gt44ever
Active Member
Hello, I've been searching around on here for tips and tricks and finally decided I just need to join!
Disclaimer: I did not set up the tank originally, so I don't know exactly how old it or any of the fish are. It was there and stocked when we bought the house. We were told it was "low maintenance" but given some of the other remnants of the previous homeowners, I'm not so sure anymore.
Also, I apologize, but this post is gonna be massive (just like the tank)
Myself:
I'm an engineer and pretty handy (built my own skimmer as detailed below), but am a total noob with keeping fish beyond things like goldfish or maybe a beta. I wasn't expecting to have a tank full of fish when we bought the house, but decided to take the plunge when the realtor did our final walkthrough and called to tell us the fish were still there (it's a "low maintenance" tank after all). I've picked up a decent amount of info between my LFS, sites like this and other various places online, but I'm prolly far from knowledgeable (hence I'm here to learn)
The tank:
Basics:
Marine FO tank
~650 gallon main
~100 gallon sump (haven't actually measured this one out so it might be bigger). Sump is roughly perpendicular to Main as the top of a "T"
Tank is built into the wall in the basement
I believe both tanks are full glass
Shallow, fine sand bed in main with a few rocks that used to be stacked for aquascaping (planning on redoing the aquascaping once other issues are sorted)
Tank was presumably mature when we got it about 2.5 years ago
Residents (all are best guess):
~24"+ Bamboo Shark
~24" black spotted horned shark
~14" blue line grouper
~12" Lionfish (Volitan i think)
~6" Miniatus Grouper
~6" Black Bar Soldierfish
~6" Queen Angel
~8" Catfish (unknown variety)
~8" toadfish/scorpionfish (haven't gotten a good ID on him. He's mottled orange and has feet style fins. He also is usually buried in small hole under some rocks in the sand)
Former Residents:
Green Chromis
Niger Triggerfish
Stars and Stripes Puffer
Blue Carribean Tang (definitely a tang. Not sure about the specific type)
Not sure what got any of these. Aside from the puffer, bodies were likely eaten as they've never been found.
Setup details (I'll try to be brief and note what's changed. Once around the system will hopefully give a good idea)
1. Main tank (basic details above)
2. Overflow box at end of main. Water is gravity fed to sump which is behind a wall on the floor. Box is about half full of bio balls
3. Sump in: Several lines feed from the overflow into the sump. More bio balls here. I've added a home built skimmer that recirculates into this section
4. Skimmer: Based on a life reef. Main body is 8"x5' PVC with a mazzuri venturi. Feed pump is in the sump, travels up to about 5' through venturi then back down to about 12" off bottom of skimmer body. Seems to work though tuning has been tricky since they body isn't clear. I've considered adding a second matching tower. Skimmer is fed with a Jebao DCP-8000 running at max.
5. Sump in is separated with a bulkhead from the refugium/undergravel filter zone.
6. Refugium: This was a metal halide light that I've switched to CFLs to cut back on the power draw. We've had chaeto and calurpa in here, but most of it has fared poorly due to constant cyano blooms and not great water conditions (more on this later). Currently only have macro growing in about half the refugium area and it's still doing poorly.
7. Undergravel filter: Single powerhead pulling through crushed coral bed. This is currently down as I found the powerhead was no longer working last night. Might be from a recent power outage and subsequent surge. I've added Brightwell nitrate brick just past the bulkhead (hoping for low enough flow for nitrate removal)
8. Mechanical filter and bulkhead to return pumps. Mechanical filter is a basic 2 layer bonded filter medium
9. Return Zone: dual return pumps. I have replaced the original danner Mag-drive Model 24 with a eFlux Loop 3170 running max flow. The other return pump is a Danner Mag-Drive Model 18 which is plumbed through a Turbo Twist UV, though the UV is broken and is only there now because I don't have the right plumbing to remove it. I've also considered replacing the UV. A single 800W finnex titanium heater is in the return zone with the pump holding the tank to about 73F (recently replaced the heater controller that had fried at some unknown time)
10. Return to main tank: Runs through reinforced nylon tubing the length of the main then up and through some PVC fitting just under the top of the tank. Water is directed down the length of the tank from one return and split off with a triple 90degree connector for the other. I'm not sure which is which
Other details:
Food:
I mostly feed human grade seafood as it's cheaper than actual fish food and the sharks (and previously puffer) can eat a lot. Main items for the big fish include: Lean white fish (Cod, whiting), Shrimp, Squid Tubes, Mackerel, Smelt
and the little guys: Mysis shrimp for the smaller fish (Hikari Bio-Pure), Smelt, lean white fish, occasional shrimp, they'll eat the squid if they can actually swallow it, occasionally seaweed (the sharks are a bit hard on the clips. Puffer was worse)
Very occasionally they've had grass shrimp. Tried goldfish, but only the lionfish liked those. Did try some catfish nuggets recently, but not going there again as they just feel gross and I'm a little concerned that caused problems.
