help

[newbnbrotha]

I am new and learning with my salt water tank. I have some nasty looking brown stuff in my tank. Can anyone tell me what it is and is it bad or good?

 

[22engine]

I am new and learning with my salt water tank. I have some nasty looking brown stuff in my tank. Can anyone tell me what it is and is it bad or good?

What are you water parameters and how old is the tank. Also what size and type of filtration are you using this will help us help you figure it out. Parameters being the most important

 

[newbnbrotha]

I have a 55 gal saltwater tank with T5 lights with a pro clear aquatic refugeum filter with protean skimmer. In the tank i have two koralia circulation pumps. Anmonia is at 0.25 ppm and ph is at 8.4 tank temp is 79 hope this is what ya need to know because thats about all i know haha

 

[newbnbrotha]

Oh and the salinity is at 35 ppt

 

[22engine]

Ok well you shouldn't have any ammonia if the tank already cycled. PH is a tad high put that's not huge. Not sure what you mean by your salinity. Do you mean 1.033? Nitrite and Nitrate were the two other things I was looking for. Are there fish in the tank? Sorry for all the questions just need to to figure things out.

 

[newbnbrotha]

No the questions are fine I'll answer as many questions as I can to get help. I have to get some more nitrate and nitrite test kits to be able to give you that answer and yes the tank does have fish in it. As soon as I can I will list the fish I have in the tank

 

[22engine]

I would do a water change to get that ammonia down as soon as you can. It could stress the fish

 

[22engine]

Also what did you mean by the salinity being 35 ppt. Is that 1.035?

 

[Armoredspider]

Also what did you mean by the salinity being 35 ppt. Is that 1.035?

I assume yes, that is the only possible thing he could have meant without having all dead fish from an extremely high salinity.

 

[spoonman]

If you look at the other side of the refractometer 35 is equal to about 1.024.

 

[Schism]

If you look at the other side of the refractometer 35 is equal to about 1.024.

not sure what refractometer your looking at 35ppt is 1.0264 which is approximately natural sea water depending on the location.

Refractometers and Salinity Measurement by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

 

[22engine]

Ok understand. That's ok then I keep mine 1.025-1.026.

 

[22engine]

Have you tried vaccuming out that algae? Not that it won't come back if we don't figure out why it's there. How often do you feed as well. I am suspecting that you have hive nitrates

 

[newbnbrotha]

Yup you where right i gave the other side of the reading sorry. I thought about vacuuming it out but was not sure if that would take out some things the fish need in the sand bed. This is some of what has been living in the tank. Sorry guys for being such a rookie and not have this stuff ready for answers but i guess thats how i got to the point im at.

 

[newbnbrotha]

Nitrate is 20 ppm and nitrite is 0