Need help first tank!!

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blert said:
Well, it doesn't look good. They are very resilient though. Is that as extended as it gets? Have you been moving it a lot? Any brown slime?

Place it in a low light area that has decent flow. You don't want it to be beat around but you want some movement. Then leave it be, the more you mess with it the more pissed off it will become.
Click to expand...

I haven't been moving it and I have seen brown slime coming from it
 
Wow. This thread has gotten kind of crazy.

I am going to start from the beginning to get all of the information out there that I think has been skimmed over. Sorry for the length but I feel it's necessary to get all of this information out there.

First off - Parameters
Every speck of fish food that goes into the tank will be made into ammonia, either being eaten and pooed by fish or just rotting in the tank. Ammonia is highly toxic to everything. You want your ammonia at 0. Any higher than that in a reef tank and there is a problem

There are bacteria in a tank that convert the ammonia to nitrite . The nitrite is also very toxic to everything alive in the tank. This also needs to be at 0. Any reading higher than that also signifies a problem.

Finally there are bacteria in the tank that converts the nitrites to nitrates. The nitrate is much less poisonous to fish. You want to keep this at 20 or below in a reef. There is also a bacteria that can be found in live rock that will consume the nitrate. This completes the cycle.

There are other things that you need to test for in a reef. Both phosphate and calcium are HUGELY important to test for in a reef.

High phosphates will cause algae growth and issues for corals

Low calcium will cause stunted growth for stony corals

Second - Salinity
Your salinity is FAR too high to be safe for anything in your tank and is very likely the reason your corals aren't doing very well. Start by taking out small amounts of water and replacing it with fresh ro/di or at the very least dechlorinated water. I would start with 1 cup at a time hourly until the specific gravity is down to about 1.025. The seasoning of a hydrometer is to remove any chemicals or harmful substances in the hydrometer, it will give a reasonably accurate reading whether it's seasoned or not.

Third - Algae
You are having massive amounts of algae growth because there are far too many nitrates and probably phosphates in the water. Start by doing large water changes - Approx 50% while making absolutely sure to match the temperature and the salinity of the replacement water before adding it to the tank. Each 50% water change will drop your nitrates by half. I would do at least 2 of these water changes waiting a day inbetween them.

Also, manual removal of the hair algae is important to control it. You can either take the rock out of the tank to remove it or simultaneously scrub and siphon it while the rock is still in the tank.

Fourth - Top off
Make sure to keep your water level constant. When you add more water due to evaporation make sure to use fresh water and not salt water.

Question time:
What lights are you using?
How long do you leave the lights on every day?
What kind of water flow do you have?
 
Mebbid said:
Wow. This thread has gotten kind of crazy.

I am going to start from the beginning to get all of the information out there that I think has been skimmed over. Sorry for the length but I feel it's necessary to get all of this information out there.

First off - Parameters
Every speck of fish food that goes into the tank will be made into ammonia, either being eaten and pooed by fish or just rotting in the tank. Ammonia is highly toxic to everything. You want your ammonia at 0. Any higher than that in a reef tank and there is a problem

There are bacteria in a tank that convert the ammonia to nitrite . The nitrite is also very toxic to everything alive in the tank. This also needs to be at 0. Any reading higher than that also signifies a problem.

Finally there are bacteria in the tank that converts the nitrites to nitrates. The nitrate is much less poisonous to fish. You want to keep this at 20 or below in a reef. There is also a bacteria that can be found in live rock that will consume the nitrate. This completes the cycle.

There are other things that you need to test for in a reef. Both phosphate and calcium are HUGELY important to test for in a reef.

High phosphates will cause algae growth and issues for corals

Low calcium will cause stunted growth for stony corals

Second - Salinity
Your salinity is FAR too high to be safe for anything in your tank and is very likely the reason your corals aren't doing very well. Start by taking out small amounts of water and replacing it with fresh ro/di or at the very least dechlorinated water. I would start with 1 cup at a time hourly until the specific gravity is down to about 1.025. The seasoning of a hydrometer is to remove any chemicals or harmful substances in the hydrometer, it will give a reasonably accurate reading whether it's seasoned or not.

Third - Algae
You are having massive amounts of algae growth because there are far too many nitrates and probably phosphates in the water. Start by doing large water changes - Approx 50% while making absolutely sure to match the temperature and the salinity of the replacement water before adding it to the tank. Each 50% water change will drop your nitrates by half. I would do at least 2 of these water changes waiting a day inbetween them.

Also, manual removal of the hair algae is important to control it. You can either take the rock out of the tank to remove it or simultaneously scrub and siphon it while the rock is still in the tank.

Fourth - Top off
Make sure to keep your water level constant. When you add more water due to evaporation make sure to use fresh water and not salt water.

Question time:
What lights are you using?
How long do you leave the lights on every day?
What kind of water flow do you have?
Click to expand...

Just did a couple tests.. Ammonia Is at 0 ppm, nitrite is at 0 ppm, salinity is at 1.028 which I think is high, ph is at 8.2, phosphate is 2.0 ppm, and calcium is 460 ppm
 
Mebbid said:
Wow. This thread has gotten kind of crazy.

I am going to start from the beginning to get all of the information out there that I think has been skimmed over. Sorry for the length but I feel it's necessary to get all of this information out there.

