Water Chemistry Blues :-(

[skyeskrapr]

Anybody out there?

I recently had the good fortune of being given a reef tank by a friend who was moving to New York . . . apparently he did not think that the reef could make the trip . . . so he offered it to me. I have always admired his tank so I gladly accepted.

It's not a huge setup . . . about 55 gallons . . . but it's been around for at least three years . . . so I'm assuming that it has "cycled". Anyway, I've had it for about two months now so to put it very bluntly . . . "I'm about as novice at this as it gets". However, I've been plunging head first into all the books and websites that I can find in order to learn how to take care of the reef.

So . . . I've been trying to learn more about ammonia, ph, calcium, nitrite, nitrate, etc and how it effects the reef life. The problem is that, being new at this, most of these books read like my old college chemistry books . . . (duh!). Let's just say that chemistry was never my strongest subject. Anyway, I have a new found interest in all of this and would really like some advice from anyone willing to give it.

Are there any chemicals that are . . . let's say . . . "of paramount importance" vs. "enhancing" type chemicals. I feel like I should be testing for all of these things that I am reading about. I'm just not sure where to begin. The reef looks pretty good . . . fish and corals appear to be healthy . . . although the bubble coral (plerogyra sinuosa) looks like it could be fading due to some red/brown algae growth.

I know this is an extremely in depth subject matter . . . but if anybody has some general novice pointers . . . "reef chemistry 1101" . . . I would be forever in your debt. I'd rather not kill everything in the tank before I figure out how to maintain it.

Sorry for the long post . . . any advice is helpful.

Sincerely,

Skyskrapr
(not a member of any letter of the alphabet club . . . but willing to be) What is that anyway? Please excuse my "rookie-ness"

[ballvice]

Skyskrapr...Not to be a snail, but I want to piggie back on your post...I second the question. I am in the process of setting up my first ever SW tank and so of the chemistry talk I see and hear scares the b-ge-zeus (chemistry term ) out of me.

And "english" Lay-Chemistry lessons will be GREATLY appreciated!

Frank -life rock- Balz

[Phishnoob]

WELCOME TO TRT!!!


I think you might want to say a little more about the tank such as what is the sandbed depth and whether you have a sump or skimmer.

There is a lot of info on here about water changes, but doing 10% weekly works for me. Be sure that you use decent water and remember add fresh for evaporation and salt mix water for water changes. I am pretty much fish only with live rock and a few softies so we just keep an eye on salinity, pH and alkalinity. Now and then it is time for a check for phosphates and nitrates.

The serious folks with the hard corals and kalk systems test a lot more things.

Good luck with your new tank!!!!!

[skyeskrapr]

Perry & Frank,

Thanks greatly for the replies!
Ok . . . here is a quick run down of my reef setup:

Like I said before, it's a 55 gallon tank. Probably about 3 inches of sand and approx. 40 lbs of live rock. I am running a sump . . . . but not a wet/dry . . . no bio balls . . . although I am currently keeping some charcoal to filter through in the bottom. I have completed one 20% water change with some OH water that I purchased from my LFS due to some unwanted bubble and hair algae. (Thought that might help from what I have read) I also am currently running compact flourescents with white & actinic bulbs on timers . . . and an over-the-side protein skimmer inside the tank that is running constantly.

Reef Life:
numerous communities of button polyps,
one community of mushrooms (not sure what type)
One large Bubble Coral (plerogyra sinuosa)
One large Galexia Coral
One giant anemone (this things got to be 18" in diameter when extended)
One small maroon clown fish
Two domino damsel fish
One small yellow tang
One diamond gobie (this guy really likes to dig)
One mandarin gobie
One small Marine Beta (beautiful fish)
One banded coral shrimp
One typical cleaner shrimp
numerous snails
plenty of bristle worms
about four feather duster worms
some seaweed growing out of the rocks

and . . . one small crab (a menace) I'm trying to get him out if I can figure out which rock he lives in

When I got the tank there was a lot of bubble algae . . . but the the tang seems to love that stuff . . . he's pretty much wiped it out. The problem now is that I thought that the OH water would help remedy some of the hair algae. It started out as red . . . . now it's growing grayish-brown . . . growing on everything . . . rocks . . . and the bubble coral. I'm pretty worried about it. I'm going to do another 20% water change this weekend . . . but I'm worried that it is taking over.

So that's kind of where the chemicals question is coming from. I'll test whatever I need to test . . . add whatever I need to add . . . just not sure what the best course of action is? Do I pay close attention to phosphates? . . . nitrates? . . . everything? What should I be the most concerned about? I am just not sure at this point. I just know that I need to monitor these things. I've also read that certain reef life prefers possibly different levels of these chemicals?

Anyway . . . so if I test for salinety, pH & alkalinety on say . . . a weekly basis? and make adjustments with the water changes . . . that should do the trick?

How often should I be concerned about phosphates & nitrates?

Sorry to overload you with questions . . . but I'm really begining to worry about the chemical levels due to the apparent algae problem. Is this common?

Again . . . any advice (from anyone) is greatly appreciated.

Thanks so much,

Skyeskrapr-