New to Hobby, Inherited tank with new house, boy do I need help.

[wickedfrags]

First, welcome to the board and the hobby.

Based on your post this is the main thing that caught my attention:

Originally Posted by Fellow

I eventually want to get a RO unit but it is not in the budget just yet.

Honestly an RO/DI unit should be your first purchase, no salt water tank should be sold without one (despite what testing your potable water may may reveal), assuming you want to have the tank long term. And no need to buy an expensive one - IME, RO/DI is one of the ONLY purchase I have made where you do not get what you pay for.

If one is not in the budget at this time - seriously evaluate if it makes sense to purchase supporting equipment to improve the system (which costs much more).

Otherwise, keep up the maintenance, looks like the tank should continue to improve based on your plan. Cheers.

[Murminator]

How much live rock do you have? It is ok to have HOB filters for flow but remove the sponges (nitrate factories) they are good to have to hide carbon bags in. The 1st way to get rid of high nitrates is to find out where it is coming from. I would say you bio-load sounds ok feeding, sounds ok, so maybe it's big clogged sponges or the substrate.I see you listed crushed coral as substrate which crushed coral i seen some that is like sand and i seen some that is like big chucks...think it called reef bones. If it is the bigger stuff it can really trap junk in it if it is I would S L O W L Y change it out couple scoop fulls a week. But the 1st thing to find out is where it is coming from water changes help but doesn't totally get rid of it. If you have a stinky basement full of garbage opening the window couple times a month will help it but doesn't get rid of it getting the garbage will get rid of it.

Also check see if some had maybe put a plenum or an undergravel filter I seen some oldschool freshwater guys do that that would put nitrates up

[Flash]

Do you prime in your water changes? try doing a few more 30% water changes, and cutting the lights down as suggested! You could try getting a Nudi or two for help with the algea! take some pics!!!!

Welcome to Canreef!

[chris88]

I have and know of tons of others have run very successful reefs with tap water. It can be done but it depends on the water itself. Yes RO water is better but tap water is not always the problem.

[Fellow]

OK a lot of info to sift through I am sure I will continue to add to this post. Thank you all for responding.

My first piece I will be replacing will be my skimmer as recommended by many of you I am looking at the Aquamedic Blue1000.

@ Wickedfrags - what RO/DI unit would you recommend for say around $300 less is good if you know of an adequate unit.

@Murminator - I am not sure how much rock I have in poundage. I am attaching pics though dont laugh I haven't perfected aquarium photography Also the substrate is pebble sized crushed coral. Which I know is part of the problem, when I vacuum certain areas I can rarely see the bottom of the bucket.

@bean - Yes I add prime to my water changes.


I am going to give the filter housings a good rinse to make sure no sludge has been building up.

I would really like to move to a sand substrate I like the look of it way more but like all free advice on the internet the details on how to do it are mixed. Some say do it all at once, others say small amounts at a time.

I will also have to research a phosban reactor any advice concerning bio pellets? Are these something that I can run in one of the filters if at all?

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[wickedfrags]

Aquasafe makes a cost effective unit that will get the job done. Was about the cheapest out there when I bought mine, and less than $300.

Originally Posted by Fellow

@ Wickedfrags - what RO/DI unit would you recommend for say around $300 less is good if you know of an adequate unit.

[spikehs]

Originally Posted by wickedfrags.com

Aquasafe makes a cost effective unit that will get the job done. Was about the cheapest out there when I bought mine, and less than $300.

I second this... I think I got mine for MUCh less than $300, closer to $150? But that was a few years ago now.