Water goes through a coralife RO/DI system.
All water transfers are currently done with the same pump. I have been considering getting a spare so I can have a "clean" and "dirty" water transfer setup. The tubing is pretty gross and I don't really have a good way to clear it out
I've been using Instant Ocean basic salt or Coralife Marine Salt mix depending on what's on sale. I have a stock of both at the moment
Now for the real reason I'm here
Problems:
Disease/death/directly related to fish
Obviously I've lost some fish. Some may have been poor feeding schedule. The puffer I'm really not sure as he seemed ok a day earlier.
Currently, the lionfish, toadfish and catfish have signs of fin rot. Toadfish also might have cloudy eye, but he's so sedentary that algae has grown on him before so it's a little hard to tell. Other fish appear fine aside from the bamboo may need more iodine in his diet (he's got a lump under his chin that might possibly be goiter?)
I'm likely going to get some sort of medication to help out as the lionfish in particular appears to be in a bad way. Thinking Kanaplex since it's supposed to be able to be absorbed through the skin and he's not been eating anything. Also considering Polyguard.
Tank issues:
I've had constant issue trying to keep up with water quality. Nitrate and Phosphate have been perpetually high per the API kits (yes, I know it's not the best kit, but it seems to at least give reasonable results as the RO.
pH has also been out of wack, but I've had a hard time keeping the cheap meters calibrated (even stored in clean water) and can't confirm the accuracy of the API test
All other paramters have looked fine (KH, O2, Ammonia, Nitrite, Salinity... I might be forgetting something). Going to check them again tonight, but they've been good so far.
Frequent and major cyano blooms. One basically claimed the original stock of macro as it was so badly coated I couldn't separate it from the macro.
Might also have a diatome issue (brown crud that just cakes up everywhere in the sump) or else it's just poor mechanical filtration earlier in the flow
Water was once fairly clear, but not is cloudier. Mechanical filtration is part of the issue here as it gets better when I get a better seal on the filter media ahead of the return zone.
Short term outlook (next few weeks):
Currently planning on some sort of meds to hopefully help the lion pull through while I try to sort out the root of the issue.
Going to try to do several water changes. I can swap about 44g at a time as that's how big the trash barrels I have are. I can manage a double barrel without too much difficulty. Much more than that and I loose temperature quickly and have a hard time doing it in a timely manner (the RO only flows so fast).
Any other tips for getting things in line quickly would be greatly appreciated.
Medium to long term outlook (over the next year ish):
I'm hoping to keep making incremental improvements to the tank by swapping out older, often power hungry equipment for more efficient models (see: Mag-Drive 18)
Going to redo the aquascaping so the smaller fish can get away from the sharks better and hopfully keep the sharks from knocking the rocks around. We used to have some nice arches. Used to...
I'd like to find ways to make the tank lower maintenance if possible. Right now, I feel like I would need to change out a barrel of water every week just to keep up, which is a lot of salt and just doesn't feel sustainable for me.
Find a good balanced diet for everyone. This has been ongoing for a while now, and I'm not sure I'm making much progress.
I am going to be installing an Apex system soon to help me out a little with monitoring
General questions:
Do I have a good setup? Was I given a ticking time bomb before the tank went nutrient crazy?
What changes should I make/plan/build to help my fish be happier
And for the less patient members (tl;dr)
Huge Marine FO tank with sharks and some smaller fish
very sick lion
going to likely medicate and do water changes near term
Want to reduce active maintenance and hopefully have happy healthy fish
Looking for advice on setup and existing issues
Hopefully I've covered everything. Sorry it's so long, but it's a big tank and I prolly only know enough to be dangerous
I can try to add pics later when I'm not working. Maybe tonight while I'm doing another water change.
