Darksuspect
New Member
Hello everybody!
First off I am a new reefer and very excited to learn and grow. I was recently gifted an established 12 year tank that has been neglected for the past 2 years. This tank used to have many corals and fish, but was growing algea and mass amount of lettuce coral when I got it. I have included pictures of the day I went to get it and what the set up was looking like. I am new so dont judge me to harsh. I took the tank and everything home. Cleaned the entire sump and everything in it the best I could. Used 100% new salt RO water, and put all the old sand in plus an entire new live sand bag in. 1/4 of the rocks were with the fish and went from one tank the the other once it was ready, 1/2 the rocks were submerged in water but closed off in containers for 24 hours, the other 1/4 of the rocks were dried out that I put in for future growth. I also bought new lights that apparently are good but not the best. Ok now that your up to speed. Second day I had large amounts of ammonia and I was concerned for my solo fish that was the only one to make the trip unfortunately. I was told to add live bacteria to combat the issue so I did. I have done water changes almost everyday to help and the levels are going down but the more I research I dont see anyone with this particular situation. To the best of my new knowledge when i moved everything a bunch of micro life had died in the sand and in the rocks which is why i have ammonia. I never needed to add live bacteria because it is already in alot of the rocks. I think it's just naturally cycling right now, and that once complete, which won't take long since it's actually an established tank, will be ready for me to add fish and stuff to combat the algea? Any advice please speak up I am new and have watched already 20 reef videos on as much as I can and nobody seems to be where I am since I started far ahead. I am curious what to do next to keep the algea down while keeping the existing corals healthy and when I can add fish and inverts, how often I should be doing water changes. Thanks guys!!
First off I am a new reefer and very excited to learn and grow. I was recently gifted an established 12 year tank that has been neglected for the past 2 years. This tank used to have many corals and fish, but was growing algea and mass amount of lettuce coral when I got it. I have included pictures of the day I went to get it and what the set up was looking like. I am new so dont judge me to harsh. I took the tank and everything home. Cleaned the entire sump and everything in it the best I could. Used 100% new salt RO water, and put all the old sand in plus an entire new live sand bag in. 1/4 of the rocks were with the fish and went from one tank the the other once it was ready, 1/2 the rocks were submerged in water but closed off in containers for 24 hours, the other 1/4 of the rocks were dried out that I put in for future growth. I also bought new lights that apparently are good but not the best. Ok now that your up to speed. Second day I had large amounts of ammonia and I was concerned for my solo fish that was the only one to make the trip unfortunately. I was told to add live bacteria to combat the issue so I did. I have done water changes almost everyday to help and the levels are going down but the more I research I dont see anyone with this particular situation. To the best of my new knowledge when i moved everything a bunch of micro life had died in the sand and in the rocks which is why i have ammonia. I never needed to add live bacteria because it is already in alot of the rocks. I think it's just naturally cycling right now, and that once complete, which won't take long since it's actually an established tank, will be ready for me to add fish and stuff to combat the algea? Any advice please speak up I am new and have watched already 20 reef videos on as much as I can and nobody seems to be where I am since I started far ahead. I am curious what to do next to keep the algea down while keeping the existing corals healthy and when I can add fish and inverts, how often I should be doing water changes. Thanks guys!!