First off - Parameters
Every speck of fish food that goes into the tank will be made into ammonia, either being eaten and pooed by fish or just rotting in the tank. Ammonia is highly toxic to everything. You want your ammonia at 0. Any higher than that in a reef tank and there is a problem

There are bacteria in a tank that convert the ammonia to nitrite . The nitrite is also very toxic to everything alive in the tank. This also needs to be at 0. Any reading higher than that also signifies a problem.

Finally there are bacteria in the tank that converts the nitrites to nitrates. The nitrate is much less poisonous to fish. You want to keep this at 20 or below in a reef. There is also a bacteria that can be found in live rock that will consume the nitrate. This completes the cycle.

There are other things that you need to test for in a reef. Both phosphate and calcium are HUGELY important to test for in a reef.

High phosphates will cause algae growth and issues for corals

Low calcium will cause stunted growth for stony corals

Second - Salinity
Your salinity is FAR too high to be safe for anything in your tank and is very likely the reason your corals aren't doing very well. Start by taking out small amounts of water and replacing it with fresh ro/di or at the very least dechlorinated water. I would start with 1 cup at a time hourly until the specific gravity is down to about 1.025. The seasoning of a hydrometer is to remove any chemicals or harmful substances in the hydrometer, it will give a reasonably accurate reading whether it's seasoned or not.

Third - Algae
You are having massive amounts of algae growth because there are far too many nitrates and probably phosphates in the water. Start by doing large water changes - Approx 50% while making absolutely sure to match the temperature and the salinity of the replacement water before adding it to the tank. Each 50% water change will drop your nitrates by half. I would do at least 2 of these water changes waiting a day inbetween them.

Also, manual removal of the hair algae is important to control it. You can either take the rock out of the tank to remove it or simultaneously scrub and siphon it while the rock is still in the tank.

Fourth - Top off
Make sure to keep your water level constant. When you add more water due to evaporation make sure to use fresh water and not salt water.

Question time:
What lights are you using?
How long do you leave the lights on every day?
What kind of water flow do you have?
Click to expand...

I am using LED lights, the ones that came with the nano tank(white led and blue night time leds) and an extra strip of blue lights for extra light. Flow is just the flow coming from the filter and I also leave the lights on all day until night time when I change it to the blue lights
 
It's very likely that your light aren't strong enough for the corals, even with the added blues. Zoanthids often won't open if there isn't enough light for them. If the lights aren't strong enough for zoanthids then they certainly aren't strong enough for the hammer coral. The lights also shouldn't be on for more than 12 hours, 10 hours is a good length of time to shoot for.

Your phosphates are way too high. I would work on getting them lower. That is likely one of the issues you are having with the hammer coral and definitely the problem you are having with algae.

The salinity also needs to be dropped some more. Try shooting for 1.025.

The scooter blenny likely starved in a tank without a thriving pod population.

With the flow from the filter I doubt there is enough flow for your corals.

We also really need to know your nitrate level.

Have you bought a larger size tank yet?
 
I disagree with zoanthids not opening if there's not enough light. On the contrary, they would open more to increase surface area. At least this is what I have seen. It's not uncommon to have to wait a week or so for zoas to open after traveling/shipping.
Flow just coming from the filter leads me to believe there is not near enough flow in this tank. I believe this to be a nutrient issue. I would be doing water changes with a decent salt mix and good source water first thing.
I really don't think these tanks were meant to be reef tanks. I would look to the flow and add a power head if need be.
Also, that sand sifting starfish has no business in that tank either. It's going to slowly starve. I would not trust advice from this LFS any longer.
 
What is the pump that's providing flow right now? You could get a small power head if it's not enough, but I am wondering if you are stirring up things when you do water changes. Do you wave your hand in the water to blow any stuff that's settled? If so, do you see a lot of detritus blowing up?
 
mr_X said:
What is the pump that's providing flow right now? You could get a small power head if it's not enough, but I am wondering if you are stirring up things when you do water changes. Do you wave your hand in the water to blow any stuff that's settled? If so, do you see a lot of detritus blowing up?
Click to expand...

If I move the sand around there is stuff floating in the water. And the filter is the standard filter in the 5 gallon fluval. And what size would I buy?
 
I don't mean the sand itself, I mean anything settling on top of the sand and rock. Can you post a video of this tank so I can see the flow?
 
Fish would not be dead at that reading but it is high. Add some FW to bring it down. Next time you do a PWC on the new water I would add maybe 50%/50% FW and SW. That would bring it down slowly . Just do that for your next couple PWC`s.
 
From what ive been told and it works for me to get your salinity down dont add pure ro because it can mess with your parameters just add salted but at a lower concentration so that you are adding trace elements back into the tank from the salt mix my top off water is at .18 and my tank sits at .23 .24 hope this helps and goes ok.
 
After reading over your thread I'm glad to see you bought a power head. That should help a bit. As for your nitrate, doing some constant PWC's should help. And as for your algae and coral troubles I highly credit that all to your high phosphate levels. If you are not using rodi water to mix salt water or top off with your are probably never going to see a decrease in phosphate levels due to the levels of phosphate in your tap that I assume you are using. For now your problem with phosphate can be controlled fairly well by adding a bag of chemi pure elite media into your filter. Each bag should last 4 months or so give or take until you need to buy a new one. I would suggest buying an rodi system thought to make things less of a head ache for you. Hope all this helps and I hope everything shapes up for you. Don't give up! It's always worth it!
 
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