"inherited" A Reef Tank

While I was married, my now ex-husband had a 32 gallon Biocube tank, that he was responsible for caring for. When he moved out (2 months ago) he left the tank behind, said "feed the fish every few days, they'll be fine". I haven't heard a word from him since, and I believe he has moved out of state. TBH, I don't really expect to hear from him again, and that's fine.

He was at least partly right, in that the 3 fish (one Damsel, one Clownfish, and one Royal Gramma) are still alive and appear to be doing well. There are also some snails and hermit crabs, and possibly a sea urchin. However, a few weeks before he left, the heater malfunctioned and overheated the tank, and I believe most, if not all the coral is dead as a result. (He just removed the heater and didn't replace it.)

I have decided that rather than shutting down the tank, I would like to take over, and try to restore it to health and beauty. So far I bought a test kit, and the salinity, pH, nitrate, nitrite, and ammonia levels are all in the right ranges based on what I found online. I replaced the heater, and the tank also has a protein skimmer.

I'm not sure exactly what to do next for this tank. I would like to add corals and a few more fish. There are some types of plant life growing in there, but I'm not sure exactly what. I would appreciate any suggestions about what to add, remove, or do next. Pictures attached.

Thanks!

 

Welcome !
Good for you taking over .
There several if not many corals that look ok in your tank.
Do you know your phosphate [PO4] level ?
Low phosphates are very important with corals.
The plant life looks to all be nuisance algae and maybe even a little cyanobacteria.Lowering the PO4 will help with that.
You should try to manually remove what you can before it gets a good foot hold.
All in all it looks like you are doing a great job !

 

Welcome to fishlore! We should get this thread moved to the saltwater section so you get more help Lchi87

 

Welcome to fishlore! We should get this thread moved to the saltwater section so you get more help Lchi87

Thank you. I'm pretty much a newby at forums, too.

 

Congrats on the tank! Don't take this the wrong way, but if I were you, I would try to contact your ex and let him know the story with the tank and it's current condition. If he says to you " take it I don't want it, do whatever" then you can start the recovery process and bring the tank back to it's former glory.

It would be a shame if you invest a lot of money and time bringing it back to beauty fixing it all up and then your ex happens to show up and wants it back, know what I mean?

 

Congrats on the tank! Don't take this the wrong way, but if I were you, I would try to contact your ex and let him know the story with the tank and it's current condition. If he says to you " take it I don't want it, do whatever" then you can start the recovery process and bring the tank back to it's former glory.

It would be a shame if you invest a lot of money and time bringing it back to beauty fixing it all up and then your ex happens to show up and wants it back, know what I mean?

Well if she doesn’t do anything than it’ll just get worse, And it sounds like he doesn’t care about them anyway, so I’d just go for it.

 

Well if she doesn’t do anything than it’ll just get worse, And it sounds like he doesn’t care about them anyway, so I’d just go for it.

Yeah, well, it's not like I didn't waste a lot of money on him already. I'm definitely not going to contact him, if he comes back, I'm calling the police. (read: abusive relationship).

 

Yeah, well, it's not like I didn't waste a lot of money on him already. I'm definitely not going to contact him, if he comes back, I'm calling the police. (read: abusive relationship).

Hey well good for you, you’re free now!!

 

You have a lot of reading to do. Aquarium keeping-- part art, part science. I wish you happiness and an amazing journey in your new life!

 

While I was married, my now ex-husband had a 32 gallon Biocube tank, that he was responsible for caring for. When he moved out (2 months ago) he left the tank behind, said "feed the fish every few days, they'll be fine". I haven't heard a word from him since, and I believe he has moved out of state. TBH, I don't really expect to hear from him again, and that's fine.

He was at least partly right, in that the 3 fish (one Damsel, one Clownfish, and one Royal Gramma) are still alive and appear to be doing well. There are also some snails and hermit crabs, and possibly a sea urchin. However, a few weeks before he left, the heater malfunctioned and overheated the tank, and I believe most, if not all the coral is dead as a result. (He just removed the heater and didn't replace it.)

