Aquascaping, cleaning rocks, starting back up

[Devan Patel]

Hello everyone, I am looking for help/opinions on how to re-build and aquascape my tank. Currently I have 2 Nero 3. And one other wavemaker pushing 1000 GPH. So In-total 5000 GPH in a waterbox 50.3 aio. Now obviously they aren’t brand new so they may not be pushing that anymore so let’s just say 4300 GPH. And I do run them at full. But in January I had a Dino breakout and it wiped out my whole tank except fish due to lack of knowledge and not knowing what to do to control and prevent it.now things have changed and I am looking to build an SPS dominant tank of just easy going sps/acros. And maybe some small lps. For the past couple months I’ve only been running one Nero and one other pump so I’ve only had 2500 GPH of flow going. Since my other Nero broke and I am finally sending it to repair. I was also having a nutrient problem for a little while where my nutrients were too high and I kept having to do gha treatments and cyano treatments. But now I’ve learned from mistakes and plan on not using any medication and take the natural way because it is better in the long run. The only thing going in the tank was a cube of mysis shrimp for 3 clowns, and one tiny wrasse. For about 1-2 months I wasn’t running my protein skimmer because I was doing treatments. I just tested the water today and these were the levels. I have cleaned and turned on my protein skimmer now and it is really pumping stuff out. I am in the middle of a water change right now and will update once it is done.

07/25/23: 50.3

PH: 8.2

Ammonia: 0.25ppm

Nitrite: 0ppm

Nitrate: 40 ppm

Phosphate: .50 ppm possibly

No skimmer active and loss of flow

I want to change my rock around for my sps in the future to provide even flow everywhere. How should I aquascape with the rock I have in here? I will also attach my 90 gallon aquascape so you can see that aswell. And where should I put my flow? I will circle where I had flow as of right now. What is the best way to clean all the rocks as you can see all the gunk on them right now. And for my lighting. I haven’t necessarily figured out my lighting yet either. I have two ai hydra 32hd and when I had all my corals I use to run them on 60-70%. But now with nothing in it I don’t really run them at all, because it’s just fish. When I went on vacation recently I cleaned the whole tank down, and started the skimmer and within a couple days of me being gone the whole tank exploded in cyano. Is it because I had high nutrients and running the lights at their normal speed gave them a massive boost? And last thing since I do not have any corals or anything in the tank, should I turn my dosers off they are running alk and calcium? They’ve been on ever since the crash and nothing has happened just wasn’t sure. And how does kalkawasser work I would like to use that instead of my 2 part dosing because I hear it’s easier. I did watch YouTube videos but I need someone to put it in highschool terms for myself thank you so much!

 

[Devan Patel]

Hello everyone, I am looking for help/opinions on how to re-build and aquascape my tank. Currently I have 2 Nero 3. And one other wavemaker pushing 1000 GPH. So In-total 5000 GPH in a waterbox 50.3 aio. Now obviously they aren’t brand new so they may not be pushing that anymore so let’s just say 4300 GPH. And I do run them at full. But in January I had a Dino breakout and it wiped out my whole tank except fish due to lack of knowledge and not knowing what to do to control and prevent it.now things have changed and I am looking to build an SPS dominant tank of just easy going sps/acros. And maybe some small lps. For the past couple months I’ve only been running one Nero and one other pump so I’ve only had 2500 GPH of flow going. Since my other Nero broke and I am finally sending it to repair. I was also having a nutrient problem for a little while where my nutrients were too high and I kept having to do gha treatments and cyano treatments. But now I’ve learned from mistakes and plan on not using any medication and take the natural way because it is better in the long run. The only thing going in the tank was a cube of mysis shrimp for 3 clowns, and one tiny wrasse. For about 1-2 months I wasn’t running my protein skimmer because I was doing treatments. I just tested the water today and these were the levels. I have cleaned and turned on my protein skimmer now and it is really pumping stuff out. I am in the middle of a water change right now and will update once it is done.

