My Dad's 1984 tank

texanstwoone · Oct 21, 2007

Hey Gang,
My name is Jon Taylor. My father has had this tank since 84'. It was extremly high tech back in the day. His LFS taught him a lot of neat tricks back in the day but my Father has not upraded his unit sense.
(I dont know the exact equipment we have but I will try and tell yall.) We have an 84 gallon gravel bottom, undrwater gravel system, two filters with power heads, four lights and one is use for coral. And thats it.
We can not fit a skimmer underneath our tank, and we have and eel so we dont want one on top. Also, every thing is closed off with glass and I think thats how he wants it. We tried a multi - 3 stage unit and it began to leak and he lost 300$ on and upgrade I thought was legit.
During commercial breaks he loves to look at those fish and that one of the few times he and I really communicate. I'm not asking for Dr. Phil but if anyone could help us continue using his old tank I would appreciete it. Our fish usaully live around 1 1/2 months but I was hoping I could do something to the unit to help pro-long the life.
I change the water once every 3 weeks. 18 1/2 gal of r/o water. I clean the under water filters and above power head filters. All I know is that he just tilts his head and smiles when I am working on the fish tank. He is a little confused now but when we talk about his tank that he customized; well that's about all I am living for too.
Most questions I wont be able to answer regarding the details of the tank. I have the water tested and it is fine. There is way too much green and very unattractive. I may over feed the fish but make up my regular r/o changes. The live rock is about 5 years old but I recently put it into a garbage can for weeks with air but w/o light.
Well, I am kinda feeling bad I wrote this but if you were in my shoes you would do anything to put a smile on your love ones feet.
Once again, Im sorry and dont feel bad if you dont have the answers,
Thanks,
Jon T.

jojo22 · Oct 21, 2007

First of all start doing water changes once a week. But only 10%
Second slowly switch the CC to a sand bed.

Those two alone will help a lot and we can go from there.

soccerkidbs · Oct 21, 2007

i agree with changing out the substrate. that is one deep bed of cc. what are the tank params?

djmajor · Oct 21, 2007

Your tank looks great for being over twenty years old. Is this all hard wood? new? Looks really neat. I have reef tank in my office and Dad and most people come and sit and relax able to talk longer and brings then in more to look. One guy jokingly referred to it has liquid valium for the benefits. Seems funny to have it there and this makes for a better place for us since we all can enjoy. My Dad comes by too and this also builds our relationship more. I can also spend more time working more day time there than at home.

ooja3k · Oct 21, 2007

As for your filtration system... Is there a place where you can put a packet of carbon??? That would help get rid of some potential toxins in the water...

Also, do you have some sort of "clean up crew"?? This can be a conglomeration of snails and hermits that clean of algae for you

Reefscape · Oct 21, 2007

I would agree with what has been said above about switching the sandbed, and loose the under gravel filter in the process. I know you say your water tests are good, but, would it be possible for you topost them anyway to help us gain a better understanding of your system. Please post for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH, SG and temp.

All the green in the tank points towards a high nutrient level in the system. Your over feeding may not be helping aswell as this will raise nutrient levels..

What ammoun of flow does this tank have?

We will all help you the best we can to get this rectified and get the tank back to how it should be..

Niko

texanstwoone · Oct 24, 2007

Thanks for the advice. Do yall have any advice on how to change the coral gravel into a sand bed? I think that will be my first project along with changing the water and but some carbon filters in there. I will go and get the water tested this week as well.
Thanks again!
Jon T.

soccerkidbs · Oct 24, 2007

i would take out the rock and fish and anything else you have in there and drain the water. then i would start scooping. personaly i would do a system restart. pull everything out and replace substrate then will with water and add salty water to it. then i would add the rock and re cycle with the fish and anything else in qt. after that you would have a much better time with fish life.

Reefscape · Oct 24, 2007

I would not drain and remove everything, just do it in parts over a period of time, like a 1/3rd at a time..Scoop it out, and syphon around the rocks to clear it out, replace with aragonite sugar grade reef sand...leave for a week to settle down, then do another 1/3...and so on...

Look forward to seeing what your water test results come back as...and do you know what flow is in the tank? or tell us what model of powerheads, filters you have and we can do some sums and work it out for you mate...

Good deal

Niko

texanstwoone · Oct 30, 2007

ok. Today I am going to the fish store and getting 18 gallons of r/o water. Im going to ask them for a bag of aragonite sugar reef sand. Get my water tested. Scoop one third of the CC out and replace it with sand. Then change the water. Also I will get the power head models to yall stat. Does that sound like a good plan?
Once again, thanks so much for yalls help!
JT


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My Dad's 1984 tank

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