Hi all,
I’m about 4 weeks into my reefing journey and wanted to say how great I’ve found this forum whenever I’ve needed a bit of a helping hand!
I purchased a Red Sea Reefer 170 second hand, along with everything to go with it. My equipment includes;
- Echotech Radion XR15
- Vectra S1 pump
- Bubble Magus Curve 5 skimmer
- 2 x Jecod wave makers
The live rock, ceramic balls and sand was already well established (approx 2 years) and I literally dissembled everything, transported it and set it back up. I’ve had no major dramas, used ATM colony to prevent a major spike when I set it all back up.
The only issue I’m having is getting my ammonia down to absolute 0 and keeping it there. Also can’t seem to shift nitrates to 5 or below consistently. Im doing water changes (25L) once or twice a week at the moment and testing most parameters daily. Everything else is really steadyAny advice?
Params are as follows;
- Salinity 1.026
- Ammonia 0.1-0.2
- Nitrites 0
- Nitrates 5-10
- dKH 9.5
- pH 8.2
- Phosphates 0.03
- Magnesium 1400
- Calcium 450
My Livestock is as follows:
- Clown
- Cosmos Wrasse
- Yellow Wrasse (getting harassed by Cosmos and hides most of the time)
- Red Banded Wasp Fish
- Scarlet Skunk Cleaner Shrimp
- CUC - multiple hermits (5ish..), turbo snail, a number of other snails
Corals;
- GSP
- Aussie Duncan (2 heads)
- Fairy dust zoas, Rastas, Fruit Loops
- Frogspawn euphyllia
- 2 hammers
- Plating Montipora (helpful if you could identify what type for me)
- Green encrusting Montipora
- Favia (red and green)
- Goniestria (bright green and purplish)
- Goniopora
- Montipora Digitata (no idea what type - looks red/pinkish with light coloured polyps but not looking too healthy, has algae on tops, blackening in parts too... advice appreciated).
Could do with help with a few issues;
- Reducing nitrates / ammonia - should I add some new ceramic balls? I’m dosing LR nitrate remover daily along with filter bacteria.
- Slight problem with green algae on sand and on tips of digitata corals? Advice on the corals appreciated, I’ve included some photos.
- Placement of everything generally, would you say it’s ok?
Thanks in advance,
Matt
I’m about 4 weeks into my reefing journey and wanted to say how great I’ve found this forum whenever I’ve needed a bit of a helping hand!
I purchased a Red Sea Reefer 170 second hand, along with everything to go with it. My equipment includes;
- Echotech Radion XR15
- Vectra S1 pump
- Bubble Magus Curve 5 skimmer
- 2 x Jecod wave makers
The live rock, ceramic balls and sand was already well established (approx 2 years) and I literally dissembled everything, transported it and set it back up. I’ve had no major dramas, used ATM colony to prevent a major spike when I set it all back up.
The only issue I’m having is getting my ammonia down to absolute 0 and keeping it there. Also can’t seem to shift nitrates to 5 or below consistently. Im doing water changes (25L) once or twice a week at the moment and testing most parameters daily. Everything else is really steadyAny advice?
Params are as follows;
- Salinity 1.026
- Ammonia 0.1-0.2
- Nitrites 0
- Nitrates 5-10
- dKH 9.5
- pH 8.2
- Phosphates 0.03
- Magnesium 1400
- Calcium 450
My Livestock is as follows:
- Clown
- Cosmos Wrasse
- Yellow Wrasse (getting harassed by Cosmos and hides most of the time)
- Red Banded Wasp Fish
- Scarlet Skunk Cleaner Shrimp
- CUC - multiple hermits (5ish..), turbo snail, a number of other snails
Corals;
- GSP
- Aussie Duncan (2 heads)
- Fairy dust zoas, Rastas, Fruit Loops
- Frogspawn euphyllia
- 2 hammers
- Plating Montipora (helpful if you could identify what type for me)
- Green encrusting Montipora
- Favia (red and green)
- Goniestria (bright green and purplish)
- Goniopora
- Montipora Digitata (no idea what type - looks red/pinkish with light coloured polyps but not looking too healthy, has algae on tops, blackening in parts too... advice appreciated).
Could do with help with a few issues;
- Reducing nitrates / ammonia - should I add some new ceramic balls? I’m dosing LR nitrate remover daily along with filter bacteria.
- Slight problem with green algae on sand and on tips of digitata corals? Advice on the corals appreciated, I’ve included some photos.
- Placement of everything generally, would you say it’s ok?
Thanks in advance,
Matt
