HELP I am running into a few problem

[wolfie]

1) my tank are now slowly starting to leak. This really bite the tank look great with the lick test and now this happen
Well watter are not runing out of it yet, but I can see salt build up at the bottom conner. I notce a little salt buildup at the conner yesterday so i went and clearn it and now I see it there in the same place.

2) my LS/LR are TURNING yellow, even those I already have 6 snail, 6 hermet crap and 2 peperment shirmp and a sand siffting star

3) My peperment shirmp are picking on my sand start

4) I also have a Purple gorgonian in the tank which will be hard to move it from 1 tank to another

5) my water temp are a little over 82 with my vho light on.

6) the Proten Skimmer are throw out too much little bubble. Need help o

what I should do.
Do I need to fix the leak asap, or the tank will be able to last another 3 month with a little salt build up at the bottom conner. If I have to fix the leak asap then what should I use to seal it?
What can I do to lower the watter temp and are there any skimmer on the market that does not throw out small bubble?

What can I do about the peperment shirmp picking on the sand start?

[wolfie]

hmm should a sealer outside the tank be able to stop the salt build up? I am not asking it to last forever just last another 3 month.

Well I am moving in about 3 month so I can seal the leak from inside after I moves. I rather not messing with the tank right now since I will be moving it again real soon.

[reefBoyDc]

1) Are you sure it's leaking from the bottom corner, and not trickling down from the top? Water can seep between the glass and the platic frame at the top of the tank and then trickle down to the bottom and leave a salt deposit. To check, just feel if the side of the tank is wet somwhere.

2) Most likely a diatom bloom. You must have phosphates and/or nitrates feeding them. Do some tests and see what's wrong. Then try to fix the problem.

5) Some people keep their tank temps that high, but it general 79 is considered optimal. To cool your tank, add fans to the light fixture if you don't already have some. Add additional fans to blow across the surface of the water.

6) What kind of skimmer is it?

HTH

[wolfie]

I am setting up a 55GL tank right now with 40BL of LS and 75BL of RL. I also have a Sea Clone 100 Protein Skimmer and a Emperor 280 BIO-Wheel Filtration System. . As for lighting I am using 3 VHO 2 white and 1 blue.

I am sure it a leak. I just clearn it before I post the message earlyer and now I see it again at the same spot.

The leak is driving me nut. Guess I am going to have to empty the tank on Firday night and fix the leak on Saturday.

[wolfie]

3) My peperment shirmp are picking on my sand start

Well they freacking my sand star I went home from work and clearn out my tank to reseal it only to see my sand star dead

[tdwyatt]

The sand star must have been on its way out before the shrimp did anything, they don't kill sea stars. They may have even been cleaning the dermal surface of the sea star, as Pepermints often exhibit cleaning behavior.

Were I you, I would not replace the sandsifting seastar, as they have a tendency to eat the good bugs out of the substrate. If your water parameters are really good, and y9ou have rock steady salinities, then you could consider getting a Linckia spp. sea star, but your salinities must be rock steady (as in you use some method of automatic topoff to maintain salinity.) Fromia spp. would be good as well, not as sensitive to slinity as Linckia are, but pretty close.

On the skimmer, break down and get a good skimmer or build a good venturi type skimmer. You'll thank me later.

Fixing the leak will depend on how bad the leak REALLY is. If you have a wet corner, then a fix is in the near future, but if it is just a little dry crust, then 3 months shouldnt be a problem. What is the tank made of?

[wolfie]

I am just going to move from 1 apartment to another. Right now I am paying to much for this apartment I am in since my roommate took off and run on me so I am stuck with a 2 bathroom apartment and still have another 3-4 month least on it.

Well I empty the hold tank and seal over the old silicone I use the GE Window and Door 100% silicone and did a really thick layer over the old 1( about 1 inch thick around the hold tank )

I can not build my own skimmer right now since I won't know how my new place going to look and what space I have. If you can point me to a good skimmer that does not throw out any bubble, or big bubble then I would go and get it

As for the sand star I found it dead today after only have him in the tank for 2 days. Half of his leg was nealy off.

[wolfie]

Also the tank should be glass, or atleast I think it is

[wolfie]

I look into those DIY skimmer and find myself without any tools to make them Heck I don't even have a hammer in my apartment So no DIY stuff for me at this time bommer