Just been given a river reef set up in bad condition

[Pebbles1983]

Hi all.

I have just been given a 94 Ltr set up, with fish, live rock and some coral;

Clown
Maroon clown
Bangaii cardinal
Yellow tailed angel
Royal grammar

Large long spined sea urchin

Large leather coral which looks half dead
Mushroom coral

Everything in the tank with the exception of the tank seems fine, but I have a couple of issues;

1 - the salinity is at .031
2 - leather coral looks like it is struggling
3 - I have a lot of diatom on the sand bed which doesn't seem to want to go.
4 - any CUC I put it seem to die off quick so I am not buying anymore until I am more confident the tank is settled

Any advice you can offer would be awesome as I am pretty new to all this

Cheers

Steve

 

[aquandrew]

your salt level is way too high, that is more than likely why your leather is struggling. your going to want to lower it about .001 per day until it is 1.025-1.026. what are your ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, ph, mag, calcium and alkalinity? are you using RO/DI water?

 

[Craigj247]

As aquadrew mentioned you need to get your salinity under check an mainly first check your ph, nitrates, nitrites, ammonia and phosphate levels...

Hiw is your bangaii cardinal looking? They are the first to show stress if the water levels are out pf whack...

How often do you do water changes? And whats the quantity or water you change?

Also what is the temperature of water in your tank... Temp fluctuations can be a big problem...

 

[Ingy]

salinity.

Check your reading again. 31ppt is one scale that is not high, its a smidgen low

1.031 is quite high.

Many will jump to the conclusion .031 means 1.031 instead of 31ppt. Unfortunately many new members are not aware of the standard references used.

salinity is normally expressed as Specific gravity not parts per thousand

Alkalinity is usually expressed as dKh (degrees of hardness) not meq/l.

FYI

 

[Pebbles1983]

Hiya,

All the water I have put in the tank has been ready mixed salt water that I have bought from my local shop. Given that that is correct the salinity was probably even higher!

I will be getting the water fully tested at the shop this weekend so I will have definite readings later.

I will buy some RO at the same time and start to bring the salinity down.

Cheers

Steve

 

[Pebbles1983]

Thanks Craig.

The water is changed weekly, the tank is 94 litres and I'm taking out roughly 12 litres each time.

All of the fish, including the cardinal are/seem very happy and active in the tank.

Thanks

 

[bribo12]

Hi all.

I have just been given a 94 Ltr set up, with fish, live rock and some coral;

Clown
Maroon clown
Bangaii cardinal
Yellow tailed angel
Royal grammar

Large long spined sea urchin

Large leather coral which looks half dead
Mushroom coral

Everything in the tank with the exception of the tank seems fine, but I have a couple of issues;

1 - the salinity is at .031
2 - leather coral looks like it is struggling
3 - I have a lot of diatom on the sand bed which doesn't seem to want to go.
4 - any CUC I put it seem to die off quick so I am not buying anymore until I am more confident the tank is settled

Any advice you can offer would be awesome as I am pretty new to all this

Cheers

Steve

94 litres IMO is to small for a maroon clown let alone a pair if that's what you have. They can get a good 6". Maybe rehome them and get 2 ocellaris or perculas.

 

[aquandrew]

salinity. Check your reading again. 31ppt is one scale that is not high, its a smidgen low 1.031 is quite high. Many will jump to the conclusion .031 means 1.031 instead of 31ppt. Unfortunately many new members are not aware of the standard references used. salinity is normally expressed as Specific gravity not parts per thousand Alkalinity is usually expressed as dKh (degrees of hardness) not meq/l. FYI

oops you are correct ingy, i thought i saw a 1 before the .031, i was reading too fast. and as you said it is low and should be at least .034-.035 parts per thousand

 

[Pebbles1983]

So had the water tested today;

Ph - 8.0
Nh3 - 1.2
No2 - 0
No3 - 15ppm
Po4 - 0.25ppm
Salinity - 1.027

Ammonia is very high but hopefully with plenty of water changes I'll get the healthy tank I want.

 

[Mebbid]

You are going to have to do a lot of water changes to bring the ammonia level down enough. 3 - 4 50% water changes will probably be required. If you have it I would add prime to the tank to detoxify the ammonia while you are in the process of doing all of those water changes as it can take a while to allow the tank to settle between the changes.

As for the CUC dying, How long were you acclimating them?

 

[Pebbles1983]

Wow that many? Over what kind of period would I need to spread that across?

I've tried to be very thorough with acclimatisation,drip a little water in every 20 minutes or so for 3-4 hours. I was going to put it down to the previously high salinity.

 

[Mebbid]

Well, you really need to get your ammonia level below .25ppm. If it's at 1.2ppm now then each 50% change will only take out half the ammonia. For a 50% change I would wait at least 4 hours or so for the next one to give everything time to adjust. A 50% change is a very large change in a salt water tank. Just be sure to get the replacement water's temp, pH, and salinity as close as possible to your tank.

 

[bribo12]

Wow that many? Over what kind of period would I need to spread that across?

I've tried to be very thorough with acclimatisation,drip a little water in every 20 minutes or so for 3-4 hours. I was going to put it down to the previously high salinity.

Wow 3-4 hours is a long time for a clean up crew, you just want to make sure salinity and temp match. It shouldn't take that long IMO. I drip fish for an hour unless something was way off with the water they came from. Most inverts I just float add a little water and throw them in. Corals get dripped for about an hour as well. I have yet to lose anything from acclimation.

 

[Pebbles1983]

Maybe it's more a case that the quality of water is just too poor for them? Everything that is in the tank has been there for a long time and would be used to the conditions a little more? Or perhaps the stress of being in the bag for too long has not helped?

 

[Mebbid]

It is very likely the high salinity that is the cause of the issue with the CUC. After you get everything in order I would look into adding a few more

 

[bribo12]

They are probably dying from the high levels of ammonia in your tank. You need to do water hanged like mebbid was saying.

 

[Pebbles1983]

Thanks both. I won't be putting anything new in until the quality of the water is sorted. I will have the lfs check it in a couple of weeks time after a few water changes and go from there.

Appreciate your help. Cheers

 

[Mebbid]

i would also highly suggest that you invest in tet kits so you can check the parameters all by yourself rather than having to go to a lfs