Water changes ??

[wiggy]

I have been keeping tropicals for 20 odd years and have now branched out into Marines after a two year lay off. There is so much differing info out there about water changes I don't know what to do......


I bought a 15 gallon (70 litres) (juwel 70) tank and it's been running for 4 weeks.
It has 6 large bits of LR and 2 inches of coral sand that have been in since day one.
Over the last week or so we have added two clown fish, a yellow tang, 4 coral cats, a feather duster and two cleaner shrimp.
Light is on for 10 hours a day.

Over the last 24 hours the brown algae has started to cover everything (I understand this is normal for a cycling tank)

Today the readings are
PH 7.8
Amonia 0.50
Nitrate 0.25
Nitrate 40
salinity 1.023

How often do I do water changes and by how much ??
Do you have to add buffer to the new water going in ??
Do you have to add salt to the new water going in ??
What does DSB stand for ??

 

[Navarre]

How often do I do water changes and by how much ??
Do you have to add buffer to the new water going in ??
Do you have to add salt to the new water going in ??
What does DSB stand for ??

Its really down to your own personal preferance but after a while you will get a feel for your own tank. Most people change their water between once per fornight to once per month.

Early on I would recomend a 10% water chage fortnightly. This gives regualr fresh water and also removes nutrient that can build pup fast in early stages.

Dont add anything you cannot test for. If the water needs buffering then add it. I dont use any (although i do accept my tank is not orthodox.

Yes you must add salt to the new water going in

BUT

DO NOT add salt to water for topping up. Water that evaporates leaves the salt behind

DSB = Deep Sand Base. (Type of eco filtration system)

Hope this helps

p.s. I know i sound like im repeating myself as i have said this many times before. Tangs are for tanks of 100 gallons or larger. They are easily stressed and can catch whitespot in the blink of an eye. A small tank (a tank this size is really far too small) will only bein to stress it and endanger the rest of the tank. I would try and exchange it if possible for a more sitable fish for this size tank. )

 

[wiggy]

Excellent, thank for the advice and quick reply.

More questions.
How do I know if the tank needs buffering ??
Should I only use RO water from the local marine shop as opposed to tap water ??

This brown algae, is it deffo part of the cycle ?? I don't really understand the mechanics of the cycle.

 

[Navarre]

If you keep regular water checks (you should at least in the first 6 months do this every week). Should you find the water low in any perameter then you can do something about it. To ne honest, I think you will find the main aspect is the PH of the water (the nitrogen cycle is a different matter). The PH might fluctuate on a daily basis so its this that might need buffering. If you use good quality Live rock and Aragonite sand then your PH should remain stable.

Only us RO water and never use Tap water unless you have no other option. Tap water "can" contain harmful toxins or carry high nutrients that will give continous algea blooms

The brown algea is normal. Its known as diatoms. It feeds on the silicates in the sand as new sand often carries this when placed in a tank. Once the silicates are used up then the diatoms will vanish. However if you continue to use tap water then it might be replacing the water with fresh silicates and thus you will never shift it.

Thew basics of tank cycling are as follows.

IN a new tank the livestock wil create waste in the form of Ammonia which is highly toxic to life (they create far more than freshwater fish)

Bacteria will break this down to Nitrite less toxic than amonia but still deadly to livestock.

Nitrite then gets converted to Nitrate. This is far less toxic than the other 2 and can be tollerated by livestock.

This is where the nitrogen cycle usually stops and you must get rid of the accumulated nitrate via partial water changes
However with the introduction of Live rock you can achieve the final (and for many years many thought impossible part) of the nitrogen cycle by changing Nitrate to harmless nitrogen.

Ok thats the basics of the nitrogen cycle.

Now when a new tank is set up people think its matured when the nitrogen cycel has been completed for the first time.. this actually isnt true The tank still has many things to do before it can be considered mature. Admitadly, the most important part is done so people say its matured because fish can be added. However, in a new tank you must realis ethat the micro organisms are still trying to get a food hold in the tank. so initially you will get huge swings in the tank in the shape of algea bloms etc. Brown algea will sweep in and eat the diatoims. if the tank is maintains corretly then the silicate will be removed and diatoms wont return. Then usually you get the red slime algea (Cyano) which is actually a bacteria and not an algea at all. This is usually because after the diatoms are wiped out they leave behind othe rnutrients that is good for he cyano. Again, with good management this too will be wiped out and slowly over time the tank will reach a level of balance which can be considered mature. This can tank up to 1 year to complete as many factors have to take hold first. Copopods and amphipods will start to grow, sea squirts etc will grow also. during this time you might well see large swings again in differnet things. Some people will get pods to plague proportions, this is a good thing and nothing to worry over as the fish will finish these off but what im trying to say is that until an established balance of prey/preditor is achieved in the tank then the tank cant truely be considered mature IMO. This is what i would cnosider as the overall cycling of a tank.

hope this helps.

