Heres My 125 GL Reef Tank So Far !!!

[Civicdemon]

Why is saltwater so much difrent than Freshwater when it come to stooking ??? my tank before i converted to saltwater was a cichlid tank and it had well over 30 cichlids in it and it was fine for years.

Thats my tank in its former glory lol, i dont know why it looks a bit cloudy in theis picture. i think this picture is right after i switched the substrate to crushed coral.

 

[Kelz88]

freshwater fish live in a much smaller environment then ocean dwelling fish ;)

 

[cvcdrk]

Just to clarify....a QT (quarantine tank) should not be connected to your DT, therefore, adding rock to that will not allow you to keep more fish in your DT.

If you were talking about your sump then yes that will be fine....but you still should wait a few months before adding any more fish.

 

[FishyReef]

+1 CVC

Civic, I'm hoping it was a typo, but it is good to clarify - since you've had copper in your QT tank you can *never* use that tank for anything else - copper can leach under the silicone and will kill any future live rock or inverts that go into that tank.

Also part of the reason you need to give so much time between additions is that the bacteria that process all of the ammonia and nitrites take several weeks to reproduce and catch up to the increased bioload added by a single fish. Fish also need time to establish territory and settle into a tank - adding too many at once can create problems as far as bullying and territorial establishment unless the fish are known to be schooling fish (which most of yours are not). In the chiclid tank you had all chiclids - but here you are mixing many different types of fish who have all sorts of different needs for space, feeding, territory, aggressiveness/passiveness, etc. And one more thing to clarify - size does matter. Just because you remove a 2" firefish, you can't assume that replacing it with a 6" tang will keep your bioload the same. If you had all small fish, then you could probably have a few more fish (as long as you waited the requisite amout of time before additions), but if you had all large fish then you would actually need to keep fewer than 12. Also, once you tank is established (think of this as being set up and stable for well over a year) then you can think about adding 1-2 more beyond the 13 fish limit. I know you say everything is going great - and it probably is right now - but in this hobby nothing good is ever accomplished quickly. Please learn to be patient for the sake of your fish or you are going to have another tank crash. Also, if you add more than 1 tang, you need to make sure they are all from different genuses - the purple and yellow tangs are from the same genus (zebrasoma) and will fight.

 

[cvcdrk]

well said.

 

[Civicdemon]

Sorry guys yes it was a type O, I mean sump. My QT is not connected to the DT, everything would be dead considering i doest that one with copper.

 

[Civicdemon]

+1 CVC

Civic, I'm hoping it was a typo, but it is good to clarify - since you've had copper in your QT tank you can *never* use that tank for anything else - copper can leach under the silicone and will kill any future live rock or inverts that go into that tank.

Also part of the reason you need to give so much time between additions is that the bacteria that process all of the ammonia and nitrites take several weeks to reproduce and catch up to the increased bioload added by a single fish. Fish also need time to establish territory and settle into a tank - adding too many at once can create problems as far as bullying and territorial establishment unless the fish are known to be schooling fish (which most of yours are not). In the chiclid tank you had all chiclids - but here you are mixing many different types of fish who have all sorts of different needs for space, feeding, territory, aggressiveness/passiveness, etc. And one more thing to clarify - size does matter. Just because you remove a 2" firefish, you can't assume that replacing it with a 6" tang will keep your bioload the same. If you had all small fish, then you could probably have a few more fish (as long as you waited the requisite amout of time before additions), but if you had all large fish then you would actually need to keep fewer than 12. Also, once you tank is established (think of this as being set up and stable for well over a year) then you can think about adding 1-2 more beyond the 13 fish limit. I know you say everything is going great - and it probably is right now - but in this hobby nothing good is ever accomplished quickly. Please learn to be patient for the sake of your fish or you are going to have another tank crash. Also, if you add more than 1 tang, you need to make sure they are all from different genuses - the purple and yellow tangs are from the same genus (zebrasoma) and will fight.

Yeah im not planning on adding the Purple any more, im thinking of going with the atlantic blue, but i will wait. I tought it would be ok to add the fish to my tank already since they where already in my friends tank for some time now. but I guess i was wrong and i will take that and add it to my learning experience.

Next question is, if i get live rock that has already ben in another tank will that help with keeping my tank good for now since it will already have some of the benefial backterial in it ???. Im also thinking of adding some selcon and or Mrine mas to my water to help the fish boost there immune system to be safe. What do you guys think. ????

 

[Civicdemon]

Sorry guys meant Sump not QT on this post.

 

[cvcdrk]

If you get rock from an established tank you will need to keep it submerged in tank water until it gets into your tank to avoid die off.

You'll likely end up spending a lot more money and time/effort doing it this way for a small added benefit.

You can just order dry rock from sites like marcorocks.com. Rinse it off when it comes and place it directly in the tank. It will become live over time.

I wouldn't add any chemicals to the tank because you don't really know what you're doing.

Selcon is a good product but it is used to soak food in from what I understand...you don't just pour it into the water. You could try to soak some food in it.
Someone with more knowledge of severe overstocking and fish diseases would be better equipped to answer this question than I, though. I highly doubt that adding it will make the stress on your fish significantly less and/or save any that might potentially die.
There really aren't any miracle cures in this hobby. Like I said, wait for someone else to jump in on it...but that's just my opinion.