I have decided that rather than shutting down the tank, I would like to take over, and try to restore it to health and beauty. So far I bought a test kit, and the salinity, pH, nitrate, nitrite, and ammonia levels are all in the right ranges based on what I found online. I replaced the heater, and the tank also has a protein skimmer.

I'm not sure exactly what to do next for this tank. I would like to add corals and a few more fish. There are some types of plant life growing in there, but I'm not sure exactly what. I would appreciate any suggestions about what to add, remove, or do next. Pictures attached.

Thanks!

Lots of respect, and congrats on the new aquarium!

It looks like everything is pretty healthy, there is a bit of algae but that's easily remedied. Do you have any way to do a water change or would he buy water from a fish store? E.g. do you have salt mix, a powerhead, heater, and a RODI unit? If you do, I would mix up 10 gallons of water to the same salinity and temperature, and do a large rip clean. Basically, pull out rocks that have bad algae on them, and put them in a bucket. Take a siphon hose and gravel vacuum, and vacuum the sand really well, filling the bucket with the rocks in them about halfway full. Scrub the rocks really well with a brush with the old aquarium water. Then, with the rocks left in the tank, lift rocks on the sandbed and vacuum underneath them. there will likely be a TON of junk under them. Clean the glass, and keep siphoning and vacuuming until you've siphoned out 10 total gallons. Then put the rocks fill back up with the 10 gallons you mixed.

This will basically let you reset the tank, get excess nutrients out (which I'm sure there are if its been a few months since the last water change), and get everything clean.

I would advise, if there's nothing in the second chamber, transforming it into a refugium. This is basicly growing macro algae, which grows fast and is easy to remove as it doesn;t attch to anything, and once it grows and uses up nutrients, you pull some of it out, easily removing nutrients and keeping them under control. All you need is macro algae (cheato) and a little grow lamp.

Can we get some deets on lights, filtration/return pump, and any powerheads in the tank? Do you have a refugium? What's in the back chambers? Do you have any experience with fish?

 

Congratulations on a new chapter in your life, and a wonderfully mind consuming new hobby to immerse yourself in along the way.

Agreed with others here. You have lots of live coral in the tank as well as some nuisance algae that shouldn't be too much trouble to take care of. If you'd like to learn more about rip cleaning, check out the link below.

How To Rip Clean The Correct Way Without Recycle

I think a rip cleaning is a very good idea as this will give you a fresh start, making the future of the tank yours without having to deal with stuff because of mistakes someone else may have made. However, I think it would also be best if you share more details about the tank with us first. It would be good to discuss your filtration before doing a rip cleaning. The rocks in the tank hold the bulk of the cycle, but it's still a good idea to be aware of what's handled by filtration in the rear chambers.

As for adding more fish, well, you already have some aggressors in the tank so adding fish may not be so easy. It's my opinion that it would be best to get a handle on cleaning, nutrient levels, and regular maintenance before making any changes to the tank's stock.

Speaking of nutrients, as Culprit said, a rear chamber refugium is a very good idea. It's a simple form of nutrient reduction to keep nitrates and phosphates low.

We love to help, so please provide as many details on the tank as you can, and we'll soon make this your NEW reef tank! Hurray!! Welcome to Fishlore! We're excited for you.

 

Lots of respect, and congrats on the new aquarium!

Do you have any way to do a water change or would he buy water from a fish store? E.g. do you have salt mix, a powerhead, heater, and a RODI unit? If you do, I would mix up 10 gallons of water to the same salinity and temperature, and do a large rip clean. Basically, pull out rocks that have bad algae on them, and put them in a bucket. Take a siphon hose and gravel vacuum, and vacuum the sand really well, filling the bucket with the rocks in them about halfway full. Scrub the rocks really well with a brush with the old aquarium water. Then, with the rocks left in the tank, lift rocks on the sandbed and vacuum underneath them. there will likely be a TON of junk under them. Clean the glass, and keep siphoning and vacuuming until you've siphoned out 10 total gallons. Then put the rocks fill back up with the 10 gallons you mixed.

