salt water problems

Question
I wrote in about 2weeks ago about the water in my 75 gallon salt water tank the water is still cloudy, but the smell is gone. However we was asked if our tank was setup properly, could that cause the water to be cloudy? I have a Catalina canister filter, circulating pump, and new carbon filter, six fish one maroon clown fish three damsels and two Mollies, I have a decorative coral centerpiece and live sand we're in our 9th week since the intial setup and we had the tank cleaned around the 5th week. Can you recommend a step by step guide/book that would help us care and clean our fish and tank. What more can we do to clear the water up?

Answer
Hello Paula,

sorry for the delay in responding,but I have had a minor emergency at my condo.  I had a broken pipe, (not reeftank related), and the place has been flooded, and I am now about 50% with repairs.  the next major step is to tear down my reef and move it so they can remove the floors and replace them with new flooring...   pretty much most everyones worst nightmare...

I am glad the smell is gone.  Im sure the carbon helped out a lot.

I will be glad to give you a referral to some good reading, but most everything I will offer comes from two sources... About.com/allexperts.com   and http://www.reefkeeping.com


reefkeeping magazine is tops...  You can search for any of the past articles and journals...

I will also give you a short and sweet synopsis of what you should be doing, and you can tell me if you are or arent and we can go from there...

start off by checking your water quality and let me know the following... (Ill keep the list short as i assume you might only have the basic test kits, and if you dont have these, please get them)

Salinity  1.026
Ammonia  (should be zero)
Nitrate  (should be zero or low)

you should be replacing water in your tank daily... (fresh water)... Water evaporates, but salt doesnt, so as the water level drops in your tank, the water is geting saltier... to minimize the 'swing' you should add water each day..

You should clean the pads in your cannister every week or two at the latest.  I would replace them every three months.. If you hve the bio balls or ceramc beads, I would remove them...  That would be a good place to put carbon...

You should take out 5 gallons of water every week, and replace with 5 gallons of saltwater... Or you could do 10gallons every two weeks..  this shouldnt affect the salinity, but make sure you 'top off' fresh water BEFORE you replace the saltwater...

I would only feed once a day, and just a sprinkle.  none of the food should hit the ground, (that means the fish should eat it all or you are feeding too much)

Doing the above steps is the basic routine of all reefers...  (some dont have canniseter filters)

Some reefers have more equipment and might need to add to the todo list..


Please check out the above links and if you want, you can log onto my new forum at www.thelittleocean.com and post questions there and get answer/info/humor from other members and there is a chat room where you can chat live if someone else is there...

anyways, thanks for checking back with me and good luck


bill

These are the basics.