So, it's been about 8 years...

[ares]

I figured that I'd introduce myself since it's been about 8 years since I was last on the site. So... hi.

I have a 46 gallon bowfront reef tank. We had a minor, well major catastrophe a few months back when my light died and I was so frustrated I made the stupid decision of not replacing it (luckily there wasn't too much life in the tank). Within the last few weeks I've replace with 234 watts of T-5 lighting and am trying to get everything balanced and happy again.

The tank is currently holding about 3-4 inches of sand, a lot of live rock (really have no idea how much) a few hardly little fish and some nassarius snails that all somehow survived my horrible neglect. As soon as I get my nitrates down to where they should be I'll start making her beautiful again.

 

[austinsdad]

Welcome back!

 

[thominil]

Welcome back! Try doing 20% water changes every other day to help bring the nitrates down. A skimmer would help in the long run if you don't have one already.

 

[ares]

Welcome back! Try doing 20% water changes every other day to help bring the nitrates down. A skimmer would help in the long run if you don't have one already.

That's what I'm currently doing. When I first checked them the vial looked like I had just given blood. I've been doing pwc's every few days of about 20% and have gotten them down to around 40 ppm so it's definitely improving. I stuck a bag of nitrazorb in the filter as well to help get it under control. My filter is the Rapids Pro PS4 so it has a built in skimmer, but it's not the greatest. Can't hurt though right... Fortunately the nitrates were the only thing out of control after a few months of just sitting.

 

[thominil]

Well, sounds like you are on the right track then. Built in skimmer is better than nothing I guess.

 

[ares]

Yeah, I'm planning on eventually getting a quality skimmer, but the new light kind of sucked the aquarium fund dry. One step at a time.

 

[melosu58]

8 yrs is a long time to be gone. Welcome back.

 

[Etunes]

wow, didnt even know the website was 8 years old. Welcome back old timer.

 

[ares]

Thanks for all the welcomes. It was fun to find the forums again after so long.

 

[cmor1701d]

Welcome back. Good luck with the tank revival. Sounds like you are on the right track.