Can You Over Clean your tank???

[papijames]

Hello Guys,
I'm new to the Hobby,(2 1/2months now) and joined Maast last night. I have a 55 gal FOWLR which seems very small now to me. Anyway, I used to change 5 gal per week, and now got in the habbit of changing 15gl per week. Am I doing the right thing? please your advices are welcome.

[RayAllen]

Hello Guys,
I'm new to the Hobby,(2 1/2months now) and joined Maast last night. I have a 55 gal FOWLR which seems very small now to me. Anyway, I used to change 5 gal per week, and now got in the habbit of changing 15gl per week. Am I doing the right thing? please your advices are welcome.

Welcome to Maast!

15g per week is fine. Most do a 15-20% water change a week. Some like myself do not do a water change every week. It comes down to personal preference and if your tank inhabintants are happy and doing well. Also a good skimmer is a must with a FOWLR. A 55g FOWLR will become small very quick, I say this because the fish that people normally put in FOWLR are larger species. With that said they will quickly out grow a 55g and become aggressive towards one another. Just watch your stocking and you will be fine.

[erikharrison]

Could you give us the full rundown?
How long has your tank been running?
Amount of Live Rock and Sand (in lbs)?
Inhabitants?
Filtration? (be specific, brand names etc)
Lighting? (be specific, brand names etc)
Are you testing your levels? If so, Which ones and what are they?
Are you dosing anything?

I know I asked alot of questions, but we need to know as much as possible!
Welcome to MAAST, we are all here to help.

ALSO, we have a GREAT search function, and TONS of threads chock full of information, so if you are curious about something and want a quick answer, do some good research on our site!

How'd you find us?

[papijames]

Thank your for the reply guys. here's what I have
Tank-55gal @Alamo Aquatic
Lightning- 2 50/50 6500 trichomatic daylight and Actinic420 from REEF SUN @ Petco
Live Rock- 51lbs total. 32lbs from Wolf Reef and 19lbs from Alamo Aquatic
Wet/Dry Filter- Proclear75 Capacity 75g or 300 GPH BIO from PROCLEAR AQUATIC and
Protein Skimmer- MPS75 from same company. got them both @ Alamo Aquatic
Powerhead- I have 1 RIO1700 from TAAM RIO for the Wet/Dry from Alamo Aquatic
1 Hydor Koralia3 850gph for circulation in the tank, and
1 Aqua-Tech 170gph both on oposite side of the tank

Inhabitants
5-Blue Legs Hermit
5-Redtip Hermit
1-False Clown
1-Black & White Butterfly
1-Orange Butterfly
1-Hippo Tang
1-Bicolor Pseudochromis/Royal Dottyback (very mean little guy for his side)
1-baby Dwarf Lion
1-baby Saddle Valentini

I keep my temperature at 80 because I heard high temps keep HICKS away.
I dose 1 cap of Liquid Calcium Reactor and 1 cap Purple up weekly.
I use Deep Six to check my salt level and keep it between 1.021 and 1.022
Feed them 1cube marine cuisine and 1cube Spirulina/Brine Shrimp/Mysis in the morning. and 1 cube Brine Shrimp at night

Now I really want to know if my equipments are suited for the job,and if I'm doing everything right. if not, I would like to hear your suggestions. thank you all

[erikharrison]

Sounds like you have a great setup going for you. With your stock list, and equipment, you should be able to keep a great softie tank.
"I keep my temperature at 80 because I heard high temps keep HICKS away."
haha, this is Texas and it's HOT! Yet there are HICKS EVERYWHERE, lol. Ich or ICK won't necessarily stay away because of high temps, in fact it increases the speed of it's life cycle. Lower your temp about 2-4 degrees and you're good. The keys to avoiding ich outbreaks are great water quality, diversity in your feed, and fish that are not stressed.
I had that same wet-dry, and what I would do is remove 1/4 of the bioballs and replace them with live rock. Repeat that process weekly until it is all swapped over.

BE CAREFUL when buying LR from Alamo, as I bought some when I first started that was not fully cured. If it reeks of sulfur, it's not ready to go into your tank!

Do not dose ANYTHING unless you are testing for it. On your tank regular water changes should keep everything in order until your tank is loaded with coraline algae and corals. If you do really want to dose use the two part solution called B-Ionic.

At some point, you may want to swap out those PC bulbs for T5 High Output (HO) bulbs, as they last much longer than PC bulbs. You could also start looking at sump options and a larger skimmer. As those fish grow, a better skimmer will definitely be in order.

I love your quote, that's what life is all about.

[papijames]

Erik it seems like you know alot about fish. So I hope you don't mind if I use you as my "fish advisor" . Anyway, about my wet/dry you wrote "I had that same wet-dry, and what I would do is remove 1/4 of the bioballs and replace them with live rock. Repeat that process weekly until it is all swapped over" now do you mean to take away those blue balls and put live rocks in that area where they were instead? also when you wrote" You could also start looking at sump options and a larger skimmer. As those fish grow, a better skimmer will definitely be in order" I see people talking about sump but I know quiet get it. Also what kind of good Skimmer is out there? last but not least how many extra fish can I add in that 55g before it's time to upgrade for a bigger tank? seriously I only want to add 3more fish to make it a total of ten. 1 Bicolor Angel, 1 Scribble Rabbit/Foxface, and 1 Xmas Checkerboard Wrasse. I saw Justin at Pets R Us and said he could order them for me. Now can I add those extra 3 or am I at my Max amount already?

[copperband]

yes Erik means take out the blue balls but not all at once and fill it with live rock the also what part of the sump do you not get if we know we can help you properly as the fish go definetly talk to Erik i am going to make him my fish adviser if thats ok as well

[papijames]

Well Copperband since the sump from my wet/dry can only hold less than 3g and is occupied by the protein skimmer and the Powerhead, I want to know if Have to buy a small tank, and how would I be able to hook it with the wet/dry? by the way did you get your name from the Copperband Butterfly? this fish was on my wanted list, but after hearing how hard it is to get that fish to eat I got cold feet and stepped down to a black & white Heniochus.

[ismvel]

Papijames, here is an interesting read by MELEV....which is not me...LOL...I really need to change my name..it is calld Reefkeeping 101 - Sumps
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-01/newbie/index.php

And as far as sumps go, you can have someone make you a sump, purchase a sump, or simply purchase a 10 - 20 gallon tank and place baffles in it (used to separate your chambers in a sump, and more importatntly to keep the air bubbles at the surface and not going back to your display. Here is how to make your own baffles. From what I beleive Erik said, he has tried it and it works well. This is the route I will go with my sump.
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ca/volume...es/baffles.htm

Speaking of which. Erik, can this EPDM foam rubber weather stripping be pruchased at home depot / lowes as well??

[papijames]

Wow Maelv good articles. I heard that some of the Board members here at Maast are smart enough to build a Protein Skimmer or Sump. You don't happen to be one, or know one of them? Cause I think it should be cheaper that way, instead of buying one at the store. By the way, based on the number of Inhabitants I have in my tank do you think that's something I should consider ASAP or just in the near future?
Thanx