Newbie 150 gallon acrylic tank rehab

L

LANNJO

I posted on the "New to Hobby" thread and was advised to start a build thread.  "New Reef Tank Owner" .....aka HELP I found a Leak!!Just to bring everyone back up to speed, we inherited a 150 gallon acrylic reef tank that was badly maintained. Best guess the tank was at least 10 years old and it was being professionally serviced every two weeks but not well. Shortly after posting our introduction we found a leak coming from somewhere that was damaging the adjacent sheetrock and floors. judging from the condition of the room that leak was not the first time it happened in the history of the home, so we panicked a bit.  After a lot of scrambling and with help from the awesome members here, we think the problem may have been coming from the protein skimmer. We took apart, cleaned, and reintroduced the skimmer and all seems to be working okay now with a minor workaround for a leaky gasket on the skimmer plumbing (not the cause of the big leak) . We have committed to keeping and maintaining this tank as a family with our 15 yr old son taking lead on the maintenance duties. We will begin fixing all the stuff wrong with it this summer. We are just working on getting it cleaned up right now. We have never owned a fish tank before so this is all new to us. Does anyone have a maintenance checklist that they use so they remember what to do when? Also we checked some basic levels and found the following* Nitrate Level is over 50 (approx 70)* The Alkalinity is 7 dKH* pH is approx 8.3* Nitrite is Zero* Ammonia is 0.2We know the Nitrate level is too high? How do bring this down to normal levels? Do any of these other levels sound off base? I'll update with pics soon.We currently have bio balls in the back. We are going to remove all those and replace with chaeto and a fuge light. How much of it do we need to buy? Where? Thanks in advance, A&E  
 
Water changes are a short term way to bring nitrates down, and will do so by the % water change you do, so 50% water change will decrease it by 50%, 20% will decrease it by 20%, etc.  Simple math but I mention it because people often overlook it.  For example someone will say "I change 10% weekly".  That may be fine in normal circumstances, but 10% removed from 70 is still 63, which is still high.As for "too high", that's relative.  I've seen successful tanks at 40, although I would say that is more the exception.  I'd aim for 20 as a longer term limit, but don't feel the need to get it there by tomorrow.  By the time you get there you'll have a better feel for how your particular tank responds.  Do you remember what the nitrate level was when I visited?  For some reason I'm thinking that it was lower (a sudden change would indicate different action), but if it was that high when I was there then keep your current WC schedule, monitor to make sure it isn't increasing, and wait to see what adding macro does.The ammonia is concerning*.  I would double check that, and then if you still get the same result test some new salt water made from trusted distilled/RO/etc. as that should be zero.Alk is fine.pH is great.  While it doesn't hurt to continue to monitor it I wouldn't worry about pH right now.A single "portion" of chaeto tends to be between a half and full quart ziploc bag.  You may be able to get this from a local hobbyist, if not a LFS.  It should grow pretty quickly, and when it overgrows its space you can trim (it's only nutrient export if you're exporting it).  No need to start with a huge amount, it'll get there quickly on its own once things are right.For the light you could get a fancy fuge light (and they do work well), but one of these will get you off to a good start:https://www.homedepot.com/p/HDX-150-Watt-Incandescent-Clamp-Light-HD-300PDQ/205031467?MERCH=REC-_-PIPHorizontal2_rr-_-202847393-_-205031467-_-NPop in the biggest LED or CFL (warm white, although that's less critical, any will do at this point) and leave it on the back of the tank.  Don't put it too close to the return pump or it will clog it up.While I would phase out all of the bio balls, I wouldn't remove any more bio balls than you have to in order to get the macro growing right now.  Once it is going, then you can slowly phase them out.  They probably aren't doing much, but they aren't hurting anything either, and it's good to be in the habit of making changes slowly.  *One exception, if you are using tap water you may register trace ammonia for a couple hours after a water change due to the ammonia component in chloramine.  Prime will make it safe, but it will still show up on a test.
 