Disclaimer: I did not set up the tank originally, so I don't know exactly how old it or any of the fish are. It was there and stocked when we bought the house. We were told it was "low maintenance" but given some of the other remnants of the previous homeowners, I'm not so sure anymore.
Also, I apologize, but this post is gonna be massive (just like the tank)
Myself:
I'm an engineer and pretty handy (built my own skimmer as detailed below), but am a total noob with keeping fish beyond things like goldfish or maybe a beta. I wasn't expecting to have a tank full of fish when we bought the house, but decided to take the plunge when the realtor did our final walkthrough and called to tell us the fish were still there (it's a "low maintenance" tank after all). I've picked up a decent amount of info between my LFS, sites like this and other various places online, but I'm prolly far from knowledgeable (hence I'm here to learn)
The tank:
Basics:
Marine FO tank
~650 gallon main
~100 gallon sump (haven't actually measured this one out so it might be bigger). Sump is roughly perpendicular to Main as the top of a "T"
Tank is built into the wall in the basement
I believe both tanks are full glass
Shallow, fine sand bed in main with a few rocks that used to be stacked for aquascaping (planning on redoing the aquascaping once other issues are sorted)
Tank was presumably mature when we got it about 2.5 years ago
Residents (all are best guess):
~24"+ Bamboo Shark
~24" black spotted horned shark
~14" blue line grouper
~12" Lionfish (Volitan i think)
~6" Miniatus Grouper
~6" Black Bar Soldierfish
~6" Queen Angel
~8" Catfish (unknown variety)
~8" toadfish/scorpionfish (haven't gotten a good ID on him. He's mottled orange and has feet style fins. He also is usually buried in small hole under some rocks in the sand)
Former Residents:
Green Chromis
Niger Triggerfish
Stars and Stripes Puffer
Blue Carribean Tang (definitely a tang. Not sure about the specific type)
Not sure what got any of these. Aside from the puffer, bodies were likely eaten as they've never been found.
Setup details (I'll try to be brief and note what's changed. Once around the system will hopefully give a good idea)
1. Main tank (basic details above)
2. Overflow box at end of main. Water is gravity fed to sump which is behind a wall on the floor. Box is about half full of bio balls
3. Sump in: Several lines feed from the overflow into the sump. More bio balls here. I've added a home built skimmer that recirculates into this section
4. Skimmer: Based on a life reef. Main body is 8"x5' PVC with a mazzuri venturi. Feed pump is in the sump, travels up to about 5' through venturi then back down to about 12" off bottom of skimmer body. Seems to work though tuning has been tricky since they body isn't clear. I've considered adding a second matching tower. Skimmer is fed with a Jebao DCP-8000 running at max.
5. Sump in is separated with a bulkhead from the refugium/undergravel filter zone.
6. Refugium: This was a metal halide light that I've switched to CFLs to cut back on the power draw. We've had chaeto and calurpa in here, but most of it has fared poorly due to constant cyano blooms and not great water conditions (more on this later). Currently only have macro growing in about half the refugium area and it's still doing poorly.
7. Undergravel filter: Single powerhead pulling through crushed coral bed. This is currently down as I found the powerhead was no longer working last night. Might be from a recent power outage and subsequent surge. I've added Brightwell nitrate brick just past the bulkhead (hoping for low enough flow for nitrate removal)
8. Mechanical filter and bulkhead to return pumps. Mechanical filter is a basic 2 layer bonded filter medium
9. Return Zone: dual return pumps. I have replaced the original danner Mag-drive Model 24 with a eFlux Loop 3170 running max flow. The other return pump is a Danner Mag-Drive Model 18 which is plumbed through a Turbo Twist UV, though the UV is broken and is only there now because I don't have the right plumbing to remove it. I've also considered replacing the UV. A single 800W finnex titanium heater is in the return zone with the pump holding the tank to about 73F (recently replaced the heater controller that had fried at some unknown time)
10. Return to main tank: Runs through reinforced nylon tubing the length of the main then up and through some PVC fitting just under the top of the tank. Water is directed down the length of the tank from one return and split off with a triple 90degree connector for the other. I'm not sure which is which
Other details:
Food:
I mostly feed human grade seafood as it's cheaper than actual fish food and the sharks (and previously puffer) can eat a lot. Main items for the big fish include: Lean white fish (Cod, whiting), Shrimp, Squid Tubes, Mackerel, Smelt
and the little guys: Mysis shrimp for the smaller fish (Hikari Bio-Pure), Smelt, lean white fish, occasional shrimp, they'll eat the squid if they can actually swallow it, occasionally seaweed (the sharks are a bit hard on the clips. Puffer was worse)
Very occasionally they've had grass shrimp. Tried goldfish, but only the lionfish liked those. Did try some catfish nuggets recently, but not going there again as they just feel gross and I'm a little concerned that caused problems.