This will basically let you reset the tank, get excess nutrients out (which I'm sure there are if its been a few months since the last water change), and get everything clean.

I would advise, if there's nothing in the second chamber, transforming it into a refugium. This is basicly growing macro algae, which grows fast and is easy to remove as it doesn;t attch to anything, and once it grows and uses up nutrients, you pull some of it out, easily removing nutrients and keeping them under control. All you need is macro algae (cheato) and a little grow lamp.

Can we get some deets on lights, filtration/return pump, and any powerheads in the tank? Do you have a refugium? What's in the back chambers? Do you have any experience with fish?

Wow, thank you so much for the detailed information. This is quite helpful, and it looks like I have some work ahead of me soon.

To answer your questions, my ex would mix his own water for water changes. I do have salt and a heater. However, there is no RODI unit that I'm aware of. I'm not sure what a powerhead is, or what it would look like, so I'm not sure on that either. I think he used tap water and treated it somehow, added salt and heated it before he did his water changes. I did not pay a lot of attention to the process, unfortunately. Could I do everything you suggest for a rip clean, but buy the new saltwater from my LFS?

The tank is a Coralife 32 gallon Biocube. Whatever it came with, I have, plus the protein skimmer, which he already had. I'm pretty sure I don't have a refugium. One of the back chambers is filled with bio balls. (From what I've read online, those are a controversial topic.) The filter takes filter cartridges. My ex would make his own filters and put them in that space. I bought new Coralife filter cartridges, and removed his old filter and replace it with a new cartridge.

I have very little experience with fish, other than what I picked up from watching and listening to him. However, I'm an avid reader, and am willing to research anything to educate myself here. If you tell me what to look for, I might be able to give better answers to your questions. I am really excited about this, having seen some wonderful pictures of great reef tanks that are beautiful and interesting. I hope I can get this tank on its feet. So far, I am having fun.

Thank you again!

 

HI Just in case we don't hear back from Culprit this weekend night, I'll be glad to help where I can.

The very first thing to learn about fish keeping is how the nitrogen cycle works. Click on the link here for some good reading. In a nutshell, fish produce ammonia, as does fish food, fish waste, and anything else organic that is breaking down in the tank. Ammonia, even at low levels, is toxic to life in the tank. Beneficial bacteria are particular species of nitrifying bacteria, one of which process the ammonia and turn it into nitrites, which are also toxic at low levels. So, another kind of nitrifying bacteria process nitrites into nitrates, which are safe at low levels. This conversion process is called the nitrogen cycle.

Beneficial bacteria need a surface to grow on and a porous surface is best, as it offers more surface area for a larger, and thus stronger bacterial colony. In saltwater tanks, the rock within the tank is a wonderfully porous surface for this. So, you can thank your rocks for holding your cycle and making the tank a safe environment. Nitrate levels are not processed though, and this is part of the reason we do regular water changes, to keep nitrates low. Another big reason for doing water changes is to replace necessary minerals that are used by corals in the tank.

Tap water is not often okay for a reef tank because of the impurities most tap sources contain. The way to measure the purity of water is with a TDS meter, which measures the total dissolved solids in water. You'll want to pick one of those up and they're quite cheap on Amazon. With the more sensitive creatures most reef tanks contain, we are looking to start with pure water with a TDS of zero. The salt that is added will also contain all necessary minerals and microelements that the tank needs. I suppose we could say that not all tap water has DS that is inherently or immediately harmful to the tank, but sometimes it's tap use over time that might ultimately crash a tank. The trouble is, it's hard to know what is making up that TDS number.

