I suppose I didn't address the original question, you shouldn't be looking for new livestock. You are pretty well maxed/over stocked. The eel and damsels are ok, the trigger adds a lot of stress to the bio filtration because they are "messy" so I wouldn't add anything else. A good way to tell how your system is on bio load is parameters. Do you have perfect parameters? If not, why not? If so, how hard is it to maintain perfect water quality? If you find that your water is perfect and is extremely easy to keep perfect, you probably have plenty of bio capacity remaining. If you water just can't get perfect and your doing all your maintenance, a lot of the time the system is overloaded. It's a lot of trial and error.
Need Some Ideas: Focusing on Eels
- Thread starter Wiggles92
- Start date
Well, maybe another $200 or so for a decent new skimmer and other items (if need be). I have two empty 10 gallon aquariums that I could use; maybe I could link them up via a pipe and use one as a wet/dry and the other as a refugium.
There's about 75-80 lbs. of live rock in there if I remember correctly; I'll have to weigh it when I get around to removing the algae. The lighting is a T5 HO system with two full spectrum bulbs and two actinic bulbs; I believe that I have the full spectrum bulbs limited to being on for just eight hours a day.
Well for starters I need to open with the rodi subject. That needs to be used in a saltwater tank. I would definitely do something with that hob filter. I would take out all the stuff in it and put in like 3 lbs of rock, some chaeto/ mangrove plants, and a clip on light. The whole bills for that will be like 15 dollars. I would also try to get some more flow in the tank. What do you have for power heads or water movement at all? You might also consider the PVC rock work because it will make it easier to clean under your rock structure as it will be elevated. Maybe reign in your feeding to, you might be running to high of a nutrient level for your stock. Whatever they don't eat algae will be more than happy to help with. That is why I encourage the chaeto. Algae is going to grow, yOu might as well use it to your advantage.
I'll definitely do the HOB refugium conversion on one of the many HOBs that I have at my disposal; I'll get the mangroves while I'm in FL. Water circulation consists of an empty Fluval U3 filter and a generic powerhead of some sort; we took the media out of the U3 because it kept getting gummed up, but it still works good for circulation.
Do you think that he might grow if I move everything to the 75 gallon in the near future? I find it hard to believe that this aquarium is too small for him when he's only ~3.5" long; I would understand if he was over 6" long. Maybe the fact that he rarely leaves his rock pile is a contributing factor? He gets Hikari marine pellets and frozen whole krill daily, so food shouldn't be the issue; any excess food is removed ASAP.
As for the water, I use tap water, but the water comes from a spring; I test it every once in a while, and it comes up clean, so my dad didn't see the point in getting an RO/DI system when nothing comes up.
Parameters are near perfect (nitrate <10 ppm, ammonia 0 ppm, and so on); I do 20% weekly water changes to ensure that the water quality is good and stable. Do you think that I can get those parameters to be much better? Might the salt (Instant Ocean Reef Crystals) we've been using be to blame?
By the way, the algae seems to be cyclic in nature; it grows in to a certain extent before nearly completely dieing off (at which it's all removed).
Your checking the water with a TDS meter? I find it very hard to belive that any water that hasn't been treated will be zero TDS. Spring water can contain a lot of minerals and, in the case of bottled spring water, additives. These may be good for human consumption, but they aren't good for a salt tank. The very things in the water that help humans can be feeding the algae in your tank. I recommend using RODI always, I have done tanks with tap before, when I first got into the hobby. The parameters always seemed great, but algae was insane. The problem is two fold. First, you have nitrates, but the algae is using them so your test reflects that all is good. Two, your potentially feeding the algae with the provided water source.
Second, the size of the fish isn't always the most important thing. Yellow tangs aren't all that big, but they need a large tank. The reason is activity. These fish are very active and need swimming room. You said this trigger sat in a store for a long time, so he has spent most his captive life in a 10 gallon display and now your tank. Be patient, he will grow. A bigger tank isn't an immediate need, but as always, the bigger the home you can provide him the better.
Second, the size of the fish isn't always the most important thing. Yellow tangs aren't all that big, but they need a large tank. The reason is activity. These fish are very active and need swimming room. You said this trigger sat in a store for a long time, so he has spent most his captive life in a 10 gallon display and now your tank. Be patient, he will grow. A bigger tank isn't an immediate need, but as always, the bigger the home you can provide him the better.
To answer your last question, I don't think salt is causing you any problems. Your parameters could be a little better. Nitrates should be as close to zero as possible, and the algae is masking the numbers your getting slightly. Your parameters aren't necessarily bad, especially given this is a FOWLR.
No, I haven't had it checked for TDS, but I'll have to do that; a high TDS level is probably all that it could be at this point considering that everything else in the spring water from the tap checks out (0 ppm nitrate, 0 phosphate, etc.). The trigger will be upgraded in time or rehomed, if necessary; like I said before, I have that 75 gallon that it could go in if need be down the road.
Okay, I wasn't sure on the salt since I read that some mixtures were high in nitrates.
Yeah, check your water with TDS. It should be zero, anything besides RODI won't be. I would be willing to bet it's well over 100.
Fine is a relative term. There are many people that use tap water, the tank is "fine". But algae can become an issue, the second issue is the gradual build up of heavy metals and other particulates over time. Eventually the tank could crash. There is no safe level per say, the rule of thumb is as close to zero as possible. Any TDS is too much.
Okay, that's good to know; the water is very soft if that means anything as far as metals go.
I got a bunch of cheato algae today, so I'll be putting that in the refugium that I'm working on.
