Call it a revival

[mentallylost]

Hey y’all,

I adopted a 29 gallon FOWLR from my roommate today, and I’ve got to tell you that it’s in bad shape. It’s been set up for about a year and it’s seen a lot of death and disease. My roommate has now all but given up on it. Truth is told, I don’t think that he was ever really into it. He already had a 55 gallon FO set up in his room, and decided to give a reef a try. He promptly bought about 40 lbs of live rock, some live sand, and a clean-up crew. That whole crew died. Over the next few months, just about all the fish that he had been putting in also died. In fact just about everything in the 55 gallon also died. What didn’t die there was moved into the 29 gallon so it could die there. Yeah, lots of death. But can you expect? I don’t think that he has ever changed the water. Anyway, remaining alive is a hawkfish, two yellow chromis, and a sand sifting starfish along with a few snails.

I have taken over the 29 gallon tank, and the 55 has been disassembled. I need to bring this tank back to life. Now don’t just assume that I’m clueless with aquariums. I had been keeping African Cichlids for about the last five or six years very successfully in three different tanks. A 10, 80, and 125 gallon tanks, but I need some help. Since the apartment came to be, and now having roommates I’ve had to pack mine away for now. I have zero experience with salt water. All my experience is with African Cichlids.

So that all brings us to where we are now. When I got control of the tank today, I promptly jumped up and pulled out the test kit to see where we stand. I got…

Specific Gravity = 1.025
Salinity = 34
Ph = 7.8
Ammonia = .25 > .50
Nitrite = 0
Nitrate = 0 > 5
Temp = 76* (checked by two thermometers)

I didn’t like the ammonia, so I ran on out to the local WalMart, and picked up 6 gallons of distilled water. Then I ran over to the LFS to pick up some Instant Ocean salt and a new light (ZooMed Actinic). I have the salt water mixed now, and tomorrow I change the 6 gallons. I figure that in about 3 or so more days I’ll change another 6 gallons.

I’d really like to bring this tank back to life as a reef tank. I know that I’ll need new lights and am not afraid of needing to put some money into this if I end up feeling that salt water is for me. But for now, before I start adding more livestock I need a healthy tank.

Now if you read all that, do y’all have any suggestions? I’d appreciate them.

[Kurt_Nelson]

Welcome aboard! Saw your post in the "Welcome" section and it definitely doesn't sound like you're a newbie! Sounds like I'm the newbie!

If the nitrates are 0-5ppm, it sounds like someone has been doing something to it at least. I would've expected that to be higher.

You're right... the ammonia isn't right. From all the death & destruction you describe, it sounds like the roommate never properly cycled the tank. But if this 29g has been up for a year, it should be cycled by now! Is there something dead in a rock somewhere rotting away?

Your pH could be higher (8.1 - 8.3), but will most likely come up after the water changes. The 6g change tomorrow sounds like a good idea (Don't forget to bring that water up to temp before adding.) as well as the one in a few days. Your temp could be just a tad bit higher (78-79 or so is my preference), but 76 is fine for a FOWLR. I probably wouldn't mess with it at this time.

It sounds like you've got things under control and have a plan. A good book for SW would be Robert Fenner's "The Conscientious Marine Aquarist". A lot of it is probably old news to you, but just thought I'd throw it out there.

And while I'm sure others will have different opinions on this, I wouldn't expect to be able to add much more fish to that tank. Maybe one more small goby or firefish or the like would be it. SW tanks are less heavily stocked than FW tanks due to less oxygen saturation.

[melosu58]

Sounds like you have a pretty good grasp of what`s going on. PWC`s will definitely help. Do a few of them and then recheck your water parameters.

[roka64]

I agree with the others. Right now, I would work on the ammonia, the pH and temp will be ok for now as long as they are stable. I also like them a little higher, but stability is more important than "perfect". Keep up the good work and keep us updated.

[austinsdad]

I'd also check the age of the nitrate test kit. Wondering if that reading is accurate. Surprising if it is.

When you do that water change, I'd vacuum the sand well. Maybe even considering rinsing all the rock in SW and getting any dead or decaying stuff off of it.

[pitt420dude]

I think your cichlid background will definitely help you get the fundamentals. The rest you can just ask teh salties here about. That stinks that your buddy couldnt' get into the hobby (for him anyway) lol. Good for you eh?

[mentallylost]

Talk about a snail and crab cemetery. I near disassembled the entire tank today and I cannot tell you how many snail and crab shells I pulled out of there. The more sand that I sifted through, the more shells I found. I’m sure some of them were still decomposing. That’s probably where the ammonia came from. Today’s 20% water change should help a bit with that though. I’ll do another one in two or three more days.

I did manage to get on over to our local Safeway (grocery store) to see if they have a RO water machine, and they do. It’s only .41 to refill your one gallon bottles, so I refilled all six again. .41 is a lot better that $1.00 per bottle.

Anyway, it’s got a Fluval 205 canister filter, and I did tear it down completely. After looking inside it, I’m not all that certain that it had ever been cleaned before. But now it’s cleaned. I rinsed the floss out; it appears to be in good shape. And I’ll probably replace the charcoal in a few days when I do the next water change. It’s got a power head also, but I’m not sure what size or kind. I’ll look on the next water change.

The test kit that I am using is an API Master Saltwater Test Kit, and it’s only about 6 months old. I was a bit concerned of the possibility of testing with expired chemicals, but looking I couldn’t find any expiration date on the box. Do they expire?

[Kurt_Nelson]

They do expire, but I wouldn't expect any issues with one that's only 6 months old. The ones in my cabinet are older than that... by a little. (Guess that doesn't mean they're any good though!)

In sifting through the sand bed, you might have stirred up some nasties, so if you see a little ammonia blip don't be surprised.

[mentallylost]

Did another 20% (6 gallon) water change today, and managed to get the water parameters moving a little bit in my favor.

Specific Gravity = 1.024
Salinity = 32
Ph = 7.9 (up from 7.8 )
Ammonia = .25 (that’s down from .25 > .50)
Nitrite = 0
Nitrate = 0 (also down from 0 > 5)
Temp = 79* (up from 76*)

It’s still not all the way there, but is heading in the right direction. Hopefully when I do my next PWC in three or so days, the ammonia will finally be zero. We’ll see.

I arranged the power head so that it is now creating a more turbulent surface. I’m hoping that this will continue to help raise the Ph (it’s up .1 from the other day), but in readjusting I now have little current on the bottom half of the tank. Is this acceptable, or should I start thinking of getting a second power head for the bottom half of the tank?

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

The test kit that I am using is an API Master Saltwater Test Kit, and it’s only about 6 months old. I was a bit concerned of the possibility of testing with expired chemicals, but looking I couldn’t find any expiration date on the box. Do they expire?

Yes. 5 years. In the upper right corner of the label is a lot no. the last 4 digits are the manufacture date. I have yet to see one that expired. Nitrate test kits often go bad early because of the "shake bottle 2 for 30 seconds".. if you don't, even once, then the test kit has the wrong ratio of chems and it will never be accurate (not that they are all that accurate to begin with.)

I would consider a second powerhead. the koralia line of PH's are great for getting movement through most levels of the tank.

[mentallylost]

Wizzard, thanks for the tip on the Koralina PH's. I'm ordering one tonite. Also not real positive on whether or not my roommate shook the bottle for the required 30 seconds or not, so I'm going to get one more of them as well.