Introduction

TalyTang · Mar 1, 2015

Hello, I'm Taly! I'm a young woman from the Inland Empire and I'm new to the saltwater world. I've had freshwater fish on and off for about 10 years (currently have a Discus and Cichlid tank) and about 4 months ago I became inspired to build a saltwater aquarium by mainly being creative (which means: doing a lot of diy projects and trades) and not going way above my budget. I have put together a 125galon fish tank that I got dirt cheap on CL (it was a fixer upper but it came with live rock and some extra accessories). I decided to sand and paint the base and canopy, but I think I made a poor choice with the paint I used (eggshell finish) and will stain it instead soon. The guy at the local fish store hooked me up with what he said were some "killer" lights that shimmer, they are LED lights...I'll have to tell you which ones in specific later once I remember. Currently I have a few fish and soft coral residing in my tank and they seem very happy. I've kind of had issues with my (high) nitrates and I'd like to learn more on that (if you have tips on how to lower them please share). I have much to learn! Sorry for the bad cellphone picture

Wonder is the beginning of wisdom.*
―*Socrates

will21xl · Mar 1, 2015

Welcome taly

janiners305 · Mar 1, 2015

Welcome . That is a nice tank like the rockscape nitrate can be decreased in several ways first off how long has the tank been running? Are you running a protein skimmer how often are you doing water changes? How many fish are in the tank and what size. Also how much are you feeding and how many times a day? Are your running a refugium sump or canister filter? Little more info may help with trying to figure out the nitrate issue

sent from this awsome galaxy note 4

TalyTang · Mar 1, 2015

Thank You Will21xl!

Thank You Janiners305!
The tank has been running for 3 months (after cycle), I'm running a Reef Dynamics protein skimmer and have one cromie, 2 clownfish, a yellow tang, sail fin tang and blue tang...I'd say about 15 inches in fish all together. Feeding once a day skipping one day a week. Well, the things is that when I got it off a guy on CL I kept and used his water... At the time I didn't know that he had bad husbandry and never cleaned his sand, etc. Here is a picture of my 20gal refugium...I'm growing microalgae, it has sand and miracle mud. (The clownfish are not there permanently)

Justkeepswimming · Mar 1, 2015

:wel1:

BeanMachine · Mar 1, 2015

Id recommend removing the rubble in your sump, and the mud in your fuge. Both trap detritus and are probably contributing to your high nitrates. You got plenty of rock for biological filtration in yOur display from the looks of it.

Cleaning the sand manually is not necessary, and could be problematic if its thicker than an inch or two. Just get some sand sifting snails to keep it clean.

Oh and welcome.

TalyTang · Mar 2, 2015

Thank you BeanMachine!

TalyTang · Mar 2, 2015

I'm thinking about putting in a algae turf scrubber to reduce nitrates and help with filtration

Six2seven · Mar 2, 2015

Welcome. It seems you have been doing some research which is always good but might have some old methods such as pound per gallon in rock and measure inch per fish. As Bean said I would remove the mudd and rubble rock. Miracle mudd lasts for about 6 months before the nutrients are depleted and causes a build up of detritus. our rockwork looks pretty packed and any detritus that land back there will just collect there. More flow in your tank will keep it from settling in the corners as well.

The tank looks good. what are you using to hold up the mangroves. I have yet to figure out an easy way to maintain them.

Introduction

TalyTang

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will21xl

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janiners305

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TalyTang

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Justkeepswimming

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BeanMachine

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