CaddoMoney
New Member
My wife and I adopted and "established" tank/setup just over a month ago. I say "established" because it seemed like it was built up and neglected for a while. We have both had decent sized freshwater aquariums in the past (55 gallons+) and have always wanted to take the plunge into reefs. The opportunity presented itself and we now have a setup that consists of a 30 gallon (the taller variety) main tank with a 20 gallon L refugium. The main tank has a HOB protein skimmer, 425gph powerhead, 2 T5 Bulbs (one 10K and one actinic), a sand bed and 25-30lbs of live rock. The tank feeds into an overflow, down some pvc and goes into the 20 gallon refugium which has a sand bed, live rock, and is about half full of chaeto algae and then is pumped back into the main tank.
When we took ownership of this setup, we were told that the previous owner had put some coral in the tank that died and killed all of the fish (it's unknown how many fish were in it). There was about a 5-6 member cleaner crew, and a skunk shrimp that were (and still are) alive. The tank also had quite a bit of coralline algae growing on the back and the rocks. During the move, about half of the coralline turned white I'm assuming to the tank drain. The sand bed in both tanks seemed a bit dirty and established, once we got everything moved and started back up, we tested the water and everything looked fine. We added a 10 piece cleaner crew and some LPS corals. Since then we've also added two fire fish, a goby, and a small clown fish and a piece of candy cane coral that was from a larger piece that someone was trying to revive.
In the past few weeks, my nitrates have spiked. I've added micro baiter 7, AmQuel, and have done weekly partial water changes. We have 50 gallons total volume, but with the sand and live rock, I really think that we're dealing with 35-40 gallons total. Ammonia and Nitrite has always tested 0 - and all other parameters seem in check. I don't know if this is a case of overfeeding, tank cycling, or something else. I didn't have a light on the refugium until a two days ago and I added a led - the chaeto seems green and fluffy. I don't know how long it's been in there either - it was in the tank when we took it over - as was the sand that's also looking pretty gross. I don't know if I need to throw a sand sifting star or goby in the fugue to eat the detritus or if I should do my next water change out of it and try to get some of it out of there.
Last night, nitrates were about 50ppm, after the 10 gallon water change they were down to 0 (I might have measured before everything fully cycled through tho) and this morning they were about 30ppm.
I'm open to suggestions, and greatly appreciate the help in advance. I just don't know where to go from here. I thought about dosing with vodka, but at this point, I feel like drinking it would do more good
I think that about covers all of the details that I can think of - if there's anything that I've left out that might provide some clues to help get it down, please don't hesitate to ask. Thanks again!
When we took ownership of this setup, we were told that the previous owner had put some coral in the tank that died and killed all of the fish (it's unknown how many fish were in it). There was about a 5-6 member cleaner crew, and a skunk shrimp that were (and still are) alive. The tank also had quite a bit of coralline algae growing on the back and the rocks. During the move, about half of the coralline turned white I'm assuming to the tank drain. The sand bed in both tanks seemed a bit dirty and established, once we got everything moved and started back up, we tested the water and everything looked fine. We added a 10 piece cleaner crew and some LPS corals. Since then we've also added two fire fish, a goby, and a small clown fish and a piece of candy cane coral that was from a larger piece that someone was trying to revive.
In the past few weeks, my nitrates have spiked. I've added micro baiter 7, AmQuel, and have done weekly partial water changes. We have 50 gallons total volume, but with the sand and live rock, I really think that we're dealing with 35-40 gallons total. Ammonia and Nitrite has always tested 0 - and all other parameters seem in check. I don't know if this is a case of overfeeding, tank cycling, or something else. I didn't have a light on the refugium until a two days ago and I added a led - the chaeto seems green and fluffy. I don't know how long it's been in there either - it was in the tank when we took it over - as was the sand that's also looking pretty gross. I don't know if I need to throw a sand sifting star or goby in the fugue to eat the detritus or if I should do my next water change out of it and try to get some of it out of there.
Last night, nitrates were about 50ppm, after the 10 gallon water change they were down to 0 (I might have measured before everything fully cycled through tho) and this morning they were about 30ppm.
I'm open to suggestions, and greatly appreciate the help in advance. I just don't know where to go from here. I thought about dosing with vodka, but at this point, I feel like drinking it would do more good
I think that about covers all of the details that I can think of - if there's anything that I've left out that might provide some clues to help get it down, please don't hesitate to ask. Thanks again!
