Whats going on here?...

[HappyHooligan]

Nitrogen bubbles? I cycled the tank in late april

 

[roka64]

Looks like some air pockets and the start of cyano.

 

[HappyHooligan]

Cyano huh? crap
well, I guess I'll reposition a PH for some better flow, cut my lighting by a couple hours, and be patient.
Again, the tank has only been up 3-4 months so I'm not going to try anything to heroic just yet.

 

[roka64]

LOL! Sounds like a good plan.
Are you using a filter?

 

[HappyHooligan]

Are you using a filter?

Skimmer rated for a 120g tank (I have a 90g).
At the moment I have a little HOB power filter running in the DT to maintain bact. for my QT.

 

[roka64]

Ok, cool. You can still clean out the media/biowheel in your old PWC to keep the bacteria alive.
It sounds like added flow would be a good start with the others.
It could also be your feeding...
How much/what/often are you feeding?

 

[HappyHooligan]

All I have in the tank right now is a clown fish which I feed 1-2 times a day.
A pepp. shrimp and an emer. crab which I throw an algea wafer or a small piece of shrimp too maybe once a week.

You can still clean out the media/biowheel in your old PWC to keep the bacteria alive.
It sounds like added flow would be a good start with the others.

Say that again, not sure what you mean.

 

[mtlion]

Sounds like you may be feeding the clowns too frequently, once every 2 or 3 days should be ok. I had the same issue you had and was feeding every day, started doing every other and things started to look better.

 

[roka64]

I agree, I feed every other day and sometimes even skip a day.
I was saying you can rinse out whatever media you have in your filter (sometimes, they can cause nitrAte buildup) in your PWC water to clean it and preserve the biofilter as opposed to cleaning it in FW which would kill the biofilter.

 

[HappyHooligan]

oh, ok. I see what your saying.
The HOB has the standard slide in filter w/ carbon which I try to soak off as much as I can. The HOB also has one of those "bio-floss" inserts. Is that enough to host bacteria? Could I skip the carbon filter all together?

 

[roka64]

I haven't run carbon in either of my tanks in years, but if you are planning on using the media in your filter to seed a QT, I would look at a simple sponge. You don't need to run it in there all the time. I would say when you plan on getting another fish, add the sponge (dry, clean, no detergents in it) about 4-7 days before you get the fish and let it sit in the filter to give the bacteria time to colonize it.