incloud
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
- Joined
- Oct 31, 2012
- Messages
- 36
Hello everyone, this is my first post here and I am resorting to a forum to try and get some answers (solid) on where to start with the mess I'm in. I started a Fluval Edge 12 gallon marine tank in August, it was a pain to maintain so I purchased a 46 Gal. Bowfront. The Bowfront has been set up now for about a month. I used everything from the Fluval which included live sand and one pound of live rock. I'm pretty sure the Fluval had cycled as I tested and saw a rise and drop in all API Ammonia, Nitrite and then Nitrate. Being I only had a pound of live rock I think I was recycling every time I cleaned the Fluval 306 canister. Had no idea what i was doing and am anal and a bit OCD. Kept cleaning every bit of funk or algae I saw. Bad, I know. Anyway, my setup now is with one Fluval 305 as a mechanical filter with Carbon also. Also, a Fluval 306 as straight BIO filtration. I have about 2" of mixed live sand, aragonite and crushed coral. There's a Tom's skimmer at the top of the tank for one feed and a sock on the other stock Fluval feed. I have one Hydor Koralia Nano powerhead and a 1050 in the mail. Oh, I also built a spraybar out of PVC and connected the two Fluval returns to it. It works great and provides a good amount of surface agitation. Now the problem: I have 2 small clowns, a pearl scale butterfly and a bunch of crabs and snails. Also a ployp colony. There's a black clown goby in a recently built quarantine tank. When I brought the butterfly home a couple weeks ago, it broke out with white spots (ick) and I have been treating it for a little over a week with Voogle and Ick Attack. It's gotten much better, but there are still occasional spots. I have no idea what to do or how long to wait before I can add any fish from quarantine. The internet and every LFS I go to has sorted advice. All it really does is stress me out and cost more money. I just want to know if I should take all the fish in my DT out and put them in quarantine to eliminate the ick from them. Then how do I completely remove the ick from the display tank with coral and live rock and the such. Seems I can not get a solid answer on this. Some say the ick will die without fish, some say use copper, some hypo salinity. Last but not least, some say you can never get rid of the ick. With all that, I feel as though I have destroyed my tank and am ready to give up. What fun is there with a gamble at all times whether or not you get an ick outbreak and have to go without your tank for months as described? I love the hobby and adore my fish, but I have a life and can't afford to spend 8 hours a day maintaining their world. Please if anyone could lead me in the right direction here, it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance for any and all support on this lengthy explanation.
Water all tests fine, have to buffer for 8.2-8.4 PH (Red Sea Coral Pro Salt)
78 Degrees DT and QT
1.021 Salinity DT and QT
Water all tests fine, have to buffer for 8.2-8.4 PH (Red Sea Coral Pro Salt)
78 Degrees DT and QT
1.021 Salinity DT and QT