Very new to saltwater coral and fish help!

[skinz78]

As for a skimmer I would look at ether a Super Reef Octopus NW2000 or a SWC 160 cone.

 

[eliramos]

Are you running carbon?


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[cmaxwell39]

You are going to want to make any changes to the system gradually. You do not want to make a bunch of major changes all at once or you will make everything worse. If you took all the bio-balls out I wouldn't take any filter pads or canister offline for a week or two just to make sure the system is handling the changes. Keep in mind that the bio-balls did have bacteria on them that helped with the processing of ammonia and nitrite in the aquarium.

When you do water changes for a while, try to siphon as much detritus out of the sump as possible.

One more thing, I know you want to see your levels get back to more normal levels, but keep in mind that even implementing all the suggestions you have gotten so far, it will take a while for your nitrates and to a greater extent, phosphates to come down. I would suggest you research all options, form a plan, and methodically implement that plan over the next weeks/month. I wish it weren't true, but it seems to be. Only bad things happen fast in a reef aquarium.


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[Zack]

Plus 1 cmaxwell.
Hes right do it slow but definitley get rid of the biowheel as well. Live rock and skimmer are what you need. I dont have a fuge and i dont have phosphate or nitrate issues. From what i have read , for a fuge to actually be worthwhile when it comes nutrient control, it would have to be like the size of your tank. I would get the biggest skimmer you can afford. At the VERY least one rated for a tank twice your tank size. Good luck with the tank

 

[skinz78]

Agreed, also do you have a TDS meter to check your RO/DI water with?

 

[Reefing Madness]

 

[joshporksandwich]

Hi Welcome to R2R. If i were you I would do small water changes and get rid of that uv that turns tab water into rodi. Try buying RO from a store and start adding that. If you do too many changes at once you can do more damage than good. Again we're here to help you however we can. We're the best of all the forums out there we'll make your tank be awesome so you can move into that 700gal in no time.

 

[AsphaltPays]

Hello and Welcome to R2R! Any updates?


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[bahaman03]

thank you everyone. I have since removed the bio wheel and i had an outbreak of brown algae, it was bad but went away fairly quickly. I have started adding snails hermit crabs and regular crabs. the red tang was the last fish that has died and all the rest of the fish are vibrant and way healthier looking. i put one light over the refugium with a piece of live rock in it and have removed all of the bad crud out of it and added live sand to the middle with the rock. the sand and rock were already in the main tank. in about 2 weeks i will remove the canister filter and just use it to make ro water only in a 45 gallon tank im not using, so i can save money on water changing. I am looking into getting a tds meter, never heard of it before. But the nitrates have been gradually going down and the coral is brighter and bigger than it has been before. Thank you for all the help. I am going to add plants and more crabs and snails on the first. Which ones should i add and what is a good number to start with, so far i have 3 hermits and one snail. the zebra eel ate the blue ones, which is ok i want him to eat naturally but i do not want him to eat anything bad for him.

 

[bahaman03]

One more thing there is alot of debris floating around in the tank. how can i stop this and what is it its like little tiny pebbles

 

[justgotwet]

Great !!! Sounds like your tank is making a come back.