I need alot of help, caring for neighbors tank

6months · 05-11-2007, 04:40 PM

I have no idea what to do, and how to do it with this Saltwater set up. My next door neighbor had to leave quickly to Iraq for 6 months. He said he'd email me some instructions on his tank upkeep, but I haven't heard from him yet and it's been nearly a week.
Can I take a picture of his set up and someone help me with water changes?
He's got 2 shrimp in there, and as far as I know that's it for "Critters".I know how much to feed and to do it once a week....but..... He left testing equipment too, but he really ran through this stuff so fast last week, that I just look at it and have no clues!
I don't want to kill his critters.
I have a freshwater tank, so I'm familar with basic aquarium care, just not these weekly water changes and osmosis stuff and backup tanks, and the like.
Please give me somewhere to start???web directions, a good book..something...
Thanks,
Terri

gm333 · 05-11-2007, 05:17 PM

First off................

Take a pic of the tank and all other smaller tanks and equipment he has and we will go from there. We need to figure out how he is doing top-offs and what he does for dosing chems. Take a pic of those as well. They should be in bottles or cans. Taking care of a saltwater tank is not as difficult as fresh, just a little more maintenance.

6months · 05-11-2007, 06:10 PM

I'm going to upload photos now.
I just realized when resizing them, that I didn't get a good shot of some of the stuff to the left on the bottom level.

http://usera.imagecave.com/MrsPacNW/saltwater/

oh and there is a hose coming off the kitchen faucet. I think it goes to the trash can, but maybe it goes to the filters on the floor..I need to make notes when I go over next time!!!!

gm333 · 05-11-2007, 10:16 PM

Umm, It seems the account has been temporarily disabled. I can only see the thumbnails and cant really get a good look at all the stuff.
See if you cant find a way for me to get in and look.

Chitown1 · 05-12-2007, 10:14 AM

WELCOME TO FTF!!!

As GM mentioned, it is not difficult to maintain, so dont feel overwhelmed. I did not see a test kit in the pics, but they are only thumbnails, that will be your best way to monitor the tank and parameters. You can check out the article section of the forum for some good info on maint. and set ups, I suggest you start with the set ups even though the tank is established, it will give you more info on what needs to be maintained. One of the most important things is not to over feed, it will play havoc with the water conditions.

6months · 05-12-2007, 10:48 PM

I don't know why it would have been disabled. If I have to, I'll put them somewhere else.
Okay, I'll head to the articles...Thanks..
I know how much to feed, and to do it once a week..it's the water changes and such I don't get.

okay..I'm slowly remembering bits and pieces..he said to only take out 5 gallons, but I'm not sure if I syphon from off the actual tank or the lower tank??
Then I'm not sure where I put in the 5 gallons of "new" water? He's got a spare bucket by the tank with a heater in it.(empty at the moment) The trash can has water in it with a float attached..I'm assuming it's self fill, but I don't know where that water comes from??? Am I right in thinking that the faucet is hooked up to the Reverse Osmosis set up and then into the trash can? And then maybe that water goes somewhere else or straight into the lower tank???
I'll go take notes tomorrow, notating what seems to be connected to where.
There are a whole bunch of test kits, and chemicals...And a little "tester" thingie...But do I test the water, before the water change or after? And do I do it more than once a week? He said to use the lower tank water to perform the tests.
He told me when I do a water change, to unplug the power strip that doesn't have the timer on it...(that's easy!) LOL
I have the syphon hose from my freshwater, I'll use that, because I'm familar with it.
I have no idea how much salt, and what water "bucket"/can/tank that goes in.
Do I do that everytime I put a "new" replacement 5 gallons into the "system"?
I looked in the articles section, but I didn't see saltwater set up, or am I just missing it? Can you give me a few direct links to what I should be reading, or atleast titles of the threads?
Thanks so much for your patience in helping me figure this out.
Terri

gm333 · 05-12-2007, 11:15 PM

Ok, I just got in and I can see he has a tub of water for R/O( I do belive this is the trash can with the small water pump on top) He has a mixing bucket for saltwater. The only tests you should be worried about right now is nitrate, ammonia, and nitrite. The calcium can wait a little down the road.
I can tell already the tank has high nitrates( because of the green hair algae all over the place), test the tank for nitrates, nitrites and ammonia. The directions are in the box, and will tell you how to do the tests. Give us the results from those. Also do you know the last time he did a waterchange, and how frequent he did them? After this is done we will go from there.
Do you see any crabs or snails in the tank? Also what kind of shrimp does he have, describe them and we will figure out what kind they are.