 

[Civicdemon]

Yeah i have ben reading around and alot of people have said that the marine max is great to use ones every 2 weeks or so to keep the health of your fish up and build there imune system up also.

I have used garlic in my food every other day but want to start using some Vatamins also, i heard that selcon is good for the food and also i heard using some b and c vitamins is good to.

I also read that the maine max is good to use right before adding a fish. Or at water change.

Im So far all my parammeters are pretty good,

KH went a little up but still in the OK rage.

amonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
nitrate - between 5 and 10
PH 8 to 8.2
KH betwen 8 - 11
Calcium - about 480 ( with API test kit ) alwys test about 30 high compared to what my LFS uses.
Salinity - .023
Phosfates - .25

I cant wait for this weekend going to get the plumming and my sump done finally, i really hope this helps with my Diatoms / green film algea on the sandbed. I dont understand why i get it wil my reading looking so good. Might be the little bit of phosfates.

Im pretty sure my new skimmer is going to help out alot since the one i have now sucks. HOB cpr that puls light brown water only no gunk. and its only rated for 75 gl.

And on that rock i guess your right better to save money and just get dry rock. Just want to do my best to help prevent a crash now since i already added the aditional fish.

 

[little_fish]

The best thing you could do for your tank at this point is to stop and adding fish for several months and let the system stabilize. There isn't any magic chemical you can add that will make this happen faster.

Also adding more rock doesnt let you keep more fish because it doesn't change the amount of space the fish have to live in, which is part of having a stocking limit. Every fish has the right to have enough space to call home and not feel constantly threatened by other fish invading their territory. Putting too many fish in a tank is like being stuck in an elevator with eleven other people who can never leave

 

[FishyReef]

Yeah i have ben reading around and alot of people have said that the marine max is great to use ones every 2 weeks or so to keep the health of your fish up and build there imune system up also.

I have used garlic in my food every other day but want to start using some Vatamins also, i heard that selcon is good for the food and also i heard using some b and c vitamins is good to.

I also read that the maine max is good to use right before adding a fish. Or at water change.

Im So far all my parammeters are pretty good,

KH went a little up but still in the OK rage.

amonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
nitrate - between 5 and 10
PH 8 to 8.2
KH betwen 8 - 11
Calcium - about 480 ( with API test kit ) alwys test about 30 high compared to what my LFS uses.
Salinity - .023
Phosfates - .25

I cant wait for this weekend going to get the plumming and my sump done finally, i really hope this helps with my Diatoms / green film algea on the sandbed. I dont understand why i get it wil my reading looking so good. Might be the little bit of phosfates.

Im pretty sure my new skimmer is going to help out alot since the one i have now sucks. HOB cpr that puls light brown water only no gunk. and its only rated for 75 gl.

And on that rock i guess your right better to save money and just get dry rock. Just want to do my best to help prevent a crash now since i already added the aditional fish.

I think you'll probably be better off just feeding a very high quality frozen food like Rod's Food rather than soaking in garlic and vitamins - probably cheaper in the long run too and will meet all of your fishes nutritional needs. I know this doesn't apply to the products you are referring to, but general rule is to never dose anything in your tank that you aren't testing for.

On your parameters, the only thing that I think is slightly off (aside from phosphate) is your salinity - I would aim to bring it just a little higher to 1.025-1.026. Are you measuring your salinity with a refractometer or hydrometer? Also, what are you keeping your temp at?

The phosphates likely are contributing to algae problems, although all new tanks go through a diatom and hair algae phase. How much, how often, and what brand(s) of food are you feeding at this point? Food can contribute a lot to phosphates and algae problems. Also, what do you have for a CUC and are you using RO/DI water?

 

[cvcdrk]

A good course of action would be to identify where these phosphates are coming from.....is it the water, the rocks, something you're adding to the tank haphazardly? It's also unlikely that you have a "little bit" of phosphates. Phosphate tests are notoriuously inaccurate and are a better positive/negative situation....so the fact that you're testing positive at all likely means you have a phosphate problem.

You're complaining about algae but adding 13 fish at once is a HUGE contributing factor to the algae you're seeing now. How can you not "understand" where it's coming from?
It's coming from the massive amount of bioload you introduced to your tank in the blink of an eye. Removing a few fish right now will be the only thing to lessen the bioload and then waiting a few months (until you have about 2 consecutive months of stable water conditions and no problems) before even considering adding any more fish.

It's your tank and you can do whatever you want with it, but you've already had one crash and you're setting yourself up for another one....which will likely kill all those helpless animals you're keeping. Just something to think about.

 

[Civicdemon]

My water is fine. And the salt i use is oceanic. Maybe the phosban reactor will help get rid of the bit i have. It might be the fish. I was at zero last time and now its up a bit. So yeah.

 

[kevdogg]

My water is fine. I was at zero last time and now its up a bit. So yeah.

Water is fine? I know that you've been around long enough to see how "fine" really isn't good enough when having issues. Not trying to pick on you, but going back to the basics is always the best when issues pop up.

 

[Civicdemon]

Lol sorry by fine i actually mean fine. Not ok and nothing like tha. I ja w a ro/di unit and it works great. Then i mix my own water with oceanic salt.