please tell me whats wrong

[Jim D]

I am running a 30 gallon supposidly reef tank. My readings that I can account for are, SG 1024-1025,nitrates 0, nitrites 0.10. ammonia 0.10. First my tank was struck down with Ich, treated with exodin. since then I have done a few water changes but my corals still don't look healthy. My fish,1 yellow banded maroon clown and 2 green cromis seem to have made a good recovery and are starting to do ok again. I also have 1 Scarlet shrimp, 2 camel shrimp, 6 red hermits and 3 turbo snails. I cant get ammonia level to zero. Fairly new to hobby, still learning. Water changes using RO water, approx 40 lb live rock,protein skimmer and powerhead. Also have some brown algae coating live rock. Where am I going wrong.

 

[beachbumin]

what tank supplements are you using? ie, lugals, tech a & b, coral excel, phytoplanton

 

[Jim D]

phytoplanton, was using a kent product but was told this mabye be causing algae problem

 

[beachbumin]

were you using coral excel? you may want to try RODI water to clean it up a little, you may also want to add a few more red or blue leg hermits. you shouldnt need to use the phytoplankton that much so if you are using it daily that could be the source of your alge

 

[Jim D]

Can you tell me the biggest reason ammonia levels not coming down although I do frequent water changes. Kent coral-vite about every 2-3 days

 

[Jim D]

please keep this going.......

 

[BrendanH]

How long has the tank been up ? When did the cycle complete ? Judging by the brown algae I'm guessing the tank is fairly new. Try to give us some more details on the tank's history including when the livestock were added. It's possible the cycle has not completed yet. With Ammonia and Nitrite at those levels I'm surprised the snails are not keeling over. Speaking of which - are all livestock accounted for ? Could there be some dead critters in there adding to the toxin levels ?

 

[BrendanH]

One other thing - when my tank was very young (it's still just 3.5 months old ) I added some TLC which helped establish strong bio filtration. I don't know if you've got the same product in the UK but it's basically live nitrifying bacteria. It may help give your tank a boost.

 

[Jim D]

My tank is about 9 months old now and up till I got ich everything was fine. all the residents in the tank that I know of are accounted for. I have added some more live rock but lfs maintains is cured so it gets a rinse then into tank. I used to have a very small crab that showed up for 2 nights but now I have not seen it for about 2 months. As for anything else, some creatures that I don't know about I don't want to have strip down tank to bare bones. This is where it becomes difficult. I do believe ich treatment would have knocked heck out of my biological filter, but I added chemical to kick start that again but would the skimmer take that straight out again. Aghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Was thinking about going back to freshwater again but decided i'm going to beat this and enjoy my tank.

 

[Hara]

It sounds like your tank is just going through a mini cycle again. My advice is to stay away from the chemicals and miracle products and a)shut off the skimmer
for a couple of weeks b)only do water changes enough to keep your stuff alive.
Let the live rock repopulate itself and then it will be able to do its job. Do not add any more fish or coral until your tank parameters are back to normal. As far as the rock you put in there.....it may/maynot be cured. It all depends on the length of time your LFS had it. IF it was just a short amount of time, it will go through die off as well.

 

[Jim D]

was going to do water change this evening 18.00 uk time when I decided to do ammonia check on ro water made up to specific gravity and temperature that I was going to use...... ammonia reading 0.25. done another on tap water made up as same. Guess what...ammonia reading 0.25 approx. So is my test kit duff or what. Checked water on other parameters and they are fine.

 

[BrendanH]

There's no way you should get a .25 Ammonia reading on fresh SW mixed with RO water as far as I know. Go get another test kit for Ammonia. Salifert seems to be the most recommended and I also have had good experience with them. Let us know when you've tried another kit. Another way to go of course is bring a sample into your LFS and have them test it for you. Most stores over here will do that free of charge, hopefully your experience will be the same in the UK. Good luck !

 

[Jim D]

My thinking too. So first thing water sample straight off to the LFS. Let you know asap. Cheers

 

[Jim D]

It's a shame you offline when i'm online.

 

[Jim D]

I have now purchased another ammonia test kit........reading 0.0. Now all I have to do is find out why my corals not opening properly.I have 2 camel shrimps and they don't seem to leave them alone. Is that some of my problem or is there a defiency somwhere something lacking in my water makeup. The salt I use is kent sea salt, but was using instant ocean.

 

[BrendanH]

Ah - that's good news. As regards the Corals, I'm not very experienced with them so you should perhaps start another thread dedicated to those questions.

 

[Jim D]

Cheers and thanks for your help

 

[BrendanH]

No problem