whats wrong?

[jhale]

where to start?
My advice is to start reading
Here are some great articles to help, written by Randy Holmes Farley, a chemist and a reef hobbyist he knows his stuff and explains it pretty well.
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/author/rhf.php

start with this article, http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-03/rhf/index.php
then keep reading.

A great book to have is the reef aquarium volume 3 by Delbeek and Sprung. if you get through that book you will be able to teach a course in reef keeping

some immediate advice is to clean your skimmer's ! they work better when clean.

also the people who sold you the tank did you a real disservice, it looks like you have a external overflow, they are prone to loosing suction, getting clogged and causing leaks. A tank with an internal overflow is much safer. but that's not causing your water problem right now.

Study some of the articles you'll have a better understanding of what's going on in your tank and we'll all be on the same page and be able to help you.

 

[Awibrandy]

I'm folowing every detail I was told here lol.

about phos. How can I get rid of the phos. I have, should I use a filter media or a reactor? and what kind? model? i'm buying it right now.

thanks

I'm using Two LIttle Fish phosban reactor as for media I switched to phosar

 

[yf1]

Thanks!

I did not have a chance read the entire article yet. But I will finish it.

1) I?m now at war with my phosphates. I have a filter media in a bag to drop in the wet dry, should I do this, or go for a reactor?

2) if the SPS is going to have "strong current" I?m afraid of stirring up the tank, ,my live rock isn?t so high to reach the direct current from the return, with out blowing away other LPS. Therefore I need an engineer to come down and give me hands on training.

 

[Awibrandy]

until you get a reactor put the filter media in bag in your sump. can't hurt. Shop online for way better prices then the lfs.

 

[jhale]

a reactor is much better for PO4 media.
be very careful not to put too much flow through them.
the media is fragile and if bounced around too much it will fall apart,
get in the tank and cause worse problems.


also do water changes! this can not be stressed enough. it's the best way to control
water quality issues. the reactor with media will help but it won't do much unless you
start with good quality water.

keep reading :Blurp:

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

Good luck with your tank.

 

[yf1]

Thanks you all! tonight is coming up the second have passover, so i will be back in a couple days.

thanks again, I will order the reef 3 book, and read.

have fun!

 

[Paul101]

Delbeek and Sprung talk about lanthanum chloride heptahydrate for phosphate control and I got something called Phosphate Control by a company called Blue Life from Marine Depot which I believe is this chemical. Worked very well for me.

 

[Josh]

I got a little Purple Acropora, and after like 10 days, there is some brown algae covering it, why?

Do not buy any additional corals or livestock. Do not buy any SPS or Acroporas for several more months, you are just wasting your money and killing animals.

Your tank is out of whack. You will get a MUCH better result by listening to all of the members here together than Pete, or Joe, or Mike, or Steve, or whoever happens to be working at the fish store on the day you are there. If those people are experts then they can come here and explain what is wrong with the tank. The members here are just going to try and assess the situation based on photos, descriptions, and water tests.

If I had to guess, these are the major problems with the tank:

temp is too low, shoot for 78-80

do not worry about calcium levels, you do not need to lower calcium, if it gets too high it will just fall out of the water, you will have enough calcium with normal water changes until you have enough LPS/SPS to bring the Ca down

remove the mechanical filtration (bags, media, etc)

Get an RODI unit

Do a 15-20% water change

That is a good way to get back on track.

 

[Vic8361]

Great advice hear wish I had it when I first started. I didn't even have a computer back then.

Vic

 

[yf1]

As I wrote before, I’m now here “all the way” to listen and do the necessary steps told. I started right away. So don’t worry, about wasting time to help some one not willing to do as told….I am… “And I see good results”

remove the mechanical filtration (bags, media, etc)

a reef tank don't need a mechanical filter?

Get an RODI unit

I have a RO but not DI, I want to buy a entire new RO with a DI, can you please name me the best one out there?

p.s. loismustdie is changing filter socks daily, what is filter socks?

Thank

 

[marki24]

Yeah too much green and purple algae growing on your glass in the back means your nitrite and phospate levels are too high. check for those first.

 

[yf1]

its a 0.5 phospate problem, and I'm working on it as told.

forgot about "nitrite".

and it looks as my thick layer of live sand is taking care of the "nitrate", some how, no test kit shows "any" nitrate.

 

[jhale]

you can get a great RO/DI unit on ebay. the components are all the same. you'll just be paying someone to assemble them.

http://item.express.ebay.com/_Pet-S...dnZPetQ20SuppliesQQptdiZ1012QQcmdZExpressItem

this one is doing everything right imo, the 75gpd membrane is better than the 100 gpd, it's more efficient at filtering, it comes with a pressure valve, and the DI canister is not one of the crappy post filter's, it's a canister like the rest of the filters.

also you can give http://www.buckeyefieldsupply.com/ a call. they are one of our sponsors and know what they are talking about. they can give you personal attention and make sure you get the perfect equipment for what you want to do.

mechanical filtration tends to trap particles that break down and turn to nitrates, not a good thing in a reef tank to have. the filter sock you asked about is a mechanical filter, which is why people change them everyday. you trap the big particles of junk in the water, then remove them before they have a chance to pollute the water. it's something that looks like a sock made out of heavy felt type material.
http://www.marinedepot.com/aquarium_filter_media_sock.asp?CartId=