general cleaning

hayley2684 · #1 05/29/2006, 06:16 AM

i've only had fish in my tank for 9 days now. the first clowns that i had died after 5 days.... i was told when i went to find out what i'd done wrong that they had been caught with cyanide. anyway, my new clowns are doing really well ( i think). i've had them for 4 days. I'm worried that if i clean out the filters it will upset them or stress them or something. So my question is.... is if all my water parameters are good (SG = 1.023, pH = 8.3, amonia nitrite and nitrate 0) then should i clean the filter media? and do a water change? or should i adapt the concept of 'if it ain't broke non't fix it'?

The only thing about my water that is a concern to me is that my calcium is a little low at 360ppm and my phosphate a little high at 0.5ppm. what can be done about this? i have an aqua one 2200 canister filter and 80lbs of live rock in a 70gal.

reefnetworth · #2 05/29/2006, 06:22 AM

dont change filters yet. wait about 3-4 weeks with that small of a bioload. phosban is very good along with some others. you may introduce plants in one corner to aleviate the phos. they eat it, and nitrate, and produce oxygen.REEF-ON!!!

Scuba Oz · #3 05/29/2006, 06:37 AM

You need to let the tank "mature" some. Now that the cycle is over let the system stablize for a few weeks. Once that happens you will need to test your nitrates weekly and change out the filter media in the canister to prevent the buildup of trates.

If your LFS uses cyanide caught fish I would boycot that store in a hartbeat! Clown have been breed for years now and have an excelent success rate in our tanks. They should not even be wild caught anymore.

hayley2684 · #4 05/29/2006, 06:46 AM

lfs has a guarantee that they don't use cyanide... so when the whole lot of clowns died they've stopped using that supplier and they gave me replacement clowns. so i think they are ok.

i have this stuff called biozorb that i've been told removes some of the heavy elements from the water. should i put this in yet? or wait a few weeks still? and what about a clean up crew? i have thoght about it, but not sure there is anything in there for them to eat just yet?

Scuba Oz · #5 05/29/2006, 06:58 AM

If the cycle is over it is time for a cleanup crew for sure. I would not use that biozorb (well because I dont know much about it is why) Is it a water treatment? If so I would imagine it should be used to treat your water before the saltmix. Are you using tepwater? If you are using RO water that stuff is not needed at all.

hayley2684 · #6 05/29/2006, 07:03 AM

i'm using tap water. it apparently sits in the canister filter and you change it every 3 months. a semi substitute for a skimmer.

What would you suggest for my clean up crew i really like the looks of the coral banded and peppermint shrimp. would they be ok?

Scuba Oz · #7 05/29/2006, 07:06 AM

For a cleanup crew you should look into snails, they do a great job of eating algea. As for the shrimp, either will be okay in your system, they dont really do anything as a cleanup crew, well they will eat leftover food but hopefully you dont over feed

I have banded in my tanks, they look better and I spot feed them every so often and let them scrounge the rest.

Scuba Oz · #8 05/29/2006, 07:07 AM

Forgot to ask, what part of Sydney you live? I lived there for a few years myself

hayley2684 · #9 05/29/2006, 07:28 AM

do you think it's ok to add them in so soon after getting clowns or do i need to wait. my LFS guy says to wait a month between adding things to the tank.

I'm from an area in southern sydney known as the sutherland shire. did you ever hear of that?

Scuba Oz · #10 05/29/2006, 07:38 AM

Snails are not going to add to the bio-load, you can add them now safely.

Sutherland Shire? No does not ring a bell. I lived in Randwick and Waverly and worked over in Alexandria

hayley2684 · #11 05/29/2006, 07:50 AM

sutherland shire area has had a bit of bad publicity lately..... cronulla riots. not sure if you heard about that. i hope you didn't. what a sorry affair. the sutherland shire is a big area, but cronulla tends to be the only area that people have ever heard of because of the beach.

how long were you here for? what sor of work do you do?

do you think my low calcium levels will be a problem?

Scuba Oz · #12 05/29/2006, 08:00 AM

I have heard of Cronulla, but not any bad stuff, the name just rings a bell

I loved OZ and I know there are bad apples all over the world! I lived there for three years, I helped a friend run his company and traveled around.

360 is a little low but if you are just going to have a FOWLR I would not be concerned, but if planning corals I would try to keep it above 380-400.

hayley2684 · #13 05/29/2006, 08:10 AM

i do want to have corals. i think my lighting can handle it but i might give my self a while with just the fish just to gets somethings things figured out.

I actually lived in the US for 3 years in Johnson City TN. my family moved there for my dad's work. it was a great experience.

Thanks for all your help