Introduction: my tank is one month old - 75 gal with a 9" green wolf eel

[Mud Shrimp Moe]

[I'm happy to have found this place via reefkeeping.com.

My wife bought me a 75 RR tank, heater, stand, lights (2x65 watt 10,000k, 2x65 watt actinic, and moonlights), and some live sand as a surprise gift for Christmas and I bought a wet/dry sump, protein skimmer, 130 lbs of live rock, and misc since.

Here's a basic pic:

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The live rock has a bit of a story. It was from an established acrylic tank that had blown a seal and the owner moved it to a clean (I hope) Rubbermaid trash can under water with a PH. It sat that way approx 2 mos or so before I bought it. There was also an eel in that tank, which the owner guessed has perished.

Well, four days after I picked up the LR I get a call that the eel was still alive in the trashcan, in spite of the fact that the PH's had been turned off and there had been no food, heater, or water changes for over two months. So, in spite of having such a new tank, I went and got the eel.

Here's a short film of her/him, with a better view of the whole tank as well:

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/mudshrimpmoe/billytheeel.MOV

I've added three snails, some sort of "Trochus" probably, and quite probably "Margaritas," which I've since learned are temperate snails and will die in about a year or so. No other livestock added, although this LR has some zooanthid polyps blooming now, 5-6 visible mushrooms growning quickly, tons of fanworms, bristle worms, some unidentified small snails, and lots of hair algae :uhoh: .


Naturally, I have a couple questions.

1) What the heck can I stock that this Green Wolf Eel won't kill? He leaves the large snails alone, but I've read that it's best to forego small inverts such as shrimp. (S)he's about 9" long. I'm mostly interested in soft corals anyway, and inverts, but I'd like a couple more fish.

2) How crap is my skimmer? It's a Sealife that I bought from DNA and I've since read enough to have some concerns. It's got a CA 2200 pump into it and is doing ok, I guess. I plan to add a refugium later, utilizing the wet/dry I already have but removing the bio-balls and modding a garage sale 29 gal or some DIY something to act as the fuge.

Here's are pics:

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That's enough questions for one post, I guess. Hope to meet some of you soon.

Thanks,

Moe]

 

[quangtam7]

[Look nice. Honestly, I don't see much bubbles in the skimmer which leads me to believe it is not enough for 75g tank. Good skimmer should produce very fine dense amount of bubbles, from across the room it looks like a white tube, jmo.

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Edited By quangtam7 on 1106540645

 

[Mud Shrimp Moe]

[Yeah, nice pics. I usually have a better head of foam than in the pics, but had just cleaned and messed with it. Still, it nowhere as nice as the skimmer in your pics.

DNA's saleguy said it's well sized for the task. I already see DNA isn't preferred around these parts, however.]

 

[melev]

[Very nice tank and great movie clip! I don't think the skimmer will cut it, but you own it already so I don't blame you if you try to make it work for now.

I think you'll need larger fish to keep the eel from eating them. Is this going to be a predator tank, or do you want to run a reef? I don't trust eels myself, and that is why they are both in my son's tank where they can't do any harm.]

 

[Tommy Tucker]

[It looks like you still have the bio-balls in your sump. Best to go ahead and remove them pronto. It will produce nitrates.]

 

[Mud Shrimp Moe]

[@Marc wrote:

Thanks. On the skimmer, it makes me a bit angry at Dallas North because the salesguy pimped this skimmer as more than enough. To be fair, the level of foam in that pic is way less than normal, as the shot was just after cleaning it and also after adding top off water. Whenever I add fresh water to the sump the foam always goes down. Anyway, I've tallied up with I've overspent at DNA already and there will be no more of that. I plan to buy smart from now on.

Also, I wonder if my relatively low bio load, the fact that this LR was all from an established tank, and the wet/dry filtration before the skimmer is also keeping my level of skimate down somewhat. Anyway, I will probably eventually upgrade but since my chemical levels are all spot on I see no particular hurry.

