brother gave up, gave me his tank

[matt_reef]

Apologize in advance for the length...
Last Christmas my brother purchased a Red Sea Max reef setup for his son. I jokingly told him at the time to let me know when he was ready to give up. Well, he called me a week ago and told me he couldn't get rid of the hair algae and he would drop it off. I've now got it setup and running. I like the looks of the package, but I'm not too sure about it functionally. One of the powerheads already has a short (explains the cowering clowns my brother mentioned).

I'm looking for advice about next steps. First of all, do I have any chance of having a decent reef tank (just a few easy corals) with this setup, or is it total crap?

So, 29G volume. 3 large pieces of live rock(Tonga I think). 2 clownfish and 4 snails. The live rock was scrubbed with a toothbrush (half-arsed it turns out after looking at the rock back in the tank). Everything else was scrubbed clean. New substrate.

When I took it apart to clean it, I noticed that it has one compartment in the back, below the powerheads, that contained a bag of carbon and a bag of ceramic media. In 10 months neither had ever been touched. For now, I've cleaned the ceramic media and replaced the carbon bag.

How often should the carbon bag be changed? What about the ceramic media? Also, do I really need the carbon bag?

I also noticed that in another compartment I'm supposed to have some sort of mechanical fine/course media. I have the course sponge-like media, but not the fine media. Nobody seems to sell this specific part online either.

Can I just use any "cut-to-size" fine media?

lastly, I'm in Des Moines, Iowa...which supposedly has some of the best drinking water anywhere. How important is it that I use RO water?

[beaupierce]

Get on nano-reef.com they have a TON of info on this...

[beaupierce]

PS..... Tap water sucks and is probably a MAJOR component of why he had hair algae...too much nutrient build up!

Cheers

[beaupierce]

PS.... if you think you have no hope, PM me and I'll tank the tank off you and pay shipping costs!

[LoudProudNPunk]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13504783#post13504783 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by beaupierce
Get on reefcentral.com they have a TON of info on this...

???

[avshockey311]

I would ditch the carbon and the ceramic rings. Then I would start doing 4 or 5 gallon water changes every week with RO water. With just the 2 clowns you should be able to get away with only feeding a little every other day. Take care of these few thing and I think you will be on your way to a decent tank.

[Michael]

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1031074

[spleify]

[welcome]

[limitdown]

Yes, the setup can be saved and has the potential to thrive, but you'll need to put in some elbow grease and spend some money.

Try to scrub off as much hair algae as possible, use a razor to scrape everything off the glass, then do a 50% water change. Remove the ceramic media and carbon. You don't necessarily need mechanical filtration, but if you do, just make sure to change it often. You can find it under "poly filter" at marinedepot or drfostersmith.

Test your tap water for nitrates. If you show any, then you'll need to get an RO/DI setup, or else you'll constantly face nitrate issues. If you show zero, then you can just use a dechlorinator like Seachem's Prime.

Also test your existing tank water for nitrates. Do 30% water change each week until you get it down to about 20ppm. Feed very little while your nitrates are high, like every other day. Fish have really small stomachs and really don't need to eat that much.

Replace the faulty powerhead.

Replace the light bulbs/tubes. Light from degraded tubes promotes nuisance algae.

This is step 1. Now spend a few hundred hours on reefcentral and figure out what you'd like to do for step 2.

Happy hunting!

[matt_reef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13504783#post13504783 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by beaupierce
Get on reefcentral.com they have a TON of info on this...

Is that a friendly way to tell me to use search;-)

The search functionality was broken last night.

[CeeGee]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13506115#post13506115 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by matt_reef
Is that a friendly way to tell me to use search;-)

The search functionality was broken last night.

and it will stay that way until you become a paying member. :) well worth it though as the information available here can't be beat.

I would definitely buy a good RO/Di unit regardless of how "good" your tap water is. Reef tanks need pristine water so you might as well start with it. If your tap water is good your filters will last much longer.

I bet if you do your homework and are successful your brother will set up another tank and you can help him do better next go round.

[Gwynhidwy]

Welcome! You can definitely have a nice tank in that setup.

Its likely you need to change the light bulbs if the tank is a year old. That would probably help with the algae.

There is nothing wrong with running carbon, many successful reefers do, but you probably don't need it. Some use it continually, others for a week a month or something like that. How often you change it depends on your water, mine gets changed every two weeks. Most people would get rid of the ceramic rings so you might want to take them out as that type of media can contribute to nitrate buildup. You can use the cut to size mechanical media if you can't find precut for that filter, make sure you change/rinse your mechanical media often.

If your tap water is good you might be able to get away without the RO/DI, but its taking a chance. See if you can get a water quality report and look at the TDS, metal content, chlorine/chloramine, nitrate, and phosphorous, then test the water out of your tap as well. If all of those are low enough you can try using tap with a good dechlorinator, but its still taking a chance of introducing bad and potentially toxic things into your aquarium. If you aren't doing any corals you have a better chance of it working. RO/DI isn't hard and it eliminates a lot of potential problems.

[mikesommers]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13504783#post13504783 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by beaupierce
Get on reefcentral.com they have a TON of info on this...


??????

[beaupierce]

I orginally wrote nano-reef.com, but apparently was changed by moderator....they must not like that website here???????

How's it coming along??

[ludnix]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13507297#post13507297 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by beaupierce
I orginally wrote reefcentral.com, but apparently was changed by moderator....they must not like that website here???????

How's it coming along??

They filter all competing websites. I guess the administrators consider reef central to more of a business than as a educational resource.:confused:

[scapes]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13507297#post13507297 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by beaupierce
I orginally wrote reefcentral.com, but apparently was changed by moderator....they must not like that website here???????



guess so, as it did it again

[matt_reef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13507505#post13507505 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by scapes
guess so, as it did it again

I didn't even realize there was a premium membership. I'm a little shocked at the idea that this site filters posts in this way. I DO appreciate the help I've gotten so far, so seriously thanks for that...but I'm not interested in participating in a site that behaves this way.