6months · 05-13-2007, 10:17 PM

Okay here's some information.
I just read your post for the first time, I was already over there about 30 minutes ago, so this is what I noted..and..I fed the shrimps..and I saw the smaller red one(rustyreddish color and small maybe 1 1/2" long all one color). I've only seen the peppermint shrimp before.(red and white stripe, large about 3-4", very pretty)..oh and I noticed a hermit type crab thingie eating today in the front too. I fed them the finger nail size of frozen shrimpy bits, and they were HUNGRY! I figured they fed them Tuesday before the last house member left..but the way they were "goin" for the food, maybe not!
Okay, here's the tests he has on the counter. Calcium, carbonate hardness, Nitrate and Ammonia.
The "additives" are:
Tech CB A&B bottles
Chromaplex
zooplex
phytoplex

Here's the water to tank set up:
Faucet(not turned on) goes to osmosis, with a drain hose back to the sink from the osmosis.
Osmosis to trash can, trash can hose to inside the cabinet "dripping" occasionally into lower tank.

Yes he commented on his hairy algae before he left..
Today I wiped down the green "side" algae I could reach...
I'm pretty sure he wanted a water change weekly, because that's what he did...I'm assuming the water change was done before he left which was the Thursday before last. (His wife left Wed morning, so I'm not sure if she did one after he left and before she left. I'm assuming NOT though.)

Okay tomorrow I'll do the tests and write the results and bring them to you all here...

Thanks so much for your constant patience!

gm333 · 05-13-2007, 11:17 PM

Ok, lets focus on waterchanges and the top-off he has set up. The chemicals can wait for now. It sounds like he has a drip top-off system going. Obviously inside the trash can there is a float which turns off the R/O unit when the float comes up. Just keep an eye out to make sure he has no problems with the float sticking and overflowing the container. If he has the drip rate set right it should be continually filling the tank with water from the trash can(well call it the r/o tub) into the sump(small tank underneath) to replace evaporated water. Make sure to keep an eye on the salinity every couple of days to make sure it doesnt get too low, and that the top-off unit isnt adding too much r/o water. You will test the salinity with the funky looking clear thing with the white swing arm in it. To measure the salinity slowly sink it in the tank( you want to try and keep the bubbles from getting on the white swingarm) Once the thing is filled pull it out of the water and tap on it to get rid of any bubbles on the arm. The arm should point to the numbers at 1.025. If it is lower than that we will take care of raising it when you do the next water change. Dont add salt straight to the tank it will burn the shrimp.

DO water changes on a day you know you will always be able to make it over there that day.

Once we get the test results from the tests and salinity and figure out what day you will be doing waterchange we will go from there.

He has no corals so I dont see why he was adding the tech c&b, zooplex, or phyto those are coral foods.
If you dont mind taking some close-ups of the tank so we can make sure he isnt trying to feed anything special that would be good.
As far as the hair algae we can get to that in time after you get a shcedule down for maintenance. It is ok if you want to try and clean the glass or other though.

Any questions you might have about anything?

6months · 05-14-2007, 12:14 AM

I think there are corals..I know he had only corals in the tank the last time he went to Iraq for 6 months, a year ago..another neighbor took care of the tank, but didn't do a very good job...I will attempt to get you more close up pictures of the insides tomorrow. I will also do the water test. Do I do it in the main tank or the lower tank? He (David) said to do the testing from the lower tank, since it was all the same water.
But since I'm starting from scratch, I follow your instructions!

Won't he be suprised if you help me get rid of his hair algae??!!

oh and I don't need to add anything(chemical) to the tester dohicky, to get a saline reading?

oh and I think Tuesdays are best for me.