On the eel thing, no I'd rather this not be just a predator tank. I really want to keep soft corals and inverts. Looks like inverts will be a problem. But I'm hoping I can keep corals and maybe a couple carefully chosen fish with this dude. Of course I could also always trade her/him off as well, but I've become a bit attached already. (S)he's got quite a good personality.

Thanks for the welcome.]

 

[Mud Shrimp Moe]

[@Tommy Tucker wrote:

Yeah, I've heard that too. On that point I have a question, though. Don't the nitrates come from the break down of ammonium into nitrite and nitrite into nitrate? If so, then isn't the production of nitrate less of a problem than the existence of the ammonium and nitrite?

I don't mind the thought of removing them. I guess I don't fully understand the problem though. They aren't producing nitrates out of thin air are they? (I'm asking seriously, not sarcastically.)

My plan (by summer - no rush here) is to add a refugium and convert the wet/dry into just a deeper wet sump for the skimmer and return pump.]

 

[CodyRay]

[You are correct that it is better to have nitrates in your tank than ammonia or nitrites. In a reef tank, however, some livestock will be sensitive to nitrates though. Also, high nitrates can result in Nuisance algaes throughout your tank. In small amounts, they wont do much harm, but getting them as low as possible will help your tank thrive. The addition of a refugium with nitrate eating macro algae in it will help to achive this.]

 

[SALT]

[Hello Mark and welcome to DFWMAS,

In regards to the bio balls, I read an excellent write up on the "Nitrate Factory" label and meant to book mark it but I guess I forgot to, anyway, here is my best shot. It seems that bio balls/wet/dry/trickle filter are too good at what they do, turning ammonia to nitrite to nitrate. Why this is the problem is because that is where the process stops. There is another step in this process where the nitrates are turned into a gas state, I think it is nitrogen gas, and then can dissipate through gas exchange at the surface so the cycle is complete. This happens in low oxygen areas within the live rock and if you have it, the deep sand bed (sand bed over 4" deep). Now since most of the process is happening in the sump it seem that the compounds do not make it to the live rock and of sand bed as well and the result is a build up on nitrates in the tank. I think that is how it went. Maybe someone else will chime in.

Again, welcome, it is a wonderful obsession oops I mean hobby.

Stanley T''' - SALT]

 

[Mud Shrimp Moe]

[F/U question on the skimmer. It's powered by a CA 2200 PH, rated at 800 GPH. Is this sufficient or would an upgrade on the PH likely give me more umph? Just curious what your standard for "good" is on a skimmer for a 75 gal.

And I really don't understand what an "infusion" skimmer is at all, but have seen the term. Any clarification would be tremendously appreciated.]

 

[SALT]

[Not familiar with the term infusion but here is a link to the December DFWMAS news letter. I did a little write up on skimmers. Maybe it will help you understand them a little better.

DFWMAS December New Letter]

 

[Mud Shrimp Moe]

@SALT wrote:

[Great link. I meant "injection," not "infusion."

Thanks.]

 

[Jstchill26]

[Looking good ]

 

[Mud Shrimp Moe]

[Bit of good news on the skimmer. I used a PVC adaptor to raise the output pipe and now this thing is full of bubbles and producing a nice healthy amount of skimmate. It may be a bit ghetto that I had to do it this way, but the fact that I'm producing lots of thick foam and skimmate is definitely a good sign. Perhaps I can get by with this ok now, which pleases me to no end.]

 

[Kat]

[Nice looking setup. I don't have mine up yet, but I do have the same skimmer. Can you please post a picture of the adapter you used on the output pipe so I can do the same?

Thanks,
Kat]

 

[Mud Shrimp Moe]

@Kat wrote:

[Will do, Kat. Might take me a couple days, but I'll post pics of what I did.

It was very simple and cheap, btw. Just a few PVC adaptors dry fitted together from Home Depot. Probably $5 of parts, and even that's high, IMHO.]