Water goes through a coralife RO/DI system.
All water transfers are currently done with the same pump. I have been considering getting a spare so I can have a "clean" and "dirty" water transfer setup. The tubing is pretty gross and I don't really have a good way to clear it out
I've been using Instant Ocean basic salt or Coralife Marine Salt mix depending on what's on sale. I have a stock of both at the moment
Now for the real reason I'm here
Problems:
Disease/death/directly related to fish
Obviously I've lost some fish. Some may have been poor feeding schedule. The puffer I'm really not sure as he seemed ok a day earlier.
Currently, the lionfish, toadfish and catfish have signs of fin rot. Toadfish also might have cloudy eye, but he's so sedentary that algae has grown on him before so it's a little hard to tell. Other fish appear fine aside from the bamboo may need more iodine in his diet (he's got a lump under his chin that might possibly be goiter?)
I'm likely going to get some sort of medication to help out as the lionfish in particular appears to be in a bad way. Thinking Kanaplex since it's supposed to be able to be absorbed through the skin and he's not been eating anything. Also considering Polyguard.
Tank issues:
I've had constant issue trying to keep up with water quality. Nitrate and Phosphate have been perpetually high per the API kits (yes, I know it's not the best kit, but it seems to at least give reasonable results as the RO.
pH has also been out of wack, but I've had a hard time keeping the cheap meters calibrated (even stored in clean water) and can't confirm the accuracy of the API test
All other paramters have looked fine (KH, O2, Ammonia, Nitrite, Salinity... I might be forgetting something). Going to check them again tonight, but they've been good so far.
Frequent and major cyano blooms. One basically claimed the original stock of macro as it was so badly coated I couldn't separate it from the macro.
Might also have a diatome issue (brown crud that just cakes up everywhere in the sump) or else it's just poor mechanical filtration earlier in the flow
Water was once fairly clear, but not is cloudier. Mechanical filtration is part of the issue here as it gets better when I get a better seal on the filter media ahead of the return zone.
Short term outlook (next few weeks):
Currently planning on some sort of meds to hopefully help the lion pull through while I try to sort out the root of the issue.
Going to try to do several water changes. I can swap about 44g at a time as that's how big the trash barrels I have are. I can manage a double barrel without too much difficulty. Much more than that and I loose temperature quickly and have a hard time doing it in a timely manner (the RO only flows so fast).
Any other tips for getting things in line quickly would be greatly appreciated.
Medium to long term outlook (over the next year ish):
I'm hoping to keep making incremental improvements to the tank by swapping out older, often power hungry equipment for more efficient models (see: Mag-Drive 18)
Going to redo the aquascaping so the smaller fish can get away from the sharks better and hopfully keep the sharks from knocking the rocks around. We used to have some nice arches. Used to...
I'd like to find ways to make the tank lower maintenance if possible. Right now, I feel like I would need to change out a barrel of water every week just to keep up, which is a lot of salt and just doesn't feel sustainable for me.
Find a good balanced diet for everyone. This has been ongoing for a while now, and I'm not sure I'm making much progress.
I am going to be installing an Apex system soon to help me out a little with monitoring
General questions:
Do I have a good setup? Was I given a ticking time bomb before the tank went nutrient crazy?
What changes should I make/plan/build to help my fish be happier
And for the less patient members (tl;dr)
Huge Marine FO tank with sharks and some smaller fish
very sick lion
going to likely medicate and do water changes near term
Want to reduce active maintenance and hopefully have happy healthy fish
Looking for advice on setup and existing issues
Hopefully I've covered everything. Sorry it's so long, but it's a big tank and I prolly only know enough to be dangerous
I can try to add pics later when I'm not working. Maybe tonight while I'm doing another water change.