 

[chkltcow]

Navarre: You should write that up as a sticky detailing what a person is likely to go through with a new tank! A short little thing about time frames and order that the algae and such are likely to appear would be a WONDERFUL addition I think!! My tank is about a month old, and I'm likely to be setting another small one up in the near future, so if you want to do a small writeup and want me to take some pics of the various forms of algae that are in my tank, I'll be glad to help. That's one thing that I haven't found any sites that cover yet, and something that freaks most of us newbies out..... seeing the mass amounts of algae that hit the tank in waves. That's not even mentioning the freak out the first time we see a bristle worm wondering the tank

 

[Navarre]

I would be happy towrite u p something but i canot make stickys. Thats down to the moderating team )
If of course one of the moderators wants to make a sticky on this Im sure it would also be appreciated

 

[ostrow]

You are heavily overstocked and the tang can't survive in a tank that small. You are likely to have persistant water quality problems of major proportions.

I'd suggest a tank at least 5 times larger than the one you have for the fish you have procured.

 

[wiggy]

What a brilliant way of spelling out the cycle of a tank.
I went down the library and got 6 books on Marines...everyone of them was gobbledegook !

I actually understand this exaplanation.

As for being overstocked, the bloke in the local shop said all this lot was OK !

Do you class LR as "stock"..??

 

[Navarre]

The problem that will arise with your tank is due to the stocking levels you have in tehre and the types of livestock you have.
As I mentioned earlier, MArine fish give out far more ammonia than freshwater fish (one of the reasons why the filtration for a marine tank needs to be excellant)
Even when a marine fish breaths it gives out ammonia in its breath! Now if you look at the fish, the size thiese fish will grow and then consider the size of hte tank you have and you can see that the tank isin for some potential problems.

Lets look at the Tang for a start. The Minimum tank size for a Tang is suggested at 100 UK gallons (about 115 US gallons). Tangs are open water swimmers and have huge territories in the wild. Small tanks will stress them severely. Tang also have the label of getting asily stressed and along with stress come hand in hand the dreaded Whitespot parasite So keeping tangs in cramped conditions will stress it and endanger the tank to an outbreak of a potentially tatal crash wipingout everything in the tank.

Coral cats... hmm. not sure about them but im sure they arenot suited to small tnks either. I think they are also venemous and predatory in some instances but im sure i will be corrected if i am wrong.

For a tank of your size i would recomend a couple if clowns, perhaps a blenny or 2, or maybe a couple of gobies... nothing more The filter simply wont be able to take the waste of larger stock levels and the fish will fight aggressively as they grow as marine fish simply dont know the meaining of he word cramped conditions in the wild. Should a fish stray into anothers territory it can get chased away easily. In a small tank when arguments break out there is nowhere for the victim to run



Im afraid to say that the person who sold you these fish gave poor advice and has no interest in the welfare of these lovely animals and wants only to make fast money from the unwary

Not your fault at all IMO, all you can be blamed for was to not research your purchases before hand, you cant be blamed for this as i am sure many on here have made impulse purchases that should have been researched first. (i know i have). What needs to be done now is to try and rectify the problem and learn by the mistakes.

Hope this goes a little to explain why the members here as saying the sotck is too much and the wrong type.

 

[Great Lakes]

Wiggy, you asked about buffering, yet neglected to include a reading for hardness.
A hardness reading will aid in determining why your ph is low.

As far as your stocking level, I must agree with all others. In fact, you are so overstocked, it almost makes it look like a troll post.

Navarres post is a very good explanation of the difference between cycled and mature. The two terms are often misconstrued as synomonous, when nothing could be further from the truth.

GL

PS. Navarre, I will do some sticky work with your info later in the day.

 

[wiggy]

Blimey !

You lot have got me worried now. The tank and fish are all still doing fine.
The bloke in the shop said that the stocking level I have is OK and not to add anymore (obviously).

I'll just see how it goes....keeping tropicals and cold water was never like this !