Just acquired 2 tanks...

[ashley85]

My sister just recently moved to BC, and left her 2 tanks here for me to look after... one is a 20G saltwater ~ 6 months old, and the other is a 50G freshwater ~ 2 years old. I've only ever taken care of a beta... this is all pretty new to me. So any tips or suggestions that you might have would be very appreciated! Everything I "know" was told to me this past weekend by the staff at Big Al's

I don't have any issues with the FW tank, but am having some difficulties with the SW tank. The only instructions that I was given was "feed twice a day"... Now 3 weeks later, the tank is a mess.

The tank has a sand bottom, which has become covered in dirty particles and debris. The staff at
Al's told me NOT to try and siphon it up as it could stir up bacteria in the tank. However, the sand looks disgusting, and I was wondering if there's anything I can do to clean up the bottom – is there anything that I can put in that will eat it up?

The other problem is the algae... the tank has been covered in slimy green and light green hairy algae (some reddish algae too but not much). I cleaned most of it off the glass, and took out the filter, heater, and protein skimmer and cleaned it off those as well... I had to replace the heater because it didn't seem to be working, and when I bought a thermometer it said 64 – no idea how long it hadn't been working, but none of the fish died.

Al's told me that the dirt and algae is not harmful, but it is ugly, and I'd love to get rid of it and have a nice clean tank. I've read a few websites/forums that suggest getting snails or shrimp, but I thought Al's told me that because I have crabs in there, they will try to eat them. So I'm not really sure what to do. One of the guys at Al's recommended this site to me.

I have some photos that I uploaded of the tank: http://www.flickr.com/photos/22914102@N03/sets/72157610131906838/

If anyone could help me out in making the tank look "pretty" I'd be very appreciative. Eventually I would love to get some corals in it – but I know that's a while off now.

Thanks!!!

[dan2x38]

Welcome nice to meet you. I am sorry can't help you with your saltwater set-up. Can with freshwater including plants.

I would post your saltwater issues in the saltwater fourm: http://ovas.ca/index.php?board=11.0 There is a wealth of info. in there. Not everybody reads the Introductions. Good luck hope you get things back on track. Goggle is great but takes time these saltwater folks here know their stuff and you get first hand experience close at hand. BUT do Goggle too.

[sniggir]

do you have test kit's

when was the last water change and of how much

also if you could tell us what type of clean up crew you have ie. snails, hermits, emerald crabs, and also are you using Ro/di water.

the problem that you are having are not uncommon but if  you have clean water you can reduce them... the green hair algea thrives off of phosphates so if you remove the phosphates they will go away the brownish red could be cyano whitch will go away when you tank sablizes just make sure that you keep up with water changes say 5g per week

and a good clean up crew will help say 12 astrea, 10 certith and 2 turbo, then 10 blue leg hemits one or 2 emeralds. should be good.

[ashley85]

I have the Saltwater Master Liquid Test Kit  by Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Inc.

I did the tests today, and the ph looks to be around 8.0-8.2; ammonia is between 0-0.25; nitrites are at 0ppm; and nitrates are between 5-10 ppm

I've had the tank about 3 weeks, and haven't done a water change - the water level was down quite a bit and I added water to it on sunday - we use bottled water as we had months of problems trying to set up the FW tank using our tap water, so have used bottled for them since. Salinity is between 1.024 and 1.025

As for clean up crew - there was 1 red crab and about 15-20 blue crabs put in (hermits)... I'm not sure that the red is still living, but I have seen at least 10 blue ones crawling around. Just put some new shells in for them the other day.

The one thing I don't have is a phospate test kit... Are there any that are particularly better than others? I did see something on a forum about low-range phosphate testing. If they're high - can I get chemicals to reduce them, and will taking out the LR and scrubbing scrubbing the algae off help?

I've also read that a peppermint shrimp and/or a lawnmower fish?? could help with the algae/dirt, but I'm not sure if they would be compatible with the fish in there now.

I live outside of Ottawa, so wouldn't be able to get anything until the weekend - would it be best to do a water change before/after adding anything to take care of phospates, or does it not matter?

Thanks a lot for your help - it's tough learning everything about SW in such a short span of time

[Adam]

You can vacuum the sand using a syphon.  That load about the bacteria is hooey.  That's a start.

When you do a water change (I like to do it every week, but it can extend for a couple or three), try the following:

Use a magnet or other scrubbing pad to clean the glass (some people leave the back or sides as it is, others clean it. Up to you).
Get your water ready with salt and warm it to the tank's temperature and same salinity. (or to adjust it a bit, lower or higher)
Use a syphon to vacuum the sand.
If there is any algae, you can try to manually remove it or identify it and find something that will eat it.
Make sure all the equipment is working properly.  Try to remove salt deposits and other buildup from whatever you can.  Clean submerged equipment periodically.
Clean the glass (windex is ok).
Make sure you top off the saltwater tank pccasionally as evaporating water increases salinity levels.

Feeding twice a day is quite a bit unless it was little food. Try once a day.

Adam

[beertech]

If you do choose to vacuum the substrate, be careful not to go deep, just brush the surface to remove any red algae or other nasty stuff.  Going too deep into the sand bed will destroy the natural layers of denitrifying bacteria, and cause problems down the road.  I agree, try feeding once a day, or even skipping a day now and then is ok too, as the fish will find plenty of food in the tank to munch on.  If you can make a trip into town, try stopping by one of the forum sponsors like Marinescape on Carling, you can get a lot of highly qualified advice there.  Most importantly, spend tons of time reading and learning before doing anything to the tank. 
Good luck,

Gord