An example, (wish I could remember who this was), there is a reefer on YouTube who used tap and for a good while, everything was fine. Then life in the tank started dying suddenly and in his investigation into why he learned that he had low levels of tin in the tap, and the level in the tank got higher over time until it was high enough to cause a crash. A less drastic example... my own tap is full of nitrates and calcium. Nitrates cause algae at the least and at high levels will kill some corals. Calcium is a mineral needed in a salty tank, but the salt I use achieves the correct level of calcium, so if the salt were added to my tap, calcium levels would be too high. These are only the things I can easily test for in my tap water, and knowing exactly what else is in it at a given time is pretty impossible. We can measure the TDS of our tap, but don't know what's making it up, and only rarely does a reefer's tap water have a TDS low enough to use it... though perhaps it's worth checking in your case. So, in most cases, it's safest to use filtered, purified water with 0 TDS, and RODI and distilled should always be pure. If you have salt on hand, you could see if you can just buy RODI water from the LFS.

An on that note, salinity, (the salt content in water), is the simplest and most important parameter to keep an eye on. You will always want to check the salinity of new water and make sure it matches the current salinity of the tank before a water change. Salinity is so basic and simple that it's often overlooked, and that gets dangerous. The first thing you'll want for this tank, if you don't have one already, is a refractometer.



I see that you've checked on salinity before, but just wanted to tell you that a refractometer is the best tool for checking on this. Hydrometers, an old school device used for checking salinity that is still around and sold cheap, are notoriously inaccurate.

This is what a very basic powerhead generally looks like.


However, for in tank use, I'd highly suggest investing in a controllable powerhead. A controllable powerhead allows us to set the flow rate, or how fast the pump is pushing water, as well as variability in flow. Think of the ocean and how currents move back and forth, from many directions. Flow variability is used to mimic that ebb and flow, instead of a consistent blast from a single direction. Corals appreciate this variablity. I for one can honestly tell you that my coral's growth rates increased when I switched from constant to variable flow. I started with a powerhead linked about, but upgraded to this one, and the corals rewarded me for it.



For mixing your own saltwater, you don't necessarily need a powerhead, but you do need some kind of pump to mix the water. I use a standard aquarium pump in my mixing container and it's called a MaxiJet 1200. This item is significantly cheaper on the Bulk Reef Supply website, and perhaps the same is true for the powerheads linked above. You'll find that some of the bigger online pet supply sites offer competative pricing.

Yes, you can use saltwater from your LFS, though this usually ends up costing the aquarist more than a RODI unit and salt in the long run. There is also the quesion of whether your LFS can be trusted. It's always best to make your own and know what's in the water at all times. However, plenty of folks get by on LFS water for very small tanks, or for a time until they're setup to make their own, so please do not think all LFS water is bad. It would be a good idea if you ask them what kind of saltwater they have. As in, do they start with RODI and add salt? If so, which salt? Would they mind verifying that their RODI water is pure? They should have a TDS meter and be willing to be honest and prove the purity to the customer. Also, does the water contain nitrates or phosphates? These are things that we are removing via water changes and any nutrient reduction methods, (like that skimmer you've got or a refugium), so wouldn't want new water to contain levels of NO3 (nitrates) or PO4 (phosphates). The reason for keeping those levels low is not only for the safety of livestock, but also because NO3 and PO4 are algae's favorite food source, so having elevated levels leads to what we call the uglies. Algae outbreaks, or worse, something like cyanobacteria or dinoflagellates.

There are some very good stickies in the Saltwater Beginner's forum that will tell much of what you need to know about keeping a thriving salty tank.

Aaaannd, I think that's just about enough for one post. Just one more thing... you can probably save some of the money spent on filter cartridges by cutting your own filter pads from a bulk supply of filter padding. Filter cartridges are how manufacturers get us to keep buying from them. For now, I'd say you could use something like this...


and save some pennies by cutting it to size yourself. There are definitely ways to easily and cheaply modify things in your tank to make the best use out of those rear compartments So, let's soup it up, shall we? Again, this wall-o-text is long enough, so we'll talk more about that later if you'd like to. In the meantime, you might want to search for Coralife Biocube 32 filter modifications on YouTube.

