Struggling Newbie

juanitasenorita04 · Jan 19, 2024

Hello,

My 13 year old son has had his saltwater tank for 1.5 years. I finally let him get corral for it. I want to make sure I have lighting correct for the fish and coral. We have the Fluval Sea Flex 32 Saltwater tank. Please be kind as we are new to all this and trying we are just struggling with the lighting. I have a pictures attached hoping it helps. Thanks in advance!

TX_REEF · Jan 19, 2024

Hi and welcome! it looks like that tank kit comes with the Fluval Aquasky 2.0 LED Aquarium Lighting, 12 Watts. This light is simply not sufficient to support the health and growth of most corals. Can I ask why the water level in your tank is so low?

juanitasenorita04 · Jan 20, 2024

TX_REEF said:
Hi and welcome! it looks like that tank kit comes with the Fluval Aquasky 2.0 LED Aquarium Lighting, 12 Watts. This light is simply not sufficient to support the health and growth of most corals. Can I ask why the water level in your tank is so low?

Thank you for helping and we are open to any advice.
We got the saltwater tank so it came with the Full spectrum Marine 3.0 LED, 21 watts.
The water level is low as we got snowed in as we added the coral and had an insane amount of snow recently here. We just got more RO and saltwater from the store but now we are trying to decide how to add which water without altering the salinity too much to kill the coral if that makes sense.

Isaac Alves · Jan 20, 2024

This is great for some beginner coral. There’s a ton of low light, low flow soft coral—which could be awesome.

juanitasenorita04 · Jan 20, 2024

So while we are new to coral I am super new to this website. You want to go to the instagram page?

TX_REEF · Jan 20, 2024

Measure the salinity now, and let us know what it is. The salinity will likely be very high because the water was allowed to evaporate. It’s very important that you top off the evaporation daily to prevent salinity swings, which can kill corals and fish

juanitasenorita04 · Jan 20, 2024

TX_REEF said:
Measure the salinity now, and let us know what it is. The salinity will likely be very high because the water was allowed to evaporate. It’s very important that you top off the evaporation daily to prevent salinity swings, which can kill corals and fish

You are correct the salinity is high 1.040. So I should add a little RO, let it sit and test it again in 15 minutes until the salinity is correct?

Sleeping Giant · Jan 20, 2024

juanitasenorita04 said:
You are correct the salinity is high 1.040. So I should add a little RO, let it sit and test it again in 15 minutes until the salinity is correct?

that would be a good idea, try to lower the salinity to 1.025

juanitasenorita04 · Jan 20, 2024

Sleeping Giant said:
that would be a good idea, try to lower the salinity to 1.025

Thank you. How much RO should I add at a time? Also what is the brown algae looking stuff that’s new. I just want to make sure we have a clean looking and most importantly healthy tank. So I appreciate all the help.

Lavey29 · Jan 20, 2024

juanitasenorita04 said:
You are correct the salinity is high 1.040. So I should add a little RO, let it sit and test it again in 15 minutes until the salinity is correct?

No, if salinity is that high, you need to remove saltwater and replace with rodi. Or add lower salinity salt water to bring your overall number down to 1.026.

Take out 8 full cups of saltwater then fill up with rodi and measure salinity. Normal evaporation does not change the salinity number typically so not sure why yours is so high.

Marquarium · Jan 20, 2024

With the amount of room left in the tank you might be fine filling it up with fresh RO/DI and check from there.

If the tank has been running that long you'll have no issues adding a couple starter corals once params are in a good spot.

juanitasenorita04 · Jan 20, 2024

Lavey29 said:
No, if salinity is that high, you need to remove saltwater and replace with rodi. Or add lower salinity salt water to bring your overall number down to 1.026.

Take out 8 full cups of saltwater then fill up with rodi and measure salinity. Normal evaporation does not change the salinity number typically so not sure why yours is so high.

I also want to try and recalibrate the refractometer what is the best solution? I know there are different kinds on the market but I want to make sure I get the best kind

Lavey29 · Jan 20, 2024

juanitasenorita04 said:
I also want to try and recalibrate the refractometer what is the best solution? I know there are different kinds on the market but I want to make sure I get the best kind

Well you can have your LFS confirm your reading but I use a digital Milwaukee instrument refractometer because my eyes are old.

LandLockedJones · Jan 20, 2024

juanitasenorita04 said:
You are correct the salinity is high 1.040. So I should add a little RO, let it sit and test it again in 15 minutes until the salinity is correct?

First thing, don’t worry. It can be fixed haha.

That is pretty high, so emptying and refilling with the correct salinity would be the best move. But yes you can just add the rodi water to the system.

Your corals may not like a fast change though so expect them to look unhappy. And if you do it fast, any fish inside may not like it either. Nothing in the ocean likes sudden changes.

So, add a bit at a time, and come back and check like you said. You can check in 15 minutes, but I would not add more water for like an hour or so you dont need to rush back to it.

Since you said you had some new saltwater. If it’s still not been used, you can lower the salinity of that and do your water change. Which will lower the salinity in the tank a bit more gradually.

Personally I would just add the rodi slowly and try to remember to top off the tank from now on. Once a day is usually okay. Later you can add an ATO (automatic top off). There are some good low cost options from a brand called reef breeders. But they may not be the best quality on the market.

On the system I just set up without an ato I drew a mark with an expo marker on the front and side glass to know where to fill up. As long as you keep the tank at that mark. Salinity should theoretically remain stable.ish..

jabberwock · Jan 20, 2024

With the water level that low, it may effect the return pump and the heater. Make sure your heater is all the way in the water. Some heaters are meant to be totally submerged.

With a tank that size, and a closed lid, I am surprised you had that much evaporation. I have a Flex 15, and i get almost zero evaporation.

How long since you topped it off?

LandLockedJones · Jan 20, 2024

juanitasenorita04 said:
I also want to try and recalibrate the refractometer what is the best solution? I know there are different kinds on the market but I want to make sure I get the best kind

I use the one from bulk reef supply. But check the manual of the refractometer if you still have it. It may have a specific recommendation for that unit. If not, any of them will probably work.

anglefishlover · Jan 20, 2024

juanitasenorita04 said:
I also want to try and recalibrate the refractometer what is the best solution? I know there are different kinds on the market but I want to make sure I get the best kind

Your RO/DI water should register 0. Recalibrate to that. Best thing you can do with a tank like this IMO is make your own RO water at home and if you are religious about a 10%/week or 35%/month water change u will have a lot of sucess. Keep your salinity in line, dont let you tank get to cold or hot. If you can do this you will have a lot of success keeping a great deal of fish, soft corals, and inverts. If you cant do these things its going to be be frustrating and only the toughest critters will be able to survive.

LandLockedJones · Jan 20, 2024

but they do need to be calibrated pretty regularly. I calibrate mine every time before I use it. It may be overkill but often I find it a point or two off even the same day.