Cleaning up your tank

[Aquariareview]

Water chemistry for those of us who flunked high school chemistry

 

Ok, You have some algae and some kind of red or brown junk growing everywhere. What now?

 

If you are new to reef keeping and you think you think your tank is growing stuff you don’t understand. Maybe you did a water change and the growth got worse. What now?…There is hope. You need to manage your water chemistry.

 

I promise that I won't throw anything from the periodic table at you, so this is not going be as hard as you might think. We are going to talk about how to keep the bad stuff that makes bad stuff grow, out of your water.

 

All of the bad stuff (Algea and Cyno) grows on fertilizers in the water. The major fertilizers are phosphates, ammonia and nitrate/nitrite. So we need to keep them out and get rid of the ones that are there already.

 

First where does your water come from?

If you are using unfiltered tap water you are playing a suicide game with your tank. Every day the water company makes changes to the system to adjust the chemistry of the system and they use stuff that will kill your system. Buy A filter!

RO/DI OR TAP FILTER …The problem with tap filter is the capacity of the filter and the cost of replacing it. A tap water filter will only produce 50-100 gallons of water before it is finished. An RO/DI will make 2000-3000 gallons before you need to replace the DI cartridge.  The cost of the replacement cartridge is about the same. In a very short time the extra up front cost of the RO/DI is met.

A good filter takes out metals and phosphates.

 

Next what do you feed your tank

Most new reefers feed too much or the wrong kind of food to there system. If the food contains high levels of pollution in its composition, they will end up in your water. Probably as phosphates. if there is a lot of filler in it that will go right through your fish and end up in your water. Even if it is all eaten.

 

Buy good food

I have tried a lot of commercial food and have only found a few worth feeding to my systems.

Boyds Vita-Diet: Boyds is the company that makes Chemi-Pure and they have sold millions of packs of that product over the years. Vita-Diet an aquaculture fish foods infused with their vita-chem formula (made from real marine & fresh water organisms). I checked around and a lot of fish breeders use the Vita-Chem product, and most had good things to say. This is a commercial food that is worth feeding to the critters.

http://www.boydenterprisesonline.com/pages/1/index.htm

Freezerbar Cyclopeze: This is a micro-crustacean that adds a lot of food value and low levels of pollution to the system. It is High in Protein, High in HUFA’s, Easily assimilable High levels of color enhancing Astaxanthin. It also remains in suspension long enough for all filter feeders in the tank to get some. http://www.freezerbar.com/

Two Little Fishies ZOPLAN: This is a dried plankton food that is a real low pollution and great for feeding small zo’s and polyps. http://www.twolittlefishies.com/

Shut off your pumps and target feed all of your critters. This keeps all of your waste levels low.

Another option is to make your own food. I have a great recipe on my site.

 

Clean your system:

Vacuum the tank: Every time you change water. But you can vacuum without a water change. Just get some 3/8" flex tubing....or whatever size you want and put a fine mesh bag or a nylon on the end of it and rubber band/tie it on. Then stick the end w/ the bag into your sump. Start the siphon as mentioned below and vacuum away! The bag will filter all deitritus /flatworms/ valonia/ cyno whatever and let the water pass right thru.

Scrub the system: Take a dog toothbrush and scrub the rock while you vacuum.

Clean your skimmer, your sump anywhere there is dirt.

Clean your system at least once a month

 

Clean your water:

This is the easiest part of the program.

Clean out the skimmer so it can work right. Mix 2 tablespoon’s of white vinegar with hot RO water and let the air intake of your skimmer suck it in. This will clean any salt creep in the venturie..Clean the collection cup and the inside of the skimmer.

Check your carbon. Get a phosphate test kit. Test a small sample of fresh water. Put 10 grains of the carbon in a small sample of water. Test that water. If the second sample has a higher phosphate level get a different carbon product.

Switch to a better media. I recommend using Boyds Chemi-Pure and Polyfilter.

• 1 pac of Chemi-Pure for every 40 gal of water.

• 1 Poly-filter for every 30 gal of water.

Place them in the water path

Change the Chemi-Pure every 60 days and the poly-filter when it gets dark.

Also if you have a sponge in your overflow, take it out. Nitrates will grow in it. Put it in during water changes or cleaning to catch junk that gets blown around. Take it out as soon as the water settles.

 

Add some macro algae:

If you don’t have a refugium, add one. Macro grows on phosphates, metals, ammonia and nitrite. As you harvest the old growth of macro algae out off the system, you are removing those chemicals from the system. If your system is small get a hang on system. If it’s a large system you should have one in the sump.

 

Do some water changes:

If you have not been using a RO/DI, do small water changes (10%) every 5 days for a month, then do 10% every other weekend. The constant water changes will reduce the levels of nutrients in the system. The every other week changes will help keep them low.

 

To recap

1. Put good water in.

2. Don’t feed with junk food

3. Don’t feed too much

4. Clean your system at least once a month

5. Switch to a better filter media.

6. Add a refugium, and some macro algae:

7. Get a good water change schedule going.

 

If you follow this kind of schedule you will see most of your problems go away. The green, red and brown algae will die off as you deplete the nutrients it needs to grow. Also your coral and fish will get better looking as the water chemistry gets better and the pollution levels drop.

[Aquariareview]

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[ctreptow]

Great post

 

 

Thanks Nathan

[Guest tgallo]

good info