 

Thank you, stella1979 for all that fantastic information! I do trust my LFS, they are the ones that first advised me to get a testing kit, so that I know the ammonia, nitrates and nitrites in my tank are all at or near zero right now. X did leave a small powerhead that I found last night, but it is probably too small to be of much use in the tank (2.5w). It might be okay for mixing saltwater though, right? Next I think I need to check my budget and figure out what I can purchase next, and when.

 

That's great to hear that you have a good LFS and a strong cycle in the tank.

Hmm, to my knowledge, we can't judge the strength of the powerhead by wattage. What you want to look at is the GPH, or gallons per hour. This info is usually on the box but if that's not around anymore it can be found by searching for the powerhead and looking at details and/or reviews.

A good water change schedule is 20% every 1-2 weeks. Rising NO3 or PO4 might tell you it's necessary weekly, but your skimmer is assumedly helping keep nutrients low. However, even with low nutrient levels, and especially with smaller systems, regular water changes keep things fresh and clean, because this is when we do cleaning. Vacuuming sand, blowing off or scrubbing the rocks, and tending to mechanical filtration for example.

The other reason for water changes is to keep mineral levels in line, namely Calcium, Alkalinity, and Magnesium, (the big 3). Stony corals use these minerals as well as other microelements for growth. The other thing about corals is that they like stability, even softies (non-stony) species, which do not use the big 3 as much as stony corals will be happy with little variance in water parameters. Water changes help to maintain stable and correct levels for all the values we're looking for. Btw, if you run across dosing a reef tank in your research, that is for when the uptake by corals exceeds what the water changes provide. As far as I can tell, you have mostly soft corals in the tank, and dosing is likely not something you need to look into now.

 

Thank you again, everyone for all the information. I'm planning to do a rip clean (per the instructions in the link in post #11 from Stella) this Saturday. I'll keep you guys updated on how it turns out, and post before-and-after pics, too. I'm really excited now about having a clean aquarium and a better environment for the fishies.

 

Welcome! Congrats on the split - seems you're well rid of him I just wanted to wish you lots of luck with the tank, with the folks here and whatever solo research you do, you'll set it right in no time. I'd recommend keeping what corals your able to even if they look like they are toast. I had one in my tank that was dead for 2 months and has resurrected itself zombie style just in time for Halloween. Wish I had come to the realization that might happen sooner, I would have kept others in the tank instead of tossing what I'd lost over the summer

 

HI Everyone. Thank you again for all the help. I did a rip clean yesterday, and WOW was that a lot of work. But totally worth it. Here are my before and after pics.

 

WOW so much better! Looking like an actual tank now.

Did you wash the sand really rally well? Does it pass the drop test? E.g., if you pick up a handful in the tank, and drop it, does it just fall or does it get cloudy?

 

WOW so much better! Looking like an actual tank now.

Did you wash the sand really rally well? Does it pass the drop test? E.g., if you pick up a handful in the tank, and drop it, does it just fall or does it get cloudy?

Yes, I washed the sand a LOT, until it passed the drop test. I spent at least an hour doing that part. After I was done rinsing the sand in the tank, I added another 20# of new live sand which I had already rinsed thoroughly earlier in the week. I like the look of the deeper sand bed.

 

Whew! I've torn builds apart in my time, and it sure is a lot of work... but so worth it. It looks great!! You know, a critter to help keep your sandbed clean would be a very good idea. I'd suggest a tiger conch snail.

 

Looks awesome, great job!! Since you added new sand you'll likely see a diatom bloom (brown algae) in the next couple of weeks. When you do, don't be alarmed, it'll pass pretty quickly.