 Sorry we haven't posted in a while. Here's an update on the past few weeks:May 12:(did 50% water change)    Nitrate:30    Alk: 1o dkH    Ammonia: 0    pH: 8.5    Nitrite: 0May 19:(added chaeto and light)    Nitrate: 15    Alk: 9 dKH    Ammonia: 0    pH: 8.5    Nitrite: 0May 29:    Nitrate: 15    pH: 8.2    Alk: 7dKH    Ammonia: .8      Nitrite: 0 The nitrate has gone down, but the ammonia is a lot higher. We have been feeding a cube of mysis shrimp once a week, so the leftovers from that might be causing the ammonia spike. One of the T5 lights went out, so we bought two blue bulbs and two violet. Are any specific colors better for the corals than others? The chaeto hasn't grown significantly, but its also compacting, so while it was getting smaller growth was hard to see. With the water change and with weekly cleanings after that, the aquarium is looking much, much better than at first. Thanks for all your advice and help with our tank.
 
I'm glad to hear the tank is looking better, and I hope you are faster about successfully moving in to a new house than I was.1) Nitrates at 15 are acceptable.  I would stay on a regular (say 10-20% every 2-4 weeks or whatever your current frequency is) water change schedule until you get more familiar with things as water changes cover many sins.2) Your alk seems to be slowly falling, which is expected as the system will consume it.  An alk of 7 is ok, if it's dropping to 6 and you aren't about to do a water change I would look in to another way to bring it up.  For the corals you have now you aren't going to kill anything, but it's good practice keeping it steady.  More on that in my next post.3) Ammonia being at 0.8 seems odd, unusual, and slightly concerning, please re-test that one.  Also, is that on an API liquid test, or something else?  If right after a water change with tap water or a lot of gunk stirred up there are reasons it might measure, but if it's been a day or two that should always be zero.  Feeding alone shouldn't do that, and certainly not as little as a cube of mysis per week.  No actions other than testing, but keep an eye on it.  I've seen some weird things like using your finger instead of the plastic cap to cover the test tube when shaking make a test read positive for ammonia when there is none.  I usually use my finger tip, but I've seen one case where it makes a difference.4) Am I correct in assuming you are feeding something in addition to the mysis (pellets, brine, whatever)?  One cube of mysis is low given your livestock.  I'm pretty sure we went over this once already, but my memory is fuzzy and I want to be sure I'm giving good advice.5) I'm a bit bothered that the chaeto isn't growing much, but I'll give that a bit longer, it can be slow getting started.  Can you take a picture of the setup?  We'd also love to see a recent picture of the front of the tank.
 
Ok, the alkalinity thing:I'm a fan of giving three data points:1) What you must do (eg. feed your fish at all).2) What you should do (feed your fish regularly).3) What will make things go very well if you do (feed your fish regularly with high quality food).In the case of a softie/easy LPS tank the must is pretty straight forward, if you do even occasional water changes and aren't experiencing any direct problems you can go forever with no issues.  The coral will live.  In an earlier less educated time I let my alk get as low as 5, would then do a water change which would push it as high as 12, then begin the month or two decline back to 5.  Try this on an SPS tank and you'll kill stuff or brown it out, but that isn't the case here.  I don't necessarily advise this, but if nothing is suffering then it can be worth kicking the can of dosing down the road.  In short, the "need" is pretty low if there aren't objectionable symptoms.Moving up to the "should" category it's good habit to keep alk in the 7-10 range.  Stable is more important than the number.  The first way to do this it to change water frequently.  Alkalinity (and really calcium, magnesium, and a host of other things) are raised up with the water change, slowly consumed over time, then raised up with the next water change.  This is much like gasoline in a car, you use it, then top it off when it gets empty.Now, a time may come when all of the other parameters you want to keep in check with a water change are already ok (nitrates mainly).  At that point it may be cheaper to dose (either 2-part, kalkwasser, whatever) than it is to change more water.  No need to change 40 gallons of water if you could change 10 and then dose a little pickling lime*.You could learn to do 2-part, you could get a calcium reactor, you could change more water, or you could just drip some kalk (kalkwasser).  I like starting people with kalk for a few reasons.  First, it's cheap, you can try it out for less than $5.  Second, it's hard to over-dose.  Excess will precipitate out and return things to where they should be.  Third, it won't mess up your calcium to alkalinity ratio, especially since you are still changing some water regularly.The one catch to kalkwasser is that it doesn't really work if you dump it in all at once (take this on faith for now, we can go in to the reasons later if you are still curious).  This isn't an issue for people with an ATO pump that runs for a few seconds every now and then, but doesn't work well if you're in the camp who manually tops off by pouring in a gallon of water or two at at time.The fix for this is to set up a drip line.  This can be done with something complicated like a dosing pump, or something easy like a 2 liter bottle (drill the lid for the airline, a snug fit done right will seal) and a piece of airline with a knot in it (look up drip acclimating fish, it's the same method just a slower drip).  Make sure the sediment can't clog your drip line and you're all set.  If it does clog, loosen it to clear the blockage, snug it back down, and you're set.  I'd start by dripping in about a liter once or twice a week and monitor from there.  Ideally the drip would take several hours, but the time isn't critical.*Kalkwasser is a mixture made from calcium hydroxide powder and water.  Calcium hydroxide is just pickling lime, and can be obtained for a couple dollars per pound at grocery stores and online.  A pound will last a long time. Edit: There's a third data point, but quite frankly I've seen many successful reefs LPS and SPS dosing nothing but kalk and some water changes, so no need to discuss more complicated things at this point.
 