07/25/23: 50.3

PH: 8.2

Ammonia: 0.25ppm

Nitrite: 0ppm

Nitrate: 40 ppm

Phosphate: .50 ppm possibly

No skimmer active and loss of flow

I want to change my rock around for my sps in the future to provide even flow everywhere. How should I aquascape with the rock I have in here? I will also attach my 90 gallon aquascape so you can see that aswell. And where should I put my flow? I will circle where I had flow as of right now. What is the best way to clean all the rocks as you can see all the gunk on them right now. And for my lighting. I haven’t necessarily figured out my lighting yet either. I have two ai hydra 32hd and when I had all my corals I use to run them on 60-70%. But now with nothing in it I don’t really run them at all, because it’s just fish. When I went on vacation recently I cleaned the whole tank down, and started the skimmer and within a couple days of me being gone the whole tank exploded in cyano. Is it because I had high nutrients and running the lights at their normal speed gave them a massive boost? And last thing since I do not have any corals or anything in the tank, should I turn my dosers off they are running alk and calcium? They’ve been on ever since the crash and nothing has happened just wasn’t sure. And how does kalkawasser work I would like to use that instead of my 2 part dosing because I hear it’s easier. I did watch YouTube videos but I need someone to put it in highschool terms for myself thank you so much!

I may be leaving stuff out Honeslty I’m not sure. I’ll answer when your questions come. I plan on getting nutrients under control then adding a small simple acro and test out lighting

 

[Devan Patel]

Hello everyone, I am looking for help/opinions on how to re-build and aquascape my tank. Currently I have 2 Nero 3. And one other wavemaker pushing 1000 GPH. So In-total 5000 GPH in a waterbox 50.3 aio. Now obviously they aren’t brand new so they may not be pushing that anymore so let’s just say 4300 GPH. And I do run them at full. But in January I had a Dino breakout and it wiped out my whole tank except fish due to lack of knowledge and not knowing what to do to control and prevent it.now things have changed and I am looking to build an SPS dominant tank of just easy going sps/acros. And maybe some small lps. For the past couple months I’ve only been running one Nero and one other pump so I’ve only had 2500 GPH of flow going. Since my other Nero broke and I am finally sending it to repair. I was also having a nutrient problem for a little while where my nutrients were too high and I kept having to do gha treatments and cyano treatments. But now I’ve learned from mistakes and plan on not using any medication and take the natural way because it is better in the long run. The only thing going in the tank was a cube of mysis shrimp for 3 clowns, and one tiny wrasse. For about 1-2 months I wasn’t running my protein skimmer because I was doing treatments. I just tested the water today and these were the levels. I have cleaned and turned on my protein skimmer now and it is really pumping stuff out. I am in the middle of a water change right now and will update once it is done.

07/25/23: 50.3

PH: 8.2

Ammonia: 0.25ppm

Nitrite: 0ppm

Nitrate: 40 ppm

Phosphate: .50 ppm possibly

No skimmer active and loss of flow

I want to change my rock around for my sps in the future to provide even flow everywhere. How should I aquascape with the rock I have in here? I will also attach my 90 gallon aquascape so you can see that aswell. And where should I put my flow? I will circle where I had flow as of right now. What is the best way to clean all the rocks as you can see all the gunk on them right now. And for my lighting. I haven’t necessarily figured out my lighting yet either. I have two ai hydra 32hd and when I had all my corals I use to run them on 60-70%. But now with nothing in it I don’t really run them at all, because it’s just fish. When I went on vacation recently I cleaned the whole tank down, and started the skimmer and within a couple days of me being gone the whole tank exploded in cyano. Is it because I had high nutrients and running the lights at their normal speed gave them a massive boost? And last thing since I do not have any corals or anything in the tank, should I turn my dosers off they are running alk and calcium? They’ve been on ever since the crash and nothing has happened just wasn’t sure. And how does kalkawasser work I would like to use that instead of my 2 part dosing because I hear it’s easier. I did watch YouTube videos but I need someone to put it in highschool terms for myself thank you so much!

