Frustrated. What do I need to do?

[Valkyrie]

I have two tanks, neither have had fish since January. One is a 29g with 2 anemones, some coral, an emerald crab, an anemone crab, a robust peppermint shrimp and snails. The other is a 55g with live sand and rock, snails, 2 emerald crabs and an anemone. March 26th marks the end of the fallow.

The 29g had been up since Dec. 2015 but had a faulty heater that killed everything in Aug. 2016. It's been now been running since early Sept. 2016. It has a HOB skimmer. It's teeming with pods. Stomatellas are reproducing like crazy, too.

The 55g has been up since mid September 2016, has a HOB overflow going into a 10g sump with a refugium, skimmer, 2 blue legged hermits and both the DT and the sump have stomatellas.

I cannot seem to get the dang KH up in either one!! Not only that, but I'm fighting ammonia and nitrites. The nitrates are about 0.2 in both. Do I need to get rid of my CUC to win this battle? That seems counterproductive to me. Should I add a refugium to the 29g? I have a 5g sitting around I *might* be able to retrofit underneath it in the cabinet. What about 55g? What can I do? I am ok with most DIY.

How is it that all the inverts seem happy and growing?

I've been sick with a head cold for the last 2 days and had to get water changes and testing done today, so my maximum frustration level is pretty low.

The good news is that the cyano is decreasing and because my husband no longer brews his own beer some of the equipment works really well in a reef. One piece is amazing for "vacuuming" in crevices and such.

What do I need to do to encourage some balance in these two tanks?

Thanks.

 

[bios]

First of all I will try to rebalance bacterias in your tanks
So I will dose good quality bacterias for N cycle giving also some food to them since NO3 go up and NO2 go down
Don't worry for kh now as you have not corals in your tanks

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I'm not sure I understand what you are saying.

When you say you cannot get the alkalinity up, what is it now and what have you done to raise it?


"Not only that, but I'm fighting ammonia and nitrites. The nitrates are about 0.2 in both. "

What is the ammonia level?

 

[Valkyrie]

When you say you cannot get the alkalinity up, what is it now and what have you done to raise it?

3 weeks of adding Alkalin8.3 KH Buffer not daily, but often.
29g is 7 (2.5Meq/L) and the 55g is 5 (1.8Meq/L)

What is the ammonia level?

29g is 0.2
55g is 0.8

 

[Reefrookie220]

Are you feeding these tanks?

If so what's your schedule/routine?

I ask because of the extremely low bioload and presence of ammonia and trites.

 

[Valkyrie]

Are you feeding these tanks?

If so what's your schedule/routine?

I ask because of the extremely low bioload and presence of ammonia and trites.

Hence my frustration.
I feed a tiny amount of mysis to each about every 2 days. I used to target feed the anemones (small piece of shrimp) and corals(Reef-roids) every 3 days, but I cut back to once a week 3 weeks ago.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

3 weeks of adding Alkalin8.3 KH Buffer not daily, but often.
29g is 7 (2.5Meq/L) and the 55g is 5 (1.8Meq/L)

But how much daily? 1 dKH 3 dKH?

 

[Valkyrie]

But how much daily? 1 dKH 3 dKH?

Well, I'll probably sound like an ignoramus, but I can at least give you what I do know.

I started adding Alkalin8.3 on February 19th after my readings of 4(55g) and 5 dKH (29g). I did use the low dose of 5mL/30g. I *should* have used 5mL/10g and if I didn't have inverts in them I would have done so. In hindsight, I should have anyway.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Well, I'll probably sound like an ignoramus, but I can at least give you what I do know.

I started adding Alkalin8.3 on February 19th after my readings of 4(55g) and 5 dKH (29g). I did use the low dose of 5mL/30g. I *should* have used 5mL/10g and if I didn't have inverts in them I would have done so. In hindsight, I should have anyway.

Use the calculator on the seachem site to determine how much dose is needed to boost alkalinity, and whether you were dosing a reasonable amount or not:
http://www.seachem.com/reef-buffer.php

 

[Valkyrie]

Use the calculator on the seachem site to determine how much dose is needed to boost alkalinity, and whether you were dosing a reasonable amount or not:
http://www.seachem.com/reef-buffer.php

Thanks. Maybe I need to change the product I'm using, too.