Time to clean up this mess

[Brenden]

Doing a regular water change is good but doing many IMO makes no sense.

Depending on water quality since you have fish and if I remember correctly you still have traces of NH3 and or NO2.

 

[TheRealFF]

Right now, im doing 25% WC biweekly.

I buy new SW from a LFS. Never thought of testing it but i believed it's mineral-free b/c they have a big system to clean the water at the store. I'll test it today when i get some.

Im using my drinking water (i have an RO unit) to top off. Tested for PO4 and it was 0. I'll test for Nitrate right away.

I feed my fishes 3-4 small (1/3 of an inch diameter) flakes daily.

I'll take some picture as soon as i get my camera back (left it at my cousin's house hehe).

Thanks for the golden advices

 

[seaham358]

Sounds good.


what test kit do you use that you can get a 3-4? and what is the high number on that scale.
I was buying ro/di at a LFS and did not think about testing it.. One day I put my TDS meter in the water and it was very high... I want to say around 100.... I never bought water there again. I would never trust a LFS selling water after that without testing..

 

[TheRealFF]

I have a Hagen Master Test Kit. It sounds like some bootleg name but it was the only test kit i could find at the LFS lol. The nitrate test has 110 as maximum. The values on the scale are 5, 10, 20, 50, 110. When i test my water, the color comes out to be abit lighter than 5 so i just put the result as 3-4.

 

[seaham358]

3-4 is real good.... In a reef 0 is the number to shoot for, your not far from that. And in a new tank that is still adjusting to things IMO your doing fine. when I first started I had nitrates all the time, never really got above 20 as long as I kept up on the monthly water changes. Only after the tank matured and I added a fuge did I get a constant 0 on the NO3. In time as you learn things it will all come together.

 

[MT79]

I absolutlety agree w/ Seaham's advice/observations. The tank is still very young and it is normal to go through various algal blooms for the first several weeks or more.

have a Hagen Master Test Kit. It sounds like some bootleg name but it was the only test kit i could find at the LFS

I would recommend buying a premium test kit such as a Sea-Chem or Salifert brand. They are readily available online and fairly inexpensive. Considering the job you count on your test kits to do, skimping here can end up costing you much more $$ and hassles in the long run. Good luck

 

[MT79]

I feed my fishes 3-4 small (1/3 of an inch diameter) flakes daily.

Flake foods are a poor food source for fish. They tend to pollute the water better than they nourish the fish(although you do feed very little). A varied diet of fresh, store bought seafoods(search for "blender mush" recipe), or frozen commercial fish foods is best. Flakes should only be a part of your tanks diet. Cutting back on the flakes should reduce PO4 some, along w/ soaking frozen foods in RO/DI water before use to remove excess nutrients. Most people feed their tanks every other day also to help cut down on PO4, nitrate, etc. Hope that helps.

 

[TheRealFF]

I did a 5G WC today. Forgot to test the store's water stupid me. Im gonna test the tank's water tomorrow. The algae on the glass is insane. I wiped the front glass in morning and at noon i had to wipe it again. It keeps forming a film of greenish, slimy algae that is really easy to wipe off. As far as on LR and LS, i definitly has small patches of hair algae, and some brownish, hairy like algae on both LR and LS. Diatom or Cyano? U think i should add more cleaner up members into my tank next week if parameters are stable?

O yea i bought a hydrometer today and tested my water. SG was 1.026. Is it good? I tried to look up books and sites for range of SG but they give dif ranges.

I also returned my Scooter Blenny I didn't like him much and seeing him struggling to catch flakes isn't fun. My clowns are doing fantastic. The smaller clown (used to be 2/3 of the bigger one) is now the same side of the other dude I guess "she" is gonna be the female. Their behavior is strange tho. They keep swimming near the top left of the tank...making the tank look extremely empty. It's like a ghost tank hehe.

Thanks a million for any advice.

 

[Brenden]

SG was 1.026. Is it good? I tried to look up books and sites for range of SG but they give dif ranges.

1.024-1.026 is ideal. The hydrometer was a required purchase. Should have talked your parents into getting you a refractometer. Tell your dad it is cheaper than the fish he has been buying. It will also help you keep them alive.

 

[TheRealFF]

Yea... i was trying but the guy at the lfs told my dad we didn't need such an expensive device. I was ready to give that guy a beating, hehe. My water is changing

Ammonia 0
Nitrite .1
Nitrate 10
Phosphate 1
PH 8.4

All the inverts and my clowns are doing fine tho. The water is cloudy somehow . The front glass keeps forming film of slimmy/greenish algae daily. It's weird that when i clean the glass with a magnet brush, the algae grow back in a few hours, but when the snails eat the algae on the glass, it takes days for it to grow back. Mayb the snails eat the roots that the brush cant brush off?

I've change my light cycle to:

8am - 5pm: 65W actinic + moonlight
5pm - 8pm: 65W actinic + moonlight + 65W 10,000k
8pm - 8am: moonlight

I keep the moonlight on b/c i heard algae doesn't like the actinic spectum. Plus when i tried to give the tank complete black out at night, my clownsfishes freaked out and bumped into things.

I also reduced feeding to once every two days.

Any other procedure should be care out to help my tank out? Thank you guys so much

 

[afilter]

I still believe this is because your tank is still estbalishing itself. Again, cut the lights. All 64w bulbs on 8 hours max right now you are running 12 hours total. I do not think the moonlights matter. I do not use them so someone else can comment.

 

[cmor1701d]

Yes, cut that light cycle down to 8 hours max for now. The moon lights I assume are blue LED, probably 1w. They are not actinic, just blue. They won't cause any algae growth, but neither will they inhibit it.

 

[TheRealFF]

Ok, my skilter skimmer SUCKS. It skims sooo slow and releases tons and tons of micro bubbles into the tank. Im thinking of upgrading my skimmer to a better one this weekend. Any suggestion on an ideal skimmer for a 29G? Thanks

I've reduced my light cycle to 6hrs/day temporary to get rid of the algae and it seems to be working.

My yellow leather coral got a big tear . I think it was my emerald crab b/c when i picked up the coral to inspect it, the crab was underneath the coral. Should i return him?

My water is still cloudy with lots of particles floating around for some reason. I'll do some more WC this weekend i guess.