Bump

 

[Legendary Corals]

Hello Devan,

Your reef scape looks pretty nice in my opinion! Ample room for corals to grow and gives the options for water movement above the rockscape. I would definitely add another wavemaker where you circled, it looks like you have a great idea of how you want your tank.

How long has this tank been up? If you're concerned about dosing, it depends on your parameters. I'd test weekly and dose as needed since you already have the dosing elements and a doser.

If there are 0 corals, you can lower the intensity of your lighting schedule to avoid algae growth but no need to turn it off since you still have fish.

 

[Devan Patel]

Hi, I had bought the tank from someone else in December then grew out a decent amount of corals in it. Then I went on vacation for awhile and the neighbor was feeding and Dino’s popped up everywhere not sure if it was my fault or her fault but who knows it’s in the past. But while it has been in my possession since December it has been up for 8 months. The dosers have stayed on all the time with corals or not and everything seemed to be doing fine. I was sure they if the dosers were promoting algae growth though or if that is even possible. I will lower the intensity and schedule for the lights. As I put in the original message my parameters what are some good ways to lower everything to where I can get it stable again?

 

[Legendary Corals]

and the neighbor was feeding and Dino’s popped up everywhere not sure if it was my fault or her fault but who knows it’s in the past. But while it has been in my possession since December it has been up for 8 months. The dosers have stayed on all the time with corals or not and everything seemed to be doing fine. I was sure they if the dosers were promoting algae growth though or if that is even possible. I

Are you relying on the little tester inside of the tank for your parameters? If so, I highly recommend purchasing test kits from Salifert to help give accurate readings. You can either purchase Salifert test kits or Hanna Checkers for the Nitrate, Nitrite, and Phosphates.

You also need to purchase test kits for Calcium, Alkalinity, and Magnesium if you are dosing. Otherwise, you will have no idea how much to dose into your tank. I recommend the Salifert brand as it's the most widely used one.
Link for Salifert Test Kits: https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/catalogsearch/result?q=salifert test kits

Do you have an Auto-Top-Off system yet? I would recommend purchasing one if not to keep your salinity stable along with a Refractometer. You can either buy a manual or a digital one.
Link for Refractometers: https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/cont...BRS Refractometer,with minimal room for error

I would also recommend doing weekly water changes at the least to help lower your Nitrates. I'd do a 20-gallon water change to help flush things out and get your system back to normal quickly!

 

[Devan Patel]

Are you relying on the little tester inside of the tank for your parameters? If so, I highly recommend purchasing test kits from Salifert to help give accurate readings. You can either purchase Salifert test kits or Hanna Checkers for the Nitrate, Nitrite, and Phosphates.

You also need to purchase test kits for Calcium, Alkalinity, and Magnesium if you are dosing. Otherwise, you will have no idea how much to dose into your tank. I recommend the Salifert brand as it's the most widely used one.
Link for Salifert Test Kits: https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/catalogsearch/result?q=salifert test kits

Do you have an Auto-Top-Off system yet? I would recommend purchasing one if not to keep your salinity stable along with a Refractometer. You can either buy a manual or a digital one.
Link for Refractometers: https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/content/post/best-salinity-meters#:~:text=BRS Refractometer,with minimal room for error

I would also recommend doing weekly water changes at the least to help lower your Nitrates. I'd do a 20-gallon water change to help flush things out and get your system back to normal quickly!

yes I do have everything, I just found the little tester and just threw it in awhile ago. How does 20 gallons today sound? And then keep doing 10 gallon every week? I’ll put a pic of my reef before the crash

 

[Legendary Corals]

yes I do have everything, I just found the little tester and just threw it in awhile ago. How does 20 gallons today sound? And then keep doing 10 gallon every week? I’ll put a pic of my reef before the crash

That's a beautiful reef! That photo definitely looks like you know what you're doing already. Big props to you for chugging along after the mishap.

Water changes never hurt, 20 gallons today sounds great.

