Hi all Im new to the forum and to salt tanking. I have several cichlid tanks, mostly africans and well I got a nano cube from a friend. Its 12 gallon Nano cube delux. It has the 160 gph pump that came with it, but I took that out last night and replaced it with a maxi jet 900. SO that is now powering the water through the tank. I also inherited the tank with hair algea intact. I call it, "Hair Mountain", I bought a clean up crew for it, altho they dont see to like each other, the blue legs seem to be killing each other off and taking over each other shells and one of the three emeralds have allready bit the dust. I have had the tank just around 1 month but it was set up previously at the other owners home, I figure its about 6 months old. I did buy some astrea snail and bumble bees. The params that I have tested are for Nitrites, Nitrates, Amonia, and ph. Thats all I have for salt water so far as I have just been buying a few things each payday. out of those 4 I did have a nitrite spike when I first got the tank, but now all the readings are down to 0 and the ph is at 8.0 I am currently battling with the temp because it doesnt have the chiller installed. I do have one but I need a dremel tool??? to install it. I just realised the other day that I had the timer set at 14 hrs a day, that may be attributing to the hair algea, so I cut it back last night to 9.5. What would you experts recomend for this tank and also for a future reef tank in a 75 gallon as far as does it need a sum ect??? Thanks for reading my book.
OK... my 2 cents worth...
Your pH seems low. It should be stable at 8.2 to 8.3. I would recommend that you test the Alkalinity of the water. This should be in the range of 7 to 10 dKH, which I think equates to 2.5 to 3.5 meq/L. I suspect that you will find that in is lower than 7 dKH. Fixing this should bring your pH into the right range.
Next, I would also test Calcium. This should be between 350 to 450 ppm. The reason I suggest testing both is that they are related to eachother. Below is a very good article. I recommend reading it.
Be warned, the article is fairly technical, so it will probably give you far more info than you need for basic water quality. Thats all I have for now.
I agree with Marauder that your pH is a bit low. With the HA that bad you need to track down the source, probably PO4 or NO3. If you don't have the test kits yet your lfs will usually test it for you. If there is a tremendous amount of HA the readings may be 0 because the algae is locking it up. Are you/was the previous owner using tap water? That's a common culprit of PO4. You should be using RO/DI. The other main source of PO4 is foods.
hello armeyoftanks.
and welcome, glad to have u with us.
this is not the first time i have heard heating problems with little nanos.
i dont have a full on knowledge of what ur units look like over there, but if its not just the duration of light as u suggested, then the logical steps would be heat venting and/or mini chilling.
i have suggested using computer server fans as a retro fit before and no-one has commented that this would not work(seeing others know the nano products u are using) and the smallest chiller i have seen is on nano tuners http://nanotuners.nanocustoms.com/na...27fbad9bf0963a
also once again people from your area would be better suited for info, but theres something to take with u.
if u have anything that u think is contributing unwanted pollutants to your tank, just a quick test in distilled or ro water with your reagents already added and drop what ur testing into it! P04 as an example leaves a blue trail when something sinks
Ok I'm going to take my water to the store and have them test it tomorrow. I don't use tap water at all for the water changes I use store water from their system that they mix up to sell to customers. I was chicken to do my own. I think the previous owner was mixing it himself, but I'm not 100 percent on that. Ill have to ask. I have a chiller, it just isn't installed due to the fact I don't know how to install it, and was told I needed a dremel tool to do it with. Now, do they sell for example.. "seachem makes a reef salt mix for lake malawi and lake tangayika cichlids that you can add to your water and it increases the ph and hardeness and all in one dose. when I used to use that I'd premix it in the buckets then slowly add to the tank".. Does anyone make a similiar product for salt water reef tanks? I have noticed the temp swings with my house temp. it got cold outside last night and the lights were on on the tank, but the temp dropped to 77.7 So I'm going to adjust the heater. ALso, can I use my freshwater tests kits for the hardness on the reef tank ? TY for all the help. Katherine
Ohh also food wouldnt be a contributing factor to the nitrates as I wasnt adding any food. I was told the hermits and snails were algea eaters and since I had a nice forest for them, I didnt know they needed anything else.
Welcome ArmeyOfTanks! So glad you joined us and jumped right in! :-)
A few more question to begin with:
Are you using a protein skimmer?
Are you using reverse osmosis/de-ionized (RO/DI) water for the top-off? You mentioned that you use water from your LFS that they "mix" up, but I assume that you're talking about a salt mix here. You need to make sure that you're adding RO/DI water to the top off.
You can throw in a few extra snail shells that are slightly bigger than your hermits shells and then they'll hopefully stop fighting each other over their shells.
The alkalinity/calcium/pH is all kind of related to one another. The more "buffered" your system is, the less likely the pH will swing in either direction. I'm not familiar with the Seachem cichlid salt mix that you're referring to, but if you want to raise your dKH quickly and cheaply, you can add 1 tsp at a time of sodium bicarbonate (baking soda). Otherwise, you might want to read up on using Kalkwasser (calcium hydroxide) and calcium reactors.
Flow will be important as well for helping to get rid of the hair algae. In the meantime, you can pull some of the heavily-ridden rocks out and scrub them in saltwater. This will give you a headstart!
Mixing your own saltwater for water changes is not too hard. I start out with a scant 1/2 cup of salt mix per gallon of RO/DI water. I put it in a Rubbermaid tote and mix it with a powerhead. I also add a heater so that it will be the correct temperature when I use it. After about an hour I test the specific gravity, it should be about 1.026. If it is low I will add a bit more salt and test it until it is up to the correct level. You also need to test your pH and adjust it to 8.2. I usually mix my water overnight. Going to the fish store and buying it is easier but you will save money this way.
Yes it has a "fission" skimmer. Im not sure how much good its doing. I have no idea what size it is except that its for a nano cube. I havent been doing any topping off except once (with tap water last week) and thats cus my friend came over and told me that if I didnt start doing it, Id end up with salt creep. My salinity is at 1.024. I'm going to get some more shells. I was hoping to go to the store with all these questions tomorrow and found out the electric company will be at my house working on the lines.. OY vey!!!!!! Im not worried about the cichlids but this little 12 gallon Ill be biting my nails off if the power stays out for any length of time, they claim it will only take around 30 mins to rewire my home. I will probably go and get a few more testers tomorrow unless anyone knows of a online place I can buy salt stuff cheap??? Of course if my electric is out I wont be able to do any online shopping..LOL Ok gues I better get back to my access assignment. Thanks Katherine
well now I know why I had a bad feeling about it. ALtho I did use "Prime" before I added what little bit of tap water I did for that one time. "Has made a mental note not to use tap water again!! " Im assuming DI means Distilled??? Thats something thats reasonably cheap at the local grocery store. Something my friend told me is that "I have white foam coming out of the skimmer and not brown, so this is a good thing". What are your opinions on this and what exactly does the foam colors represent? Ohh and thanks for the articles, Im going to do alot of printing from school tomorrow night.. :-D I never could get my husband to do much reading for the cichlids but hes really into this salt tank. So we are both trying to do alot of studying about it. Thanks AGain Katherine
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