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pph_2ppr

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
Mar 7, 2007
Messages
164
Location
Nebraska
At the fish store they were having a sale so I bought some GSPs and a tree leather i think its called. I also added a baseball size mass of chaeto algae and a pound of live rock to fasten it to. Now when I tested my water before I got them all readings were good accept nitrate which is always 20. It's been 2 days after everything was added and neither corals have opened up. The part that puzzles me is how my ammonia is at 1 ppm! nitrite and nitrate are 0 and 20. I keep the SG at 1.025 temp at 78-80. I have a 35 watt compact fluorescent bulb over them.

Seeing the ammonia reading i quickly did a 20% water change and still have to re-test it. What can i do to ensure they open up and live?
 
GSP and some leathers will take a little time to adjust to a new tank.

How large is this tank? The lighting may be on the low side for corals unless this is a very small tank.

How long has your tank been set up?
 
It's a 10 gal. with a 3 gal refugium if u wanted to call it that. It's been up and running for 3 months and contains about 17 lbs of liverock. The leather has sorta branched out and sometimes it "deflates" putting out a foggy liquid. After the water change ammonia read .25 so thats a relief. What should I be doing to help them out?
 
Are you running carbon in your system? If you aren't it may be a good idea to do so for a little while just to help with the filtration.

Since you have a 10g tank I would suggest doing weekly PWCs. You don't have to do large ones but doing weekly PWCs will help keep your tank params in check.
 
I do 10% a week, but have been feeding more and thet probably isnt enough... Where do I get carbon...can you get it in like a HOB filter even for fresh water(i have a freshwater activated carbon pad)?

It's Aqua-Tech EZ-Change Filter Cartridge , contains pure activated carbon
 
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I don't think nitrates of 20 will make any corals happy. While the ammonia isn't helping, you've got to do something about those nitrates if you want corals in there.
 
I purchased a ball of Chaeto algae and put it in a refugium. How long will it take to lower the nitrate level? I did not re-test nitrate after the water change

how long should i run the carbon filter?
 
Doing PWCs will lower your nitrAtes far quicker the the cheato you just got. Aer you using RO/DI water or just tap water???
 
I do 10% a week, but have been feeding more and thet probably isnt enough...

Feeding less is what you want to do. Every 2 -3 days is all it takes.

Ideally you want nitrate reading at 0, although under 5ppm will do.

Right now you should concentrate on getting ammonia back to 0 by doing daily 10-20% pwc's.

You can run carbon 24/7 for a week, then remove it or replace the carbon.
 
Will the coral not open up until ammonia is zero and nitrate is down?
looking at some of the live rock I purchased to hold the algae down I noticed some zoos on them. If they are not in the lighting they require will they die and pollute the tank. Should I move them to the display?
 
What fish are in there and how much are you feeding? Every other day can work fine IMO.

The source of ammonia after you added new coral puzzles me. Somthing is dead and decaying maybe.

How did you cycle the tank?
 
That is exactly what I was thinking too. What all do you have in the tank? How many fish? Are there any missing? What else is in the tank?
 
There is 2 firefish along with three hermit crabs, but i've seen all of them in the past day. I was feeding daily, but will now do every other day unless I'm sure that they need more. Would it be better to feed a little everyday or more every other day?

I cycled the tank with a pair of damsels which have been removed.
 
Feed less every other day. Research has shown that fish live longer on a 30% reduced caloric intake. That means they are always hungry and actively looking for food. Feed every 2-3 days what they can consume over a few minutes.

Firefish need very little food, like 1 flake each.
 
Iv'e been giving around 10 mysis shrimp every day about. Should I reduce their diet slowly or all at once? The leather coral appeared to open up, but the gsp are still hiding.

on the firefish, they are sharting to show yellow coloring in their red is this normal?
 
I don't know how big the mysis that are feeding are. How long does it take for the firefish to consume the 10 shrimp?

Your corals are most likely still acclimating to your tank and lighting. Give them a few days.
 
Is it normal for the tree leather to inflate and deflate? It did this a few times over the period of a day. The shrimp are small and all eaten within 30 seconds. Noticed a few bristle worms, are these fine to have in the aquarium with coral?
 
Can you post a photo of your tree leather so we can identify it better?

You should feed enough that the fish consume it over a period of 3 - 5 minutes. If it's gone in 30 seconds then you should feed them another 10 -20 shrimp.

Bristle worms are good to have in the tank.
 
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