 

[Devan Patel]

That's a beautiful reef! That photo definitely looks like you know what you're doing already. Big props to you for chugging along after the mishap.

Water changes never hurt, 20 gallons today sounds great.

I knew what I was doing then panicked and lost control and I somehow lost like all my knowledge haha. On the rocks there is gha all over them what’s a good way to take it off? and do you know what kalkawasser is and how I can use it instead of dosing alk and calcium

 

[Devan Patel]

That's a beautiful reef! That photo definitely looks like you know what you're doing already. Big props to you for chugging along after the mishap.

Water changes never hurt, 20 gallons today sounds great.

I currently just tested alkalinity and it’s at like 13.7-14. Calicum is at 500+ ppm plus I can only see to 500 on my redsea test kit. So I’m just going to assume between 500-600 easily. I guess the tank just racked up all these numbers with the dosers being on and nothing in the tank but fish. But with this high alk that means calcium should be reduced which then means my calcium had to be through the roof at maybe 1000ppm who knows. How can I lower both of them without having a negative affect on each other and the ph?

 

[Legendary Corals]

I currently just tested alkalinity and it’s at like 13.7-14. Calicum is at 500+ ppm plus I can only see to 500 on my redsea test kit. So I’m just going to assume between 500-600 easily. I guess the tank just racked up all these numbers with the dosers being on and nothing in the tank but fish. But with this high alk that means calcium should be reduced which then means my calcium had to be through the roof at maybe 1000ppm who knows

Oh yikes! Yes, definitely turn the doser off. No need to waste 2 part when it's so high. I would manually remove hair algae and siphon it out during your water changes. This weekly will help reduce both your hair algae and get your tank elements back on track!

 

[Devan Patel]

Oh yikes! Yes, definitely turn the doser off. No need to waste 2 part when it's so high. I would manually remove hair algae and siphon it out during your water changes. This weekly will help reduce both your hair algae and get your tank elements back on track!

If I turn them off, nothing will happen correct, because fish don’t rely on alk and calcium. Not sure why I would ask this but I honestly forget everything I knew throughout the whole summer. And is it better to use kalkawasser than 2 part? And if I were to do a deep clean right now won’t that cause an ammonia spike which I don’t need, I just lost my 90 gallon to be mixing the sand bed and cleaning. I’m taking out 20 gallons right now but scrubbing the walls and everything will that be fine and maybe trying to take out a piece of rock or two.

 

[Devan Patel]

Oh yikes! Yes, definitely turn the doser off. No need to waste 2 part when it's so high. I would manually remove hair algae and siphon it out during your water changes. This weekly will help reduce both your hair algae and get your tank elements back on track!

I have one more flow pump to put that pushes another 1000 GPH. So Nero runs 1700-2000 and two more pumps running 900-1000 GPH each. So any ideas on where to put them?

 

[Devan Patel]

Hello Devan,

Your reef scape looks pretty nice in my opinion! Ample room for corals to grow and gives the options for water movement above the rockscape. I would definitely add another wavemaker where you circled, it looks like you have a great idea of how you want your tank.

How long has this tank been up? If you're concerned about dosing, it depends on your parameters. I'd test weekly and dose as needed since you already have the dosing elements and a doser.

If there are 0 corals, you can lower the intensity of your lighting schedule to avoid algae growth but no need to turn it off since you still have fish.

Put the lights too

 

[Devan Patel]

Hello Devan,

Your reef scape looks pretty nice in my opinion! Ample room for corals to grow and gives the options for water movement above the rockscape. I would definitely add another wavemaker where you circled, it looks like you have a great idea of how you want your tank.

How long has this tank been up? If you're concerned about dosing, it depends on your parameters. I'd test weekly and dose as needed since you already have the dosing elements and a doser.

If there are 0 corals, you can lower the intensity of your lighting schedule to avoid algae growth but no need to turn it off since you still have fish.

Put the lights too, showen in image. I also run it from 11:40-3:40 for now I believe, and we’ll see how that goes