Shinigami_Kitaru
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
- Joined
- Apr 8, 2012
- Messages
- 10
Hello. I have been in the hobby since '93. I set up a FOWLR. The tank is still very young. It is about a month and a half now. The LR and LS was from my previous tank which had a seal issue. Anticipating any die off in the rock I lightly scrubbed the LR with a toothbrush and baster blasted it (no hitchhikers). The sand was siphoned to make sure any organics would be removed. 10% water changes every 4 days to keep params in check. Needless to say the new tank looks gorgeous. Im running a 10g AGA with a 3.5 DSB, 30lb of LR, AC70 modded Fuge with cheto and chemi-pure on the vent. Oceanic 220 circulation pump, 2 tetra 50w preset heaters (comfy 78.3°), 2 coralife 20w 50/50 PC's, 3" acrilic diy counter current skimmer (24" long with nice brown skim). Now the problem. I had an issue with what i was thinking was cyano so i went with a lower feeding schedule, dropped the lighting for 72 hours, and vac the top of the sand. (wish i had taken a pic). Either way i have had an issue with trates since the tank started which is not so strange considering the age of the system. I put in three cleaners on the third week after the diatomes leveled out. Readings were 0's with the exception of trates (used to that). I use distilled water and red sea salt (non coral). I have a mexican turbo that is looking a little sick and not eating or moving around much. The only loss i have had in my tank was a scar hermit. I had a bloom of what i thought was cyano but it looked almost black with light hairs and was in slimey carpets on the sand. I vac and disposed and the tank is clear yet again, but my worry is it might have been dinos. The tank has been throughly cleaned and perams are good but a little high on trates (30ppm). Currently besides him i have 9 scar hermits, two super tongans, an astrea, and decorator crab. All had a two hour drip before entering the tank. Any idea how i can prevent this loss?