Tank Help

[fishmike888]

i have a 55 gallon tank wit current orbit PC lights, a remora pro skimmer, salinity is at 1.022, pH is 8.2-8.4 and ammonia, nitrates, and nitrites are at 0, i have a single power head, a rio 800 and a bio bag filter (yes i kno its not the best choice), my problem is my skimmer keeps letting off little white bubbles into the water, probably air bubbles, but it is frustrating because it makes the water look foggy, i just put in my powerhead today and its making the problem worst becuase the bubbles are now circulating around the tank, can some tell me how to stop this? also the only fish i have is a blue tang and it is in bad shape for some reason here is a pic: <a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e191/mistamike888/Picture003.jpg" border="0" alt="Image hosting by Photobucket"></a>
this was before, when the pH was at 7.8 but i just raised it today so maybe that was the problem? if not does anyone else know wat could possible be wrong? I also added my live rock today, 45 pounds, and i put a few snails in but they are sticking themselves to my skimmer pump and the glass towards the top of the tank, is this normal

[One Eyed Bunny]

I'm not an expert on disease, but someone seriously needs to post and help you with that. He's lookin' real bad.

[PatMayo]

Salinity is too low. It should be 1.025 or so. But I don't think that is the problem with the tang.

I would hazard a guess that the tank is not ready for fish. At least a fish that needs really good water parameters like that one.

How long has the tank been up? The remora's are known to let micro bubbles into the tank for quite sometime. Mine did for about 6 weeks. After that it stopped. I had the Remora C and I used the skimmer box as well. It needs to build up a slime coat in the container. Once that happens the micro bubble will go away. There a other things you can use to help with that as well. Try putting some foam on the output lip so that the water that goes back into the tank has to go through the foam first.

I would be interested in knowing other details of your tank. Complete filtering system, how long it has been up, it appears to me that you still have diatoms on the gravel. The is indicative of a new tank or one that is not being skimmed properly or is being overfeed.

I don't know what to do for the tang other than to put him in a good stable qt tank.

Check out some of these links,

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-10/sp/feature/index.php

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=550860

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=239848

I hope someone can help you more!!

Regards,

Pat

[NetFish]

God, he's in a really really bad shape. I'm surprised he's still alive. You should probably give him away to some local hobbyist who's got a healthy tank ASAP.

[fishmike888]

yea i cleaned out my skimmer and probably the slime ur talking about thats probably the reason for the bubbles, but yea i was thinking about giving the tang away

[rock455]

yea --- i don't know too many people that would take a tang in that shape -- not unless they had a separate system for diseased fish --

secondly -- the micro bubbles are not an issue -- they are quite typical if you don't have a baffeled sump --

I would double check all your parameters -- if you just added LR I would not suggest any live stock until the cycle is complete --

What is your Ni and Na levels? how about Po -- Anyway I think you might be trying to rush things way too much!

Slow down and take your time -- when I setup a new system i have only LR for about 6 months to let everything settle in -- then I add a clean up crew and then if everything is looking good I add other animals.

[fishmike888]

well thanks for the help i guess i need to take things a bit slower so i'll probably give my tang away and let the tank cycle for a while before purchasing any livestock

[rock455]

Just make sure you test and test and test -- get the Salifert tests - they are the best IME

make sure things are stable -- get all your systems setup -- automate as much as possible!