Ok, we retested, and the ammonia is at zero. I think I did cover the container with my thumb when shaking it.  The chaeto doesn't look like it's growing. We're using this light. We are changing about 15% of the water every month.  We probably won't start adding kalkwasser soon, but we will before adding any other corals. We feed a pinch of flake food every day, except for Friday, when we feed mysis. At the this point, if we work on the next steps it will be a serious investment, so were going to pause for a bit and think about if we really want to keep the tank. It looks like it might be leaking again in another spot, but it's hard to tell where the water is coming from. The first time we thought it was leaking it was coming from the left side of the tank.  Now it looks like the wall on the right corner is a bit damp.  So we're trying to figure out what is going on with that now. 
 
Definitely want to stop it from leaking!  Paper towel with a water based ink is a good way to find leaks.  The ink will run if it gets at all wet.  It's very odd that you would have a leak start and stop though, so splashing is also something to look out for.That seems light for the fish load and bioload, but I guess it depends on the size of the pinch.  I'm not surprised the macro isn't growing much given the light food input.  As long as the fish and coral are happy and the nitrates are under control though, might as well stick with a working formula.
 
Yes the "leaking" is causing some stress!  But we can't figure out if it's really a leak or just moist from splashing?  I'll try and post a pic. It is an odd place for it to splash though. View attachment 5270
 
Is that soggy from past damage and salt saturation, or present water?  The pen line and paper towel will tell you if there is more.  I wonder if that is saturated with salt and therefore having the same moist feeling that salt creep has?
 
FYI the light you are using for the chaeto is a good light, I have it on one of my nano tanks and know it will grow. Have to split my chaeto every month.
 
It just feels damp.  But you can see a definite water line.  So that makes me think it's not salt creep.  I don't remember seeing it before.  It's not soaked just damp. ??? We are keeping an eye on it. 
 
Three possibilities:1) It is wet, and there is a continued source.2) It is wet, and there is an intermittent source.3) It is not wet, but for a different reason feels that way.I suggest pressing a paper towel, covered with a clear plastic bag (wall, paper towel, plastic layer.  Plastic wrap will work too).If you have a continuous source of water (case 1) the paper towel will become wet.  It will be prevented from evaporating by the plastic bag, which may also fog up.  I would also expect clear salt creep within a week (ie by now), but that isn't a guarantee.If you have an intermittent source that does not recur during the test period (case 2) that spot will dry up soon and go away.  If it does recur you will get the same result as case 1.  Either way you prove water is showing up.If you have something solid, or a permanent change to the sheetrock but there is no new water the paper towel will remain dry and the spot will not disappear.The plastic covering it is important, and is similar to how you test for moisture migration through concrete slabs. ^This assumes the addition of the plastic does not block the path of the incoming water.  A paper towel on the outside would catch that if it is an issue, but you would also see either droplets or salt creep.  Do be very careful not to splash in that area during the test.
 
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