm. Put it in the filter on different chamber.

Fish:

1 angelfish blue-yellow color

1 clown wrasse

1 surgeonfish yellow

5 tangs (yellow, blue, grey)

4 clownfish

Corals:

Anemons clown fish

Open Brain Coral

Bubble Coral

Alveopora/Flower Pot Coral/Clove polyps (not sure which one)

Mushrooms

Feather Duster

Plate Coral Long Tentacle

Frogspawn

Sun Corals (never bloom)

Cynarina

Live Rocks about 30-40% of the tank volume.

and the water parameters today are:

Temp: 25-26C

Specific gravity: 1.021 cm3

pH: 8.5

Alkalinity: 5 dKH

Ca: 280-300 mg/l

PO4: 0.7 mg/l

Mg: 360 mg/l

NH3: 0 mg/l

NO3: 6 mg/l

Any advices and helps would be very appreciated. Thanks in advanced.

Cheers,

a2xm

Bro, try taking a photo of the tank and show us. it is a bit difficult to rectify the situation from description only.

there are lots of ways to improve the situations, how much do you feed per day? what did you feed?

[a2xm]

Bro, try taking a photo of the tank and show us. it is a bit difficult to rectify the situation from description only.

 

there are lots of ways to improve the situations, how much do you feed per day? what did you feed?

We feed 2 times per day using sera granumarin, sera marinvit and sera coraliquid. The Catalaphyllia-jardinei looks good these last few days. but not for the bubble and sun polyps. Here are some of the pictures:

cheers,

a2xm

[a2xm]

hi all,

anybody see my pictures yet?

I've try to make artificial seawater using sera seasalt and the parameter result for 60 liters are:

Ca: 200 mg/l

Specific Gravity: 1.017

KH: 5 dKH

pH: 8.3

very bad eh? I've delay the plan to add this water then. any comments? thanks...

cheers,

a2xm

[fongster]

In this case it is a unfair case as yet

you need to add more salt to bring sg to 1.024-1.025

you do the tests again, that is a better measure of the salt

the weight of the salt you added is according to the instructions

but then again every single commercial salt is mixed to around

1.019 according to instructions on the packet. So if the packet

says you can mix 190 litres, most probably you are looking at

around 160+-, it is a manufacturers gimmick, no big deal

however your salt at 1.017 is still very low Ca, kh also is down a bit

you can invest in a better salt.

better salts to choose would be marine environment or tropic marine

but the price of course commensurate the better quality.