Feel Like Throwing In The Towel(RANT)!

Fishtails · Sep 25, 2011

We've all had this feeling at least one time or another. Seems as if its hit me again. I love this hobby, know I can't leave her alone. But at this point it seems as if I just want to take down the tank. After a move a couple months ago it seems as if everything is going downhill. Loss of fish, algae outbreaks yet after going thru the basic "what could be the cause" there is never a clear cause. Now don't get me wrong the tank is lovely in its own right but when I look at pictures and view others tanks in person I'm simply mesmerized. Why can't mines look so nice??! More or less it seems when I've had a well established tank running for a while I tend to lose interest. Spending a good amount of change monthly doesn't help as well. lol. I would love to do a complete overhaul of the tank. Its covered in anthelia and Xenia. GSP. Too much pink and green. Rockwork is ugly. Hair algae that I can't seem to find the cause of? A lonely clownfish in the tank who seems to be hanging in there. A frag terrorizing, sand sifting pistol shrimp. I come here to rant because I've personally have met a few of you all being we've all been to this point, multiple times for many of us, I could use some motivation.

OR maybe I should go the easy route, break down the tank and go back fresh. BORING. :sad:

END RANT. thanks guys for reading and now you should have a heart full of sympathy for a unhappy reefer such as myself.

fishdoc11 · Sep 25, 2011

Did you reuse your sandbed when you moved?

Dowtish · Sep 25, 2011

There are plenty of options other than quitting. You just need a plan of attack. It sounds as if you get bored easily, and sometimes that can be detrimental. Leaving the tank alone, and keeping your hands out of it, can help quite a bit. If you want some change, then attack it head on. Get a big rubbermaid, put your fish and corals in it. Scrub the rocks and get the HA off, get rid of the xenia and anthelia. And rescape the tank. It will look different and might not be so boring. Get some decent lights, and test religiously. And let the tank get stable. No big swings of any kind. And see how you feel after...that's all I got

revsgirl · Sep 25, 2011

we've been there too! It always helps to do some trading to mix it up a little, maybe focus on a different area of the hobby. We're thinking about having a predominate clown fish and nem tank just for a new project and to change things up.

pickupman66 · Sep 25, 2011

I can 100% share your pain. I have been battling a few issues myself that I never faced with my old tank. Mainly Cyano rearing it ugly head. I have been unable to fully put my hand on the cause of it but now i think I may have narrowed it down to having minor ammts of phosphate in my tank. it has been testing at .03ppm but recently spiked to .13ppm today. upped the gfo to get it pulled back down.

NanaReefer · Sep 25, 2011

Can totally identify with your rant...a lot!

commonstranger · Sep 26, 2011

Hmmmmmm as the gunny Sgt would say. Suck it up solider !!! smacks you on the back and hands you a brush now get in there after that HA !! lol

MattL22 · Sep 26, 2011

I had dinos for 6 monthssssssss!!!! was at the end of my rope so with friends advice I tried zeozym and also began Prodibo regimen I'm very happy with results! Btw this was only after aggressive use of Gfo and weekly wc that I tried this !
Hang in there!!

pickupman66 · Sep 26, 2011

If it Serioiusly GHA, you should seriously look at two things.

1. The rood cause (phosphates, nitrates etc..) and work to eliminate that. once you have a handle on that...
2. look into Marine Algaefix. that stuff worked great for me and I havent seen GHA since.....

Dowtish · Sep 26, 2011

I was assuming by the original post, that he has exhausted all reasons and causes? But then again this was just an assumption....

Should I dare ask for params, and details of filtration????

poolkeeper1 · Sep 26, 2011

Excess Nutrients, Remove Nutrients= GHA Gone It's a pretty simple fix, The hard part is finding the actual source of the nutrients and eliminating it. Once you do this your issues with stability will improve.
The choices you make as far as what you put in your tank though are important, And IMO you have made lots of questionable choices of what types of live coral and inverts to add to your troubles of having that tank you desire.
All the comments made so far are ways to improve your tank, It's up to you to get started to change course!
Bill

Fishtails · Sep 26, 2011

Sure. The basics of the tank. 24G nanocube. I run purigen, Seagel( which supposedly removes phosphates), carbon and floss (which I change out every 3-4 days). Lighting is a 150w Radium. Only fish in there is a clownfish. This all began to occur after the move and yes I used the original SB. Made a posting a while back and was told that was probably the cause of the issues at that point. I'm guessing it'd be enough time for things to settle back down. Tested water with an API kit yesterday and here are how the basic levels look.
Temp-77-79 never goes higher or lower(controller)
PH-7.8-8.0(controller)
Ammonia-0PPM
Nitrates-0-5PPM
Nitrites-0PPM
Cal-380
SG-1.027
Don't have a phosphate kit, or one that's accurate enough. When tested with the API it always read untraceable. I have heard and read I should invest in something more efficient. I also use RO water from AC. I'm assuming they're RO filters are maintained regularly? Only top off with fresh RO water.

The GHA definitely is a big ugly in the tank. Its only isolated to a few rocks. Most all the live rock is covered in coral though which will make this a much more timely task. If any of you have ever owned Anthelia you know how much a PITA this can become after months of letting it grow wild. I'm sure AC would love a bunch of rocks of this stuff. I've seen it growing in the shrimp den with nearly 0 light. The tank is definitely doing well. I have plenty of purple coralline growing on the glass and rocks. All soft corals thrive. I also have had really good luck with certain LPS such as Acans. The biggest thing is this hobby is EXPENSIVE. lol, we all know this though. I just hate investing in a frag and its missing do to this dang shrimp. I've even moved them higher(not too high as too bleach) but within a few days the frag is missing. This guy is moving corals that are on nice size frag rocks!!!

I honestly think I should take some time this week and pull the rocks, scrub em, and redecorate. Take a bunch of these corals I am getting tired of to the LFS, get some credit and decide what I'd like to do. I thank you all for the motivation and see many of you in agreement. I've been in this hobby for a good 8 years and have had many ups and downs. Usually the good outweighs the bad. I'll try to hang in there a little longer. lol